Team: 2021-22 San Jose Sharks

Initial Creation Date: May 10, 2021

Published: May 10, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

My guide to SJ's offseason:

1. Ship Burns to Seattle:
Leonard + two 2nds gets it done. Burns is logging 26:11 of ice time this season -- that's absolutely nuts -- and he's still pretty effective. Check out his advanced stats -- he still drives offense very well 5v5 and is average defensively (which is a good thing, neither good or bad), while still QBing the PP and playing 1st unit PK. The point totals have dropped, sure, but that's in part due to a bad SJ team this season and part due to focusing more on being decent defensively. The contract is large with 4 more years at 8mil, but this is one of those contracts that can make sense for SEA with a decent sweetener thrown in with Leonard and two 2nds for trade ammunition/building the farm team through the draft. Burns is also very marketable and would be an instant fan favorite.

2. Ship Simek for a mid-to-late round pick:
Simmer's a good 2nd/3rd pairing dman, but Sharks are too loaded on the left side. Simek's the odd man out and shipping him to a team in need of defense/physicality won't be difficult to one of the younger teams with cap space like NJ, even if the contract that is 1 year too many with 3 yrs left instead of 2 drives the price down to just a mid-to-late round pick to get it done.

3. Buy-out Jones:
It's time for a change of scenery for both Jonesey and the team. Won't say anything more about that.

4. Sign Granlund:
Offensive middle-6-C SJ desperately needs with offensive wingers like Balcers/Meier and Labanc/Blichfeld. a 5yrx4mil deal gets it done.

5. Sign Larsson (and Poolman):
Replace Burns in the top-4 and have a defensive-focused guy locked up for a few years there at a decent mid-range contract. If Larsson's not there, target Barrie for a similar deal, who can also add some offense (esp on SJ's atrocious PP) and have Ferraro cover more defensively on that pairing. Poolman fits perfect with Vlasic to provide a secondary shutdown line on a 1-yr deal. Merkley at this point clearly needs 1 more year in the AHL (slightly normal for defensemen to take longer to get ready) but should be ready to take his spot in the following season at league minimum or even halfway through next season if he shows major strides.

6. Sign Armia:
Physical defensive RW for the bottom-6 with enough speed and skill that fits the bill for just what the Sharks need. Forms a shut-down defensive 4th line with Nieto and Gambrell.

7. Sign Andersen to a 1-yr deal:
Freddie gets a 1-yr flyer in a prove-it bounce-back contract. After being paid 5mil for a good number of seasons, this is Freddie's chance to prove that he can still be a very good goaltender in this league. Reasonable to think he takes a 3.5mil contract especially with the defensive moves (Larsson/Armia) Sharks make before this, as well as a little Danish connection with Blichfeld + True. Look for Melnichuk (or Emond) to take over this spot with Korenar as the starter for next season.

Hertl+Ferraro+Kniazhev's extensions the following season:
Freddie + Poolman's contracts coming off the books results in 5mil of extra cap space. Fill those 2 spots with ELCs (Merkley + Melnichuk/Emond), that leaves ~3.2mil + 760K = almost 4mil, but -500K of extra buyout-Jones money, leaving ~3.45mil. I think Hertl gets a 1mil increase for 6.625mil, Ferraro takes a 2-yr bridge for 2mil (~a 1mil increase), and Kniazhev also bridges at a 1mil increase so those are all covered. Other factors like Ozzy or Robins being ready to take over Nieto or even Barabanov's spots (if the latter either commands too much money or regresses) could save the team money too.

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