The Knights' Tomas Hertl will look to rebound in Vegas after a injury plagued 2023-2024 season
Nobody expected the San Jose Sharks to move Tomas Hertl last season at the NHL trade deadline.
Hertl, 30, was placed on IR by the San Jose Sharks this past February as the forward was set to undergo a procedure on his left knee and was only in year 2 of a 8-year extension that he recently had signed with the Sharks in March of 2022, so certainly a trade of Hertl seemed highly unlikely.
As the NHL trade deadline ticked towards the final bell going off as 3PM Eastern approached, the Vegas Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks shocked everyone when it was announced Hertl was being sent to the Golden Knights.
Hertl was sent to Vegas along with a 3rd rd pick in the 2025 NHL draft and a 3rd rd pick in 2027 in exchange for prospect David Edstrom and a 2025 1st rd conditional draft pick. The Sharks also retained 17% of Hertls' $8.14M cap hit, leaving Vegas on the hook for $6.749M on their books.
After the acquisition of Hertl, the Knights moved Hertls' contract to LTIR until he made his debut for the Knights on April 8th against the Vancouver Canucks. Hertl would only end up playing in a total of 13 games combined for the Knights after the trade between the regular season and playoffs.
In total between the Sharks and Golden Knights last season, Hertl appeared in only 54 regular season games, totaling 38 points between both teams.
Now with last season behind him and fully healthy, Hertl is looking to get back to the level of play that earned him his 8-year $65.10M contract. While speaking with Sportsnets' Elliotte Friedman when he was in Prague for the leg of the NHL European media tour, Hertl spoke about being ready to turn the page.
'I wasn't myself, I'm going to be a lot better this year.'
That certainly is music to the ears of Knights fans.
With the losses the Knights suffered this summer with forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson signing in Nashville and Seattle respectively, the Knights will need players like Hertl to step up offensively.
Hertls' best season to date in his career came back in 2018-2019 when he scored 35 goals and 39 assists for a total of 74 points with the Sharks. If Hertl can replicate that kind of season this coming year from the Knights, Vegas should be able to contend for the Pacific division crown.
After only getting a small taste of Hertl last season, Golden Knights' fans are hoping the native of Prague can bring some of the razzle-dazzle that he has been known for to sin city for a full season.
In 718 games played over his career thus far, Hertl has scored 220 goals, 268 assists and 488 points.
