San Jose Sharks to place Kevin Labanc on waivers

Labanc, who is quietly still just 27 years old, has been a healthy scratch for all three of San Jose’s games to open the season. He’s in the final year of a contract carrying a $4.75 million cap hit.

It has been quite the fall from grace for a player who was once an important secondary component of the team’s core. Chosen in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL draft, Labanc was a dominant major junior player in his draft +1and especially his draft +2 season, piling up 127 points in 65 games with the Barrie Colts. He was a point-per-game AHLer by 2016-17, too, and impressed in his first few seasons as an NHLer. Labanc’s best stretch with the Sharks came in 2017-18 and 2018-19 when he rattled off seasons of 40 and 56 points, spending most of his time as a top-six forward. During the 2019 playoffs, he became the first player in NHL history to tally four points in one period of a Game 7, helping San Jose defeat the Vegas Golden Knights. While he typically compiles more assists than goals, in play driving he profiles as more of a shoot-first player who loves to fire off one-timers.

In July 2019, Labanc famously signed what appeared to be a good-faith contract coming off his best season, accepting a one-year, $1 million deal to help the Sharks navigate the cap. A year later his signed his current four-year, $18.9 million pact, one he has struggled to live up to, picking up just 67 points in 148 games since the deal commenced – a 37-point pace over 82 games.

If Labanc clears waivers, he will report to the Sharks AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.