SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks have traded goalie Vitek Vanecek to the Florida Panthers for forward Patrick Giles, according to the Associated Press.

With a potential trade in the offing, Vanecek was held out of the Sharks’ game on Tuesday in Buffalo as a precaution against injury. Vanecek was in line to be in net against the Sabres after Alexandar Georgiev started Monday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. But Georgiev played back to back nights and made 20 saves in a 6-2 San Jose win.

Vanecek, one of several pending unrestricted free agents on the Sharks’ roster, is in the final year of a three-year, $10.2 million contract with an average annual value of $3.4 million. The Panthers are taking on all of Vanecek’s pro-rated salary cap hit.

Giles, 25, is in his fourth full season as a professional and has played in nine NHL games in his career, all of which have come this season. He also had seven points in 39 games with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL.

Giles is in the first year of a two-year, two-way contract he signed with the Panthers last June. His salary cap hit at the NHL level is $775,000.

Giles, who went undrafted, played four seasons at Boston College from 2018 to 2022 before he started his professional career and joined the Checkers at the end of the 2021-2022 season. Whether Giles would join the Sharks or report to the Barracuda was unclear.

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