What Next For the San Jose Sharks?

by | May 7, 2021 | Soapbox | 3 comments

 







3 Comments

  1. With so many high salaried players who are under-performing on long term contracts, there’s very little Wilson can do. He’ll just have to leave unprotected those without NMC and hope the Kraken take at least one off their hands because that’s the only way they’ll get rid of them. Maybe buy out Jones, as I don’t think there’s any value in keeping him around at this point.

  2. Wilson has $13,003,333 in cap space with which to re-up 9 RFAs (6 of them with arbitration rights) whose expiring collective cap hit amounts to $7,862,665 so you know that the vast bulk of that “reserve” will be eaten up when those contracts are either extended or replaced.

    And without some imaginative moves that even then can’t be good for his team, he is stuck with his soon-to-be 31 and fast-fading C Couture ($8 mil per to 2025-26), soon-to-be 31 y/o fast-fading D Eric Karlsson ($11.5 mil per to 2026-27). 36 y/o D Brent Burns ($8 mil per to 2024-25), 34 y/o fast-fading D Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($7 mil per to 2025-16) and 31 y/o G Martin Jones ($5.750,000 per to 2023-24).

    A couple of those he might have been able to move had they 1 or maybe 2 seasons to go – but not with those terms and cap hits combined with their waning capabilities which are only going to get worse as the years go by.

    How does he keep his job?

    • A question I have asked myself on the rare occasion that I give SJ any thought at all.

      Wilson has been the GM since 2003, and accomplished little. True, during that time SJ has the misfortune of being sandwiched between the Hawks and the Kings during their Cup runs. While legitimate contenders during that time they lacked the talent or will and faded along with the Hawks and Kings, but without the Cup.

      Curiously, SJ’s attendance has remained constant.