Colorado Avalanche left wing Matt Nieto (83) in the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, March 7, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
SAN JOSE – Matt Nieto watched last year as Andrew Cogliano raised the Stanley Cup over his head just a few months after he was acquired by the Colorado Avalanche from the San Jose Sharks.
Now Nieto wants to experience that same feeling, as he’s fit right back in with an Avalanche team that fully expects to go on another deep playoff run this spring.
“That’s the goal for sure,” said Nieto, who also played with the Avalanche from 2016 to 2020. “Right when I got traded here and conversations I had with staff and players, everyone wants to repeat that again. Just watching the work that we do every day, guys are really committed to succeeding and making sure that happens.”
Both Nieto and Cogliano were back in San Jose on Tuesday for the first time since they were each traded by the Sharks to Colorado. The Avalanche acquired Cogliano from the Sharks for a draft pick at the trade deadline last year, and picked up Nieto and defenseman Ryan Merkley on Jan. 25 for forward Martin Kaut and defenseman/forward Jacob MacDonald. Merkley and Kaut are both in the AHL right now.
While Kaut, the key figure in that deal from San Jose’s perspective, figures to be a part of the Sharks’ future past this season, Nieto, Cogliano, and the Avalanche are thinking about right now. They entered Tuesday’s game in San Jose just two points out of first place in the Central Division.
Nieto, who signed a two-year contract with the Sharks in 2021 as a free agent, averaged close to 16 minutes per game as a middle-six forward in San Jose. On a deeper Colorado team, he’s played about 11 minutes per game with some time on the penalty kill.
“He’s been great, a seamless transition, it feels like he never left,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of Nieto. “We obviously liked him the first time we had him. He’s played a big role for us again, doing the same things that he did for us before he left.”
Cogliano was acquired by the Avalanche at last year’s trade deadline for a 2024 fifth-round pick, an obvious indication that the Sharks wanted to do right by the forward, who was still chasing his first Cup after 15 years in the NHL.
“(The Sharks) did me a huge service by trading me to a really good team and giving me the opportunity to win, which kind of worked out perfectly,” Cogliano said. “In hindsight, everything worked out exactly how I would envision it. I thanked (then-interim general manager Joe Will), all the staff, (former scouting director) Doug Wilson Jr., all the people that were here last year that did a good job in terms of giving me an opportunity to come here.”
The Sharks, in some respects, did the same with Nieto, although they have seen more of an immediate return with Kaut, 23, and MacDonald, 30. Kaut has five points in nine games with the Sharks, and MacDonald had played 19 games with the team before Tuesday and has provided some valuable depth on defense. Merkley is in the AHL with eight points in 26 games.
“It’s a really good culture in this room,” Nieto said. “I’m happy to be a part of it and I can’t wait to get to the playoffs.”
INJURY UPDATES: Forwards Andreas Johnsson and Alexander Barabanov could be out for the remainder of the season with their respective injuries, Sharks coach David Quinn said Tuesday.
Johnsson hasn’t played since March 20 when he blocked a shot by defenseman Darnell Nurse in the second period of a Sharks’ game against the Edmonton Oilers. Barabanov’s last game was March 25 against the Calgary Flames. Barabanov, in the first year of a two-year contract, has 47 points in 68 games this season.
After Tuesday, the Sharks have just five games remaining, starting with their two final home games against Colorado on Thursday and Edmonton on Saturday.
Injured winger Oskar Lindblom was held out of Tuesday’s game but Quinn was optimistic he could play Thursday. With Lindblom out, the Sharks recalled Danil Gushchin from the Barracuda on Tuesday morning.
Evgeny Svechnikov, who had missed the Sharks’ last seven games before Tuesday, was also available to play against the Avalanche.
OKHOTIUK DONE FOR YEAR: Defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk, acquired by the Sharks from New Jersey in February as part of the Timo Meier trade, posted a picture of himself in a San Jose hospital bed on his Instagram account Tuesday morning, saying his season was over.
It was not immediately clear what his surgery was for, although, per a source, it was for a hockey-related injury. Okhotiuk, 22, is expected to be released from the hospital soon, but it was not known when might be able to play again. Okhotiuk has not played since Feb. 11 when he was with the Utica Comets of the AHL.
Originally published at Curtis Pashelka