An offseason checklist for the San Jose Sharks

The offseason has arrived with roughly half of the league finished up after missing the playoffs and several more joining them following their first-round eliminations. It’s time to examine what those teams need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at San Jose.

The Sharks were supposed to be a team that was set to contend. That was the idea behind the Erik Karlsson trade three years ago and while they did that in 2018-19, they missed the playoffs entirely a year ago and weren’t much better this season. Their veteran core struggled mightily and while they had a bit of cap space to add some mid-round picks at the deadline, they don’t have a lot of wiggle room to significantly shake up their core. With that in mind, GM Doug Wilson’s checklist for the summer is somewhat restricted with seven of their eight highest-paid players having some form of trade protection.

Donato Decision

One thing the flattened salary cap did last offseason was increase the number of players that were non-tendered to avoid salary arbitration. With the Upper Limit staying at $81.5M, that’s likely to be the case again this summer. San Jose has one of those players in winger Ryan Donato who is owed a $2.15M qualifying offer in July.

The Sharks acquired the 25-year-old in October for a third-round pick, a reasonable price to pay for someone that has shown some flashes of being an impact NHL forward, albeit mixed in with some inconsistent play as well. Unfortunately for Wilson, Donato provided more of the latter than the former, finishing up his year with six goals and 14 assists in 50 games while averaging 12:37 per game.

In a normal year, he’d be likely to get another opportunity given his previous stretches of being a productive top-six piece. Give him a small raise and go from there. But in this cap environment, it’s hard to envision Donato getting $2.15M on the open market. Bottom-six forwards were largely squeezed out a year ago and with teams as cap-strapped now as they were then, that’s not likely to change.

As a result, if San Jose wants to retain Donato, they need to try to work out a new deal before free agency opens up in late July. Offer a cut in pay to see if he wants to stick around – that’s perfectly legal despite the qualifier that’s owed – with the understanding that if an agreement can’t be reached, he’ll be non-tendered. It’s a bit of a heavy-handed approach but don’t be surprised if many other teams take a similar approach with some of their RFAs.

Add A Goalie

It was only a few years ago that Martin Jones looked like their long-term goalie of the future and his $5.75M AAV through 2023-24 potentially being a bargain. No one’s saying that now.  The 31-year-old posted a .896 SV% for the third straight season, a rate that is well below average for a backup let alone a starter. All of a sudden, forget about the old thought of it being a bargain contract. Now, Wilson may need to give serious consideration to buying him out. If you’re curious as to what that would cost, the cap hit would range from $1.667M to $2.917M over each of the next six seasons. That’s a steep price to pay but it would give them a bit of space to try to add a better option.

Even if they don’t buy him out, the Sharks need to add another goalie, preferably a starter instead of another reclamation project. Josef Korenar had some good moments in his first taste of NHL action but he has another year of waiver exemption; he needs to be playing as much as possible in the minors and he’s not ready to push for full-time NHL duty just yet. As is often the case, there are quite a few goalies available in free agency and the trade market could feature a few more options than usual. They should be able to nab a reasonably-priced option and with the struggles they’ve had between the pipes lately, the right choice could yield a few more wins in the standings on their own.

Extension Talks For Hertl

If you were curious as to which of their eight highest-paid players doesn’t have any trade protection, it’s Tomas Hertl.  He will be entering the final year of his contract next season so when free agency begins and the calendar flips to the 2021-22 season, the 27-year-old will be eligible to sign a contract extension.