San Jose Sharks 2025 Free Agency Preview

class is now in session I’m Professor Hockey and today I’ll be discussing my 2025 free agency preview for the San Jose Sharks Free agency is just about a month away from actually opening up on July 1st and as we know the Sharks have the possibility of making a huge splash when that does happen because they have the most amount of cap space in the entire league at almost $42 million But the Sharks will not be looking to actually maximize that space and spend all the way up to the salary cap ceiling because they have some pretty big contract extensions they need to hand out to their young players like Eklund and Celabbrini over the next couple of years Instead their priority will simply be to just try and spend to the salary cap floor There is a certain amount of money that every single team needs to spend each year to be eligible to play the next season in the NHL And currently the Sharks are pretty far away from that threshold Their roster right now has about 10 forwards and this includes Logan Couture’s $8 million even though he’s not actually going to play any games Six defenseman and one goalender This cost the Sharks close to $54 million leaving a $17 million gap that does need to be filled in some way Now for the purpose of this video I will not be discussing any trades that the Sharks could and likely will end up making neither the ones that would actually benefit San Jose and actually improve the team nor the trades that will be taking on bad contracts or dead salary cap One of the most popular ones currently floating around right now is to try and trade for Montreal Canadians goalender Carrie Price He’s making over $10 million and he’s in a Logan Couture type of situation where he’s not going to be playing any more games so he doesn’t get in the way and his over 10 mil would do a long way towards getting to that salary cap floor However for this video just going to be focusing on potential free agent signings both UFAS and RFAS And to start off with the restricted free agents that are currently within the Sharks rights we have Nikolai Kovalenko This is a player that I hope the Sharks can bring back I imagine Mike Greer feels feels similarly but it is ultimately going to come up to the player himself because Kovaleeno and the Sharks coaching staff had a bit of a falling out this past season when he came over from the McKenzie Blackwood trade He likely thought going to a weaker team meant more ice time and yet it didn’t really work out that way He found himself a relatively frequent healthy scratch in favor of players like Carl Grundstrom and Ty Dandria and Noah Greger And I don’t necessarily disagree with Kovaleno looking at that and thinking like hey what’s going on here because Kovalenko has a bit more offensive talent could actually be a future player on this team over the next few years None of those players who I just previously mentioned have that type of game to them right now And so for Kovaleeno considering he spent the majority of the early parts of his career in the KHL that is a possibility for him to return to The Sharks will try to do their best to attempt to get him to stay here But I don’t know if Worsovski will actually be up for it considering he called him out rather publicly in the media the just actually a few weeks ago So I have him getting about $1.5 million if the Sharks could actually reach a contract He’s probably not even worth this amount But maybe the Sharks would have to sweeten the pot to get him to stick around but I don’t know if they will be able to actually give him the guarantees that he’ll get uh lineup time and actual ice time with the Sharks this season So I guess we’ll see what ends up happening but he is a player who I do hope the Sharks can find a way to bring back Then we have Sharks forward Clem Cen This is a player who I do believe the Sharks should move on from at this point It’s not because I think C has zero talent He does have skill He does have the build to be able to find success in the NHL And perhaps he will be able to do that with some other team that decides to take a chance on him But the fact remains here is that he has lost the uh trust of the Sharks coaching staff and that’s very difficult to come back from He was at a position where he could make two three four great plays in a row but then the moment he makes one mistake he ends up getting stapled to the bench and likely be becomes a healthy scratch over the next couple of weeks And I can’t even necessarily say that I blame Warovski for this He was a turnover machine a mistake machine and he’s just not really a trustworthy player on the ice You don’t necessarily need him back And so time to move on Then we have Noah Greor his second tour of duty with the San Jose Sharks It’s honestly kind of a surprise that he is an RFA For whatever reason I think of him as like this grizzled veteran and yet he’s still rather young but as we know the Sharks moved on from him a couple of years ago They felt as though he was not necessarily good enough to be on the Sharks roster then and very little has actually changed since that moment and so might as well move on yet again It would just create unnecessary bloat within the Sharks bottom six By resigning him you already have guys like Grundam and Dandrian Goodro hanging around You don’t need another one of those types of players And so no reason for a new contract here And then we have Thomas Bordlo Last off season he was given a one-year prove it deal And I could certainly sit here and say that Bordlo was not given the proper space to actually be able to prove it considering he only got a single game in the NHL this season But you know all things considered it is unfortunately not a good enough year I guess for Thomas Bllo And it is very likely that the Sharks move on from him at this moment And it will probably be mutual I don’t even know if Borlau would want to come back in the first place And so they’ll likely kind of relinquish his rights and either he’ll be able to find one last chance with a different NHL team who feels as though the potential is there or he’ll end up playing overseas in Europe or something along those lines Then we have Denil Guushian Kind of a similar situation to Kovaleeno though not as much as a public drama I would say in this spot But the fact is is that Guushian was a player who likely believed he would be given more of a chance to find a footing in the NHL And while he did get more games than Borlow at 12 this season not quite enough I would say and so it ended up being a bit of a rough situation for Gusheen throughout this season he had had considerations of heading back to the KHL last off season but ultimately decided to stay in North America I imagine those considerations will return in this off season so it’s hard to say whether or not he comes back But unlike with Borlo I do think the Sharks should want to bring him He did show some very real potential throughout this season he was still close to a point per game player in the AHL I thought he showed some promise in the NHL even if the point totals weren’t quite there And so giving him a contract like 900K similar to what Borlo got last year as a one-year proof a deal I think could be in the cards But again like with Kovaleeno wouldn’t be surprised to see him walk away And then we have Jack Thompson He is a defensive prospect who played some games in the NHL this season bounced around between the Sharks and the Barracuda He is definitely someone who the Sharks should want to hang on to And I don’t really see much of a reason for why Thompson wouldn’t want to stick around either He plays on the right side which is a necessary position for the Sharks to fill It also means that Thompson always has that opportunity of moving up in case there are injuries He’s likely like a seventh or eighth defenseman on the Sharks for this upcoming season yet again And so 900,000 seems more than fair for what he has done And then the final player in the restricted free agent section is not one that the Sharks currently have the rights of but instead would be the Sharks employing the use of an offer sheet Now these are things that are pretty rarely used in the NHL these days One of the major reasons is that it does kind of sour the relationship between two teams The prime example for that was a few years ago when the Montreal Canadians attempted to offer sheet Sebastian AO of the Carolina Hurricanes The Hurricanes would match that contract but then as revenge would try to offer sheet Canadians forward Yes Berry Kotknami The Canadians would let that happen and Kami didn’t really end up panning out for Carolina but obviously it created some bad blood between those two general managers and so most teams are kind of hesitant to actually go down that route However last off season the St Louis Blues decided to offer sheet both Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway two players on the capstrapped Edmonton Oilers The Oilers let both of them go and it panned out exceptionally well for the St Louis Blues Dylan Holloway put up over 60 points this past season while Philip Broberg secured himself as a solid top four defenseman in the NHL This was a massive win for St Louis that allowed them to get into the playoffs and actually looked pretty dangerous when they did so As such people are theorizing that perhaps an offer sheet could be more common this off season because of just how well it worked out for St Louis However it is not just the kind of bad blood that will end up forming between two teams when an offer sheet is there and that’s what holds teams back There are two other reasons that make it so that these don’t really happen all that often The first of which is the compensation that is required to make a contract like this occur When you pay a player to get them over from whatever team currently holds their rights depending on the value that you are offering up you have to also give over your own team’s draft picks to be able to make this work out So currently the compensation works out thus this way that if you pay over $4.7 million for a restricted free agent you will have to give the other team your first round pick And as we know the Sharks just aren’t really in a position to do so right now This would be unprotected there’s no possible lottery protections that you could put into place And so even in the most optimistic of scenarios this would mean the Sharks would be giving up probably like a 10th to 12th overall pick And as we know what we just saw a few weeks ago at the lottery those picks can still win the lottery The Islanders moved from 10th to first with a 3.5% chance And the Utah Hockey Club moved from 14th to fourth with a 1.5% chance Pretty crazy scenarios And the Sharks definitely don’t want to be the team that signs Matthew Ny but ends up handing over Gavin McKenna to the Toronto Maple Leafs And so there is a kind of cap to how much the Sharks would actually want to spend in one of these offer sheet scenarios Meaning the big fish currently available like Matthew Ny like Marco Rossi like JJ Purka likely aren’t available The other reason is that you do have to find the correct situation to actually be able to get a player over You don’t want to just hand out an offer sheet to a team that can easily match For instance if the Sharks were to try and sign Veronov of the Columbus Blue Jackets to $4.6 million the Blue Jackets are the team with the second most amount of cap space in the entire league right behind the Sharks They will simply just match and now suddenly you’ve created a bit of a rivalry between two general managers for absolutely no reason And so you want to do what the St Louis Blues did last season go after a team that might not actually be able to afford to match that type of contract So again that makes the actual available pool of players even smaller But there is one guy who I do think kind of fits into this situation and could be a player the Sharks could theoretically pursue with an offer sheet in this off season And that is Rangers forward Will Culie Now first of all he is a player who did actually perform rather well this season was a 20 goal scorer put up some decent amount of points but I don’t quite think he is so expensive that the Sharks would have to give over that 4.7 million threshold which is the reason why I have him making 4.6 And I don’t even have the sort of like oh he’s making around 4.6 The Sharks will definitely try to give him the absolute maximum that they can without giving up that first rounder which means instead they would have to give up their own second rounder from next season which to me is likely worth it And the Rangers they’re a team that doesn’t necessarily have much cap space Currently going into next season they have $8.5 million Their forward group is like more or less set But on defense the big hole is currently being left by Keandre Miller There are rumors that the Rangers are trying to shop around Miller Perhaps they’ll move on from him but then they will still need to fill that defensive hole and will probably want a top four guy to do so And even just keeping Miller would cost him about $5ish million not actually giving them the proper amount of space to match into Will Coulie’s 4.6 They could make it work but it would be very very tight The Rangers also could try to move on from a guy like Chris Krider who didn’t play particularly well this season and is making I believe $6 million to get the cap space to be able to match such a contract but that’s not a very easy thing to do And then on top of all of that the Rangers two years ago won the President’s Trophy but this past season they missed the playoffs entirely The Rangers are a team that is not getting any younger but actually every single team is not getting any any younger but in particular the Rangers their window doesn’t really remain open that much longer here at this point They would likely want to compete as much as possible And just standing path and hoping that things turn around for them just like that is likely not a recipe for success If they actually want to be a playoff team next year and maybe a competitive one it is perhaps possible that they will have to take a big swing and that would involve spending some serious capital to do so And that again could perhaps squeeze out Will Culie from the equation and allow the Sharks to swoop in and try to make this offer sheet work The only problem that does stand in their way is the fact that Mike Greer and Rangers general manager Chris Jury do seem to be on very friendly terms They managed to orchestrate the Barclay Goodro waverwire pickup last season and so perhaps Mike Greer wouldn’t want to do this to his friend It’s unfortunate that this is something that does have to exist here as this would be a move that would heavily improve the Sharks roster But it is an unfortunate reality that it probably won’t end up happening but it is one that hockey-wise and just on paper-wise could work out very well Next we move on to the unrestricted free agents And we’ll start off with the only one that has actually played this last season with the Sharks that being Yan Ruda This is a player who the Sharks should absolutely move on from They already have his replacement Vincent Daharn who is basically just another version of Yan Ruda but actually slightly better And so there’s no reason to have a second Yan Ruda sitting around so let him go sign with whatever other team that is looking for some sort of playoff experience The Sharks don’t really need him anymore Then we move on to unrestricted free agents that the Sharks could potentially try to pursue and bring over again They need to fill up about $17 million And even if they do take on the dead cap space of a player like Carrie Price they’ll need to sign at least one or two big swings just to simply improve this team and still reach that salary cap floor Now I’m not going to be mentioning some of the major major big swings like Marner Sam Bennett Aaron Ecklad It just feels as though a lot of those players will probably want to either head to really really competitive teams that are already going to be trying to compete for the Stanley Cup as soon as next season which obviously the Sharks are not in the position to do or that Mike Greer maybe wouldn’t really want in the case of Mitch Marner just having watched him in the playoffs this season But one big swing player that I think the Sharks could look at is Nikolai Eers because I do think that the Sharks offer Eers a very interesting proposition It is not just about being competitive immediately It is about actually giving him the ice time that he really hasn’t been getting playing with the Winnipeg Jets These past few seasons he has averaged about 16 minutes of ice time which is in line with like what a second liner gets And despite the fact that he actually performed rather well for the Winnipeg Jets in these past playoffs he again just didn’t average all that much ice time even in those last few games against the Dallas Stars getting close to like 14 or so minutes on the ice That’s not great for him but the Sharks can offer a lot more they can play him on a second line or even on a first line with a player like Mlin Celerrini and give him 18 19 minutes something that he hasn’t experienced all that often throughout his career and then also give him the possibility of competing but maybe not immediately but within the next like two to three seasons this could be a relatively attractive option for Eers the Sharks obviously would have to pay out a lot of money to be able to do so and likely also give him max term or close to it six to seven years and I know Mike Greer is hesitant to actually go in that protection but you do have to spend money if you actually want to get the big name players Eers could be that guy Solid winger who again showcased some decent playoff performance this season I have him making it around $8.5 million It’s possible the Sharks would have to go to 9 million but I don’t know if Mike Greer would be willing to do so We shall see but that could be a pretty big signing for the Sharks if they so choose to go that direction Then the next forward that I have as a possible signing is actually Male Granland In a rare situation where a team trades away a rental player at the deadline and then brings them back in the offseason You don’t usually see this happen but with Granland he had a very strong end to the season with the Dallas Stars However his playoff performance with the Stars left a lot to be desired And considering Dallas they’ll be in a tight salary cap situation as well They probably won’t try to pursue bringing Male Granland back which does open the possibility of the Sharks trying to get him as well We know the Sharks like him We know the coaching staff likes him We know the players like him So there is definitely a decent fit here And he is also not a player that you’re going to have to give you know five six years to or anything like that He’s getting up there in age It is likely the type of contract that can kind of coincide with maybe what Tyler Defoley is going on right now give him $6 million which would be pretty good and and a good amount of money that maybe other teams wouldn’t actually be willing to hand out And give him a two maybe three-year contract that kind of keeps him with the Sharks for a decent amount of time but not anything that will get into the way of real serious salary cap movement over the next few seasons and into the future Then we have defenseman Dante Fabro He is probably my main target that I really would hope the Sharks could try to bring in It’s kind of awkward because he was on waiverss this past season The Sharks actually had the opportunity of picking him up but decided against it Then he got picked up instead by the Columbus Blue Jackets where he had a very successful end to the season To be fair he was playing with Zack Winsky who is one of the best defenseman in the entire NHL And so it is not that difficult to find success next to next to a player like that But still Fabro pulled his weight had some great stats this season And so the Sharks can again offer Fabro something that other teams might not be able to which is significant playing time within not just a top four but actually on a top pairing getting you know 21 22 23 plus minutes a night And they can also pay him some pretty big bucks to do so It’ll be somewhat difficult cuz so can the Blue Jackets which is the team that he is currently on Perhaps they will be able to give him that extra year But on top of this it is a situation where the Sharks don’t necessarily need to offer a maxterm contract Fabro played really well this season but that isn’t a quite small sample size This is not the type of player that you’re going to want to immediately commit 7 to 8 years to because unless you can get that monetary value very very low it’s very very risky because he could just completely flip to the player who was on waiverss just a few months ago So for the Sharks they can go up go up to Fabro and say “Hey we’ll give you a ton of money We’ll give you five maybe even $6 million potentially for the next two seasons and we’ll see what you can do in that window.” Because Fabro currently is only 27 years old which means that if in a couple of years he is up for another long-term contract he could absolutely get seven years at that point And putting him in this position where he would be essentially the Sharks number one defenseman that is a spot that could be extremely beneficial for him We saw the Sharks actually run this same type of experiment with Jake Walman this past season He was brought in He’s more of like a middle pairing guy That’s the kind of role that he was sort of in with the Detroit Red Wings But the Sharks bring him in They say “You are our new number one and he worked out rather well He found a trade to the Edmonton Oilers He’s been playing exceptionally well for them in the playoffs thus far this season And while he’s not up for contract immediately so he’s still going to be at his 3.4 for for next year He is likely in line for a massive raise as long as things continue as they currently are going Fabro could have a similar situation play out here for the Sharks So it’s an interesting opportunity for sure but obviously the allure of sticking around and playing with Zacharinsky is pretty strong We’ll see what happens The kind of fallback option here on the right side would be a player like Nick Perix from the Tampa Bay Lightning He doesn’t have quite the ability of playing on a top pairing role just yet most likely at the very least like Fabro does And so that money would have to be I would say a little bit lower But you can definitely overpay this player to try and get him He is a right-handed defenseman He could theoretically fit into a San Jose Sharks top four if necessary Give him three 3.5 $4 million whatever the case may be for just a couple of years And it’s a very similar situation to what I had said with Dante Fabro The final player on this list is a goalender As I had mentioned the Sharks have just one goalie currently under contract that can actually play in the NHL Obviously there’s guys like Romanov and Carrier They’re both RFAS They’ll likely be extended by the Sharks but mostly just to spend time in the San Jose Barracuda The Sharks need an actual backup But the thing is is that you don’t want just a backup who’s going to play 20 odd games because you never know what might happen with Ascarov in his first full-time season in the NHL You want someone who can not only be a 1B but even has the potential to be a 1A in case Ascrov falters slightly And Jake Allen fits the bill perfectly He played just over 30 games with the New Jersey Devils behind Jacob Marstrom this season and he actually played rather well He is a strong veteran goalender who is used to these types of situations And so he could be the perfect type of player to just overpay for a couple of years to get him over to San Jose I doubt any other team is going to be willing to offer Jake Allen like five plus million dollars And so this is the type of move that I think the Sharks could pull off and would be pretty big for them Finally we’ll be going through a rough lineup and emphasis on the word rough here for what the Sharks starting roster could look like again because I’m not considering any trades This is not actually going to be accurate for what we see in October next season almost certainly but trying to maybe see the the pieces come together and it’s always fun to have these types of rough lineup looks So on the top line I have Celibbrin tool playing with Chernov In this case I have considered that the Sharks did not manage to get Nikolai Eers who otherwise probably would have taken this position I liked what I saw from Chernoshave near the end of this past season in the one playoff game for the Barracuda that he played It’s more of just like a gamble to actually have him in the top six but I think it’s possible and I think it would be very cool to see him play with Celibbrini On the second line we have Eklund with Smith and Granland This is assuming that Will Smith is able to stick at center But the benefit of bringing in a player like Male Granland is that if Smith falters again and instead has to play on the wing which is a very possible situation to occur Granland could slide into that second line center role Smith perhaps could take up the spot on that top line and go back to playing with Celibbrin and DeFoley And then you have Chernos move back with Eklan and Granland Things like this could work out But obviously to start the season I imagine the Sharks will try to have Smith play center and see how that works out On the third line then we have Kovaleeno with Wenberg and Colin Graph This could be a strong line that can provide some offense All three of these players do have the ability to put the puck in the net and put up some points but also have some decent defensive play Not so much in Kovaleeno but definitely in Wenberg and Graph who could certainly cover for him So this would actually give the Sharks a top nine group that could put the puck in instead of this past season where you had a lot of the time where the Sharks third line was filled with players like Deandria and Goodro and Luke Cunnan who just aren’t very good offensively And then your fourth line could be more of that replacement level hardnose give 7 to 8 minutes of ice time with Dandria Estapachchuk and Barflay Goodro On the side here I have a few other names that could play a part First we have Carl Grundstrom Of course he’s kind of interchangeable with Tai Deandria here The only reason I have Dandria over him in the lineup is because of the fact that Dandrea plays on the penalty kill Grund doesn’t really And so I imagine if it came down to it the Sharks would prioritize this particular player Uh next we have Denil Gushian He is a another player who absolutely could factor into the Sharks roster this next season as long as they’re able to actually bring him back to a contract for this upcoming season Then we have Patrick Giles He was pretty good for the Sharks when they acquired him from the VTech Vanichek trade and then also continued to be very good for them in the uh minor leagues with the San Jose Barracuda especially during their playoff run He was someone who I thought could be a factor on the Sharks let’s say fourth line this upcoming season I imagine the Sharks will want to play a Snapchuck over him just because a stap was acquired in that Zetterland trade and Greer is not going to want to give up on that player just yet And perhaps if the Sharks don’t end up picking up a player like Male Granland that could end up happening We shall see Maybe he’ll be more of like a 13th forward I’m not entirely sure Then there is a player like Ethan Cardwell He was someone who I could definitely see making the jump to the NHL level I don’t quite know if there will be room for him And I guess it’ll kind of come down to where you get the what you end up getting from him in the training camp and preseason And then the final player a pretty interesting one here Igor Aphanasv This was someone who the Sharks traded for last off season in the Aussie Wisblat deal They brought him over from the Nashville Predators organization But he pretty quickly ended up moving over to the KHL as he didn’t feel as though he’d have much of a chance to play on the Sharks main roster this season but after a year in the KHL where things didn’t actually go all that great perhaps he has come to his senses and realized that maybe he is just more of a minor league player And so he signs this deal with the Sharks Perhaps he could end up playing on their top 12 We’ll see what ends up happening but it’s more likely he’s a Barracuda type of guy And then there’s definitely a few other names I could mention Guys like Quinton Musty could factor into the roster if he performs exceptionally well through training camp and preseason Perhaps Cam Lund Obviously he played a few games with the Sharks last season but I suspect he’ll start with the Barracuda There’s so many different names but couldn’t go through every single one of them On the defensive side of things I have the Sharks top pairing as Ferraro with Dante Fabro Hopefully they’re able to sign him up to a contract And then a second pairing of Mukamadullan and Ligren It is certainly possible that Muhammadulan and Ferraro could swap places here Personally I would like to see that a top pairing of Mukamadullan and Fabro could be very interesting And it’s not as though Ferraro is necessarily so much better than Mukamadulan And I think Ferraro and Lilligrin is a bit more chemistry there for sure but I suspect Worovski at least to start the year would have Ferraro playing with Fabro Absolutely And so that’s what I’ve gone with here for the Sharks top four And then a third defensive pairing I have Darnare actually paired with Sam Dickinson This is a player who either has to play in the NHL or head back to juniors And I suspect that no matter what ends up happening Dickinson will at the very least start the year with the Sharks to at at a minimum get his like nine games before you could slide his entry- level deal After that the Sharks will obviously have to make a decision of whether or not they want to keep him around for the entire season or if they do end up sending him back to juniors But to begin the year I highly highly suspect unless he’s just a complete disaster in training camp and preseason that he will be able to get a roster spot So I have him here again players sitting out as that like seventh eighth guy You have Henry Thrron and Maruard Vlassic Both of these players are under contract Both of these players played a decent amount of games this past season Very much in line to be able to get into the lineup depending on how things happen Then of course there’s Jack Thompson assuming he is brought back as a restricted free agent which is a very likely assumption And then the final player to talk about would be Luca Kagyone You never know the type of preseason and training camp he could end up happening He is he is a player who you don’t want to underestimate because he has just managed to uh I would say exceed expectations at pretty much every single level that he has played at So who knows maybe he comes in and is just absolutely dominant It’s not likely and I don’t really see how he manages to work his way up the depth charts as soon as next season but had to include him anyway And then in the goalending position Ascrov and Jake Allen to make up the Sharks tandem heading into next season I think that this would definitely be good enough to give the Sharks some reasonable levels of goalending But that will do it for this video The Sharks free agency plans are very much still up in the air Like I said they have a ton of money to spend They without any trades would have to make at least two to three pretty big signings to actually make something work but obviously some trades will play a part here It’s just hard to really predict what those will end up being Class dismissed

Discussing what signings the Sharks might try to make when free agency officially opens up on July 1st.

29 comments

  1. Grier and Ranger's GM Drury are good buds. I would only assume an offer sheet for Cuylle would be thru good faith conversation/negotiations so there wouldn't be any bad blood. Plus NY fuckin owes us for taking on Goody's contract

  3. I think the big picture approach should be big money, short term. Like Wennberg’s contract last year. Sharks should be looking at any veterans who are looking at 1-2 year contracts anyway I think. While they won’t be long term solutions, they’ll help get us out of the basement and then we’ll be a more desirable destination next year and the year after. Maybe longer term only if it’s the right fit. I agree I’d love to sign Granlund and Fabbro!

  5. I’m starting to feel like Brock Nelson is basically the Tyler Toffoli of this year’s UFA class. He would probably take a 3 year deal and would bring some size to the middle-6. Maybe as a second liner this coming season and a 3C when Wennberg’s deal is up, Nelson is a good placeholder there for younger players to win that 3C job later or it makes Bystedt tradeable for a young D if necessary.

    Granlund and Ehlers might be getting offers for more term than Grier wants to give. Fabbro is definitely a good fit for a player that could make use of the increased opportunity. I don’t think there will be any offer sheets or a Kovalenko return. But Gushchin might genuinely be ready for some productive 2nd line minutes this year. Grier might offer him a 1-way NHL deal to stay even if he plays for the Barracuda since Poturalski left. It looks like that’s what Afanaseyev got, so there’s a chance he’s being eyed for an NHL role.

  7. Mavrik Bourque could be an interesting candidate for an offer sheet, given dallas' cap situation. Doubt Grier would bite though given his lack of size.

    I think an interesting trade target could be Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres.

  10. Hey Professor,
    Heady times for us for sure. For the first time in recent memory we have multiple options for Mike Grier to consider which is really nice. Maximum flexibility for Grier and his team. I am very excited to see what deals the Sharks are able to put together. Last year Grier did a really good job bringing in quality players and pretty well addressed the blue line if not the forward group for the most part.

    I would argue that if Grier had kept our team last year in tact (obviously not realistic based on our needs) but, hypothetically speaking if Grier had kept that roster together for the full season I think it is reasonable to assume that given our 30 plus 1 goal losses that roster would have won at least 10 of those games.

    Anyway, very fun times for us to speculate about what moves might be good for us. Thanks Professor.

    Pete
    Clovis, CA

  11. fwiw, not sure that roster makes it up to the cap floor. Close, but I think it'll take more. I favor shorter, pricier deals, as it leaves more room for the players in the pipeline to get playing opportunities.

  14. Really hoping Grier is able to bring in some legit middle six talent. I really don’t want to see another season of guys like Kostin, Grundstrum, Dellandrea, Goodrow anywhere near a middle six spot, especially if we don’t manage to get some high end RHD.

  15. Granlund for 2y is my priority TBH… rest should be mostly trades if we really want to improve…. will take Bennett for $10M as long as contract is short term also

  17. This is a great realistic idea of what will happen this summer into training camp great video just want to know am I the only Bysted fan alive? He killed it in the playoffs I think pairing him with Wennburg to learn from and get confidence at center with would be great for his development get him training for that 3rd C role. Wennburg Bysted Graf just seem like a line that makes to much sense to ignore for the 2025-6 season. I also could see Chernyshov making it to the NHL next season but I don’t think to start the season Musty has less experience at a men’s league so I think he will get more of the Eklund development treatment and won’t make the NHL till mid season of the 26-7 season

  19. Unfortunately for the Sharks, Cuyle is the type of player that a competitive team could potentially offer sheet. They would offer him more money and give up their late first rounder in the process.

    With a bump in the salary cap, there are several playoff/bubble teams that have the financial flexibility to do so.

  20. I expect Grier to bargain bin shop this offseason as it will be McKenna szn. My gut tells me he's going to wait on Celebrini's next contract to set the bar for all new big RFA & UFA contracts. Fabbro and Granlund makes sense, Fabbro will be the "big fish" for Grier as there are other options for the 2C.

    It will be interesting to see Kovalenko's path but I would like to see some equity built up for him this season to be sent out at the trade deadline. The value for the Blackwood trade has been below par, would like to see the Sharks extract another pick out of that trade. With Kovalenko gone, I want to see Filip Bystedt get inserted into the lineup at some point. I thought the path forward for Bystedt would've been playing on Wennberg's wing and then flexed into the 3C after trade deadline. Another player to note is Cam Lund but I think a full year on the Cuda will do him well for development.

    The future looks great for SJ but this year should be another lottery year as more rookies get inserted into the lineup the team will go through more growing pains. Its going to be fun watching this team take leaps in the coming years.

  21. Well, the contract situations seem to be set for the 4th line. Goodrow, Dellandrea, Grundstrom, and Afanasyev are all 1 way contracts. So I don't see how anyone else can make it unless one of them are moved. Since this is just a FA video. Ostapchuk would be a Cuda in this scenario. Also, if Fabbro and Dickinson are on the team then we'd need to move Thrun to make that happen contract wise. It depends on if Warso is going to carry 14 forwards or 8 defensemen. Usually it's 13/7/2 and then you don't have to fill that final spot for DTD injuries, etc.

  22. I like the thoughts around Ehlers and was thinking the same thing. I do think we should take a swing on Ekblad, especially if the panthers win again. I dont think he'll be good for a long time so i think a high abv 4 year contract would be ok. It'll give some stability while the young D kids percolate in the ahl, then we can cut him loose right when we're competitive again

  23. I agree with you in hoping Kovalenko resigns but he will need to accept he’s most likely be playing on the third line.

    I don’t think Guschin or Bordaleau come back.

    Thompson definitely resigns.

    I like the idea of offer sheeting Cooley and going to the max of only giving up a second round pick of the 2026 draft.

    I don’t agree with Ehlers being the one big FA signing, even if they also resign Granlund.

    I would think that if GMMG is going to spend 8.5 AAV, they would spend it on Bennet as IMO acquiring a 2C is more important than a second line LW.

    Also Bennet can play on Smith’s left wing and is younger than Granlund. And he plays the style of game that will compliment Smith better.

    If not Bennet then I think Pius Suter is a better choice than Granlund as he’s the same age as Bennet.

    He’s also a 200 foot player and other than Bennet‘a physical play is as good as Bennet.

    Both those players are better than Granlund and five years younger. Suter is expected to get 4.5 AAV so would cost about the same as Granlund.

    I also read about another FA that sounds excellent Trent Frederick. He’d cost 3.5 AAV.

    So, for the cost of Ehlers you can have a better younger 2C in Suter that can play LW and be a backup for Smith.

    In Trent Frederick GMMG can add a true very physical and big power forward that will improve the middle six and Also can play third line LW as well as 3C if needed.

    Frederick would also be very good insurance if Kovalenko leaves.

    I like the idea of Fabbro but I hope GMMG can add another defenseman. My heart is set on Gavrikov as he’s a shutdown top pair defenseman.

    Precisely what the Sharks need. He’s the player (other than Bennet) that I hope GMMG is willing to open his wallet for.

  24. I'd love to see Ehlers with the Sharks, it's just at his age he's going to be looking to nail down a longer contract, which then risks causing cap problems 4-5 years down the road. But I'd offer him a fat 2-3 year contract in a heartbeat. The guy pretty much led Denmark to a 4th place in the IIHF Worlds. Last season he scored 24G in 69 games with the Jets, with only just over 15 min TOI. Give him unlimited ice time with Celebrini and Toffoli, for a full 84 games and who knows what he can do, I think 35G is not unreasonable. This should be attractive to him as well, so who knows – maybe he and MG can sort out a 2-year contract. But Ehlers would be, without doubt, a major step up from Granlund.

  28. We really need D-men, and Fabbro would be ideal – he's a R-shot D, which we really need, and had a great year in Columbus last season. I'd love to get Granlund back at either C or wing. Another sleeper would be Pius Sutter – he'd be a dream middle 6 centerman, very responsible defensively and an effective PKer.
    I think it's time we stopped trading vets for draft picks. We have a great prospect pool; now it's time to salt in some really strong vets who can give us depth scoring and better D. That's the best way to keep the rebuild moving forward and avoiding a 10-12 year grind to get back to form.

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