© John Hefti | 2019 May 13
By now you’ve heard the news: Former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski has signed a three-year, $7 million dollar with the Dallas Stars. Take that, along with the loss of Joonas Donskoi to the Colorado Avalanche, and Gustav Nyquist to the Blue Jackets, the San Jose Sharks are down to only five true wing players left on the roster. And really only one true right wing in Kevin Labanc who’s a restricted free agent, but looking as if he will return.
The loss of Pavelski means that the Sharks will not only have to replace their captain and the absolute heart and soul of the team, but they’re going to have to account for Pavelski’s 38 goals that are getting on the plane to Dallas.
It is going to be very difficult to replicate Pavelski’s intangibles and what he meant to this team. No fan of Team Teal will ever forget Game 7 of the Vegas series and his eventual triumphant return later that postseason. He is and will be forever the embodiment of the San Jose Sharks. From carving out a borderline Hall of Fame career as a 7th round pick out of the University of Wisconsin, to tie a career high 38 goal season at 34 years old. Pavelski’s toughness, and grit and leadership is what made him one of the most popular players in that dressing room and among the fan base in the history of this franchise. His loss is a major blow.
The Sharks did what they needed to do in re-upping Erik Karlsson and Timo Meier. Those were top priorities. Meier is a 22-year-old budding superstar, and Karlsson the best defenseman of his generation. But those two contracts took up a majority of the cap space the Sharks had left, and they could not afford Pavelski, Donskoi, and Nyquist at the prices which they eventually signed.
They are now left with pretty major holes at the forward position. Unfortunately for the Sharks, they don’t have the elite prospects to step right in and immediately fill the void that those three guys left. You’ll hear names like Alexander True, who had 55 points last season with the Barracuda, or Sasha Chmelevski, who posted 7 points in seven games on the same line with top pick Jack Hughes in the U-20 World Juniors. Dylan Gambrel who we saw a glimpse of in the postseason will be expected to take the next step. But their impact will be limited, at best.
San Jose missed out on free agent targets like Wayne Simmonds or Mats Zuccarello as immediate replacements for the skaters they lost. There is slim pickings left in the free agent market now, and just a little over 6 million in cap room to work with. Some of the forwards left in the free agent market like Marcus Johanson (30 pts between New Jersey and Boston) and Ryan Dzingel (56 pts between Ottawa and Columbus) could help, but won’t be the impact players that Pavelski and Nyquist were.
It would behoove Doug Wilson to target Nikita Gusev, from the rival Vegas Golden Knights, as they’re a team in a worse cap situation than even the Sharks, and Gusev is asking for money that Vegas isn’t willing to pay as a restricted free agent, and rumors out of Vegas are that he could be on his way out. The Russian is a potential superstar and was far and away the best player in the KHL, the second-best league in the world. He’d step right in on one of the top two lines for the Sharks next season.
The Sharks aren’t working with much on the trade front however. They have no first round pick in 2020, and are thin in the farm system, but I do not put it past Doug Wilson to pull off another heist like he did with Kane, Karlsson, and even Nyquist. He seems to pull off an amazing trade every year, but if he pulls something out of a hat this offseason, it will be his greatest masterpiece yet.
It is still very early in what is shaping up to be a tumultuous offseason. And like the Warriors, their counterparts in the Bay, they have a lot of needs to fill and little resources to fill them. They’re going to be counting on young players to take the next step in their careers, and pray for career years for some free agent they haven’t signed yet.
The fact is this: the San Jose Sharks are gearing up for one last cup run, as they’re going to be in salary cap hell down the road, with aging players signed to long-term, big money contracts. They’re going to need a mix of veterans and younger players to take the next step if they’re going to be a true cup contender in the 2019-20 season. They’re going to need to make shrewd decisions on the free agent and trade markets if they want to get back to where they were last season. I do not envy Doug Wilson today.
