AHL Barracuda coach pressured me to fight

A former San Jose Sharks forward said he was pressured by a coach with the team’s AHL affiliate to fight opposing players, adding that it was a key factor in his decision not to re-sign with the organization.

Martin Kaut, whom the Sharks acquired from Colorado in January, told the Czech website iDNES.cz in a story published Sunday that an unnamed Barracuda coach would choose an opponent, usually a fellow Czech-born player, before each game for him to fight. When Kaut refused, he said the coach responded by saying that his refusal was a reason why he wasn’t in the NHL.

Kaut specifically said he was asked to fight Adam Klapka, who is listed at 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds and was credited with six AHL fighting majors this past season for the Calgary Wranglers. Kaut, listed at 6-2 and 190 pounds, has only two fighting majors in five seasons of North American professional hockey.

Kaut, a former first-round pick in 2018, told the publication that he has had three concussions and two shoulder injuries and that if he had fought the players the coach wanted him to fight, “I would have been injured.”

“He forced me into fights anyway,” Kaut said of the coach in comments translated to English. “It really bothered me. I’d fight for a good reason, none of that. When a game is sold out, it escalates, or when you defend a teammate. But fighting someone just like that? I’m supposed to be on the ice (to score goals).”

The Sharks denied the allegations in an emailed statement: “We have been made aware of comments attributed to Martin Kaut stating that he was pressured to deliberately instigate a physical engagement with opposing players on the ice. Let us be unequivocally clear that no such direction was ever given or insinuated by the members of the Sharks or Barracuda coaching or hockey staffs.”