Could the Sharks lose Clowe, Goc, Mitchell, Plihal, Kaspar and Greiss?

by IAmJoe on Mar 16, 2009 11:23 AM PDT

I just threw up a giant post about restricted free agency over at Mirtle's From The Rink, and the Sharks really jump out as one of the primary teams that could get victimized this offseason. I figured anyone here might be interested, and I don't know how many of you cross post between FTF and FTR so figured I'd throw the link up over here.

Here's the main block that is specifically relevant to the Sharks possible RFA woes this upcoming offseason.

The other big team that jumps out at me from this list is the San Jose Sharks, who have 6 desirable RFAs, while having plenty of cap space already dedicated to only 13 players. Perhaps more importantly, San Jose has to plan for 2010-11, where potential Olympian Joe Pavelski and potential all-star Devin Setoguchi will also become RFAs, as well as captain Patrick Marleau and goalie Evgeni Nabokov becoming UFAs. This means that San Jose must plan out cap space ahead of time for a year that the cap threatens to go down on their captain, starting goaltender, and two up and coming top-6 forwards. With so many RFAs this year, rival teams could choose to sign these players to offer sheets, and screw up the Sharks cap structure, forcing them to lose one or more of Pavelski, Setoguchi, Marleau, and Nabby the following year, or could be nabbing these quality NHL-caliber players for 2nd or 3rd round picks. There's no way the Sharks could afford to match offers of even 1 million dollars to all 6 of those players, and still have a hope of keeping more than 2 of their free agents the following year. Any team with cap space could do itself a huge favor by picking up a couple of quality Sharks players to help fill out the roster, and help hurt one of the very top teams in the league at the same time. The Ducks or Kings could make a particularly smart move here, by gaining a reasonably priced roster player or two, build for the future, and continue to elevate a rivalry that engages more fans through California.

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Nice work Joe- here’s a little piece on the situation we did earlier this year.

It looks dicey, that’s for sure.

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by Mr. Plank on Mar 16, 2009 11:30 AM PDT reply actions

Ah, nice post. I started mine about a week before the deadline, and when I started pulling together salary numbers, I figured I ought to just wait until after the deadline, and it took about a week and a half for NHLNumbers to get future contract years all correctly moved around.

It’s gonna be an interesting offseason for sure. I can’t see the Sharks being able to keep many of these guys at all, without giving up someone(s) out of Marleau/Nabby/Pavelski/Guchi the next year. You can figure those 4 right there can probably command somewhere around 15-18M of cap hit per year (I’m guessing 5/5/2.5/2.5 at an absolute minimum). Even before any contracts signed this offseason, it would be hard to fit that under the 2010-11 salary cap.

Ken Holland has always maintained that the reason the Wings never get a top-notch goaltender is that once you make it outside those top 5 guys or so, the quality of goalie you get from the 6th best to the 20th is pretty close, while the pay rate changes wildly, while being much less than a top-5 guy. Perhaps its time for the Sharks to cut bait with Nabokov and his inconsistency in delivering high quality play, and just go with a cheaper mid-tier guy, and put it all on the skaters? If I had to choose one of those 4 guys to let go next year, I would have a pretty easy time putting the noose on Nabby. That’s another 5M that could get moved around to keeping much more consistent skaters, or a cheap goalie.

by IAmJoe on Mar 16, 2009 12:36 PM PDT up reply actions

thanks for bringing my day down

i have a solution:

1. hope the salary cap somehow goes up
2. hope they’ll take pay cuts for a chance to hoist lord stanley
3. start saying the rosary because the first 2 things probably won’t come true

let’s just be thankful that i don’t have to make those decisions. buuuttttttttt, if i did, i’d probably take joe pavelski and patrick marleau.

nabokov – we’ve got plenty of goalie prospects…psst greiss has been waiting
setoguchi – idunno could score 25 goals if he was on the thornton line

"It aint over till the fat lady sings." - Not Yogi Berra

by serrapadre716 on Mar 16, 2009 1:45 PM PDT reply actions

Don't diss Seto...

he’s a champ. Is consistently the hardest working and best skating Shark on the ice.

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by Matthew_Taylor on Mar 16, 2009 2:21 PM PDT up reply actions

could this have anything to do with

seto being your favorite player? i’m not trying to diss him, like i said to mr. k, having thornton makes things easier. i’d love to keep all of them, but my fav pavs + captain ~~jack~~ are just the ones i would choose.

"It aint over till the fat lady sings." - Not Yogi Berra

by serrapadre716 on Mar 16, 2009 4:45 PM PDT up reply actions

Being on Thornton's line

Does help a lot but you can’t really take any credit away from Seto. Scoring 25 in your sophomore year is pretty good. Also he’s second on the team for goals.

by idunno723 on Mar 16, 2009 5:04 PM PDT up reply actions

No, it doesn't.

Seto is almost always the hardest working player out there.

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by Matthew_Taylor on Mar 16, 2009 5:26 PM PDT up reply actions

I agree,

maybe we don’t all see it the same way, but in my opinion he does much mroe out there then just sit around for a thornton one timer, his physicality is great and skating as you mentioned.

I don't like you Detroit.

by mattman on Mar 16, 2009 6:29 PM PDT up reply actions

Agree x10

by AppleSweetRose on Mar 16, 2009 9:35 PM PDT up reply actions

setoguchi – idunno could score 25 goals if he was on the thornton line

Sorry to call you out, serrapadre – If it was that easy, why couldn’t his other linemates do it?

nabokov – we’ve got plenty of goalie prospects…psst greiss has been waiting

You. Can’t. Be. Serious.
If you had just put in “plenty of goalie prospects” I might be sympathetic… but GREISS?
He had his opportunities last season – which was why we got Boucher. Greiss still doesn’t have an NHL win, by the way – though Semenov’s skate is partially to blame for one of those losses.

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by Mr. K. on Mar 16, 2009 3:47 PM PDT up reply actions

i remember

hearing we had plenty of goalie prospects. and greiss is the only one i’ve heard mainly because he’s the dude we call up when nabby goes down to back up boucher. not trying to say it’s easy to score when thornton’s on your side, but cheechoo and milan both had like 20 goals each. i’m just trying to say having jumbo there makes it a hell of a lot easier.

remember, i don’t know shit, i’m too busy trying to figure out how i’m going to get out of doing my homework or track practice.

"It aint over till the fat lady sings." - Not Yogi Berra

by serrapadre716 on Mar 16, 2009 4:42 PM PDT up reply actions

ah semenov

he never ceases to disappoint

"It aint over till the fat lady sings." - Not Yogi Berra

by serrapadre716 on Mar 16, 2009 4:48 PM PDT up reply actions

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS A little McEnroe for you hockey fans out there.
And the longer version

I don't like you Detroit.

by mattman on Mar 16, 2009 5:45 PM PDT up reply actions

you need to do your homework bro,

that is absurd

I don't like you Detroit.

by mattman on Mar 16, 2009 5:42 PM PDT up reply actions

I agree

Seto comes to play. My picks would be Clowe, Patty, and Seto. Couture is Pavs 2.0 (and I love Pavs), and if Nabokov can’t win it all this year or next, I think the FO will have enough ammo to cut him loose without a huge outcry (not that I agree with that reasoning). I also think one of Murray/Ehrhoff will have to go as well. Cheechoo, too. But, I would also think that Mitchell can be kept for sub $1 mil considering his injury. McGinn is looking like a keeper, will fill a role for 700k.

by ruben398 on Mar 16, 2009 3:12 PM PDT reply actions

I haven't seen much of Greiss...

but Boucher’s play was subpar during Nabby’s absence. I wonder why they didn’t give Griess a game. I’m guessing he is slated to be Nabby’s successor (he’ll be 34 this year). You can’t judge Griess on the basis of one game – gotta give the guy a few games to settle in.

Also for what it’s worth – I would take Murray over Erhoff. Murray is a tank and his physical play adds an extra dimension to the team that has been lacking since the departure of Kyle McLaren

by sharkie9000 on Mar 17, 2009 10:48 AM PDT reply actions

A question

Can the Sharks avoid Kevin Lowe and his Fist of Thor by signing our RFAs before July 1st?

Signing Clowe, Goc, and Mitchell are absolute priorities when the season ends. I’d expect Clowe to command similar value to Michalek. Goc I’d expect to command slightly less than Mike Grier dollar. As for Mitchell, we could reasonably sign him for around $1 million.

by Will Bulldozer on Mar 22, 2009 12:38 PM PDT reply actions

Yeah, you can sign guys beforehand and then they’re not RFA’s. I don’t think in the last year (or at least the last half of the last year) of the contract that there is any restrictions. The only problem is, if you’re signing those guys, you’re committing salary for the following 2 years, which can create some hard cap situations, though certainly manageable. If someone gets ahold of those RFA’s though, it could be rough.

by IAmJoe on Mar 22, 2009 10:29 PM PDT up reply actions