Vegas Golden Knights acquire Tomáš Hertl from San Jose Sharks

The Vegas Golden Knights have acquired centre Tomáš Hertl along with 2025 and 2027 third-round picks from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for prospect centre David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick.

Hertl, 30, is in the second season of an eight-year, $65.1-million extension that he signed ahead of the 2022 trade deadline amid speculation about his future and the possibility of a trade. The Sharks will retain 17 percent of Hertl's salary, bringing the cap charge down to $6.75-million. Less than two seasons into that extension, he's on his way to the Golden Knights.

Interestingly given all the discourse about the Golden Knights' LTIR usage, Hertl is actually on injured reserve himself at the moment, recovering from a relatively minor knee operation in February. Before going on IR, Hertl led the Sharks in offence, with 34 points in 48 contests, all while driving strong underlying territorial results.

Tomas Hertl, acquired by VGK(!), is a top six centre who brings a versatile offensive skillset as well as defensive upside. Very good playmaker but with the right linemates can also be a dangerous scorer. Plays in all situations. #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/6t0ROoFcz2

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) March 8, 2024

Going the Sharks way is a collection of futures headlined by Edstrom, the Golden Knights' first-round pick at 32nd overall in last year's draft. We covered Edstrom in our Taking Stock series, which looked at each team's prospect trade chips ahead of the deadline, but for a refresher, he's a high-floor, low-ceiling bet on someone with a projectable NHL skill set as a bottom-six centre.

After making this trade, the Sharks now have three first-round picks in this year's draft. They've leaned into this rebuild about as aggressively as possible.