Although the Niemi Era ended at the draft with his rights going to the Stars for a seventh round pick, Niemi signing a 3 year deal with the Dallas Stars for 4.5 million per year really put the exclamation point on it. Also at the draft 3 goalies that the Sharks had been said to covet in Lehner, Talbot and Lack also went to other teams. Personally I feel that of the deals Buffalo paid a steep price for the biggest maybe in the group of Lehner. Eddie Lack went to Carolina for a good price that the Sharks could have met but would a division rival get such a sweetheart deal especially after the Beiksa drama? Probably not. Finally Talbot went to the Edmonton Oilers for picks as well but I’ll be very interested to see what he does behind a very inferior Edmonton defence. At the end of the day all 3 would have been a nice move for Doug Wilson especially Lack who I was hoping would be in teal, but they are all relatively unproven and are not guaranteed to make their new teams better.
So the question that seems to get asked every other second is what do the Sharks do now? Doug Wilson says there are more trade options out there than most people than think. Also even though Doug Wilson says Free Agency is not his preferred path I see no way in which he goes into next season with a Stalock / Groesnick tandum. So what I plan to do is list some teams that could be targeted give a why. I’m not really going to go into what we’d have to give up because who knows at this point. I’ll finish up with some Unrestricted Free Agents that could also fit.
Trade Targets
The Boston Bruins: The Bruins are making all kinds of moves that don’t make sense. I thought the one good move they made though was robbing the Kings in the Lucic trade. Now are they crazy enough to ship Tukka Rask? I’d say probably not but newly acquired Martin Jones could be an interesting target for the Bruins. Jones is an RFA this summer so Boston will have the leverage of the Sharks not being able to just throw an offer sheet at him (No 2016 3rd.) but will all the bizarre moves that the Bruins have made I think DW has to make this call. The Sharks could also inquire about Malcolm Subban but that would not address the Sharks immediate needs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs: Most people are going to expect this to be about stealing Jonathan Bernier from the Leafs but I really feel pretty confident that if a goalie leaves Toronto this year it will be James Riemer who only has one year remaining on his 2.3 million dollar deal and is a UFA next year. With the leafs wanting to make plenty of moves this summer offloading Riemer probably won’t cost a team the farm.
The Carolina Hurricanes: Eddie Lack should be a starter in this league so the question to ask is what to they do with Cam Ward? Now this is one of the least appealing options out there as Ward carries a $6.3 M dollar cap hit, and he is far removed from his Conne Smythe performance but could be a decent stop gap should the Sharks get him significantly down from his frankly overpaid cap hit when he becomes a UFA next year and because of the cap hit and recent tumble the asking price again won’t be high.
The Anaheim Ducks: While this is very unlikely the Ducks who just signed Khudobin to be their backup, and the logic here is that Gibson probably isn’t up for grabs as much as he is going to see the majority of starts on the Ducks AHL affiliate Gulls. However I think this is a call that Doug Wilson has to make but would cost a fortune as a division rival.
The Montreal Canadiens: Another long shot is that with Carey Price set to be the guy in Montreal for a long time to come and Fucale being groomed as the next guy (although hes a project for the time being), I would be interested to see what the Canadiens would want for Dustin Tokarski. Tokarski is no more inexperienced than the other goalies that got traded at the draft and could be a nice boom/bust pickup he will be a RFA next year.
The Detroit Red Wings: Are the Detroit Red Wings ready to move on from Jimmy Howard? Howard lost the net in the playoffs to the strong play of Petr Mrazek but I don’t know if the Wings are ready to go all in with the kid. If he plays good again this year though the Wings might not be so enamoured with Howard’s $5.29 M cap hit that he carries until 2018-2019 when it comes time to pay Mrazek.
The Tampa Bay Lightning: If there is a team that has an embarrassment of riches its the Tampa Bay Lightning and although Andrey Vasileskiy has a very small sample size of games many have been impressed with what they see. Now he would not come cheap but with the also promising Kristers Gudlevskis that could fit into the backup role behind Bishop very easily. Not only could this address our needs for next year as this team continues to grow but could solve our goaltender issues for a long time making it worth the what would be very high price.
The Winnipeg Jets: The Jets in my opinion may have the best prospect pool in the entire NHL. Sure the Oilers have McDavid but the Jet’s seem to be just loaded in every position including in goal. Hutchenson has a pretty good run last year and with Hellebuyck possibly ready to make the jump to the NHL and Eric Comrie coming along nicely although not AHL eligible yet do the Jets move on from the remaining 2 years of Ondrej Pavelec at a $3.9 M cap hit? While I’m certainly not a Pavelec fan the question should still be asked.
Unrestricted Free Agent Options
If the Sharks decide the trade market is too expensive for their tastes there are a few UFA’s that could fill the gap for the time being. I’ll list them in order of personal preference.
Karri Ramo: After a great season in Calgary which he split with Jonas Hiller, Ramo just might be the best UFA goalie on the market come July 1st with both Niemi and Dubnuk off the board, at 28 years old he does fit into the age group of guys that would appeal to Doug Wilson.
Michal Neuvirth: Another guy that fits into Doug Wilson’s description of what he wants from our next goaltender, although he many never become the goalie he was advertised to be I don’t think we have seen all there is to see from him either.
Anders Lindback: With a monster size that everyone seems to covet Lindback might make a good tandem goaltender with Stalock. He has had moments of brilliance but I feel he falls into the old adage goes “Its up to a small guy to prove he can play in the NHL and a large guy to prove he can’t.”
Johnas Enroth: Another goalie who fits the age but is a tandem goalie at best.
Victor Fasth: May not fit the age requirement coming in at 32 but he had a decent year in 2012-2013 with the Ducks putting together a .921 SV% in 25 games and even had a .914 his first year with the Oilers which considering the team state is pretty good. This could be a sneaky signing by Doug Wilson.
So while who the sharks will end up with remains a mystery there are more potential moves than people probably have realized until this point.
