2013-2014 Offseason Speculation

[Cmon_WTF]

Let your rosterbations begin!

 

[MrChangoT97]

Torres & Gomez should be addressed ASAP!

 

[Cbrower91]

I'd prefer to keep Boyle but if you cant get a first rounder or a good young depth roster player you take it for the cap relief. Adios Scablat take you and your many injuries elsewhere buy out or trade i dont care.

That frees up close to 11million so that puts the shark well below the new cap ceiling. Let Demers walk Irwin is replacing him plus like Havlat he cant stay Healthy.

Resign Ralphie to 2 year deal atleast. Hannan 1 year 900K. Go after Clarkson period no ifs ands or buts about it. Really need a winger to replace Wingels too, but if you can get that in the boyle trade and get clarkson it all works out

 

[Cbrower91]

Gomez would be nice,but not for the money hes likely looking for

 

[rares]

Gomez would be nice,but not for the money hes likely looking for

He's probably looking for very little. I think he's been quoted as saying that he's made a lot of money in his career and that's not what he's after, blah blah blah.

And he played like absolute shit the entire Kings series with the exception of parts of one game.

 

[MrChangoT97]

He's probably looking for very little. I think he's been quoted as saying that he's made a lot of money in his career and that's not what he's after, blah blah blah.

And he played like absolute shit the entire Kings series with the exception of parts of one game.

....yeah, but look at who was his line mates.

 

[Cbrower91]

....yeah, but look at who was his line mates.

touche'

 

[SJVP408]

Keep:
Galiardi RFA: Retain as a 3rd liner. He is not top 6 material. Too weak on the puck for my liking.

Torres UFA: Hate his past. Like him in teal. He provides nastiness and scoring depth. Big keeper.

Demers RFA: Should be cheap to retain. Little trade value. Keep him for another cheapo deal.

Sheppard RFA: Keep as bottom 6 depth. Good size with glimpses of offense. First season back after long rehab looks promising.

Gomez UFA: Retain if reasonable and other needs are met. Most likely gone.

Desjardin RFA: 4th liner/depth forward. Keep for cheap.

Hannan UFA: Good playoffs, but his inability to move the puck possibly outweighs the positives. He is old. Fine as a 7th dman.

Overall the team has mostly RFAs. The only big UFA is Torres.

Weaknesses I see and want some addressed:
- Galiardi is not a 1st line forward. Too weak on the puck. I hope Sheppard develops some to take this spot away.

- Another skill winger so when Havlat gets injured.

- Need puck mover from the left dman spot.

 

[SJVP408]

Really on the fence about trading Boyle. Forward thinking says to trade him, but it won't make any of the vets happy because the return package will mainly be for future assets. I'll have to look it over, but I can't name a team off the top of my head that can pay the price and needs a Boyle. If the return was a 2nd/3rd line young skilled forward, plus a prospect, I'd have to consider it.

 

[snowsurfer13sss]

Hows Hertl doing? Is he top 6 potential at all?

 

[SJVP408]

Hows Hertl doing? Is he top 6 potential at all?

I sure hope he has top 6 potential. He's going to need at least a year on North American ice to adapt, if you were wondering if he can help next season.

 

[snowsurfer13sss]

I sure hope he has top 6 potential. He's going to need at least a year on North American ice to adapt, if you were wondering if he can help next season.

Hoping his transition would be quick because he has already been playing in a pro league. At least a league thats not full of just a bunch of kids.

 

[23sharks]

Torres: Definitely try to sign him. They don't have another player on the roster like him, and him being out vs LA was a big loss.
Burns: Do you keep him at forward, or put him back on D? If he's back to D, you need another forward.
Gomez: If he wants to stay on a cheap deal, works for me.
Sheppard: Give him another year.
Havlat: I can't see them being able to move him.
Boyle: Would not trade him unless I'm blown away. You can move him at the deadline if needed.

I think they need to sign Torres, and try to add another forward too.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

Havlat you buy out unless a team is stupid enough to trade for him.

Boyle, Marleau, Thornton you trade if the return is right and they agree to it, obviously.
Get what you can now and develop the newcomers instead of waiting for the big three to walk next off-season/trading them at next deadline.

Pavs you move because he has value but he is a flawed player, terrible skater.

 

[snowsurfer13sss]

Id love to trade Joe and Patty at the deadline next year then have them resign for us in the offseason for very cheap haha

 

[sjrules99]

Personally, aside from my usual call for the sweeping changes I mentioned in other threads, in a more realistic world, here are my hopes:

1. Trade boyle. I love boyle. After cooch, he's my favorite. However, he is nearly done and I don't see the sharks making a legit run with two 34 year olds and a 37 year old as their top 3 players. It is painfully obvious to me that this is a young man's league, particularly with the outlawed hooking, holding, and interference which were of clear advantage to the grizzled vets who were wily but a step slow. Boyle is still awesome, very effective and by far their best Dman. This means he could get a big return and the sharks need to think about the future. Hopefully they can get a solid 1st rounder+top prospect/young NHL forward. Maybe a high budget, high pressure bubble team like Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, Philly, NJ, Edm, or CLB would be willing to overpay particularly with the extremely thin UFA D crop this year.

2. Torres = yes. Hopefully 2 years, 5M or so.
3. I like the Clarkson idea. Clarkson+Torres = scary to play against as long as they dont get suspended. Split those guys up and you have two scary lines that can score.
4. Deal demers for whatever you can get. if only a depth picl 6th or 7th then resign him at 1M or less for depth.
5. Gomez yes if under 1M. otehrwise, no. 1 year best, 2 max.
6. Yes on gali, shep and desi. None should be over 1M. galiardi at 1.25 or 3 yrs 1.5 is OK with me. He showed some signs of coming around I think.
7. Trade havlat if possible. If not, keep him. The buyout costs 2/3 of his salary so it would be something like 6.7M over 4 years (roughly 1.7M per year). Yes it saves 3.3M per year for the next two, but Im not sure they can get a better player for the 3.3M and then they would still lost the 1.7 for two additional years. Not sure it's worth it.
8. Have burish retire ... hehe, just kidding, we're saddled with his 2M no doubt.

Go after a few target UFA's if there are good deals. Clarkson is good. I would love Bozak if cheap, Stalberg would be nice too since we have his bro as well. I would also love mason raymond. I would prefer dougie not throw crazy money at these guys, but if he can get some at respectable prices on any of raymond, stalberg, bozak, Bickell, Fillpula, or even brunner then I would be pleased.

 

[sjrules99]

There is one big wild card that works in the sharks favor with the cap reduction:

There are a whole slew of teams that are cap strapped and will have sufficient trouble just resigning their own RFAs. There are also no top pairing Dmen on the UFA market. Why are these two facts so helpful? Because there will be a big market for boyle, and any team that gets him will have to eat his 6.7M salary and will unlikely be shopping much in the UFA market, but that would give the sharks over 14M in cap space with NO major RFA's to resign.

In other words, the number of teams bidding for UFA's this year will be far less and the salaries they can throw at them will be less. Trading boyle gives one less team to compete with, hopefully gets a very nice return, and gives the sharks a ton of space to land some of the top UFA's. I think this is the one year where dougie could be aggressive in signing UFA's to long term deals at good cap numbers if he plays his cards right.

Torres at 2.5M, Clarkson at 3M, Raymond also 3M, Stalberg 3M, Bickell or Fullpula 3M. Thats 14.5M for 5 top 9 forwards and would fit with a havlat buyout if dougie chose that route. All deals between 2-4 years. The D would be thin and we might have to see if a doherty, abelshuser, acolatse or the like can compete for a spot, but that could aid in creating a solid young D for the future and all of those UFAs aside from torres are in their 20's, so they should be good for at least 3-5 more years.

Top 9 Forwards would be:

Thornton, Marleau, pavelski, couture, stalberg, clarkson, torres, Raymond, and Bickell. Can fill it out with galiardi, desi, gomez and shep as the 13 forwards on the roster, which provides nice depth in case of injury or suspension.

Thornton-Stalberg-Bickell (3 biiiig bodies who can grind cycle and score with the two hawks)
Couture-Marleau-Torres (speed line with Torres as protection to do the dirty work)
Pavelski-Clarkson-Raymond (toughness and grit with some scoring punch---> This is a very good 3rd line)
Gomez-Galiardi-Desi (solid 4th line, though not much for production likely)

Burns would return to play D and the corps would be:

Vlasic-Burns
Stuart-Irwin
Hannan (resigns at 1M)-Braun
Demers

Obviously, it would be rough to lose boyle and would make an opportunity for the sharks to bring in some rooks to see what they can do. I like that roster, personally, and I think the scoring depth with galiardi able to jump back into the top 9 as needed would make the sharks hard to handle.

The lack of a third line obviously hurt the team, so they could parlay boyle into multiple key pieces for the future and use their cap leverage to land some solid UFA's as respectable prices.

 

[sjrules99]

hahaha I realize I forgot wingels... He's not much more than a 4th liners to me anyways...

 

[Cmon_WTF]

No thanks to Clarkson and Bozak. No interest in paying big money to tweener role players. Hell no to Raymond. He brings speed and nothing else.

For the right price Fillpula, Stalberg, and Bickell would be interesting additions.

 

[Hovertical]

In other news, it was announced that a major breakthrough in technology in the Silicon Valley has produced a device that produces Jeff Norton clones in rapid succession. Word is being spread around that an unnamed entity is quickly working to buy out said company and their technology before it can escape into the eager hands of NHL GM's. Theories are flying fast and furious as to who this "mystery" entrepreneur is that is in negotiation rights to the Norton-izer device. We can only hope and pray that with such a powerful device in his hands this mysterious individual will do some good in the world.