Pending RFA forward will not receive qualifying offer from San Jose Sharks

SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks will not be giving veteran forward Noah Gregor a qualifying offer, Bay Area News Group has learned.

Gregor, 26, is now set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Gregor, who was a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, was acquired by the Sharks from Ottawa on March 7 as part of the surprising deal that sent forwards Fabian Zetterlund, Tristen Robins, and a fourth-round pick this year to the Senators. From the Sharks’ perspective, the key part of the deal was receiving center Zack Ostapchuk and a second-round draft pick for this year. Allowing Gregor to become a UFA was not unexpected.

Gregor, in his second stint with San Jose, had one assist in 12 games with the Sharks after the trade. In 52 games this season between the Sharks and Senators, Gregor had four goals and three assists and averaged just over 11 minutes of ice time per game.

In 293 career NHL games, the speedy Gregor, a fourth-round draft pick by the Sharks in 2016, has 70 points, with 52 of those coming with San Jose.

Gregor first became a UFA in 2023 after he was not given a qualifying offer by the Sharks the first time. After he signed a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs later that year, the Beaumont, Alberta native became a free agent again and signed a one-year deal with the Senators.

The Sharks still have several pending RFAs with arbitration rights, including forwards Nikolai Kovalenko, Thomas Bordeleau, and goalies Georgi Romanov and Gabriel Carriere.

The camp of one pending RFA without arb rights, Danil Gushchin, expects to get a qualifying offer from the Sharks while another RFA, Klim Kostin, reportedly will not. Any RFA that does not receive a qualifying offer by Monday afternoon will become a UFA.