Pro Hockey Rumors

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2024-25 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We’re currently covering the Pacific Division, next up is the Sharks.

San Jose Sharks

Current Cap Hit: $81,214,232 (below the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

G Yaroslav Askarov (one year, $925K)
F Macklin Celebrini (three years, $975K)
F William Eklund (two years, $863K)
F William Smith (three years, $950K)
D Jack Thompson (one year, $828K)

Potential Bonuses
Askarov: $850K
Celebrini: $3.5MM
Eklund: $850K
Smith: $850K
Total: $6.05MM

Celebrini is off to a good start to his career though injuries have cost him playing time already.  While that won’t hurt in the long run, it could make a Calder Trophy push a little harder which is one of the potential ‘A’ bonuses, of which he has four of.  While it’s still extremely early, the Sharks are hoping that he’s their top center of the future and we’ve seen the price tag for those players hover around $8MM per season, an amount that will probably need to go higher by the time this deal is up.

Smith has stayed healthy early on but has struggled in his first taste of the pros.  While they’re probably unconcerned long-term and still view him as the second option behind Celebrini, this start likely takes him out of reaching most, if not all of his ‘A’ bonuses.  If he lives up to his potential, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Smith in that $8MM range on his next deal.  Eklund had an impressive first full NHL season last year and is on a higher pace this year.  They’re hoping he has top-line potential which could get him in the $8MM range long-term as well although the fact he’s primarily being deployed on the wing could shave a little off his price tag.

Thompson was seeing regular action for the Sharks after an early-season recall before today’s demotion, albeit primarily on the third pairing.  If he can reclaim that roster spot before too long, he could land in the $1.3MM range on a bridge contract in the summer.

Askarov has already signed his second contract and we’ll get to that later on.  For this section, let’s focus on the bonuses.  Given that he was just recalled this week and that they’re running a three-goalie rotation, it’s hard to see him playing enough to reach any of his four ‘A’ bonuses.  He needs to get to 1,800 minutes (or 25 appearances with at least 30 minutes of playing time) to have a shot at qualifying for them.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

G Mackenzie Blackwood ($2.35MM, UFA)
D Cody Ceci ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Mikael Granlund ($5MM, UFA)
F Klim Kostin ($2MM, RFA)
F Luke Kunin ($2.75MM, UFA)
D Jan Rutta ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Givani Smith ($800K, UFA)
F Nico Sturm ($2MM, UFA)
G Vitek Vanecek ($3.4MM, UFA)
F Fabian Zetterlund ($1.45MM, RFA)

Granlund opted to sign with the Sharks in 2023 on what amounted to a pillow deal to try to rebuild some value.  He might have done just that.  With an expanded role, he reached the 60-point mark last season and is producing more than a point per game in the first quarter of this season.  As far as straight value goes, the Sharks have done pretty well with this deal.  How things go on his next contract remains in some question, however.  While Granlund is playing well in a top-line role, he’s not a top-line center on most teams and he has struggled with lesser roles at times in the past.  With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising if his market wasn’t as strong as his numbers might indicate although another deal around this price point should be doable.

Kunin was a speculative non-tender candidate after a down showing last year but the two sides settled on this deal.  He’s capable of being a versatile utility forward but hasn’t been able to produce with enough consistency thus far.  Still, someone who can play all three forward positions, kill penalties, and play with an edge will be of interest on the open market and a contract around this price point on a multi-year agreement could happen.  On the flip side, Kostin has not played well in either season of this contract and is more of a depth forward than a regular one.  His 2021-22 efforts appear to be the outlier at this point and as a result, most of his offers in the summer are likely to be at the league minimum or very close to it.

Sturm was primarily a depth player before joining San Jose but became a capable middle-six option over his first two seasons which had him on track for a decent raise next summer.  However, his early-season usage has him back in his old spot on the fourth line which won’t help his market.  That said, given the demand for middlemen, he could still get a small increase on his next deal.  Zetterlund wound up with a bridge deal after struggling upon being acquired in the Timo Meier deal.  His first full season with the Sharks was a strong one with 24 goals and 20 assists and he’s on pace to eclipse those numbers this year.  With arbitration rights, he’s on pace to triple this deal at a minimum if he can keep it up.  Smith, meanwhile, has been more of a depth player over the years and is likely to stay around the league minimum again on his next deal.

Ceci was acquired from Edmonton in a cap-clearing move mid-offseason.  He’s getting an opportunity to play a bigger role but most teams know his best role is in more of a fourth or fifth role.  As someone who is a right-hand shot and can log 20-plus minutes a night, another deal in this range for a few years is a likely outcome.  Rutta’s first season with San Jose last year wasn’t bad in a third-pairing role but he has struggled this season.  If things stay as is, he probably won’t be able to land this much in the summer if he winds up playing a role on a team going deep into the playoffs, that could boost his value back up to around this price point.

Vanecek was brought in at the trade deadline last season to give them another veteran to try to help stabilize things to a point.  He hasn’t fared too poorly all things considered but coming off a rocky year in New Jersey, his value has taken a hit.  He could be a candidate for a one-year pillow deal but a two-year agreement at a price tag starting with a two is more likely.  Considering how poorly San Jose’s back end has been at times, Blackwood has fared relatively well since joining the Sharks last summer.  However, his overall numbers won’t be high enough to land him any sort of sizable raise.  Something around this price tag should be doable though.

Signed Through 2025-26

F Ty Dellandrea ($1.3MM, RFA)
D Mario Ferraro ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Carl Grundstrom ($1.8MM, UFA)
D Timothy Liljegren ($3MM, UFA)
D Henry Thrun ($1MM, RFA)
D Jake Walman ($3.4MM, UFA)
F Alexander Wennberg ($5MM, UFA)
D Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($7MM, UFA)

Wennberg was a beneficiary of the Sharks wanting some veteran center depth and the demand for middlemen on the open market, yielding an above-market contract for a player who hasn’t eclipsed the 40-point mark since 2016-17.  If he stays in the 30-plus-point range as he has since then, a more realistic price tag would be closer to $4MM in 2026.

Grundstrom was acquired over the summer after it looked like he might be non-tendered by Los Angeles.  While he has shown a bit of a scoring touch in the past, he hasn’t been able to do so with enough consistency, resulting in him playing a lot on the fourth line.  This price tag is on the high side for someone in that role; he’ll need to find a way to produce more if he wants any sort of notable raise.  Dellandrea was acquired from Dallas in the hopes that a change of scenery would get him going.  That hasn’t happened yet and he finds himself in the same limited role he had with the Stars.  If that continues, a non-tender could be on the table.

Vlasic has been a long-time core defender for the Sharks over his 18-year career, earning himself some Norris Trophy votes in the prime of his career.  However, that prime was a long time ago.  At his best, Vlasic was a key shutdown defender who could play on the top pairing and he signed this contract while being in that role.  But for the most part since then, he has been more of a depth piece, either on the third pairing or as a healthy scratch.  This season, he has yet to play due to a back injury but even when he returns, it’s likely to be in a limited role.  He’s a buyout candidate next summer if San Jose decides to open up some cap space and if he was to hit the open market and consider going elsewhere, it’d be a minimum-salary agreement.

Walman was another cap casualty over the offseason, this time coming from Detroit.  After being more of a fourth option with the Red Wings, he’s often on the top pairing and is doing well in that role.  If that keeps up, he could make a case to push past the $5MM per season mark in 2026.  Ferraro has been a speculative trade candidate for a while given his reasonable cap charge and his shutdown role.  Limited offense will limit his earnings upside on the open market but we’ve seen players like that land around $4.5MM recently and that could be a reasonable price point for his next deal.

Liljegren was brought in from Toronto in yet another cap-clearing move (though this one came just recently).  There was some risk had he made it to arbitration last summer, resulting in the two sides settling on this deal.  Now, Liljegren needs to prove he can be a top-four player if he wants to beat this deal in his first trip through the open market.  Thrun, meanwhile, is still looking to establish himself as a must-play top-six blueliner.  Offensively, he can hold his own but he has scuffled in the defensive zone, resulting in him being more of a third-pairing player this season after being a top-four piece last year.  He’s a safe bet to be qualified as things stand but he’ll need to show some improvement if he wants to get past the $2MM mark on his next deal when he’ll have arbitration rights.

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