San Jose Sharks’ Matt Nieto (83) skates against Florida Panthers’ Radko Gudas (7) in the third period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The San Jose Sharks’ selloff began in earnest Wednesday night as they traded forward Matt Nieto and Barracuda defenseman Ryan Merkley to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Jacob MacDonald and forward Martin Kaut.
Nieto, among a handful of pending unrestricted free agents on the Sharks roster, re-joins an Avalanche team that he played for from 2016 to 2020. In 45 games for San Jose this season, Nieto,