Anticipated trade for San Jose forward Alexander Barabanov falls through

Yesterday was one of the most exciting days of the year for a hockey fan—trade deadline day, of course.

The internet was buzzing with all kinds of trade rumors, some being absolutely absurd while others sounding like they truly had potential. One of the latter was none other than Alexander Barabanov, who was actually unavailable for the Sharks game on Thursday due to alleged trade reasons.

With the clock running out before the deadline on Friday, hockey media finally exploded with big trade news out of San Jose—but it had nothing to do with Barabanov. Rather, veteran Sharks player Tomáš Hertl got traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, stunning basically everyone. Seriously, what a surprise.

It was then revealed today, according to an article written by Sheng Peng of SJ Hockey Now, that the New York Rangers had showed a good amount of interest in Barabanov but allegedly couldn't work with his salary—$2.5m AAV.



Because of the current NHL rules, limiting a team to three retained salary transactions. In theory, the Vegas Golden Knights prevented the Rangers from being able to get a deal done. This unfortunately meant that Barabanov will be forced to finish the season with the Sharks.

Barabanov currently has 3 goals and 7 assists with the Sharks this year, and no pending contract offer from any team yet.