Tomas Hertl is closing in on an eight-year contract extension with the San Jose Sharks, a source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.
Financial terms weren’t immediately known.
Hertl was in the final season of a four-year, $22.5 million deal. He had been the subject of trade rumors for weeks leading up to Monday’s deadline, but San Jose had been adamant about trying to come to an agreement that locked Hertl up long term.
The Sharks selected Hertl 17th overall in the 2012 NHL draft, and he’s grown into the franchise’s top-line center. Since his breakout 74-point season in 2018-19, Hertl has been the new face of the franchise.
Born in Prague, Czech Republic, he had said publicly he wanted to stay in San Jose and was only looking for a “fair deal” out of negotiations with the Sharks. San Jose has been hampered in recent years by long-term deals attached to players now into their 30s (some of whom have also declined on the ice), making its salary-cap situation difficult to navigate.
San Jose has Marc-Edouard Vlasic under contract until 2026 at $7 million per year, Erik Karlsson locked in until ’27 at $11.5 million per, Brent Burns until ’25 at $8 million per and Logan Couture until ’27 at $8 million annually.
While it didn’t seem like adding another max contract to the mix would work, in the past few days, Hertl and the Sharks began finding a way toward keeping him in the fold.
“I think we’ve got some good young guys,” Hertl said this week. “I don’t think we’ve had this many in the past. Hopefully, they can come and play. At the same time, you can’t hurry and just put them in the top positions if they aren’t ready.”
TSN first reported the sides were nearing an agreement.