Breaking Trade: Sharks Send Vanecek to Eastern Contender
Vitek Vanecek was pulled from his starting assignment before the start of Tuesday night’s game for the San Jose Sharks in Buffalo. It was for ‘trade-related purposes.’ Now it appears that we know the goaltender’s pending destination, as reports indicate that the Sharks and Florida Panthers are completing a deal.
TRADE ALERT🚨#timetohunt
— Daily Faceoff - Fantasy (@DFOFantasy) March 5, 2025
- Vitek Vanecek (G)
*$3.4 million cap hit - final year.
🔁#thefutureisteal
- Patrick Giles (F)
as per @ByTimReynolds
Forward Patrick Giles will be heading back to the Sharks per Tim Reynolds.
Vanecek is a pending UFA on a $3.4M cap hit, and there is no salary retained in the deal. Florida has Matthew Tkachuk on LTIR so they had plenty of cap room.
The Panthers were in need of a strong backup after dealing Spencer Knight to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Seth Jones trade last weekend.
They had a short list of names they were looking at, but Vanecek's previous success in the NHL is obviously something the Panthers find intriguing.
He has a career 94-52-20 record with a 2.82 GAA and a .903 SV%. He's had a rough season with the woeful Sharks but should benefit greatly from the move to the strong defensive team in Florida.
Giles is an undrafted player out of Boston College, who has spent the past four years mostly in the AHL, though he spent 9 games with Florida this season.
