Gauging Sharks’ interest in remaining unrestricted free agents originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Sharks have made a lot of moves this summer, but industry consensus is that they still have a lot of holes.
Can they fill any of them with what’s left on the unrestricted free agent market?
Not likely.
There’s a reason why most of these UFAs are available so late in the offseason. But let’s look at where the Sharks are lacking — and if there’s a glimmer of help to be had in free agency.
First, let’s make sure that they have the money.
In my most recent roster projection, the Sharks are right at the $82.5 million dollar salary cap. But keep in mind, teams can go 10 percent over the cap in the offseason.
When push comes to shove during final roster cuts, it’s realistic for the Sharks to get immediate cap relief by parting with one of their three goalies and/or defenseman Radim Simek.
At minimum, the Sharks could clear $2.25 million dollars of space in an instant — say Simek and Adin Hill pass through waivers without being claimed. You can bury up to $1.13 million of a contract in the minors.
At most, trade Hill ($2.18 million cap hit) or James Reimer ($2.25 million) and Simek ($2.25 million) to clear over $4 million.
We’re not counting Evander Kane and his unresolved grievance. At this point, we have no sense when that will be cleared up. But for now, the Sharks have cap space flexibility and will continue to have it if their termination of Kane’s contract with them is upheld.
So what are the Sharks’ big holes — and could they be trying to fill them with the last of the UFA class? I spoke with multiple NHL sources to get a better sense.
Scoring
The Sharks were 30th in the league in goals scored last year.
“Yeah, I think so, [it would] be nice to get another [scorer] because all the playoff teams, they have 40 to 50 more goals this season, and that’s a lot of goals,” Tomas Hertl acknowledged in his May exit interview. “Sometimes I feel what happened with me and Timo [Meier] the last couple of months, we both tried to do too much. We tried, and it actually got worse.”
Frankly, I’m not sure if new Sharks forwards Oskar Lindblom (career high: 17 goals), Luke Kunin (15 goals), Nico Sturm (11 goals), or Steven Lorentz (8 goals) are what Hertl had in mind.
Could 28-year-old UFA Evan Rodrigues, who notched a breakout 19 goals last year, help the cause?
Probably, but it’s San Jose Hockey Now’s understanding that the Sharks have not reached out on Rodrigues at all, despite the Boston University connection. Rodrigues played for BU bench boss David Quinn from 2013 to 2015. Quinn, of course, is now the Sharks’ head coach.
It is a surprise that Rodrigues is available this late in the offseason, but a team executive intimated to SJHN: “E-Rod rubs people the wrong way.”
UFAs Sonny Milano (14-18-32) and Sam Gagner (13-18-31) are both capable playmakers who might be able to help the Sharks’ 22nd-ranked power play.
SJHN, however, has not heard that the Sharks are looking to add up front from this UFA forward group.
Defense
The Sharks have two true-blue, top-four defensemen in Erik Karlsson and Mario Ferraro.
It’s shaping up to be a free-for-all after that, between Simek, Matt Benning, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Markus Nutivaara, Jaycob Megna and prospects Ryan Merkley, Santeri Hatakka and Artemi Kniazev.
This doesn’t look like the stuff that playoff dreams are made of.
Sure-fire, top-four UFA defensemen, however, don’t make it this long into free agency. So don’t expect former top-four staples and current UFAs P.K. Subban, Danny DeKeyser, Anton Stralman, Calvin de Haan or Kris Russell, all in their 30s, to turn back the clock. Don’t expect 2012 second-overall pick and UFA Ryan Murray to finally live up to his draft billing.
But could any of these blueliners at least hang in a top-four spot on a shallow Sharks defense?
“I would say the first four names [Subban, DeKeyser, Stralman, and de Haan] you mentioned,” an NHL scout told SJHN. “Not as sold on the last two [Russell and Murray].”
He added: “If you want more offense and puck moving, then maybe Subban is the choice. De Haan is probably the most dependable defending, though injury-prone and limited offensively.”
The Sharks do have a gaping hole behind Karlsson on the power play that Subban could certainly fill. On the other hand, they’re more set on the penalty kill, so Stralman, de Haan and company might not prove to be as useful.
Another NHL scout said less-than-flattering things about Subban’s remaining game to SJHN recently, but there does seem to be a fit between the two parties.
However, sources have told SJHN that the Sharks have not reached out on Subban. Ditto on Stralman or Russell.
RELATED: Sharks, Timo have yet to begin contract negotiations
In general, it appears that the Sharks aren’t dipping into the UFA pool anymore.
They still have their holes: But it looks like the Sharks are still hoping, as they have the last three off-seasons, to fill them internally.
Maybe top prospect William Eklund can step in immediately into a top-six role? Perhaps Merkley’s game has grown leaps and bounds over the summer? And hey, the UFA options that I’ve mentioned are nothing special.
Could they have something else up their sleeve, too, three weeks away from training camp? A trade or even an offer sheet?
We’ll see — but there’s no doubt that the Sharks still need all the help they can get if they want to climb out of the draft lottery this year.
