Next year - Offseason Discussion

[sjrules99]

Well, I'm putting this behind me. We all knew their D lacked and it showed when it counted most. It's done. let's look ahead:

Seems to me there aside from jumbo, patty, cooch, and maybe clowe, all the other forwards are tradable. Pavs, heater, mitchell, and maybe seto as well.

Also, I could see pickles on the trade market as well.

Seems like dougie has alot of fodder and very valuable trade pieces to try to secure that top Dman. Teams like Ottawa, Florida, Minny, columbus, toronto, and montreal were all in the bottom 10 in scoring and all could use help up front, not to mention calgary, NYR, and NYI. Pavelski would be an extremely hot commodity for any of those teams and there are a fairly large number of Dman that could be targets:

Burns (MIN), pitkanen (UFA), Staal (NYR), Bouwmeester (CGY), Phaneuf (TOR) among others.

Even Nashville could be willing to part with Weber for help up front potentially.

What do you guys expect?

 

[li0lsh]

trade pavs? hell no. seto? maybe no im really on the fence with that

 

[sjrules99]

Also, regarding rooks coming up, there seem to be a few to look for:

Viedensy, sgarbossa, varone, wingels up front
Dougherty, braun on the back end

Stalock, JP Anderson, Heemskerk, Sateri in net.

Seems there are some guys who could fight for roster spots coming up.

 

[Cmon_WTF]

Burns and Pitkanen are possibilties. There is no way in hell Staal is traded out of New York and this team would be in even worse shape with Phaneuf and Bouwmeester.

 

[sjrules99]

trade pavs? hell no. seto? maybe no im really on the fence with that

I love pavs as everyone knows on this board, but he is a hot commodity. He was the 30th overall scorer, which means that he would have been several teams leading scorer. He has improved steadily and is worth well more than his 4M salary and he is entering his prime, not to mention he has a great PO reputation. Simply put, he is the best trading chip dougie has. However, if dougie could package him and pickles and land weber and sign him long term, then I would do it in an instant. Pavs is great, but he is reaching his potential now given his raw lack of speed and quickness.

Buy low, sell high. Right now, pavs is real high, not to mention that with the emergence of couture, the sharks can afford to let pavs go for a great return.

 

[Destroydacre]

Getting Weber would be awesome. It's too bad I think he's the one guy that Nashville will throw big money toward. Maybe they could somehow get Suter out of there though. I think he's vastly underrated playing in Weber's shadow.

 

[Nimesis23]

Our problem every year has been lack of clutch scoring in the playoffs, and Setoguchi has delivered that time and again throughout this playoffs. If for nothing else, he deserves to back for contributing that to this team. He can definitely put the puck in the net, especially when he's paired with Thornton.

 

[MrChangoT97]

And so our favorite game show is back

"Who wants to play GM"

The Sharks need 2 top Dmen, a 4th line

 

[Bowlby]

And so our favorite game show is back

"Who wants to play GM"

The Sharks need 2 top Dmen, a 4th line

i think McGinn shoudl play alot on the 4th and ferririo too... Dejsadin didnt play bad either

 

[Cbrower91]

Sharks dont need 2 top dmen, they need at least one #2. Someone like Suter. Demers is going to be good that really takes care of alot of needs on the backend.

If Brauns development curve is as good as Demers or better, the sharks D woes may be over. Still they need someone they can get to help out Boyle and eventually replace him.

Pavelski doesnt have enough speed to keep up anymore, his first step is worse then Doug Murrays. 4th and 3rd lines need to get shored up, i think Nichol is done.

Its minor tweaking that is all thats needed, dumping heatley would be great but its not going to happen. He needs to train much harder this off season and get his hands going again.

 

[Yoshi]

Sharks dont need 2 top dmen, they need at least one #2. Someone like Suter. Demers is going to be good that really takes care of alot of needs on the backend.

If Brauns development curve is as good as Demers or better, the sharks D woes may be over. Still they need someone they can get to help out Boyle and eventually replace him.

Pavelski doesnt have enough speed to keep up anymore, his first step is worse then Doug Murrays. 4th and 3rd lines need to get shored up, i think Nichol is done.

Its minor tweaking that is all thats needed, dumping heatley would be great but its not going to happen. He needs to train much harder this off season and get his hands going again.

Would the Sharks want to bring White back? He was good in the Detroit series but only had 2 points in this entire series plus was a -2 overall. against the nucks. Through the entire playoffs he registered 1G, 8A, 9 P and 8 PIM with 1 PP. You figure that with Huskins and Wallin out of the picture, it could possibly be Boyle - Murray - Demers - Braun - Pickles - White.

I'm with others, I would look at trading Vlasic with that 3.1 M price tag. Unloading Nittymaki with that 2.0M price tag would be nice, but Greiss is a UFA and is Sateri/Stalock ready to make that move to the next level?

 

[sjrules99]

yes. I am 90% sure white will resign. I think he really enjoyed his time and he wants more PO experience and knows the sharks are one of the best shots at it. The question is $$$. 3.5 or less is fine with me. over 4 is an overpayment. We'll see what happens.

As for the D, they really do only need 1 top pairing guy. I dont know who is coming, but dougie better not rely on demers and braun to step into that role. Neither is ready yet as braun has barely even played in the NHL and demers is still just 22.

I hope they ditch mitchell and niity to save 3.5M per year for more impact players.

As for the 4th line, I hope they stay in house. Desjardins and Mcginn were extremely effective. Wingels may be an NHLer next year as might frazer mclaren, mashinter, or one of the calls ups. Ferriero should get a chance to play full time too. I dont want them to go out and sign another Mayers. Argh...

resign wellwood for 1M. Then maybe add one more forward for the 3rd line to replace mitchell. Jussi Jokinen, Scottie Upshall, Fedotenko, Tanguay, higgins, Asham are jsut a few names who might be acquirable for a pretty low price.

While the team could use an overhaul, it's not dougie's style. Likely he'll keep the same team and just try to add one or two pieces.

 

[sjrules99]

one other target could be ryan whitney from EDM. Vlasic+Seto for Whitney might do it. Perhaps add in Petrecki or a pick as well.

Edmonton needs some serious help defensively and are looking to get younger. Vlasic is exactly the kind of player they need as a guy who can kill penalties, play over 20 mins/game easily and help solidify their D in their own zone at a reasonable 3M price tag and hes still young. Also, Seto was a 30 goal scorer who is young and compliments their up and coming guys perfectly with great speed also at a reasonable price tag. Obviously it would hurt to lose seto, but I feel he is the most expendable and a pretty tradeable forward and would be worth moving for the right player.

Whitney has a very reasonable 4M price tag. Obviously, the injury history is troubling, but he is in his prime at age 28, and has shown the ability to put in double digit goals while not being too much of a liability defensively. He can definitely fill in as a top pairing or at least top 3 dman and help fill that massive hole on D. A top four of Boyle, Whitney, White, and Demers is pretty good with Murray and Braun rounding out the top 6. I feel that Defense would probably have enough firepower to do what the past years' defenses have not: match the opponents whether its seabrook-keith-hjalmarsson-campbell, Pronger-neidermeyer, bieksa-edler-hamhuis-salo-ehrhoff...

 

[Cbrower91]

the team doesn't need an overhaul it needs some tweaking. ryan whitneys numbers are greatly inflated because he was on terrible team with no depth on d so he ate up a ton of minutes in situations he normally wouldn't get on a team with depth.

moving vlasic would be a horrendous move especially for a slower less mobile offensively neutered defense man like whitney.

if white eats up huskins or walins money I say keep him., anymore let him. walk

 

[SJVP408]

Sharks dont need 2 top dmen, they need at least one #2. Someone like Suter. Demers is going to be good that really takes care of alot of needs on the backend.

If Brauns development curve is as good as Demers or better, the sharks D woes may be over. Still they need someone they can get to help out Boyle and eventually replace him.

Pavelski doesnt have enough speed to keep up anymore, his first step is worse then Doug Murrays. 4th and 3rd lines need to get shored up, i think Nichol is done.

Its minor tweaking that is all thats needed, dumping heatley would be great but its not going to happen. He needs to train much harder this off season and get his hands going again.

Good points. All of them. I'm not so high on Braun as many are here. He has a good pass and good shot, but I'm not seeing much defensively. I'm sure he'll get better, but I don't think he'll ever be mistaken for a defensive rock.

Pavs is clutch, but when he's not clutch, he's too slow to keep up. Great shot, great IQ, but the game is all about speed now. A team is only as fast as their slowest top 6 forward and top4 Dman. With Heater and Clowe already a part of the top 6, Pavs needs to go. Heater is untradable imo. Between Clowe and Pavs, I say keep Clowe.

I have no idea how Doug will acquire that top dman. Trading Vlasic to acquire that dman would just be a small step forward. Vlasic is a capable dman as long as he's not counted on to lead or start the rush. He's cheap for what he does. He's not part of the problem.

 

[Cbrower91]

it sucks for pavelski, I like him, and with exception to this, last series and a half he all ways busts his ass. like rules said and I've been saying goat rope someone with him while his value is high, because in 2 more seasons hes done

 

[Yoshi]

one other target could be ryan whitney from EDM. Vlasic+Seto for Whitney might do it. Perhaps add in Petrecki or a pick as well.

Edmonton needs some serious help defensively and are looking to get younger. Vlasic is exactly the kind of player they need as a guy who can kill penalties, play over 20 mins/game easily and help solidify their D in their own zone at a reasonable 3M price tag and hes still young. Also, Seto was a 30 goal scorer who is young and compliments their up and coming guys perfectly with great speed also at a reasonable price tag. Obviously it would hurt to lose seto, but I feel he is the most expendable and a pretty tradeable forward and would be worth moving for the right player.

Whitney has a very reasonable 4M price tag. Obviously, the injury history is troubling, but he is in his prime at age 28, and has shown the ability to put in double digit goals while not being too much of a liability defensively. He can definitely fill in as a top pairing or at least top 3 dman and help fill that massive hole on D. A top four of Boyle, Whitney, White, and Demers is pretty good with Murray and Braun rounding out the top 6. I feel that Defense would probably have enough firepower to do what the past years' defenses have not: match the opponents whether its seabrook-keith-hjalmarsson-campbell, Pronger-neidermeyer, bieksa-edler-hamhuis-salo-ehrhoff...

I do NOT like that idea at all - the Sharks lack assets in the speed department and we're essentially giving up Setoguchi, one of the few fast skaters on this team, for Whitney? Seto has had his ups and downs for the entire PO's, but his game is starting to evolve at both ends of the ice.

He made 1.8M this past season and (someone please correct me on this) will probably get a contract of somewhere in between 2 - 3.5 M per season? I haven't looked at the numbers, so I'm not sure what the going rate would be for a 24 year old potential first line RW with 41 points in the regular season and 10 points in the PO's. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's untouchable, but there's probably a better trade out there for him.

 

[Yoshi]

Good points. All of them. I'm not so high on Braun as many are here. He has a good pass and good shot, but I'm not seeing much defensively. I'm sure he'll get better, but I don't think he'll ever be mistaken for a defensive rock.

Pavs is clutch, but when he's not clutch, he's too slow to keep up. Great shot, great IQ, but the game is all about speed now. A team is only as fast as their slowest top 6 forward and top4 Dman. With Heater and Clowe already a part of the top 6, Pavs needs to go. Heater is untradable imo. Between Clowe and Pavs, I say keep Clowe.

I have no idea how Doug will acquire that top dman. Trading Vlasic to acquire that dman would just be a small step forward. Vlasic is a capable dman as long as he's not counted on to lead or start the rush. He's cheap for what he does. He's not part of the problem.

Whatever happened to Petrecki? Also, I'm not sure how DW will get that defenseman since the Sharks don't have many assets in the farm right now. He's probably going to have to move a forward to get that deal done (i.e. Seto - but not for Whitney) or package Vlasic as part of that deal. At 3.1 M, moving Vlasic would alleviate some of that cap hit into getting a better, more expensive defenseman.

 

[Ho_Brah]

I have to disagree on getting rid of Pavs or Seto. Unless they ship off Mitchell and Wellwood to retool the 3rd line, I don’t think you'll see any 1-3rd line changes (since Heatley has a NMC). Sharks focus in the offseason is to resign the top 3 lines, get rid of Eager, maybe keep Mayers if can’t replace him with someone better (decent PKer), dropkick Wallin and Huskins, trade Nitty to clear cap space. Then use the cap space to sign a big dollar UFA shutdown Dman on day 1.

Basically, solidify up the D corps, and with the extra year under their belts (especially Couture, Niemi, and Demers’) they’ll be even better next year.

my 2 cents. you guys have a heck of a team, just a little tweaking on the D and you'll be fine.

 

[SJVP408]

Notable UFA dmen, their age, and salary last season.

Ed Jovanovski 34 $6,500,000
Nicklas Lidstrom 40 $6,200,000
Bryan McCabe 35 $5,750,000
Andrei Markov 31 $5,750,000
Roman Hamrlik 36 $5,500,000
Scott Hannan 31 $4,500,000
Eric Brewer 31 $4,250,000
Tomas Kaberle 32 $4,250,000
Joni Pitkanen 26 $4,000,000
Kevin Bieksa 29 $3,750,000
Sami Salo 35 $3,500,000
James Wisniewski 26 $3,250,000
Christian Ehrhoff 27 $3,100,000
Ian White 26 $3,000,000