Someone will claim him from waivers. It's not as simple as dumping him onto the Barracuda. He's one of the best PK'ers in the NHL

Well at least you have your own 1st this year.

At least Sharks players have Marleau likely catching Howe this season to look forward to. Plus actually having your 1st.

I wasn’t trying to make it simple. If someone claimed him that would be amazing! Clear some cap space and allow Nieto, Gregor, and Marleau to play ahead of him.

Nieto is far from redundant. He’s become an excellent PKer and can still skate like the wind. Marleau... please trade him.

I meant redundant from a Sorensen standpoint and what Gregor is developing into. I’m actually happy with the Nieto signing. I’d much rather have Nieto at $700k than Sorensen at $1.5m.

Willing to bet they add a 3C either via trade or signing a guy like Haula. DW had to do right by Joe and let him have his moment even though his comments earlier in the week showed that he knew Thornton was moving on, and maybe even encouraged him to do so. Add a legitimate 3C into that lineup, and it's a playoff contender in a weak Pacific division. If the top guys are healthy, they have as much top end talent as anyone in the division sans Edmonton, because well McDavid and Draisatl are the two best players in the league probably.

No doubt. Doug has had ample opportunities to actually improve this team. There have been some absolute bargains in FA and not a whisper of the Sharks being connected to anyone outside of the Wild trades.

The team has the cap space to improve its 3rd line, especially if they can move on from Sorensen’s $1.5m cap hit.

I mean you called him redundant, but Nieto for $700k was noted as the best value deal in UFA compared to expected cap hit thus far based on the article put out by Sheng Peng today. I was one that wanted to sign Hinostroza, Boyd, or a number of those other cheap bottom 6 forwards, but Nieto is frankly better than all of them and signed for league minimum. Donato was a nice value move as well. Roster is better going into this season than it was last year and it still has a decent chunk of cap space to go out and improve the middle 6 somewhere, whether it be another RW for the 2nd line or a 3rd line center.

Yes, I did call Nieto and Marleau redundant. Because after their signings, the Donato trade, and the Sorensen retention, the Sharks have 5 bottom 6 LWs: Donato, Nieto, Gregor, Marleau, and Sorensen.

Now I know they’re praying that Donato is a top 6 forward, and that they’re planning on playing guys on their off wings, but there’s still a major redundancy there especially for a team that has cap issues and a major weakness with offensive, solid, right shot forwards.

Sheng is correct that Nieto is an amazing value signing. It would be a much better move if the team didn’t have Sorensen and Marleau on it, imo.

Marleau legitimately made the team better last year, he is not the player he once was but he’s more than worth his league min salary, his leadership and fitness level pushes all the kids to try harder, I am happy he’s here for one last season but this HAS TO BE THE LAST, hopefully lol

Sorenson is a middle 6/bottom 6 LW on a decent contract. He’s a good grinding forward, chips in 10-15 Goals, hits harder than you’d expect, is a spark plug, and he’s a top PK guy for a team who just lost their top 2 options (Melker and Goodrow).
I know he’s not a flashy guy but he is very valuable and we need him.

Thanks for your insight and opinion. Having never been checked by Sorensen, I’ll take you word that he hits harder than I would expect. He’s only potted more than 10 goals once in the NHL (17 in ‘18-‘19). He was one of the most inconsistent and disappointing players for the Sharks last year, imo, especially considering he was consistently playing with Thornton.

When looking at this team and their cap issues, he is an easy player to want to move, especially after the Nieto and Marleau signings, paired with Gregory’s emergence in the second half of last season. Nieto and Marleau will be making less money than Sorensen next combined and will most likely offer the team more next season.

I personally don’t view him as part of the solution and don’t believe he warrants an active roster spot at this point regardless of his PK ability or locker room presence.

He was inconsistent last year..... the whole team was so don’t hold it against him, he will never be more than a 10-15 goal 20-39 point bottom 6 player who is good on the PK, but you need those guys to win cups, that’s why Tampa grabbed Goodrow, just give him one more year, I have a feeling this year he puts up 15 goals 28 points and it one of our top PK guys! And if we suck trade him at the deadline for way more than you can get in the off season.