This is WAY BETTER than we thought…

This is WAY BETTER than we thought…

This is way better than we thought as the San Jose Sharks continue to bolster their defense heading into this season. In this video, we’re going to break down everything about these signings, including the real reason why they went out and got both of these defenseman. So, you’re not going to want to miss this episode of Sharks Digest. Before we dive into everything here, still got to say 66% of you guys watching these videos aren’t subscribed to the channel. So, if you want to stay up to date on the latest news around the San Jose Sharks, we’re going to be here every day keeping you up to date on what’s happening around the San Jose Sharks. So, make sure down below and hit that subscribe button because we still got a very busy off season ahead heading into this season. But, we got some very exciting news over this week uh where obviously free agency opened earlier this week. There was a lot of great signings, some trades that happened, and then uh we also got two more additions of defense that a lot of you guys were excited about because I know heading into this off seasonason, a lot of you guys are saying in the comments section, we really need defense bad. Like, we need defense horribly bad. And Mike Greer and the San Jose Sharks knew that. and they went out and made some big acquisitions with the first one being Dimmitri Orof coming in from Elliot Freeman on Twitter at two years, $6.5 million AAV for the former Carolina Hurricane and Washington Capital Capitals defenseman. Great puck moving two-way defenseman here. really good at at getting into those dirty areas and being uh great in his own end, but then also uh is a great passer and is a great guy to lead some zone exits at time at times. Also has a great shot as well. Looking at uh his stats from last season. He had 28 points, six goals as a defenseman is really good in today’s NHL. Um there’s a one goal he had last year where he really pinched in, talked the top corner. This guy has a nasty shot that I don’t think is showcased enough. And I really think he’s going to u be a difference maker here uh in San Jose. But the big numbers here obviously being his physicality. He’s not afraid to lay somebody out. You know, we’ve seen some big hits from Orof in the past. 101 hits last season. And like I said, he’s a guy who’s not afraid to get into those dirty areas uh with the 60 block shots and being a plus minus of over of plus 16 is great as a defenseman. Obviously, uh th those are some big numbers for Dimmitri Orof. And I love this signing as soon as I seen it. I know a lot of people are saying maybe that’s too much for Dimmitri Orof, but they needed to offer someone this kind of contract so that they could breach the cap floor. And with this addition and and the one we’re going to talk about in just a little bit, they have reached the cap floor. So, they could just stop spending now if they wanted to. But I do suspect we will see uh at least a couple of more signings uh in the near future here for the San Jose Sharks. Maybe it’s just some, you know, key, you know, role player type signings, some extensions and stuff like this. I don’t think we will see a big splash from Mike Greer, but the money is there. So, who knows? Something could happen. A big trade could happen to eat up a bunch of cap for this season. Uh, but back to Orof. I love this signing. I think it was one of the better ones that they did make this free agency. I mean, looking at his J Fresh chart here, uh, obviously they say his 76 projected war going into this season with his EV defense being 80% and his EV offense being 67%. I mean, that’s fantastic number this year. Look at the goals. 71 percentile among defenseman. He’s a goal scorer as a defenseman, which you love to see. And I think now uh you know know playing on this Sharks team maybe frees him up a bit more to lean more offensive and lean more into that side of his game. And I do think we will see more than six goals out of him this season from the blue line. Uh obviously he’s great at uh you know he’s disciplined. He’s not taking a lot of penalties. You see that in his high project percentile as well. And you see last season his EV offense and defense just continually went up. uh which is great to see out of Dimmitri Orof. And then looking at another chart here, his net rating is plus 2.3, meaning that’s what he’s uh looking like every game. He’s a plus two in his rating, whether it’s uh being impactful offensively. You see here, his rating five on five is 70% as a defenseman, which is a huge number. And you see Zy or his defensive rating being a plus.9. So there’s a lot of players that are in the negative. both columns. So, when you have when you get a a guy to come in here who is positive into both columns, that is a big feat. There’s no doubt about that. And I do think that uh this is a a great contract for the San Jose Sharks cuz in two years time they can just, you know, part ways with them. Maybe they can extend him long term. I mean, he will be 35 by the end of this contract. So, uh maybe he if the Sharks aren’t competing at that time, but I do suspect they will. Maybe you get him back at well you would get him back at a lot cheaper at 35 years old. So I like this signing. I definitely think it’s one that maybe leads leads into a trade maybe not this season but next season when he’s expiring on his deal depending on where the Sharks are in the standings. But it’s a very uh a friendly deal to this team because in two years time when his contract’s up that frees up the almost $7 million to where now you had to worry about extensions for all your young guys that are coming up. So I think this is a very teamfriendly deal. uh for the San Jose Sharks here where in this next two years maybe they won’t be competing. I I I suspect that this team could compete whenever I think it’s just going to come and just bust through the wall whenever this does happen. I think that they’re on the brink and I definitely do think that this team can compete especially now bolstering up their defense as much as they’ve had. But there was also another defensive addition as uh earlier we seen the St. Louis Blues put Nick Lety on waiverss and this was the perfect contract for the San Jose Sharks to pick up claim him off waiverss to eat that cap and get all the way up to the cap floor. He only has one year left on his deal at $4 million AAV. I I think this is just, you know, one of those business moves where, oh, we needed to fill a $4 million hole. All right, this guy’s on waiverss. This is perfect. Let’s just pick him up and and uh he can be our seventh Dman. And I think that’s what’s going to happen here. I don’t suspect we will see Nick Lety play a lot of time here in San Jose. But I do think he will be more of that seventh D role. Maybe get into 20 to 30 games this season depending on injuries. Uh that’s where I’m that’s where I’m putting Nick Ley. I’d love to hear your guys’ thoughts on it. But looking at last year, see got into 31 games with the St. Louis Blues. He’s 34 now going into his last year on his deal. Like I like I said, five points last year and uh just kind of like an all-around defenseman here. He’s good on the defensive end. He’s good on the offensive end. Uh we see him here holding a a positive plus minus 26 block shots in 31 games. That’s almost a block per game, which you love to see that out of a guy like this. So, um I I’m fine with this. I don’t think it’s a huge addition or anything, but it’s definitely a safety blanket to have if you’re the San Jose Sharks where if something happens to a defenseman and and they end up going down and getting injured, then you have a guy like Nick Ley who, you know, is NHL quality who can come in and and hold it down and hold his own in this league. So, I do like this pickup. I mean, looking at uh his J Fresh chart here, we see his Eevee defense take a huge bump from last season. seeing it going from 0% all the way up to 50%. So, uh, we’re seeing him more develop more into his offensive game as earlier in his career, he was more that offensive guy that kind of fell off last season. So, we’re seeing him transition more into a two-way type of guy here, uh, where, you know, his, you know, his EY offense is at 37%, his Eye defense is at 29% with a projected war of 51. So, I I think that it’s good numbers. I don’t I think it’s, you know, maybe not the best numbers you want for a $4 million contract, but I do think that it is the numbers you’re going to get out of a guy like Nick Ley who’s 33 going into the end of his career. Uh, and you know, you only have to deal with this contract for one year. If you can ship him out at the deadline, you can do that. If he wants to, uh, you know, maybe he has a good season, maybe he plays more games than what I’m expecting and what a lot of you guys are expecting. and maybe he’s a guy we see he traded for some draft capital at the deadline. But I do like these moves by Mike Greer, I must say, I do think that they’ve uh done a lot uh of great work here this off season. And just more on Nick Ley here, seeing his defense is at 44, offense at 32 from Rono hockey uh chart here. So, you know, you see what you’re getting with this guy. He’s, you know, maybe a average or maybe below NHL average defenseman. So, perfect 7D man here in my opinion. And I do like these acquisitions. I do think that uh Mike Greer and the San Jose Sharks have really done well with the a lot of money they had. They could have went out and offered a lot of guys like we see Nick Eers was still available, but now he’s in Carolina. But they had a lot of money to toss around and for them to kind of reserve that for the guys that are going to need it like Celibbrini and uh well Eklan just signed his extension but Celbrini and Will Smith these guys are going to need big contracts in what is it a year or maybe two years time uh so that they can you know lock those guys up for eight years and they’ll be the future of this team obviously. So they’re reserving that money for now and just freeing that up for u you know the the big deals that they are going to have to toss out. But I want to hear your guys’ thoughts on on the signings down below. I do think it is way better than we thought. I think going into this season with the defense we had wasn’t very good, but now you’re adding a very solid two-way guy in Demetri Orlop that I think is going to make a lot of noise here in San Jose. And I think there’s going to be a lot of teams calling for him come deadline time. And a guy like Nick Ley, like I said, safety blanket type of guy. I do appreciate that. But I want to hear your guys thoughts down below. But before we wrap it up here, I did want to highlight one of your guys uh comments from the last video. U so make sure to comment down below because you might be featured in the video. Thought this was a a great question from John here. Uh he said, “Can you say more about what you believe to be like a likely time sa table for the Sharks to really compete?” And he asked like, “I don’t know why they’re just signing these one two-year contracts. Are they to mentor then move on to be used in trades?” I’m not saying it’s a poor strategy. He’s just looking for help to understand. And that’s why I’m here, John. I love seeing your guys comments down below. Love uh reading your guys. I thought this was a great topic for uh debate here. I do think personally I think the Sharks compete this year. It depends on, you know, how good the development goes, but I definitely would put a two-year window on that. So, by signing a lot of these guys to one, two-year deals, that frees it all up. So in two years time when the Sharks are competing, they don’t have to worry about all these contracts. They can just go out, spend the money to build the team around all the young guys and build a Stanley Cup team. It just gives them a lot more leeway than it would be if they were signing Orof to a cheaper five-year deal or something like that. You know what I mean? That that that’s what they’re doing here. It’s not to say, “Hey, we want you for our bad years and then move on.” you know, it’s just kind of filling the void for now until the team develops to then uh Mike Greer and the San Jose Sharks know what they need to be a Stanley Cup contending team. So, I appreciate the the question there. I I definitely do think it was a very interesting one, but that’s the reason I think they’re only signing these guys a two-year deal. And I know a lot of you guys had questions about the Eklan deal, and I just think that they want all these guys to be locked up around the same time. And I think that’s why he maybe signed a shorter term deal, but I do suspect him to be a shark for a long time, too. So, I appreciate you guys tuning into the video, showing all your support down below in the comment section. If you enjoyed, leave a like, subscribe to the channel. I’ve been your host, KC. Keep your stick on the ice.

0:00 San Jose Sharks News
0:30 This is Huge

The San Jose Sharks made some great early offseason additions, signing Dmitry Orlov to a 2 year deal and claiming Nick Leddy off of waivers. KC breaks it down on this episode of Sharks Digest.

Sharks Digest is a YouTube channel that delivers the latest news, trades, reports, and rumors about the San Jose Sharks. We provide comprehensive coverage of game highlights, player performances, and analysis of team strategies. Our channel discusses key players like Logan Couture, Macklin Celebrini, Mario Ferraro, and Fabian Zetterlund, along with insights from Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky and General Manager Mike Grier. Stay tuned for exciting updates and engaging content on everything Sharks!

Macklin Celebrini, Thomas Bordeleau, Logan Couture, Ty Dellandrea, Barclay Goodrow, Mikael Granlund, Klim Kostin, Luke Kunin, Andrew Poturalski, Will Smith, Nico Sturm, Tyler Toffoli, Alex Wennberg, Igor Chernyshov, William Eklund, Fabian Zetterlund, Ethan Cardwell, Walker Duehr, Carl Grundstrom, Nikolai Kovalenko, Mario Ferraro, Timothy Liljegren, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Jan Rutta, Henry Thrun, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jake Walman, Alexandar Georgiev, and Vitek Vanecek.