What do the Sharks need this offseason?

With the draft behind us and free agency looming, we can finally take a comprehensive look at what the Sharks have to work with this offseason. I’m going to group all the 2015-16 Sharks into three categories: Signed, UFAs and RFAs. From there, we can see what holes need to be plugged.

Signed

These Sharks are under contract for the 2017-18 season. All salary information comes from GeneralFanager.com.

Forwards (9, $34,453,332)

Joe Thornton, $6,750,000

Patrick Marleau, $6,666,666

Joe Pavelski, $6,000,000

Logan Couture , $6,000,000

Joel Ward, $3,275,000

Tommy Wingels, $2,475,000

Melker Karlsson, $1,650,000

Joonas Donskoi, $925,000

Chris Tierney, $711,666

Defenders (6, $22,824,166)

Brent Burns, $5,760,000

Paul Martin, $4,850,000

Marc-Edouard Vlasic, $4,250,000

Justin Braun, $3,800,000

Brenden Dillon , $3,270,000

Mirco Mueller, $894,166

Goalies (1, $3,000,000)

Martin Jones, $3,000,000

UFAs

Forwards: Nick Spaling, Dainius Zubrus, Micheal Haley

Defenders: Roman Polak, Matt Tennyson

Goalies: James Reimer

RFAs

Forwards: Tomas Hertl, Matt Nieto

Defenders: Dylan Demelo

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So the Sharks currently have nine forwards, six defenders and one goalie under contract for the 2017-18 season. Doug Wilson has already stated that he’ll allow the players acquired during last season to test the market. That group includes Roman Polak, Nick Spaling, James Reimer and Dainius Zubrus.

That may not include Matt Tennyson and Micheal Haley. Haley played in 16 games with the Sharks, recording one goal and 10 shots while Tennyson played 29 games with one goal and three assists on 23 shots.

The Sharks have until 2 p.m. PDT on Monday to make a qualifying offer to their three pending RFAs. I expect San Jose will do that. We’ll likely get some kind of an update on Tomas Hertl’s health this week, which I imagine will factor into the kind of deal he’s offered by the Sharks.

Matt Nieto is also a guy San Jose would like to keep around as he’s proved to be a solid depth forward. Dylan Demelo should also be extended a qualifying offer — he impressed in limited (and sheltered) duty last season and could eventually turn into a bottom pairing guy.

Assuming the Sharks tender contracts to these three players (with Hertl and Nieto getting one-way qualifying offers) that leaves San Jose with 11 forwards and six defenders signed. Mirco Mueller, while technically on the Sharks roster, is not a lock to make the opening night roster and could be dropped back to the Barracuda.

If that happens, the Sharks will need at least one forward, one defender and one goaltender. Assuming Timo Meier makes the team this fall (I think he will) the Sharks will likely go outside the organization to find a backup goalie and a bottom pairing defender.

Note that San Jose does have the options in the organization to fill all these roster holes if they choose to, but I doubt they will. The Sharks can also try to go out and upgrade certain positions, most likely on the bottom forward line, if they desire. The money San Jose will have to spend depends on the contracts the RFAs get, but the Sharks should have a decent amount of cash to splash now — or during the season — if they want.