The Sharks made a big step towards their rebuild by trading Brent Burns to Carolina for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi, and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2023. It will be interesting what they do with Logan Couture, Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson going forward.

GM and Coach

Mike Grier is the new GM in San Jose, after a lengthy playing career and three seasons as an assistant coach in New Jersey. He officially took over on July 5th and was in charge of the draft on July 7th.

David Quinn was just named the new coach in San Jose for 2022-23 after three seasons as head coach with the NY Rangers. He has a career record of 96-97-25 and made the playoffs in one of the three seasons.

Salary Cap

The Sharks have just over $2 million in cap space available to them for the 2022-23 season.

The team has just over $5.1 million this season and just over $5.9 million in dead cap space next season. In year three it becomes $4.38 million and $1.67 million for years four and five.

Brent Burns will cost them $2.72 million in retained salary for the next three seasons. Martin Jones will cost them $2.42 million this year, $2.92 million next year and $1.67 million in each of the three years after as the result of his buyout. Rudolfs Balcers will cost them $8k this year and $308k next year.

Draft Picks

Nashville had nine picks in the 2022 entry draft. They traded their 11th overall pick (Conor Geekie) for the 27th overall (Filip Bystedt -C), the 34th overall (Cameron Lund-C) and the 45th overall (Mattias Havelid – D). Time will tell on this trade as this draft had some wide ranging takes, but moving down from picking Frank Nazar or Jonathan Lekkerimaki might come back to haunt them four or five years down the road.

San Jose picks were:

1st round – 27th overall – Filip Bystedt (18) (C) 40-16-33-49 with Linkoping HC Swedish J20

2nd round – 34th overall – Cameron Lund (18) (C) 62-25-25-50 with Green Bay USHL

2nd round – 45th overall – Mattias Havelid (18) (D) 29-10-9-19 with Linkoping HC Swedish J20

3rd round – 76th overall – Michael Fisher (18) (D) 28-13-37-50 St. Marks High School USHS-Prep

4th round – 108th overall – Mason Beaupit (18) (G) 49GP 3.63 GAA 89.3 Save% Spokane WHL

5th round – 140th overall – Jake Furlong (18) (D) 67-4-38-42 Halifax QMJHL

6th round – 172nd overall – Joey Muldowney (18) (RW) 56-57-40-97 Nichols High School USHS-Prep

7th round – 195th overall – Eli Barnett (18) (D) 53-3-10-13 Victoria BCHL

7th round – 217th overall – Reese Laubach (18) (C) 57-51-51-102 Northstar Christian Academy 18U AAA

In 2023, Nashville has a 5th and 7th round pick and has nine picks in total.

Free Agents

The Sharks have added Matthew Benning (28), Markus Nutivaara (28), Nico Sturm (27) and Oscar Lindblom (25)

I'm not really a fan of the Benning signing for four years, as he might struggle to even make the lineup on a regular basis. Nutivaara is signed for one year and is fine as a bottom-pairing defender. Sturm is another questionable signing for three years at $2 million AAV as he will more than likely be the 4th line center. Lindblom has had a well documented battle with cancer and it is great to just see him back on the ice. With a two-year deal at $2.5 million AAV, he will need to be better than he was last year to give this contract any value.

The team was able to re-sign restricted free agents, Kaapo Kahkonen and Luke Kunin to two-year deals, both at $2.75 million AAV along with Steven Lorentz for two years at $1.05 million AAV.

The team has Noah Gregor (23), Jonah Gadjovich (23), Alexander Chmelevski (23) and Mario Ferraro (23) to re-sign as restricted free agents. Simple math dictates that this roster will need to move a few more million dollars in salary this season to get under the cap.

Roster

The Sharks come in with a rating of 6.39 which puts them 28th overall in the NHL and well out of the playoffs, which won't come as a surprise to most. They have three capable NHL goalies, so I would expect for James Reimer to be moved as he is an impending UFA.

Forwards

The top three forwards are Timo Meier (25), Tomas Hertl (28) and Logan Couture (33). Meier will be a restricted free agent at the end of next season and should get paid, while Hertl is signed until the end of 2029-30 at $8.138 million AAV, and Couture signed until the end of 2026-27 at $8 million AAV.

Meier finally put it altogether in his sixth NHL season last year with 35 goals, 41 assists and 162 hits in 77 games. There are some warning signs as his first half saw 21 goals and 26 assists in 38 games and his second half had 14 goals and 15 assists in 39 games.

Hertl had a very solid year with 30 goals and 34 assists in 82 games (0.78 pts/g). Over his past four seasons he has averaged between 0.75 and 0.96 pts per game. He has a career face winning percentage of 52.8 and kills penalties over 30 percent of the time. It does seem a little unfortunate that Doug Wilson signed Hertl to an eight-year contract in March of 2022 and stepped down a month later. The contract definitely ties the hands of Mike Grier a little moving forward.

On July 1st, 2018, Logan Couture was 29-years old and had one more year remaining on his $6 million AAV contract. Doug Wilson signed him that day to an eight-year contract at $8 million AAV after 34 goals and 27 assists in 78 games. There is much more to Couture's game than points, especially the past two seasons where he has seen around 40 percent zone starts in the OZ and has been matched up against other teams best players. He had a good year last season with 23 goals and 33 assists in 77 games, but he has five years remaining on a deal that allows him to limit his trade list to three teams. This is not going to go well for San Jose.

The next tier of forwards for the Sharks are Nick Bonino (34), Kevin Labanc (26), Luke Kunin (24), Noah Gregor (23). Alexander Barabanov (28) and Oskar Lindblom (25).

Bonino will be unrestricted at the end of next season, so will more than likely be moved at some point. Limited OZ starts (35.4%) notwithstanding, he struggled last year overall. His second half gives us a little bit of optimism as he had 11 goals and seven assists in 39 games after only five goals and three assists in his first 41 games. Ironically he saw the most PP time (41.9) since 2013-14, but he is used in shutdown roles more often than not.

Labanc will hope to be recovered completely from his shoulder injury which limited him to only 21 games last season. His four-year contract at $4.725 million AAV was another baffling deal that Doug Wilson entered into. There is no question that Labanc helped the team out when he signed a one-year deal for $1 million after putting up 56 points in 2018-19, but not to the extent of the contract he was given after 14 goals, 19 assists and a minus 33 in 70 games after the 2019-20 season. Depending on how he does this season will determine his market value, but right now San Jose would have to pay someone to take Labanc. I do think he can put together a 70-15-25-40 season this year.

Kunin is a former 15th overall pick from 2016 and has some offense to give. After five NHL seasons and on to his third NHL team by the age of 24, he has career-highs of 15 goals and 16 assists. He is capable of 20-20, but is in a salary bracket of $2.75 million AAV that demands production. With San Jose, at least he will get an extended look in the top-six.

Barabanov had a decent second season in the NHL with 10 goals and 29 assists in 70 games. Since being in San Jose, he has played 79 games and has 13 goals and 33 assists while averaging over 17 minutes per game. His ceiling might be 12-18 goals and 25-35 assists. He could see minutes on the top line next year.

Gregor and Lindblom will be pencilled in on the third line and will be expected to bring energy and chip in with 10-15 goals and 25-30 points on the season. Sturm should be the 4th line center. Gregor had 63-8-15-23 last year with 118 hits, but didn't really kill penalties, while Lindblom had 79-12-14-26 with Philadelphia and has killed penalties. Lindblom has had 17 goals before in 2018-19 so is certainly capable of duplicating that.

Sturm won a Stanley Cup with Colorado and signed a three-year $2 million AAV contract with San Jose. He should take over from Bonino and become the third-line shutdown center. He could put up 8-12 goals and 10-15 assists with a 50 plus percent faceoff percentage. He also kills penalties.

Filling out the bottom line and reserves are Steven Lorentz (26), Jeffrey Viel (25), Jonah Gadjovich (23), Matt Nieto (29), Jasper Weatherby (24), Scott Reedy (23), Thomas Bordeleau (20) and William Eklund (19).

I would expect Lorentz and Nieto to be the front-runners for the final two starting spots and Viel, Gadjovich, Weatherby and Reedy to fight it out for the one bench spot.

If Eklund and Bordeleau can crack the roster, they will replace someone in the top six and Kunin or Labanc would need to move down.

Lorentz comes over after spending two seasons and 112 games with Carolina where he had 10 goals, 11 assists, 114 hits and was 49.6 percent in the faceoff circle. To be honest I'm not sure what Lorentz brings over the incumbents, but Grier signed him for two years at $1.05 million AAV, so more than likely he will stick.

Nieto will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and has been in San Jose for the past two years (second stint) where he has played 98 games with 11 goals and 13 assists, 121 hits and been a fixture shorthanded. Outside of experience, he doesn't bring much more to the table than the other players competing for his spot. He could be in trouble this year.

Viel has 45 career NHL games with three goals and two assists, 106 hits and 137 PIM while averaging 8:26 per game. There aren't many teams that still use a roster spot for a player like Viel. He will always battle for a regular role, but will need to bring more to the table than hits and fights.

Gadjovich managed to spend the whole season up in the NHL and dressed for 43 games where he had one goal and two assists, 104 hits and 74 PIM while averaging 8:45 per night. The difference between him and Viel is that Gadjovich had 28 goals in his last 57 AHL games. The way both are deployed by the Sharks isn't helping either to develop. I think he needed another full season in the AHL last year.

Weatherby played mostly as the 4th line center last season in San Jose and dressed for 50 games where he had five goals and six assists. He struggled in the other areas of his game, and the team bringing in Nico Sturm was probably not a great sign that they wanted to roll out Weatherby on a regular basis this year. If Bonino moves or there is an injury, then Weatherby is back in. The AHL won't be a bad place for him as he had only played 25 games there last year.

Reedy was called up from the AHL for the second half of the season and stuck in the NHL for 35 games where he had 7 goals and two assists while averaging 11:11 per night. In two partial AHL seasons he has played 55 games with 23 goals and 12 assists so there is some goal scoring talent there. Much like two or three of the other players that the Sharks had up in the NHL, Reedy probably needs more time in the AHL.

I'm not sure what direction the Sharks will go with Thomas Bordeleau and William Eklund for next season.

Bordeleau had an eight game look at the end of last year and looked more ready for the NHL than half the roster. He will need to come to camp fit and play as well as he did to make this team this year.

Eklund had a nine game look before being sent back to the SHL last season. He had moments in those nine games, but clearly wasn't ready for a full season. He did struggle a little in the SHL with just one goal and 13 assists in 29 games, so he will need to impress at camp.

30-40 games in the AHL won't hurt either Bordeleau or Eklund, but if they're ready they should play for the Sharks.

Defence

San Jose could now have the weakest defensive corps in the NHL after moving Brent Burns to Carolina as they weren't that great to begin with last season.

Erik Karlsson (32) hasn't played more than 56 games in a season since he played 71 with Ottawa in 2017-18. He did have a bit of an offensive resurgence last season with 10 goals (first time hitting 10 since 2016-17) and 25 assists in 50 games for 0.7 pts/game. At this point, one surely has to put him for 50-55 games and 35-40 points in a year. He only makes $11.5 million AAV for five more seasons.

After Karlsson, I think the next tier is Mario Ferraro (23) alone with perhaps Jaycob Megna (29) sliding in if he plays like he did last season.

Ferraro has had his own injury issues, never having played more than 63 games in his three years in the NHL. He is a multi-category darling as last year he had two goals and 12 assists, 140 hits and 151 blocked shots in 63 games. Imagine what he could do in 82 games if healthy, but then again that is the reason he hasn't played 82 games. There lies the dilemma of players like Ferraro. To play his best he needs to risk injury, but to avoid injury he needs to change something he does well. Look for his hits and blocked shots to decrease moving forward.

Megna impressed me last season in his 44 games with San Jose. He is a veteran of more than 400 AHL games and isn't the most agile skater in the lineup. He brings size at 6-6 and 220 lbs and uses it as he had 71 hits and 92 blocked shots in his 44 games. There is a chance he could pair up with Karlsson and free up Ferraro for another pairing.

After that the rest of the defense is rather ordinary with Matthew Benning (28), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (35), Radim Simek (29), Nutivaara (28) and perhaps Ryan Merkley (21).

I've made clear my disdain for the four-year contract given to Benning, as he has averaged 15:53 per game in his 365 NHL games. To be fair, he can be physical, block shots and can kill penalties, but he is unlikely to flourish on a team like San Jose if they play him 18-20 minutes per night.

I thought I'd look up Vlasic's contract and see that it was going to expire this year or next. He has four more years at $7 million AAV! Even if they were to buy him out, it would only save the team $6.75 million over the four years because he is over 35. Doug Wilson signed him for eight years on July 1st, 2017 when Vlasic was 30-years-old and had a season of 75-6-22-28, with 18 hits and 146 blocked shots while averaging 21:14 per night. Vlasic is a seventh defenceman right now.

This seems to be a bit of a broken record, but Doug Wilson signed Radim Simek to a four-year deal at $2.25 million towards the end of the 2019-20 season after he had played 48 games and two goals and seven assists while averaging 17:11 per game. Not bad value if Simek had progressed and become a 20-22 minute defender who played 70-80 games a year and was decent defensively. Two years later he has struggled to get a regular spot in the lineup and played 36 games last year averaging 13:16 per night. He is a physical player who had 96 hits and 39 blocked shots in those 36 games, so he does have the potential to be a multi-category player if he could be a regular.

Nutivaara has only played 68 games over the past three years split between Columbus and Florida where he had three goals and 17 assists while averaging just under 16 minutes per game. He played one game last year in Florida so the Sharks are taking a bit of a chance on him for one season at $1.5 million. If healthy he could see 16-18 minutes in San Jose.

Ryan Merkley played 39 games last season with the Sharks and had a goal and five assists while averaging 15:23 per night. He has played 61 AHL games over the past two seasons and had two goals and 28 assists. Merkley struggled last season at the NHL level, but he might be given another opportunity as the Sharks will need some offense from the back end now that Burns has moved on.

Other players that might see some time with the Sharks are Nikolai Knyzhov (24), Santeri Hatakka (21) and Artemi Kniazev (21).

Goalie

The Sharks have three goalies currently that should be in the NHL next season with James Reimer (34), Kaapo Kahkonen (25) and Adin Hill (26).

Reimer played 48 games last year, which was the most he had played in one season in his 12 years in the NHL. He went 19-17-11 with a 2.92 GAA, a 91.1 save percentage and a GSAA of 5.85 which was the fourth best in his career. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of next year, so more than likely will be traded at some point.

Kahkonen was acquired from Minnesota last year near the deadline for Jacob Middleton and ended up with 37 games split between Minnesota and San Jose. He went 14-14-4 with a 2.87 GAA, a 91.2 save percentage and a GSAA of 5.21. He was 2-6-1 in San Jose with a GSAA of 2.96.

Adin Hill played 25 games last season for San Jose and went 10-11-3 with a 2.66 GAA, a 90.6 save percentage and a GSAA of minus 0.74. He had some injury issues last year, so he will hope to be a little healthier this season.

I don't think that if all three goalies are healthy that they will carry all of them. Look for Reimer to be traded sooner than later.

Overall

I think there will be a good chance that San Jose has a lottery pick next season for the 2023 draft.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you want me to focus on any players or topics by messaging me below or following me on Twitter @gampbler15.