San Jose Sharks defensemen Matt Benning out for season after surgery

The San Jose Sharks announced Thursday that defenseman Matt Benning has undergone hip surgery and that he is expected to miss the remainder of the season.

The Sharks said the estimated time of recovery for Benning is approximately five months, and that the team, as of now, anticipates that he will be ready for the start of training camp in the fall.

Benning had the surgery in December, per a Sharks spokesman. He is in the second year of a four-year, $5 million contract he signed with the Sharks as a free agent in 2022.

Benning, 29, had been beset by injury for the majority of the season as he played in just 14 games of the team’s first 38 games. He played in eight of the Sharks’ first nine games in October, but missed 10 straight games from Nov. 2 to Nov. 22.

Benning returned to the Sharks on Nov. 24, but played in just six games before he was again placed on IR. In his most recent game on Dec. 3 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Benning’s movement was clearly hampered by the hip injury, as he played just 15:16, more than three minutes less than his season average.

Benning will remain on the Sharks’ injured reserve list and not go on long-term injured reserve, per a source.

Per CapFriendly, the Sharks already have $3.5 million in salary cap space at the moment and are estimated to have approximately $8.8 million in space by the March 8 trade deadline. The Sharks could try to weaponize that cap space by being a third party to a trade, absorbing part of a player’s cap hit to help facilitate a deal between two other teams, and receiving an asset, likely a draft pick, in return.

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