San Jose’s Hunt for Blue Line Talent INTENSIFIES | Are Byram, Andersson, or Murphy the Answer?

San Jose’s Hunt for Blue Line Talent INTENSIFIES | Are Byram, Andersson, or Murphy the Answer?

All right, Frank Curvali released his top 20 trade targets for the off seasonason. Who makes sense for the San Jose Sharks? You’re Locked On Sharks, your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello, welcome to Locked on Sharks, the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area. My name is JD Young, caretaker at the Reef Fall City, co-host of Locked On NHL. I want to thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first listen. Proudly part of the Locked On Network. We cover your team every day. If you want to be an everyday, all you have to do is just follow along wherever you get podcast or you can watch on YouTube as well. And today we’re going to be looking at three defensive candidates um from Frank Servali’s uh top 20 trade targets um article. So, uh, we’re going to be looking at Bone Byron, who we’ve talked about before extensively on this podcast, Rasm Anderson from the Flames, and then Connor Murphy from the Chicago Blackhawks, and if they would make sense for these Sharks to target as they look to upgrade uh, their blue line, which of course we know need some help. So, before we get to all that, do want to let you guys know today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $200 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So, Survali released his top 20 trade uh targets for this off season last week. Um, and again, we are in the process of trying to specifically upgrade the blue line for the San Jose Sharks, which um desperately needs to be better, especially with Yarl Vascro coming in. Um, like we want we’re we’re trying to make this team better. So, we’re gonna be looking at three players. Those three players today, but I do want to go through the list really quickly here. Uh, so JJ Perka, who leads the way would be super fun. Um, I just think there’s going to be a lot of competition for JJ Perka. So, I’m just going to count the Sharks out of that one right now. Chris Crider 34. Like, that doesn’t make sense for the Sharks. Marco Rossi at number three. He would make some sense and that’s something I think we might touch on later on this off season, but uh for now again we’re trying to focus on defense. Number four, Bow and Byum. Number five, Jonathan Marcheso. Uh 34 like doesn’t make sense. Why would he go from Nashville to San Jose if he’s trying to win? Uh Raasmus Anderson, who we’re gonna talk about here in the second segment. Uh number seven was Eric Carlson. We’ve been there, done that. Uh, I think we’re we’re done. Um, eight, Connor Murphy, who we’ll talk about in the third segment. Number nine is John Gibson, who’s been tradable for the last 20 years, it feels like. Uh, Candre Miller at number 10. Um, Vladimir Terasinko at number 11 with age 33. No, thank you. Elvis Merlin Mers Lincoln’s uh age 31. Also, no team holds a 10 team, no trade list, and two years. I’m not a big fan of that deal. Uh Lucas Reichel, uh age 23. Consistency issues there. Eric Holla, 34. No thanks. Morgan Riley, uh 31. Uh if I think the Leafs may be trying to get rid of him. I don’t know if he fits what the Sharks are looking for. Also five years left at $7.5 million. No thanks. Um Pavl Zaka Morgan Geeky um from the Boston Bruins. Again, we’re trying to focus on defenseman, but maybe something there. uh David Comp from the Maple Leafs, Demco, who we just talked about last week. Um and then you have uh defenseman from the Kraken and last person from the Canucks. Like so we’re we’re going to be looking at three guys here who again I think really kind of fit what I I believe the Sharks are going to be looking here. So um Bowen Byum is the first guy. So Byum uh was a fourth round or fourth overall pick, excuse me, in the 2019 draft. uh left-handed defenseman. I know you’re rolling your eyes already, but we’re going to dig into him. So, 6’1, 205 pounds, 23, uh turns 24 here in a couple about two weeks now. Uh like I said, former first fourth overall pick of the Colorado Avalanche. Got traded, of course, to the Buffalo Sabres uh for Casey Middle. Both now it seems like both teams are uh ready to move on from that trade. So this season with the uh Sabres, Byron had played 82 games, seven goals, 31 assists, 94 shots on goal while playing just under 23 minutes a night. Cory4, so when he was on the ice, the Sabres took 4915 shot attempts, goals for so when he was on the ice, the Sabres scored 54.79% of the goals. Um, Byron is a guy who has struggled with some injuries earlier in his career. Um, but actually did play his for full 82 games this season. Uh, which is a good sign for a guy again who has struggled um over the past couple seasons has kind of played more and more games. So, but did deal with concussion issues earlier in his career. uh looking at his evolving hockey card. Um 65 percentile player while playing this kind of top defensive minutes overall 44th percentile um and then 25 percentile defense. So defense isn’t where it is, but he does play on the power play, but is usually kind of a second unit guy, especially with uh Dalene and and Owen Power in front of him. Like he’s never going to kind of get uh the first crack at stuff here. Um, War Projective War was only a 3% player despite playing top pair minutes. Um, so the offense hasn’t been super great, but he has scored a lot of goals and finished really well. Has played solid competition with solid teammates as well. Um, but again, hasn’t really had a chance to kind of show off a lot of num great numbers there. um he’s kind of his usage he has been given um solid offensive deployment while facing kind of tough competition and it kind of averages out as a top four two-way defenseman um with his usage and then looking at kind of his all three zones what he does really well he’s very good at getting the puck out of his zone like kind of the defensive retrieval area um he’s very good at zone entries which the Sharks desperately need help on. Um there’s some solid offensive numbers there and uh he you know so um he’s definitely a player who does show some skills that the Sharks desperately need. So the big question with Byum is is his numbers maybe not as good because he has two other guys in front of him, right? uh with power and Dalin uh who are going to kind of absorb more of those prime opportunities and maybe if he’s the guy he can get an opportunity to kind of be that or is he just maybe not as good as you would have hoped for somebody who was a fourth overall pick in the draft. So that’s going to be kind of the big question with him if you’re if you’re betting on the upside, right? If from the Sharks perspective, right? because if he comes in, he’s going to be your number one defenseman um for, you know, the foreseeable future, right, until Dickinson maybe kind of gets up to speed or, you know, whatever else they do. He’s going to be one of your guys. Like, he’s going to be that like we need you to play 23 minutes tonight. You’re going to be playing, you’re going to be the quarterback on the power play. you’re like, you’re going to do all those type of things because that’s what we need you to do because you’re are easily our best defenseman or projected to be our best defenseman. Um, so for the Sharks, right, and I’m not really going to get to trade at because it’s just it’s it’s the one thing like especially with the Sabres is I don’t know what the Sabres are trying to do. What do the Sabres want? Do the Sabres want to get an NHL player that’s going to help them now? because the Sharks don’t really have that with like on their roster that other than like Mario Ferraro and Ferraro who would be much cheaper and maybe kind of fits a role a little bit better for the the Sabres, but or maybe you’re you’re flipping picks or something. I’m not really I don’t really want to focus on like the trade terms because it’s it’s really tough in in this situation especially for the Sharks and the Sabres who feel I don’t know if there’s a natural match there. But um the other thing too is you’re going to have to pay B and Byron because he is a RFA. So what does that potential contract look like? Um Evolving Hockey here. Um they have him projected to sign a 8-year deal at basically $8 million. So an 8 by8. Um we joke all the time on Twitter 8 by8. Sign him to an 8 by8. Bone by sign him to an 8 by8. I do believe though since Byum is it would have to be a sign and trade where I think he’d have to technically sign the contract first with the Sabres and then flip because if the Sharks traded for him I don’t think you can own the eightyear option with them. So, I think do think there is that technicality with there with that. So, he’s most likely to sign a 8year by $8 million 21% likelihood. Um, you could also see him signing a 2-year deal at like 5.5 million. Um, it’s like a 15% likely yearhood or a 5year deal at like 6.8 6.9. Uh, very nice. That’s like a 16% likelihood, but most likely he’s going to sign a a long-term like as long as you can extension uh for for whoever if whatever team. So, um he’s probably the best defenseman on the market, but there are going to be some questions if he can be the guy and he’s never had a chance, right? When you’re on the Avalanche, you have Kar, you have Gerard, you have Tay, like you have too many guys in front of you or you’re never going to be the guy, right? Sabres. Sabres have drafted very good defenseman in front of him. Um and again just doesn’t feel like he’s ever going to be the guy. So with San Jose, he would be the guy and you’re betting on the untapped upside of him just kind of having the keys to the car for for San Jose. So um again, I I don’t know what the Sabres would want. Maybe you flip two in whatever the Sabres pick is and then they can get an opportunity to draft Misa and maybe you throw in Mario Ferraro or something like that and that way they have an NHL player and then they can also draft Misa. Who knows? That’s just again spitballing some opportunities there. So, um we’re going to be talking about Raasmus Anderson next, a guy who’s maybe started to show some wear and tear or maybe it’s just a small dip. Uh we’ll discuss him in just one second. NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can’t miss moments. Whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player, there’s never been a better time to get in on the action. FanDuel makes it even easier to stay in the game. before tip off and live with player props, performance trends, insane game parlays. Fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big. Um, Hallebertton vers SGA in the finals feels super fun to me. Maybe you just combine uh points and just have a good time watching two guys go off. So, if you’re new to FanDuel, it’s a perfect time to sign up. Head to fandle.com and place your first $5 bet. If it wins, you’ll get $200 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports part betting partner of the NBA. All right, before we finish or continue with Rasmus Anderson, I do of course want to thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first listen. Uh again, proudly part of the Locked on Network. We cover your team every day. If you haven’t yet, a perfect time to subscribe. Uh we are officially in draft month uh as we start to kind of gear up for the continue to gear up for the draft. Uh and of course we have our simulated offseason coming uh in a couple weeks where I try to uh set the Sharks up for success this off season. So uh make sure you follow along wherever you get podcast and of course you can watch on YouTube as well. All right. So next is Raasmus Anderson. Uh Anderson playing for the Calgary Flames here. uh entering the last year of his deal. Former second round pick uh back in 2015 uh played from Calgary, played in the OHL with the Barry Colts. Uh he’s originally from Sweden. Um and he again entering the last year of his deal and there’s some uncertainty about his long-term future with Calgary. Uh dude who’s basically locked and loaded like you’re going to get him almost every night. Uh he’s played 81 games this last season. 78 year before 79 82 56 in the bubble season 70 like he is he’s going to play basically every night for you. So um Anderson though uh 6’1 202 lbs like I said age 28 uh he does turn when does he turn 29? Uh he turns 29 um in October. So, uh, last year, like I said, 81 games, 11 goals, 20 assists, 56 shots and goal, playing about 24 minutes a night. Cory4, so when he was on the ice, the Flames attempted 49.65% of the shots. Goals for 40.38% of the goals. Not super pretty there. Um, Anderson, uh, playing top line in the sixth percentile player, but 50 percentile offensively, uh, second percentile defensively. So, the expected goals uh were very good. The actual goals were not great. So, he’s a player who looks like there could be some potential meat on the bone there when it comes to more offensive production uh from him. The defense though, not super great. Uh would easily quarterback the Sharks first power play unit for them uh because right now they don’t really have anybody. um plays uh short-handed, not super super great shorthanded though. Um 53 percentile war, so wins above replacement, but that has seen some steady decline over the past couple seasons. Um 22 23 season he was about 20 or about 75% then 50% last year and then this year kind of hovering over 25%. But like I said, the offense is definitely there would help the power play. Uh faces really tough competition. Of course, he does have good teammates as well. Um, but the defense has really kind of taken a slide over the last couple seasons with him. Player uses chart. He gets offensive faces tough assignments, but he uh get he faces tough competition, but does get fairly good offensive zone starts at they categorize him as a struggling top four two-way defenseman with kind of his usage there. Um, so Anderson, oh, also his, uh, evolving hockey card, right? Again, provides a lot offensively. Struggles a little bit to get the puck out of his zone. Um, is okay at the zone entries as well. Um, and kind of struggles a little bit with the zone entry defense, which is kind of what you would expect from from Anderson. So, um I do think he is a guy who I would be a little worried about because he is does have one year left on his contract. Um that was at uh totally forgot to mention. Um so he’s got one year and about $4.5 million on his contract. So he’s a guy you could potentially bring in, see how it goes for a season, and then kind of go from there. Um, I do worry though that there might be some cracks and yes, he has lost opportunities because of Mackenzie Waguer, who the Flames traded for as part of the Kuck trade a couple years ago. um weaguer’s kind of taking on a bigger offensive role, but I do worry I I think there’s some cracks in the armor with Anderson um where you’re starting to see some slip in his his play and maybe he has a rebound season with the Sharks where again you would not he wouldn’t really have to share any of the responsibility um because he’s the guy, right? and he would provide a right-handed shot which the Sharks desperately need on their blue line and you know I so there is some of that where you could just bring him in for a season and then if things are going well maybe resign him you could potentially trade him at the trade deadline like there is some opportunities for you to kind to with with Anderson where you’re not especially like a guy where you’re probably trading for him and then you’re locking him up long term with Anderson like you you have some flexib possibility there. Maybe after this season, you could potentially resign him to a more, you know, a like four or five year type of deal. But let’s see. I’m actually kind trying to pull up his if they have his contract extension projection right now um on on evolving hockey as I’m doing this. So, um I do though I do think he’s a little bit tough because like yes, the guy’s going to play for you every night. Like you’re going to get uh so he’s projected to sign a six-year deal at $8.1 million as a contract uh extension. So, I have a feeling that deal does not age friendly if we’re already starting to see some cracks and in his slippage in his play. So, he’d be a guy I’d be more than willing to bring in. And again, I don’t know if the trade would potentially look at because the Flames not they have some couple first round picks in the in the this year’s draft, right? And maybe you make that trade and give them, you know, it starts with the Dallas pick and whatever and then they can kind of if they wanted to package some of those up to move up to go get a more impactful player, that could be something that they could look to do. um or maybe they just want to try to kind of re help to refill the pipeline um on the fly here is you know they they’ve added some really nice pieces um in their pipeline and of course they do have Zane Perk coming u you know at some point here. Um, I I just I think if you’re going to make a trade like this, I think you want to try to look more of a long term. And Anderson, I have a feeling, is a guy who’s not a long-term solution for you, especially for what he his role would be for the San Jose Sharks, and that would be uh to help bring more offense from the blue line, which is again something that they they desperately need. Um, I just worry that there’s some potential cracks in the armor and some slippage in play. And I have a feeling in a couple years that especially if you sign him to extension, that contract is not going to turn out super well. So, I think he’s a guy I would I’d be okay to bring in on a one-year deal and kind of go from there, but I don’t know if I’m signing up for a long-term extension. And if you’re trading valuable assets, getting a f like getting a guy like that, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense, I think, for where the Sharks are at. So, uh, I think I’m going to pass on Rasmus Anderson. So, uh, we’re going to look at a guy here in a second, uh, Connor Murphy, who would help definitely help the Sharks on the blue line, especially with the defensive aspect. Maybe not as much offense, but I think I I’d be very interested in bringing uh Conor Murphy. And so, we’ll get to that here in just one second. All right. Before we finish up, do of course want to tell you guys uh or thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first list. And when you’re done with this episode, uh go check out the locked on NHL game night. every game, every night until a Stanley Cup champion is crowned. Get local analysis on national scale. Find NHL game night on lockdown. NHL on YouTube, wherever you listen to podcast. All right. Uh the final guy here, so Conor Murphy, who uh playing with the uh Chicago Blackhawks. Um they all of a sudden have a lot of defenseman, right? Uh with the way they drafted and how their pipeline is kind of building up here. So, uh, Conor Murphy is a guy who’s potentially available. Former first round pick way back in the 2011, uh, draft. Uh, he played with the Sarnia Sting. Um, so in the OHL, he was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes. Uh, then which became the Arizona Coyotes, which are now the Utah Mammoths. Um, but he was uh then traded to was he traded he made his way to Chicago? Yes, he was traded to uh Chicago. So traded to the Chicago Blackhawks where he spent the last several years. He’s played 12 years um in the NHL now and guy who’s for the most part been pretty healthy. Played 68 games this year, 46 last year. So I missed some time, but 80 57 50 like so you know he’s going to give you for the most part he’s going to give you um kind of be there every night type of player. You are not looking for offense from Conor Murphy though. Let me just start with that right away. So, uh, but yeah, he’s 6’4, 212 pounds. Uh, he is 32. Uh, one-year deal left at $4.4 million. Um, also a, uh, right-handed shot, which again, the Sharks desperately need. Um, two goals this year, 17 assists, 84 shots on goal while playing 20 and a half minutes a night. Uh, Corsy for 45%, goals for 45.7%. Um so definitely a guy who you know is going to be known for his defensive acumen. Um playing topline minutes 49 percentile overall player 31st offensively but 73rd percentile defensively. Plays a ton in the short on the penalty kill. Like I said like don’t expect much offensively from Conor Murphy. Um 70th percentile war over the past three seasons. 90th percentile even strength defense. um penalty like he’s good penalties. He plays tough competition with not great teammates. Like he’s a guy who’s definitely a uh very solid like defensive defenseman. So his war has been pretty steady over the past couple seasons where it’s been right around that 75% tile mark. Um and his defense the same thing has been very steady over the past couple seasons. So um looking at his player usage like he does not get offensive zone deployments. He’s faces tough competition and he’s kind of a top four average top four shutdown defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks. Um, looking at what he does very well offensively, not great. Uh, pretty solid getting the puck out of his own zone. Uh, kind of at least getting that started there and couldn’t be very good at kind of shutting down the zone transition there. So, um, the reason why I think Conor Murphy would be an interesting guy because one, I don’t think he’s going to cost as much as Byron and Anderson are, uh, to acquire because, right, like offensive numbers definitely lead the way. So, he could be a guy that you’re maybe slinging that like sends pick for like maybe a late second or maybe you’re talking about a third round pick type of thing for for him because um, Chicago just has they had too many defenseman. and they want to get some of their young defenseman um an opportunity. So, this could be one of those players where kind of like how Cody CC was supposed to be last year, right? Where kind of come in, help stabilize things on your blue line, um provide actual defense for you if you’re one of those players. Uh I think Murphy would be a great pairing for like a guy like Shakir Mullan or let Madulan maybe kind of explore his offensive side a little bit more. Uh, but the two of those can be kind of maybe your top pair shutdown unit. Um, or if you wanted to put Ferrar, I probably wouldn’t put Ferraro. I think they’re two similar of players. But just try to, you know, find another uh maybe a little bit more of a puck mover to to put with with Murphy or eventually Luke Canyon, I think, would be a perfect opportunity. But um, for Murphy, yes, he’s 32. Yes, he’s a defensive defenseman, but um it kind of gives you a little bit of opportunities to kind of do something with him because if he’s great, you could potentially resign him to a uh extension, um which I’m trying to pull up right now. So, uh, you could either resign him to an extension and his extension like it’s like he’s probably going to be in these like one year like two and a half three million like he’s not going to c like it’s not guy a guy you’re going to be like locking up for long term. So where he’s kind of expected to sign like one to four year like one to three year deals where it’s just yeah like one to three year deals where you can kind of sign him for the next couple seasons and I think he’s his game will gracefully age or two you can kind of do the pump and trade right you come in he plays really well teams are always looking for big right-handed defenseman who play very good defense at the trade deadline and especially with the Shark s uh going to have the Brent Burns contract off their books here as of July 1st. You that opens up a retention slot and $4.4 million if you can then, you know, eat half of that to make it $22 million and then you trade that at the deadline and you’re going to get yourself a nice sweet return. uh whether it’s picks or prospects for a guy like Conor Murphy who does a lot of things that teams are very desperate for at the NHL trade deadline. So, um I do think like Murphy out of these three guys like he Yes. I’m very like the Sharks need to add puck moving offensive defenseman, but if you’re looking for a guy to really kind of solidify the defensive zone and play big minutes and play on the penalty kill and uh I think be a guy who wore an A for the Blackhawks, like I think Murphy, you could do a lot worse than Connor Murphy and it’s not the sexiest name. like definitely not the sexiest uh name and and potential trade candidate, but I do think he’d bring a lot of value to a young team. And it’s not like he hasn’t just played for a really bad team for the past, you know, few seasons with with Chicago. So, um, yes, for him it’s going from, you know, one one rebuilding team to another. But, uh, I think there I do think he would bring a lot of leadership and value and and actually just a good play more importantly, just good play on the back end where the Sharks desperately need it. So, he’s the guy I would be really interested in. And like I said, I don’t think he’s going to cost as much as what Anderson and Byum are going to cost just because of the uh the offensive numbers just aren’t there. So, um, but yeah, so those are three players who I think would, you know, potentially make some sense if I had to kind of rank who I’d want. Uh, Bo Byum 100% going to be the most expensive, but I think going to be the most potentially impactful. Conor Murphy, uh, like I said, I think he would be number two out of these guys because I think the cost to acquire is going to be the cheapest out of the three, and I think the impact, um, he can have a massive, massive impact. And then Rasmus Anderson would probably be n my third out of the three just because I I worry about I think there’s some slippage in play. I think he’s going to cost a lot to get and I don’t think the return is going to be as great as the other two players. So, um but that’s how I would rank him. So, um but yeah, that’s going to be it for me today. We’ll be back tomorrow. Uh we’re going to continue to look at potential free agents. We’re going to be focusing um on the forward group as we need to try to find some more middle six forwards. Uh so we’re going to be doing that tomorrow. So make sure you’re following along wherever you get podcast. And of course you can watch on YouTube as well. Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at lockdown sharks. Follow me on Twitter and Blue Skyfry Hole. Till tomorrow. Bye friends.

JD Young examines three defensive trade targets from Frank Seravalli’s top 20 list, exploring their potential fit with the San Jose Sharks’ rebuilding efforts.

Bowen Byram of the Buffalo Sabres stands out as an enticing option, offering offensive upside and the potential to become a franchise cornerstone. However, his injury history and likely high acquisition cost present significant considerations.

Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames brings offensive skills to the table, but recent defensive struggles raise questions about his long-term value. Connor Murphy of the Chicago Blackhawks rounds out the trio as a steady, defensive-minded player whose penalty-killing abilities and leadership could stabilize San Jose’s blue line.

Young weighs each target’s strengths, weaknesses, and potential impact on the Sharks, considering system fit and acquisition costs. This episode provides an in-depth analysis of these defensive options as San Jose looks to strengthen its roster through trades.

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