CONFIRMED: Sharks Shopping Barabanov, Winger Wants To Play for Contender

The pending UFA had already confirmed his desire to play for a Stanley Cup contender, in a Russian language interview, last week: “To be frank, since I’m 29 already and will be 30 this summer, I want to play in the playoffs, get closer to the Cup one way or another.”

Barabanov hasn’t played in a single playoff game since his first NHL season back in 2020, but in the KHL, he won two KHL championships, the Gagarin Cup, skating for SKA Saint Petersburg.

It might not be easy for the San Jose Sharks to move Barabanov by the Mar. 8 Trade Deadline though.

While he’s on an affordable contract at $2.5 million AAV, Barabanov has struggled this year, in part due to injuries. He missed six weeks because of a broken finger from late October to early December. Then, around Christmas, he was sidelined for about a week because of COVID.

Consequently, Barabanov only have three goals and 10 assists in 38 games this year, after 28 goals and 93 points in 147 appearances in his first three seasons with the San Jose Sharks.

“Of course, I haven’t been too lucky this season, although I worked super-hard getting ready for it in the summer,” Barabanov said. “Was paying a lot of attention to my health, physical conditions, and everything. Even set a goal to play a full season. I played 68 games last season and 70 the season before that. [This season], I wanted to play all 82 games, but life has its own plans.”

And those plans, it looks like, will take him out of San Jose, if the Sharks can find a taker by Friday.

Whatever happens, Barabanov is sure that things will work out.

“I had situations like this in my career, and I went through them okay. The most important thing is your spirit, and I have it, I’ve proven that not just once,” he said. “So I think everything is going to be okay.”