In the middle of the five-game road trip, San Jose Sharks Head Coach David Quinn decided to sit Marc-Edouard Vlasic for two games. Quinn had hinted at displeasure with the veteran defenseman’s game in the past, but he had never taken that extra step to pull him from the lineup. This season appears to be different.
When asked why Vlasic was a healthy scratch, Quinn told San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng: “He and I have had a few conversations before the season started and a couple during the season. It’s pretty clear what we’re looking for. Keep those conversations between Marc and I…If we were happy with what was going on, he’d be in the line-up.”
With Vlasic a healthy scratch for the first time since he established himself in the NHL, it has Sharks fans wondering, what’s next for the defenseman? Is this a sign of something more to come?
How bad has Vlasic been this season?
It would be good to start with whether Vlasic has been substantially worse than other players on the Sharks in this dreadful 0-8-1 start to the season. As most Sharks fans realize, the defense has not been good. Vlasic is no exception.
The most glaring issue with Vlasic’s play through the first nine games is the xGA/60 – the expected goals against per sixty minutes. He’s not doing the one thing he’s always been relied upon to do: help keep the puck out of the net.
However, this is not all on Vlasic. Just about every other defenseman who has suited up for the Sharks thus far is red in the xGA/60 column.
Quinn singled out Vlasic because it’s more than that. The coach has said he wants Vlasic to be “harder to play against.” While that can mean different things to different people, there are a few statistics that make Vlasic stand out among other defensemen, but not in a good way.
According to Natural Stat Trick, of the eight players who have played for the Sharks on defense this season, Vlasic is seventh in hits with one hit. For comparison’s sake, Kyle Burroughs leads the defense with 22 and Mario Ferraro is second with 15. Jan Rutta is the player above Vlasic on the list, with four hits.
Vlasic is also not taking hits to make plays, either. Natural Stat Trick has just two hits taken on Vlasic’s stats sheet.
Finally, while he’s blocking shots, it’s not as much as the coaching staff would like to see. Vlasic is tied for fifth on defense with nine shots blocked. Nikolai Knyzhov also has nine. The four players ahead of them have double that or more.
So, yes, the Sharks’ defense is not doing well overall, but based on the stats, Vlasic is not doing the work the coaching staff would like to see to turn things around.
What’s next for Marc-Edouard Vlasic?
Which leads to the big question: what’s next? What options does the team have at its disposal?
Let’s get a few of the easy ones out of the way first.
Can the Sharks terminate Vlasic’s contract?
There are only two ways a team can terminate a player’s contract.
First, if the player and the team mutually agree upon a contract termination. This is what happened with Filip Zadina when he left the Detroit Red Wings before signing with the Sharks. The Red Wings wanted to waive Zadina and send him to the AHL, Zadina wanted to bet on himself. The two parties agreed to part ways.
There is absolutely no reason for Vlasic to want to terminate his contract. According to CapFriendly, Vlasic is guaranteed $7.25 million this season, $7 million next season and $5.5 million in 2025-26. There’s no reason for him to walk away from $19.75 million, which is what contract termination would force him to do.
The other way for a team to terminate a contract is if the player breaks team rules. That’s not the kind of player or person that Vlasic is. It’s hard to envision him changing now.
So, ultimately, no, the Sharks cannot terminate Vlasic’s contract.
Can the Sharks buy out Vlasic’s contract?
Yes, the Sharks can buy out Vlasic’s contract, but not right now. The league offers a small buyout window that opens on June 15 or 48 hours after the Stanley Cup is awarded, whichever is later. The window closes on June 30.
If the Sharks management decided to go the buyout route this summer, it would only be buying out the final two years of Vlasic’s contract. The cost of the buyout would be spread out over four seasons.
At that point, Vlasic would have $8 million in salary remaining on his contract (not counting signing bonuses) and the Sharks would be responsible for two-thirds of that amount in cash. The cap hit for the Sharks would be different. CapFriendly has an excellent cap calculator that runs the numbers. Here’s what the Sharks would lose in cap space over the next four years.
| Season | Buyout Cap Hit | Current Cap Hit |
| 2024-25 | $3,833,333 | $7,000,000 |
| 2025-26 | $4,833,333 | $7,000,000 |
| 2026-27 | $1,833,333 | $0 |
| 2027-28 | $1,833,333 | $0 |
So, yes, the Sharks can buy out Vlasic in the summer. That is not an option right now.
Can the Sharks trade Vlasic?
There are actually two questions in play here. Can the Sharks trade Vlasic? Absolutely. While there is a three-team modified no-trade clause, where Vlasic can choose three teams that he’s willing to be traded to, there’s nothing else that restricts the possibility of a trade.
What’s more, Vlasic may broaden that trade list to other teams if he knows he will be watching large chunks of the rest of the season instead of playing.
The better question in all of this is: can the Sharks find a team willing to trade for Vlasic?
Every time Quinn benches Vlasic, his trade value goes down. What team will want a player who can’t crack the lineup of a team that’s 32nd in the NHL?
If the Sharks pursue the trade route with Vlasic, the team would start at a disadvantage. It would have to toss in a pot sweetener, such as a first-round draft pick, simply to offload the contract. That’s not something a rebuilding team wants to do, especially since first-round draft picks are what the Sharks are trying to collect, not give away.
Vlasic is placed on waivers and sent to the Barracuda
Consider this the end game option and one that I don’t see General Manager Mike Grier taking. Placing a veteran like Vlasic on waivers and sending him to the Barracuda is a sure sign that the team thinks Vlasic is through. It is a very public announcement that management does not think that Vlasic has what it takes to play in the NHL anymore and there’s no turning back from that.
Grier has not shown himself to be that kind of person to date. He has always been respectful of a player’s wishes even as he goes about the business of rebuilding a professional sports franchise. I don’t see that being any different with Vlasic, a guy he played with for several seasons.
More than that, placing Vlasic on waivers does not get San Jose out from underneath Vlasic’s contract. (Unless another team claims him off of waivers, but see above about being unable to crack the lineup of the worst team in the league.) It will still be the same cap hit even if Vlasic is asked to play for the Barracuda. The only thing it will free up for San Jose is a roster spot and so far, the kids haven’t proven that they’re good enough to force San Jose into this option.
So, while waivers is an option, it won’t happen.
The most likely outcomes for Vlasic and the Sharks
Which leads us to the final two options for Vlasic and the Sharks, the do nothing options.
These are the most likely options.
Vlasic plays the role of seventh defenseman
San Jose wants to see what the team has in younger defensemen. Ty Emberson, after sitting and watching from the rafters for the first few games, has now played the last five games for the Sharks and has been one of the more effective players. Nikita Okhotiuk should get a look soon. He just came back from a conditioning stint with the Barracuda. There’s also Shakir Mukhamadullin and Henry Thrun waiting in the Barracuda for a call up. There are options.
Better yet, there’s cap space.
Bringing up young players with entry-level contracts does not hurt the Sharks. The team still has plenty of cap space and the space won’t change whether or not Vlasic plays.
Placing Vlasic in as a seventh defenseman gives the Sharks an option in the case of injury or any time one of the younger players needs to reset his game by sitting one out.
It’s not an ideal choice for Vlasic, but it may be what’s best for the team. At the very least, this could indicate to Vlasic that something needs to be done in the summer and he may broaden his trade list or make the decision that we’re about to discuss below.
If it doesn’t, then Vlasic plays the next two and a half seasons as a seventh defenseman, injury option until his contract expires.
Vlasic decides to retire or goes on long-term injured reserve
Vlasic is 36-years-old; he will be 37 at the close of this season. Younger men than he have decided to hang them up before their contracts expired.
It’s rare for a player to retire in the middle of the season unless it’s due to injury. However, it’s been done.
If things continue to progress on the path they are currently on, Vlasic will get less and less ice time and may even be relegated to the seventh defenseman position by the close of this season. Like it or not, he will have a decision to make in the summer.
Vlasic could decide that he wants to retire or go on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) with one of the dozen ailments he’s likely accumulated through years of playing professional hockey. Neither decision would be questioned by the league or by hockey fans.
If Vlasic retires, the Sharks don’t owe him the money and his cap hit goes away. This is the less likely of the two options.
The more likely is that Vaslic goes on LTIR. This is along the lines of what players like Chris Pronger, Carey Price, Shea Weber, etc. did. This is where the player still gets their salary, it still counts against the cap, but the player no longer plays for an NHL team.
Conclusion
While Vlasic will always be remembered as one of the better Sharks’ defensemen, it is clear that either management, coaching or both see his career with the Sharks nearing the end.
GM Grier has consistently brought in younger, utility defensemen to round out the team’s bottom-pairing. He’s brought in young prospects to fill out the top four core and only needs a top-pairing to make the defensive rebuild complete.
Vlasic and his $7 million AAV contract do not seem to factor into any of this, and it won’t have to. By offloading the Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns deals and retaining only a small portion of those cap hits, Grier has built up enough cap space to keep Vlasic’s contract on the books for the next two years without allowing it to hinder the rebuild process.
The end of Vlasic’s contract seems to lineup perfectly with when the Sharks will be ready to compete again. So really, the do nothing option is what’s best for the San Jose as well. The team can continue to keep Vlasic on its roster without letting it get in the way of the development of younger, future players for the team.
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