Questions linger about Sharks’ roster after Thornton exits
General manager Doug Wilson’s offseason makeover of the San Jose Sharks looks nearly complete, though he does still have a bit of room to spend under the NHL’s salary cap for next season.
In a two-week period, the Sharks said goodbye to Joe Thornton, Melker Karlsson and Aaron Dell, brought in Devan Dubnyk and Ryan Donato and brought back Patrick Marleau, Stefan Noesen and Matt Nieto.
The moves leave the Sharks, per CapFriendly. with roughly $2.3 million of space under next season’s cap of $81.5 million — perhaps enough to add another piece up front or on defense.
But Wilson wants to leave some spots open for competition once training camp begins — whenever that occurs — and perhaps use that cap space to address needs after the season gets underway if the Sharks are in contention for a playoff spot.
“We need to reestablish our game,” Wilson said Sunday. “We think we have the bones of a good team, we have some competition, we have some young guys coming in.
“Would it be nice to add some things? We probably have to reestablish certain areas of our game and earn some things to be added, but we certainly have that flexibility to do that.”
Earlier this summer, comparisons were made between this Sharks offseason and the one they had five years ago when they also missed the playoffs.
Wilson brought in Joel Ward, Paul Martin and Martin Jones to address certain shortcomings. Joonas Donskoi also turned into a terrific find after he was signed as a free agent out of Finland.
Ward and Donskoi became mainstays in the top nine forward group, Martin proved to be a perfect fit as a defense partner for Brent Burns and Jones showed he was capable of being a No. 1 goalie.
But with this year’s offseason moves largely done, questions about the Sharks’ roster remain.
What other winger besides Kevin Labanc will play on the right side in the top six forward group? Who will be the third- and fourth-line centers, and who will be the sixth and seventh defensemen?
Donato or Patrick Marleau would be two candidates to play on the right side on either the first or second line. Marleau filled that role at times for the Sharks last season. Donato is excited for the opportunity for a bigger role, and the Sharks want him to seize this chance after he averaged just under 11 minutes of ice time per game with the Minnesota Wild last season. Noah Gregor could be in the mix, too.
Still, there could be a revolving door at right wing this season.
“Competition is a healthy thing,” Wilson said. “Having the ability to add a piece as we go forward, or two pieces, is important. Cap space grows within the season. How we decide to use that will be decided going forward here with the opportunities that arise.”
There’s also a matter of finding two more centers to play behind Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl.
Joel Kellman showed he is a capable two-way centerman and will likely make the team out of training camp. Same goes for Dylan Gambrell, who would have to pass through waivers to be sent down to the AHL.
But can either play 14 to 16 minutes per game on a consistent basis as the Sharks’ thirdline center? Where does Fredrik Handemark, a potentially key free agent signing out of Sweden this summer, fit in? What about Sasha Chmelevski or Alex True?
The Sharks like the competition and have options at third line center, but who’s going to grab the bull by the horns?
“I’ve got eight or nine centermen that are all going to vie and fight for those two spots in their opinions and their minds,” Wilson said.
The Sharks appear to be largely set on defense, with Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Brent Burns and Radim Simek projected to form the top two pairs.
Mario Ferraro sill needs a defense partner, though. Jake Middleton seems like a good bet to make the team out of camp and perhaps fill that void, although both he and Ferraro are left shot defensemen.
But the Sharks would still need one more defensemen. If they do not acquire another d-man through trade or free agency, would either Nikolai Knyzhov, Ryan Merkley or Brinson Pasichnuk be ready for the NHL? Nick DeSimone, Trevor Carrick and Nicolas Meloche, who all have ample pro experience, might also be in the mix.
“We’re open to a lot of things,”
Wilson said last week about the roster in general. “Having the flexibility, having the depth of players to be able to give the coaching staff different combinations or different looks is really important.
“Once we get everybody back together, we can take a look and see what we have, what we need, what opportunities are still out there. That part is still going to be fluid.” SHARKS PRESIDENT: SEALS- IN
SPIRED JERSEYS ARE FAKES >> No, the Sharks’ alternate jerseys for the upcoming season aren’t going to resemble those worn by the California Seals in the mid-1970s.
That’s what Sharks team president Jonathan Becher tweeted Thursday morning, a few hours after pictures of what the team’s purported third jerseys would look like next season began to make the rounds on social media.
The jerseys were rumored to look like the ones the Seals wore from 1974 to 1976, pacific blue with gold trim, before the franchise relocated from Oakland to Cleveland. Instead of the word “Seals”, the rumored alternate jerseys would say “Sharks” in that same unique font.
“Entertained by the alternate jerseys designs on social media labeled as based on inside info,” Becher tweeted. “We have creative fans! None of these designs are real.”
The Seals were the Bay Area’s first NHL team, coming into the league in 1967 when it expanded from six teams to 12. Although the Seals’ ownership, color scheme and logo changed frequently over the course of their nine-year existence in Oakland, their record on the ice usually ranged from mediocre to poor. GOING OVERSEAS >> Forward Ivan Chekhovich became the latest Sharks prospect to join an European team, as he signed a one-year deal with the Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo. Chekhovich, 21, played all of last season with the Barracuda, and unlike other prospects, will remain in Russia for the duration of Torpedo’s season. Other players on loan in Europe include goalie Alexei Melnichuk, defenseman Tony Sund and forwards Kellman and Marcus Sorensen.