Eric Comrie costs San Jose $1.15 million in either league. It exposed him first.
The Sharks put the goaltender they signed on July 1 on waivers Friday, along with forward Jimmy Huntington, and kept Ilya Samsonov in camp. Comrie cleared on Saturday and is paid the same in the American Hockey League as in the NHL. Samsonov is not, and he has not played a preseason game.
Eric Comrie signed with San Jose on July 1 for two years at $1,150,000 a season. His minor-league salary is also $1,150,000. That is what a one-way contract means: the Sharks pay him the same amount whether he stops pucks for the Sharks at SAP Center or for the Barracuda at Tech CU Arena, per PuckPedia.
On Friday they put him on waivers.
The club's PR account announced it in two sentences, alongside forward Jimmy Huntington, both "for the purpose of being assigned to the Barracuda training camp." Filip Bystedt, who scored and set one up in Thursday's 10-0 win over Anaheim, was reassigned in the same post and needed no waivers to go.
Think of the waiver wire as an open house. For 24 hours any of the other 31 clubs can walk through, look at the contract in the kitchen, and make an offer by taking it over whole. Nobody has to buy. Friday's open house was crowded: 61 players went on the wire across the league, per Sportsnet, three days before opening-night rosters are due. Claims were due at 2 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, which is 11 a.m. in San Jose.
Here is why Comrie's listing is the interesting one. San Jose has five goaltenders under NHL contract and every one of them needs waivers to go to the minors. Kyle Keyser is hurt, and Mike Grier said on September 17 not to expect him back for "a couple months at least." That left four healthy goaltenders for a crease that dresses two, and two of the four were never in question: Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic.
The other two were Comrie and Ilya Samsonov, and the contracts point in opposite directions.
| Comrie | Samsonov | |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 31 | 29 |
| NHL games | 102 | 200 |
| NHL salary, 2026-27 | $1,150,000 | $850,000 |
| Minor-league salary | $1,150,000 | $225,000 |
| Term | two years | one year |
| Preseason games for San Jose | one (30:51, 14 saves on 16 shots at Anaheim) | none |
Comrie is the more expensive man to keep in the NHL and the only one of the two who costs the full price in the AHL. Samsonov, signed on September 8 to cover Keyser, "just cleared immigration," per Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest, and has only recently been on the ice with his new club. He has not dressed for any of San Jose's three exhibitions. The club exposed the goaltender it has watched in a game and kept the one it has not.
The club's announcement gave no reason. (A one-way deal is a strange thing to hand a goaltender you plan to hide in the minors, and a waiver listing is a strange thing to hand one you plan to keep. July and September do not have to agree.)
Comrie knew how this could go. "I understand coming to camp what the situation looked like," he told Miller on Thursday. He also said the location was one of the reasons he signed, because "everything's so close here." If nobody claims him, that stays true. The Barracuda play in the same city.
His record is what the open house is selling. He was Connor Hellebuyck's backup in Winnipeg for two seasons: .914 across 20 games in 2024-25, then .890 across 25 last season. For his career he is .896 in 102 games. A club that needs a backup can find that line appealing at $1.15 million. A club that has one can find 60 other names on the same wire.
Huntington is the simpler listing. He is 27, has never played an NHL regular-season game, and put up 48 points in 71 games as an alternate captain for the Barracuda last season. He dressed for all three exhibitions, scored at Anaheim on September 20 and set up two goals in Thursday's rout. Ryan Warsofsky said on Wednesday that Huntington had "a really good camp." Two days later, a really good camp got him a waiver listing.
What Friday settles is the order. What it does not settle is the count. Samsonov needs waivers too, and every club's opening-night roster is due Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern. San Jose either carries three goaltenders into the October 1 opener against Florida or puts a second one on the wire before then. Nobody claimed Comrie. Two of Friday's 61 were taken, Andreas Englund by Detroit and William Trudeau by Nashville, per Daily Faceoff, and the rest cleared. So San Jose's spare goaltender now sits with the Barracuda, which makes a third one on the NHL roster harder to justify.
The Sharks close the preseason at Vegas at 7 p.m. tonight. Samsonov played 29 games for Vegas two seasons ago, his most recent NHL season. If the Sharks want one look at him in a game before Monday, tonight is the only one left.
The open house closed at 11 on Saturday morning. Nobody bought. The listing goes back on the market at the same price, one level down.
Called Shots#
Ilya Samsonov is not on San Jose's active NHL roster when the club opens the season against Florida on October 1. Scored off the Sharks' opening-night roster as the league and the club publish it, cross-read against PuckPedia's transaction log. RIGHT if Samsonov has been waived, assigned to the Barracuda, loaned or traded by puck drop. WRONG if he is on the active roster that night. VOID if he is on injured reserve, because then the club has not chosen anything. The case against this, and it is a real one: Keyser is out for months, and a club with cap room can carry a third goaltender at $850,000 rather than risk losing a 200-game goaltender on the wire for nothing. Comrie clearing on Saturday weakens that case, because the spare now sits one level down. The case for it is that a 23-man roster is short on room, San Jose put one goaltender on the wire on Friday rather than carry four healthy ones into the last weekend, and Samsonov costs $225,000 in the minors against Comrie's $1,150,000.
Sources: San Jose Sharks PR on X, September 25, 2026, for the waivers and Bystedt's reassignment, as embedded by Max Miller, Sharks Hockey Digest, September 25, 2026, which also carries Comrie's quotations, his status as the club's third goaltender and Samsonov's immigration clearance. PuckPedia's player pages for Comrie and Samsonov, for contract terms, minor-league salaries, signing dates and waivers eligibility, and its waiver wire. Sportsnet, September 25, 2026, for the 61 players and the 24-hour window. Ian Oland, RMNB, September 25, 2026, for the Monday roster deadline. Daily Faceoff and HockeyBuzz, September 26, 2026, for Saturday's waiver results. William Espy, The Hockey News, September 25, 2026, for Huntington's alternate captaincy and Comrie's two seasons behind Hellebuyck. NHL player records for career and season statistics; NHL game boxscores 2026010009, 2026010032 and 2026010039 for preseason appearances, time on ice and points; the NHL club schedule for tonight's game and the October 1 opener. Mike Grier's September 17 remarks on Keyser per Sheng Peng, San Jose Hockey Now, and Curtis Pashelka, The Mercury News. Ryan Warsofsky's September 23 remark per Pashelka.
