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2019 NHL Free Agency: Sharks free agent tracker

The first day of free agency has come and gone and we’re seeing a lot of former San Jose Sharks players in new uniforms.

Here’s where all the Restricted Free Agents (RFA) and Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) ended up:

The Big Pavelski is in Big D

This is the big one Sharks’ fans were dreading. Joe Pavelski is headed to the Dallas Stars. News broke on Sunday night, but it was made official on July 1.

Pavelski signed a three-year, $21 million deal to go to the Stars. He’ll be joined by Corey Perry, who signed a very friendly one-year, $1.5 million contract. Of course Perry is also getting that buyout money.

Timo Time for a few more years

While Pavelski walked, Doug Wilson still took care of the most important business in signing Timo Meier. The young forward received a four-year extension with a $6 million AAV.

Joonas Donskoi cashes in

Forward Joonas Donskoi made good on his promise to explore other options as a UFA and decided it was a time for a change of scenery. Donskoi signed a four-year, $3.9 millon per year deal with the Colorado Avalanche.

It’s a scary thought. Adding Donskoi makes the Avs a formidable Western Conference foe.

Gus headed to …

Gustav Nyquist was definitely someone Wilson should have been trying to sign with Pavs out of the picture. Sadly, it was not to be. Nyquist signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets on July 1. It was a four-year, $5.5 million AAV deal.

All quiet on the Labanc front

Kevin Labanc was the other RFA that a lot of people though would be important for Wilson to lock up. Understandably, Wilson was focused on Meier, but with that deal done you have to figure Labanc is up next.

So far, there are no offer sheets for Labanc. We know Sebastian Aho signed one with the Montreal Canadiens, so there are teams out there willing to make other GMs mad. Labanc hasn’t signed one, so either not that many people are sniffing around or Labanc’s staying loyal to San Jose.

No deal yet for Jumbo

Joe Thornton is still without a deal, but that’s not really a shock. Thornton only wants to play in San Jose and Wilson is going to welcome him back. The two will work out terms later, but it’s a done deal.

Check out what Wilson told The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz on the subject:

Patrick Marleau

I put Patty in here because I think everyone is expecting he’ll be back on the West Coast next season, most likely in a teal uniform. The Sharks haven’t made a deal with Marleau yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. In fact, I would guess that because of the radio silence on the Patty front, it’s becoming more and more likely he’s coming home.

Marleau’s family was going to move back to San Jose this summer regardless of where Patty played. Obviously, he’d like to be close to them. I would guess — and this is 100 percent speculation, but I would guess that Wilson knows Patty’s there and that Patty is willing to wait.

This is what Wilson told The Athletic’s Kurz:

Tim Heed

Wilson locked up another need for the Sharks by signing Heed to a short, one-year, $960,000 deal. That’s the right price for San Jose and it fills a need they had on their roster, a third pairing, left-side defenseman.

Michael Haley

NHL tough guy (at least as tough as they get in the NHL nowadays) Haley has no deal yet. It’s really no surprise. He’s a backburner kind of player that won’t receive a contract until all the big fish and the medium fish have found homes.

Qualifying offers, no deal yet

Nick DeSimone, Dylan Gambrell, Maxim Letunov, Antti Suomela and Kyle Wood all received qualifying offers from the Sharks, but haven’t signed anything yet.

No qualifying offers

As we reported last week, the following players will need to find somewhere else to play next season:

Michael Brodzinski
Rourke Chartier
Cody Donaghey
Cavan Fitzgerald
Jon Martin
Joakim Ryan (heads to LA)
Alex Schoenborn
Tom Pyatt (acquired via trade at 2019 draft)

The two surprises on the list are Chartier and Ryan. Both spent time with the Sharks this season and were thought to be with the team next season, especially Ryan as the Sharks are short on defensive depth at the moment.

Pyatt was part of a trade with the Vancouver Canucks at the 2019 draft. He was tossed into the trade deal to help the Canucks get below that 50-man roster. The Sharks always had plans to release Pyatt at the start of free agency.

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