22 points during his first NHL season.
Still, Jonathan Dahlén is nobbed for a new contract.
Now the San Jose Sharks are explaining why.
Jonathan Dahlén scored over 70 points during two straight seasons in the Hockeyallsvenskan with Timrå. The historic scoring success was enough for the San Jose Sharks to pick him up for North America, and initially everything looked good.
That’s why he’s nobbed
Dahlén started the season at a furious pace, and scored points during the first half of the season. Then Dahlén suffered a nasty injury, and afterwards the points harvest stopped. It was still 22 points in 61 games during his first NHL season – which many thought would be more than enough for a continuation.
The San Jose Sharks had the chance to keep Dahlén without any other clubs even being allowed to negotiate, as he was a restricted free agent, but they chose not to give any qualified contract proposals. This means that Dahlén on Wednesday will be free to negotiate with whichever club he wants – but Shark’s message has still made many experts and fans turn their heads. How could his rookie season not be enough?
“What we are looking for is…”
But now the Sharks explain why they chose to release Dahlén, and it’s about what kind of player he is.
– There is a certain type of profile on the players, things we are looking for that make the team what we want it to be. He does not really fit into that profile right now, says general manager Mike Grier.
Grier believes that the Sharks want to be a team that competes harder.
– Everything starts there. And it does not have to mean that you have to be the biggest guy in the room all the time, but it has to be at the highest level of competitiveness and toughness. You will probably notice it more and more in our organization, he says.
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