CTC Off-Season Outlook Anthony Wyng Style: SAN JOSE SHARKS
Team #25
SAN JOSE SHARKS
The Presidents trophy is a nice award to win as the best team in the NHL during the regular season, however, it doesn’t mean much when you can not do anything in the playoffs.
The San Jose Sharks have had a playoff jinx on them since they became part of the league during the expansion of 1991.
Since the lockout season, the Sharks lost in the Semi’s 3 years in a row, and then this past season in the Quaterfinals. There is something desperately missing from this roster and team that can not be pointed out. In ‘05-’06 and ‘06-’07 the Sharks finished 2nd in the Pacific and in ‘07-’08 and ‘08-’09 they finished first. Once the playoffs start, they go invisible and can’t get it together.
This off-season, there is a lot on the line to bring it the missing piece, although, no one can seem to figure out what that missing piece is.
Let’s take a look at the Sharks roster:
The Blue Line:
Rob Blake, Dan Boyle, Christian Ehrhoff, Brad Lukowich, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Douglas Murray, Derek Joslin
Cap hit: $21 million
UFA:Kent Huskins, Alexei Semenov
RFA: none
estimated Cap hit with re-signings: $21 million
It looks like the defense is pretty much set with the re-signing of Blake today. Barring a trade, I don’t see much changing here.
The Fowards:
Joe Thorton, Partrick Marleau, Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo, Joe Pavelski, Ryan Clowe (qualified yesterday), Devin Setoguchi, Jody Shelley, Jamie McGinn
Cap hit: $24.8 million
UFA: Mike Grier, Jeremy Roenick, Claude Lemieux, Travis Moen
RFA: Marcel Goc, Torrey Mitchell, Brad Staubitz
Goc, and Lemieux will not be back with the team, which is a certainty. Mitchell and Grier are hope to be re-signed, along with Staubitz to round out the team again as they fill out the role playing foward positions.
estimated cap hit with re-signings: $27 million
In net:
Evgeni Nabokov
Cap hit: $6 million
UFA: Brian Boucher
RFA: Thomas Greiss (qualified yesterday)
Total team Cap hit (estimated): $
Boucher’s name has surfaced in rumors to be moving out of San Jose, which means that most likely San Jose will either call pu Greiss and make him the full time back up, or possibly shop for a back up via the UFA market. However, with much little cap space to spend, the latter is not likely.
Team total Cap hit (estimated): $54 million
Team needs: the piece to bring them to a conference finals appearance, or a cup finals!
