In an article from Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, multiple members of the San Jose Sharks did not travel with the team for their current road trip to Western Canada, officially ending their season with the organization. Pashelka notes that Kevin Labanc, Mike Hoffman, Filip Zadina, Alexander Barabanov, Jacob MacDonald, Jan Rutta, and Mackenzie Blackwood will not suit up for the team’s final game against the Calgary Flames, and may have played their last games in San Jose.
Of the seven players listed, four will go to unrestricted free agency, one will go to restricted free agency, and two are signed into next year. Realistically, Labanc, Hoffman, and Barabanov will all head towards greener pastures, while the team may opt to keep MacDonald as a depth piece for the 2024-25 NHL season.
Even though Zadina will become a potential non-tender candidate this offseason, he may not find any interest outside of the Bay Area. Producing moderately well with 13 goals and 23 points in 72 games for the Sharks this season, Zadina’s defensive metrics from this year may be too ghastly for other teams to overlook, indicating that if he does play outside of San Jose, it will likely be in the AHL.
After acquiring Devin Cooley and Vitek Vanecek at this year’s trade deadline, Blackwood could be an interesting trade candidate this summer. In 41 starts for the Sharks this season, Blackwood has produced a 10-25-4 record, with 24 of those measuring as Quality Starts according to Hockey Reference. Certainly not playing himself into a starting role with his efforts this year, Blackwood could become a serviceable backup option for a contending team next year.
Nevertheless, it is not necessarily a negative that most of these players will be moving out of San Jose this offseason. With the Sharks hitting rock bottom over the past two years, it is now time to thin out a very saturated roster as much as possible to create space and playing time for San Jose’s up-and-coming prospects.
The Quinn effect
They’ll have a better chance of winning now. :D
Mike Grier has done a great job clearing the slate this past year, and it’ll be really interesting to see where the team goes from here. Eklund is proving to be a real NHL talent, and Granlund was shockingly good on an otherwise terrible team. Will Smith looks promising as a prospects, and San Jose will have another two picks in the top 15 this coming year.
If they can take on more Granlund or Blackwood type players – players that have worn out their welcome on their current teams looking to turn fortunes around – and keep those players long enough to hook a buyer, this team had the potential to get back to contention in a few years.
Mike Grier has done an awful job trading SJS star center for pennies on the dollar this past year and not flipping any pending ufas and it’ll be really painful to see where the team goes from here. Eklund is following his draft expectation, and Granlund was ok on a terrible team. Will Smith might be worth last seasons mess, and San Jose will hopefully justify this years mess with two picks in the top 15 this coming year.
If they can take on more Granlund or Blackwood type players – players who are mediocre and other teams know it – looking to turn fortunes around – and pray hard enough to hook a buyer, this team has the potential to get back to contention in 2030.
****FIFY
who is this “star” center that you speak of? If you refer to Hertl, he might be a “star” on the Sharks but that is grading on a curve.
Likewise, who would want any of those UFAs unless San Jose was taking back a bigger boat anchor in return.
It sounds like Grier has been hamstrung by ownership not being willing to eat a lot of money, so you have to account for that. I agree with you, the immediate future will be painful. I know it’s hard when your team goes through the down cycle but just gotta be patient, better days are ahead.
Meier was an excellent player for the Sharks, but Hertl has never really never been more than a 2C on any other team. Couture has sometimes been able to play 1C, but even he’s more of a 2C – and he’s still with the team.
San Jose had the same nightmare Toronto and Vegas are about to have – too many massive contracts eating up all the cap space. Labanc’s awful contract is thankfully about to expire, but Vlasic is utterly untradeable. You could argue Vlasic is getting fair compensation given the many years he was underpaid, and fair enough. But you can never justify $11M for Karlsson. That was utter madness.
Vegas is now saddled with Hertl’s overpayment contract, and that’s gonna bite them in the behind.
I know a lot of Sharks fans are living in fantasy land where the magic cap fairy comes along and suddenly makes everything better. But the simple fact is that warning signs existed as far back as the early 2010s, and the playoff appearances after that were very much a “burn the future to win now” gamble. We are now in that future. No prospects, no picks, tons of overpayment contracts… And then we let Pavelski walk and signed Karlsson to a then NHL record contract. This was the inevitable outcome. Clearing the slate is the best path forward.
Honestly, They shut down before Thanksgiving.
So this would explain how most of their wins came after Thanksgiving and more wins in the 2024 part of the schedule than in the part that came in 2023?
Fire Quinn and we’ll watch again. Hey, that rhymes!
… And no one will notice the difference.