Sharks acquire Calen Addison from Wild

Addison, 23, was off to a solid start this season, as he had five assists in 12 games with the Wild before the deal.

Addison has been one of the more productive defensemen on the power play since joining the league in 2021, as his 4.35 points per 60 minutes on the man advantage ranks 38th in the league in that span among defensemen with at least 250 minutes. However, he’s the only player in the top 50 of that group to get under 300 minutes of ice time on the power play in that time.

Addison was a former second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2018, although he never got to play a game for them as he was dealt to the Wild in 2020 as part of the package for Jason Zucker. He’s currently on a one-year, $825,000 contract that he signed with the Wild in the middle of training camp, and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in the offseason.

Ruska, 22, has been held pointless so far in seven games for the San Jose Barracuda in the AHL. He’s played eight games in the NHL in his career, although he has yet to get his first NHL point. He was a seventh-round pick of the Sharks in the 2020 NHL Draft, and is in the final year of his entry-level contract.

In Addison, the Sharks get a young defenseman who will likely man their top power play unit, hoping to bolster the one part of their game that has actually been solid so far this season. Best case scenario is he becomes someone who can play for the team long-term, while worst case scenario is they can get him more playing time on the power play and up his trade value, and then swap him out for a better pick at the deadline while he’s on his cheap contract.

For the Wild, it appears like a confusing move to give away a solid defenseman on a good contract for cheap, especially considering their cap constraints. But it makes a bit more sense considering that Addison appeared to be falling out of favor in Minnesota due to his struggles defensively, and was even a healthy scratch for parts of last season. With Brock Faber having success early in his career with the Wild, Addison became more expendable, as they weren’t in need of a power play specialist on defense.