Free Agent Summary
After the draft it appeared that the Sharks may have been continuing on the path of rebuilding as although they appear to have drafted well, though time will ultimately tell. They seemed to have missed out on potential goaltending with Kings goaltender Martin Jones going to the Bruins in the Lucic deal, Lehner being dealt from the Senators to the Sabres, Lack moving on from the Canucks to The Hurricanes and finally Rangers goalie Talbot making his way to Edmonton. The Sharks also muddied the waters further by trading Antti Niemi for a 7th round pick he would sign with the Stars later that week. Not only did they not gain a goaltender they didn’t add any players via trade during a prime trading period. The moves and the lack thereof had Sharks fans bracing for another year of missing the playoffs. The Sharks however would pull the trigger on a deal that not only addressed a major hole in the roster but sent a clear message that missing the playoffs next year would be unacceptable. They sent a first round pick and prospect to the Boston Bruins for highly touted goaltender Martin Jones that the Bruins had acquired in a trade with Los Angeles. This was a solid move by the Sharks on two fronts. First of all the goalies that were traded on draft day Jones in my opinion has the highest ceiling and comes from a system that has developed some great goalie prospects. Second as expensive the price with the Bruins, it would have only been higher if the Sharks had dealt with the Kings directly if Lombardi would pick up the phone if Doug Wilson was calling to begin with. Jones who was a restricted free agent when we traded for him would go on to sign a very friendly 3 year deal with a $3 M per year cap hit.
The Sharks would further emphasis that the goal was to win now as they signed veteran defenceman Paul Martin as an unrestricted free agent. Although Martin may not be the most sexy name of the free agent defenceman and does come with some injury history he is exactly the kind of defenceman the Sharks needed. Martin is not going to wow you with huge point totals or end to end play in fact you may not notice him on the ice at all because he is a versatile defender who can play on the left or right side who makes strong smart plays and very quietly held together a frankly injury ravaged Penguins defence down the stretch. If Martin does his job what you will notice is a Brent Burns who drives play and does not look like a leaky bucket in his own end because Martin has quietly cleaned up any potential mess Burns has made. The contract for the 34 year old defenceman was 4 years with a cap hit of $4.85 M AAV.
Finally later in the week Doug Wilson would strike again adding 34 year old Joel Ward who fills a lot of needs. First is versatility, Ward could fit in on a top line with Thornton or Pavelski or move down to the 2nd or 3rd lines and likely be effective in any of those positions. He’s a character guy who is “good in the room” and plays a hard nosed style of game that should immediately endear himself to the Sharks faithful. Oh, he also has a bunch of notable game winning goals in playoff overtimes. Ward is the type of player who has been missing from San Jose since in my opinion the departure of Ryane Clowe, a skilled but sandpaper guy who can do a little of everything. Wards deal carries a $3.25 M for the next 3 years.
Currently the Sharks sit with just over $1 M in cap space according to General Fanager although should Raffi Torres remain on the LTIR the Sharks could gain another $2 M dollars in cap relief. I would also not be shocked to see someone on the current roster moved out to clear cap space or better address the teams positional leads. One thing is for sure though Doug Wilson has pushed all his chips into the middle of the table after getting the OK to spend to the cap, a team that is rebuilding does not give away its 1st round pick and sign veteran players for over $8 M dollars this year and while the changes to the roster don’t make them last years Chicago Blackhawks as far as depth and name recognition the Sharks are definitely in it to win it.
Projected Line Up
Pavelski – Thornton – Hertl
Marleau – Couture – Nieto
Wingels – Tierney – Ward
Karlsson – Smith – Torres/Goodrow
Brown
Vlasic – Braun
Martin – Burns
Mueller/Tennyson – Dillon
Stollery
Jones
Stalock
These are obviously based on lines that the Sharks have used in the past however with a new head coach the actual lines could look very different. Maybe DeBoer opts for a top heavy line of Marleau – Thornton – Pavelski. It’s all speculation at this point. I think that Mueller and and Tennyson are in a dead heat to claim that final defence position although the Sharks may opt to get Mueller more playing time with top pair minutes on the AHL’s Barracuda. Torres health remains to be a question that we will hopefully have answered for us one way or another.
The Rest of the Pacific Division
Just some Quick thoughts on how the rest of the division has fared so far.
Anaheim Ducks: I think the ducks will probably easily run away with the Pacific Division although I doubt the margin will be as great this past year. While Matt Beleskey didn’t make the silly amount of money I thought he’d make on the open market the Ducks were wise to pass. The addition of Kevin Bieksa is puzzling but shouldn’t slow them down too badly. All the important pieces are still here and should make another deep run in the playoffs.
Arizona Coyotes: The Coyotes are locked in another legal battle that has dogged this team since their move to Glendale with the city trying to evict them from their arena and somehow the story on the ice might somehow be worse. It is going to be a very painful year on the ice for the Coyotes as nothing points to them being anything more than a lottery team hoping to be the one that gets to draft hometown boy Austin Matthews. If this team is to move eventually I feel for the Coyotes fans who never got to see the payoff for their pain much like former Thrashers fans.
Calgary Flames: The Calgary flames have probably gone from overachievers to flat out playoff threat. Everything they have done this off season has been excellent. Dougie Hamilton helps bolster an already great blue line and if they continue to play the style of hockey they played last year this should be a fun team to watch. Only thing I found puzzling was the resigning of Karri Ramo as I thought Ortio would get a shot to back up Hiller.
Edmonton Oilers: It’s funny how much praise has been thrown on to general manager Peter Chairelli considering the absolute cap mess that he left behind in Boston and while Don Sweeny has made some ridiculous moves it’s hard not to throw at least some possible blame to Chairelli. That said his moves so far in Edmonton have been solid taking a chance on Griffin Reinhart, getting Cam Talbot and signing Sakera very quickly improved the team in many of its weaknesses. With McDavid in the mix a lot of people are going to overrate this team though and while it certainly is trending in the right direction it is still a bubble team for the wildcard at best.
Los Angeles Kings: Lost in all the off the ice legal drama is the fact that the Kings quietly extended RFA Tyler Taffoli, but aside from that there is not a lot to like about the Kings summer thus far. I thought they overpaid fora year of Milan Lucic who does not really make them that much better nor does it make up for what this team has lost this off-season with Justin Williams joining the Capitols as a UFA, Jared Stoll even with his off ice issues is still a hole for this team as they have not filled they also did not retain rental Sekera. The problem for this team that right now has $7 M dollars in cap space is that they don’t know if they will get Slava Voynov back pending a review by the NHL and an unlikely threat of deportation but they also don’t know if the termination of Mike Richards contract will stand. All successful teams get victimized at some point by the cap but most don’t deal with the off ice issues that the Kings have had in this past year. The kings could easily be looking in from the outside come playoff time.
Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks are no better than they were last year when they frankly along with the flames punched above their weight class. Their additions have not been as great as their subtractions so at this point I don’t know what to make of them. Prust for Kassian seems like a lateral move. The return for Bieksa does not help them now although I do like their signing of Fedun could be a sleeper signing for their depleted blue line. It is crazy that a few years ago this is a team whose goalie depth chart read Luongo, Schneider and Lack and now they have none of them.
What’s Next for Me?
I have never been a guy that writes just to write I like to editorialize actual Sharks news so I’ll will probably be winding it down for the summer I may cover other goings on in the Pacific with time. I will however be continuing the Teal Tinted Glasses Podcast over the summer so if you need your fix you can find me there. If there is any big Sharks related news you can always expect me to cover it here at RSEN. Enjoy your summer.
