Four Areas the Sharks Should Address Through Free Agency, Trades

Four Areas the Sharks Should Address Through Free Agency, Trades originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area

Editor’s note: Sheng Peng will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more about their coverage at Hockey in San Jose nowlisten to it on San Jose Hockey Podcast Nowand follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.

Who couldn’t help Will the San Jose Sharks improve next season?

When you’re arguably the worst team of the salary cap era — the Sharks’ minus-150 goal differential last season was the biggest since the Ottawa Senators’ minus-196 in 1993-94 — it seems like practically half of the NHL would be an improvement .

So it’s clear that top UFAs like center Sam Reinhart, wing Steven Stamkos and defenseman Brady Skjei can make a difference. Of course, big-name trade targets like Mitch Marner, Martin Necas and Nikolaj Ehlers would be great additions.

But realistically?

The Sharks need to balance this desperate need to create a more positive and competitive environment for potential stars Will Smith and expected No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini to entermaybe next year – without exaggerating.

The Sharks aren’t close enough to Stanley Cup playoff contention where they would be attractive to an older, used-to-winning free agent like Stamkos — or where it would make sense to offer a 29-year-old 50-goal scorer like Reinhart, a maximum contract.

Likewise, they are not yet in a good position to offer significant assets to land a star like Marner via trade.

Simply put, the Sharks should improve considerably next season, but without seriously mortgaging their future. At this point in the rebuild, it’s still crucial to hold onto future first-round draft picks and avoid handing out long, potentially crippling contracts.

So with that in mind, here are four need situations the Sharks should address, along with more likely free agents or trade targets.

Haute Couture Insurance

Let’s assume that center Logan Couture, who only managed to play six games last year, is unable to start the 2024-25 NHL season.

That leaves the Sharks’ center depth thin after Mikael Granlund, Nico Sturm and probably Celebrini.

Smith is a natural center, but relying on two teenagers to anchor key roles in the middle could be a recipe for disaster. Either way, Wing might be the most ideal place for Smith to begin his NHL career.

Therefore, San Jose could use another veteran center, who has average-six skill, high competition and will be a great example for the youngsters. For example, if you could clone Couture or Granlund, that would be ideal.

But if that doesn’t happen, cap-less New York Islanders could be looking to lose some pay.

Will the Sharks be able to trade Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who still has two years left on his contract at a $5 million AAV?

“It almost seems like they can’t move forward without moving him, considering his cap [hold]”, André Fantucchio of NYI Hockey Now told San Jose Hockey Now.

Keep in mind that the 31-year-old has a 16-team no-trade clause.

But the Islanders’ alternate captain is an all-situations, more defensive-minded center who has averaged half a point per game since 2019-20. His production dropped to 11 goals and 22 assists in 82 games last year.

But the 5-foot-11 center is a solid addition who should have a reasonable acquisition cost.

So what if Couture is healthy? That’s just a huge bonus.

Extremely courageous goalscorer

General manager Mike Grier has constantly talked about making the Sharks tougher to play against.

A Pageau helps in this regard.

But the Sharks also need help at wing, a highly competitive player who has an intermediate scoring touch and will defend his teammates.

We will include Will Smith, William Eklund, Fabian Zetterlund, Luke Kunin, Klim Kostin, Filip Zadina and Justin Bailey in the lineup at wing.

Thomas Bordeleau and Danil Gushchin are also knocking on the door.

Could free agent Dakota Joshua be a solid addition to this mix?

The 6-foot-2 Joshua flourished with a career-high 18 goals in 63 games last season, also leading the Vancouver Canucks in hits and tying for the team lead in fights.

At 27, he may be a late bloomer.

AFP Analysisstarting May 20, predicts that UFA will sign a four-year contract with an AAV of $3.253 million.

Not one, but two defenders

In a team full of weaknesses, the defense may have been the Sharks’ ugliest last season.

They couldn’t kill plays or move the puck — essentially, they couldn’t do almost anything right — so adding versatile defenders had to be the priority.

The Sharks could use at least two versatile blueliners who are higher on the depth chart than left-handers Mario Ferraro, Henry Thrun, Shakir Mukhamadullin, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and right-handers Jan Rutta, Matt Benning, Ty Emberson, and Kyle Burroughs.

There’s a chain reaction: pushing players like Ferraro down the lineup improves the entire defense. For example, instead of Ferraro playing his usual 23+ minutes, putting him in the 19-20 range is probably better for him and the team.

So maybe a couple of UFA righties like Dylan De Melo It is Sean Walker would it be a good option?

An NHL scout outside the Sharks organization believes DeMelo and Walker should be slightly less sought after than the bigger middle-class names on the market like Nikita Zadorov and Chris Tanev.

Offensively, both DeMelo (31 points) and Walker (29) would have surpassed Sharks defensemen in that category, over current leader Ferraro (21). They’re not even true power play defenders, but they are capable of moving the puck.

Defensively, both DeMelo and Walker are highly competitive defenders who can handle tough matchups, and they also take penalty kills.

Ideally, you’d want bigger (DeMelo is 6-foot-1, Walker 5-foot-11) and younger (DeMelo is 31, Walker is 30) blueliners, but beggars can’t be choosers. And their willingness to fight pays off in a big way.

Ideally, DeMelo and Walker are middle-of-the-order rearguards on a deeper team — but at least they shouldn’t be as outmatched as Sharks D was last year in high-leverage situations.

AFP Analytics projects that DeMelo will command a four-year contract with an AAV of $5.3 million and Walker will command a three-year contract with an AAV of $4.63 million.

Projected lines

“Definitely [plausible],” the scout, who examined these needs and roster additions, told SJHN.

The Sharks will likely have to overpay players like Joshua, DeMelo and Walker, but with more than $30 million in salary cap space at their disposal, they can afford it. These are risks, but not significant risks.

Make no mistake – this theoretical Sharks team isn’t making the playoffs:

Eklund-Granlund-Kostin

Joshua-Celebrini-Zetterlund

Kunin-Pageau-Will Smith

Zadina-Sturm-Bailey

Ferraro-DeMelo

Thrun-Walker

Mukhamadullin-Benning

Mackenzie Blackwood

Vitek Vanecek

But it should be a more competitive group that would create a more positive environment for Celebrini and Smith to develop.

And that’s the point: don’t put the weight of the world on Celebrini and Smith until they’re ready for it.

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