Locked On Sharks
Big Question: Should Sharks Buy Out Vlasic?

Kyle and JD start their Diamond Joe Quimby Big Questions series with Marc-Édouard Vlasic and if the San Jose Sharks should pursue a buyout this season. We start by looking at where Vlasic’s cap hit ranks among defensemen and where his production is at. We look at how a buyout would affect the Sharks’ cap situation (9:00), and if Vlasic’s lack of production for the next 4 years is better than 8 years of cap issues (14:00). We finish by looking at the upcoming logjam of left-handed defensemen (19:00) and our prediction of what the Sharks do (25:00).
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EVERY SINGLE MOVE the Sharks make must be looked thru one lens: Is this a ‘for now’ move or a ‘for later’ move. The organization seems to think they should be making ‘now’ moves. They should be making ‘later’ moves. Buying out Vlasic is a ‘now’ move. It hinders the organization later because his cap hit will run out for years. Same with the Martin Jones buyout. The Sharks would be out of Jones deal in 2 years if they’d simply demoted him to the AHL. Instead, they have 5 more years of his cap hit. Now ask yourself, what… Read more »
making “now moves” is a desperate attempt to assuage the STH’s and put butts in seats now that the Covid restrictions are by and large removed.
i agree that these “now moves” are pretty short-sighted (to go along with all of the previous short-sighted moves in order to “extend the window”). better to just bite down on the bit and cut deep/aggressively to excise the rot.
instead of picking a side, the Sharks find themselves in the middle of the road (where you get squished), in some kind of quasi re-tool monstrosity.
I guess it depends on what your diagnosis of the problem is. Is it purely salaries, health, talent, coaching, system? There are plenty of floundering teams on both “sides” and the balancing act (middle-of-the-road) can actually be where you want to be. The new GM needs a strategy, as the only options aren’t to fire sale your veterans OR keep everyone and let them age out. Our recent drafts of overachieving, undersized draft picks also lends itself to a change in the system.
they can’t move out ALL of the bad contracts at once, as it will take draft and prospect talent to do so IF you can even find trade partners/get all of the NO MOVE clauses waived. however, it’s got to be a commitment to move at least 1 bad contract as each opportunity presents itself (draft, FA, TDL, etc.). the F/O has to purge itself (or be purged) of their silly notions that they’re in some “WIN NOW” mode with this aging core combined with newbs. Timo is really the only star vet on the borderline for competing with our… Read more »