The San Jose Sharks have reportedly begun talking about a contract extension with pending free agent forward Fabian Zetterlund (as per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now). Peng describes the trade talks as “Casual” which likely means the two sides are in the early stages of negotiating.
The 25-year-old is in the final year of a two-year contract that carries a cap hit of $1.45MM and has been one of the better values in the NHL this season. Zetterlund is in his second full season with the Sharks after coming over in the Timo Meier trade from the New Jersey Devils at the 2023 Trade Deadline. He was originally drafted by the Devils in the third round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft and spent parts of two seasons in New Jersey before being sent West.
In his first full season with San Jose, Zetterlund was very productive offensively, tallying 24 goals and 20 assists in 82 games. His plus/minus was ugly at -34, however, that number was certainly magnified because he was playing for a team with a goal differential of -146.
This season, Zetterlund has picked up where he left off, registering 12 goals and 11 assists in his first 35 games, however, his plus/minus is a solid +6, which is more in line with a player that has a defense first skillset.
On the surface, the Zetterlund contract doesn’t look like a difficult one to make happen. However, San Jose has to consider how they will allocate salary cap space as their young stars approach their second contracts as well as how they can mix in high priced veterans to their salary cap structure.
Either way, Zetterlund should do well on his next contract and it will be interesting to see what type of term San Jose offers the Karlstad, Sweden native.