As the calendar turns to March, the trade deadline is inching closer. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the San Jose Sharks.
The Sharks are a team in transition. From 2015-16 through the 2018-19 season, the Sharks made the playoffs each year, winning six playoff series in the process. But a Stanley Cup championship eluded them, and since falling to the Blues in the 2018-19 Western Conference Final the Sharks have not been back to the playoffs, finishing in the league’s basement in each of the past two seasons. Longtime GM Doug Wilson has stepped away from the team on indefinite medical leave, and assistant GM Joe Will has a host of decisions to make in his boss’ absence as the trade deadline nears. The Sharks are unlikely to make the playoffs this season, and as a result, it is up to Will to navigate the Sharks’ decision-making process with several players of note hitting unrestricted free agency. They are probably going to be sellers, but how far will they go?
Record
24-25-7, 7th in the Pacific
Deadline Status
Seller
Deadline Cap Space
$16MM today, $21.7MM in full-season space, 47/50 contracts used, 0/3 retention slots used per CapFriendly
Upcoming Draft Picks
2022: SJS 1st, SJS 3rd, SJS 4th, BUF 5th, SJS 6th, SJS 7th, ARZ 7th, MIN 7th
2023: SJS 1st, SJS 2nd, SJS 3rd, SJS 4th, SJS 5th, SJS 6th, SJS 7th
Trade Chips
The discussion surrounding the Sharks’ trade deadline approach has rightfully revolved around center Tomas Hertl. Hertl is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and he has spent his entire career with the Sharks since being drafted by the team in the first round of the 2012 draft. Hertl is a top-six center, occupying the sweet spot in between being a low-end first-line center and being an elite second-line option. Hertl had an offensive breakout in 2018-19, when he scored 35 goals and 74 points in 77 games, and he has been hovering just under the point-per-game mark for the past two seasons. He has 22 goals and 42 points in 52 games so far this year, and 30 goals and about 65 to 70 points is a reasonable expectation for Hertl, who is right in his prime as a 28-year-old player. Hertl isn’t a suffocating defensive presence but he also isn’t a slouch in that area either, and he drives play well enough to handle being the centerpiece of his own line. He’s a truly valuable player, the kind of player numerous NHL clubs would like to add. But Hertl’s virtues complicate his status as a trade chip, as the Sharks are “taking a run” at keeping Hertl, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The Sharks have good reason to want to extend Hertl, he’s a fantastic player for all the reasons previously mentioned, but should the two camps not be able to arrive at a deal before the trade deadline, expect Hertl to return a significant bounty of assets to the Sharks from whatever team acquires him.
After Hertl, the Sharks don’t have any additional players who profile as true difference-makers set to be available at the deadline. That’s not to say they don’t have some attractive assets, though. One of those assets is Alexander Barabanov. Like his frequent linemate Hertl, Barabanov is also a pending unrestricted free agent. After a long career in the KHL, Barabanov first made his way into the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but struggled there and was traded to the Sharks. With the Sharks, Barabanov found immediate success, posting 7 points in 9 games for the big club in 2020-2021, and this season he has found chemistry with the Sharks’ scorers to the tune of eight goals and 27 points in 48 games. He’s enough of a skilled offensive player to be able to fit on one of a team’s scoring lines and has been productive this year. He should be able to provide a team with some solid secondary scoring and the ability to play higher in the lineup should a more accomplished skill player have trouble with injuries. His cap hit is only $1MM, which makes him an ideal candidate for teams tight up against the upper limit of the salary cap. If a team needs some scoring depth at a cheap price, (both on the cap sheet and in terms of acquisition cost) Barabanov is a solid option.
One more winger the Sharks could shop to other teams is veteran Andrew Cogliano. Cogliano has an expiring $1MM cap hit, like Barabanov, but his play style could not be more different. Cogliano is now 34 years old, and whereas he once could reliably provide thirty-plus points of offense he now has seen that production mostly dry up. He has only four goals and 14 points on the season, but at this point he wouldn’t be acquired for his offense. It’s his penalty killing, reliability, and veteran leadership that gets him paid these days, and those three things that he brings to the table are coveted by many general managers across the league. Cogliano probably won’t return much for the Sharks, but for a team looking to add some reliable reinforcements to their special teams and their bottom-six, Cogliano is a proven, respected player to target.
Others to Watch For: G James Reimer, F Ryan Dzingel, D Jaycob Megna
Team Needs
1) Draft Picks
The Sharks, like many teams struggling on the fringes of the NHL’s playoff races, need more talent. Due to management’s uncompromising chase of a Stanley Cup this past decade, the Sharks have seen their pipeline of young talent erode. They have had some quality players emerge from their system, like Mario Ferraro, but in total young players like him have been few and far between. The Sharks now have an improved prospect system, ranked 14th leaguewide by the Athletic’s Scott Wheeler (subscription required) but they still could use more should some of their prospects not pan out as hoped. When approaching this season’s trade deadline, a priority should be adding to the team’s stable of draft picks, a collection that is currently missing the additional valuable picks that many other rebuilding clubs can boast.
2) Investment in Young Goalies
A goalie, perhaps more than any other player on the ice, can change a team’s fortunes in any given game. With the decline and then eventual departure of Martin Jones, the Sharks lost the player they once believed would be their long-term answer in net. This past offseason, the team traded a 2nd round pick for the Coyotes’ Adin Hill, but he has not had an ideal season for the Sharks. He has played in 24 games and has a .901 save percentage, which is not a confidence-inspiring number. To put it simply, the Sharks need more options to decide who will be their goalie long-term. The Sharks do not have a blue-chip goaltending prospect in their system, and since the 2016 draft, they have only selected two netminders. One has to wonder if developing goalies has been an organizational priority in the past, but from the perspective of the deadline, that isn’t relevant. What matters is that the Sharks need to make finding a long-term goalie a priority, and they can start at this trade deadline.
Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images