Is time running out for Sharks winger, other pending RFAs, in San Jose?

SAN JOSE – Forward Nikolai Kovalenko figured to be a member of the San Jose Sharks past this season when he was acquired three months ago from the Colorado Avalanche as part of the trade that sent goalie Mackenzie Blackwood the other way.

“He’s built like a refrigerator,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said of Kovalenko after the Dec. 9 trade. “He gets to the net, gets around the net, wins battles. We have to keep adding that to our group.”

Now it might be a question whether Kovalenko, listed at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, will remain with that group next season.

Just four games after he returned from a lower body injury that kept him out of the lineup for over a month, Kovalenko was a healthy scratch Saturday in the Sharks’ 5-1 loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals.

After he was activated off injured reserve, Kovalenko scored one goal in those four games while averaging just under 11 minutes of ice time. He is now part a different looking forward group, one without Nico Sturm, Fabian Zetterlund, and Luke Kunin, who were all traded, and replaced by Zack Ostapchuk, Patrick Giles, and Noah Gregor.

Without question, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky is looking for more consistency from the 25-year-old Kovalenko, who is in his first full season in North America after he spent seven years in the KHL.

Asked Sunday if his message has been received by Kovalenko, who has nine points in 21 games with the Sharks, Warsofsky said, “We’ll see. I guess that’s up to him.

“He knows how he needs to play. We know what we expect from him nightly.”

Kovalenko made news last month when he appeared on a Russian hockey podcast and jokingly said, “The coach doesn’t like Russians. The GM likes Russians, the head coach doesn’t.” Kovalenko reiterated Sunday that he has no animosity toward Warsofsky.

Like he said last month when asked about Kovalenko’s podcast remarks, Warsofsky said Sunday that he judges players on their effort. When asked if Kovalenko still hasn’t found his NHL identity, Warsofsky didn’t disagree.

“Give me everything you’ve got. Leave it all on the ice,” Warsofsky said. “We can live with the mistakes. We can live with the puck play but give us everything you’ve got.”

Kovalenko is in the second year of a two-year deal he signed with the Avalanche in July 2023 and is slated to become a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration rights.

Grier and the Sharks will have to decide whether to issue Kovalenko a qualifying offer or let him walk and become an unrestricted free agent. Perhaps how Kovalenko works and competes in practice and games during the season’s final month will influence that decision.

For now, Kovalenko said Sunday he’s not thinking about his contract, preferring to have those conversations with the Sharks after the season. But he enjoys being in San Jose.

“My job right now is working hard, that’s it,” said Kovalenko, whose dad, Andrei, was a longtime winger in the NHL. “Work hard, have fun with the other guys on the team.”

A sixth-round draft pick by the Avalanche in 2018, Kovalenko had 141 points in 257 regular season games in the KHL before he came to North America last April. After he joined the Colorado Eagles of the AHL, he had three points in four regular season games and one goal in two playoff games. Before the trade, Kovalenko had eight points in 28 games for the Avalanche this year.

Kovalenko is one of three pending RFA forwards on the Sharks roster, with Klim Kostin and Gregor also in contract years. Carl Grundstrom is signed through next season, but, starting on Jan. 11, has appeared in just 10 of 20 games, while being scratched the other nights.

“It’s all those guys in that area, the Kostins, the (Kovalenkos), the Grundstroms, Gregor, there’s competition to be in this lineup,” Warsofsky said, “And if you’re not going to do it night in and night out, you won’t play. It’s really that simple.

“We’re looking for guys to grab jobs, looking for guys … are they the solution here, going forward next year? It’s really going to be up to them to show us they can do it or not.”

Warsofsky added later, “I wouldn’t say they’re at a crossroads in their career, but it’s a big part of their career. And I always say to players, you never want to look back 10 years from now and say I never got an opportunity.”

INJURY UPDATES: The Sharks do not expect to have either Henry Thrun (upper body) or Jan Rutta (lower body) back anytime soon, but Warsofsky said both are improving. Thrun, who hasn’t played since March 8, is still considered week-to-week and Rutta, out since Jan. 23, could still come back this season, Warsofsky said. San Jose’s last regular season game is on April 16 at home against Edmonton.