The San Jose Sharks have locked up two of their young restricted free agents, inking Melker Karlsson to a three-year deal and Joonas Donskoi to a two-year pact. Both players were set to become RFAs this summer with arbitration rights, but will now be under contract for the next few years. Karlsson will earn an average of $2MM per season, while Donskoi will get just $1.9MM each year.
Karlsson, 26, had another effective season in San Jose’s bottom-six, scoring 22 points in 67 games. The undrafted Swede has never been much of an offensive powerhouse, but provides solid secondary scoring with at least 10 goals in each of his three seasons. He is coming off a two-year pact that paid him (an average of) $1.65MM per season, an inexpensive number for his production. Even at $2MM, his role as an effective penalty killer and checking winger is worth the price.
Donskoi, 25, has a bit more offensive flair to his game but took a significant step back this season. After posting 36 points as a rookie in 2015-16, Donskoi registered only 17 this year while seeing his role reduced on the powerplay. Donskoi was actually drafted in the fourth round by the Florida Panthers, but never came to terms with the team and remained in Finland until the summer of 2015. Playing as a rookie last season, Donskoi played exceptionally well and was expected to continue to develop into a legitimate top-six winger. Instead, he settled into more of a third-line role on the team and will be paid accordingly this season.
For the Sharks, these contracts provide some financial certainty going into an interesting summer. The team still has to make decisions on pending free agents Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, while considering early extensions for Tomas Hertl, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Martin Jones. Should the team want to get into bidding wars on any other free agents, getting these deals done now shows them exactly how much they have to spend. Both deals are fairly reasonable, though a return to the 30-40 point Donskoi would make his especially valuable. Either way, both can still fit in as role players in the lower half of the lineup for the relatively inexpensive cap-hits.
Pierre LeBrun provided the financial details on both contracts.