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SJHN Daily: Wang Represents China for 1st Time, Ravensbergen WHL Goaltender of the Year
San Jose Sharks prospect Haoxi (Simon) Wang is representing China in a major international tournament for the first time.
The 6-foot-6 defenseman is playing in the World Championships, Division I Group B. China is competing against Estonia, Netherlands, Romania, South Korea, and Spain for the right to move up to the D1A World Championships, which is the level right below the World Championships.
Wang, the Sharks’ No. 33 pick in 2025, is a long-term project. The Chinese-born defenseman started playing Canadian junior hockey at just 14.
Last season was his first full season in the OHL, where he put up six goals and 26 points in 57 games. Next season, the 18-year-old is slated to join Boston University.
Haoxi (Simon) Wang represents China in international competition for the 1st time!
The top #SJSharks prospect is playing right now at the World Championships D1B in Shenzhen!
Thanks to @lilongmou for sharing these pics from Chinese Ice Hockey Association photographer Wang Yue! pic.twitter.com/gK8tGTGfOr
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) May 1, 2026
He scored a point in China’s 7-4 tournament-opening loss to South Korea. China followed that up with an overtime win over Romania.
Calgary Hitmen starting goalie Eric Tu, who’s Draft-eligible next year, is also on Team China.
He scored, but South Korea 🇰🇷 won decisively, 7-4. https://t.co/9LCo2RvB91 pic.twitter.com/Uqf6f4YiB3
— Hockey Worldwide (@H0ckeyWorldwide) April 29, 2026
AT SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW…
Macklin Celebrini is a Ted Lindsay Award finalist!
Sam Dickinson discusses the challenges of being a rookie NHL defenseman.
San Jose Barracuda eliminated in Eric Pohlkamp‘s AHL debut.
Barracuda GM Joe Will talks next steps for Pohlkamp, Leo Sahlin Wallenius, and more.
Tyler Toffoli endorses Celebrini for captain.
OTHER SHARKS NEWS…
Congratulations to Joshua Ravensbergen, who was awarded the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as WHL Goaltender of the Year! The 19-year-old went 32-13-0 in the regular season with a .919 SV% with the Prince George Cougars. Ravensbergen will play for Michigan State next season.
Quentin Musty details his first professional season.
The Tank was rockin' 🗣️@TPSNofficial got mic'd up for his first game in San Jose. pic.twitter.com/K6LhqjlIHx
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) April 29, 2026
Brodie Brazil chats with prospect Eric Pohlkamp.
The Hockey Guy discusses the likelihood of the Sharks making the playoffs next season.
Jeffrey Viel finding home with Anaheim Ducks.
AROUND THE NHL…
The Philadelphia Flyers are on to the second round!
Jessica Campbell leaves the Seattle Kraken.
Brendan Gallagher shines in return to lineup and the Montreal Canadiens win!
BRETT HOWDEN, IT'S FINALLY OVER 🚨
VEGAS WINS IT IN DOUBLE OVERTIME 😱 pic.twitter.com/zblfHUFZrq
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 30, 2026
The Pittsburgh Penguins react to series loss.
Jeremy Swayman named Vezina Trophy finalist!
Nathan Mackinnon shockingly snubbed from Ted Lindsay Award.
Toronto Maple Leafs should announce front office signings soon.
Edmonton Oilers facing elimination again in Game Six.
Alex DeBrincat talks future with Detroit Red Wings.
Insane, insane results… After the quarterfinals at the IIHF U18 Men's Worlds…
USA is OUT
Canada is OUT
Finland is OUTGermany is RELEGATED by Norway#IIHF #NHLDraft
— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) April 29, 2026
Would really like to see the Ducks lock our 2nd first rounder into the #19/20 slot tonight so that I can stop having to root for them…
I also genuinely believe that McDavid would be that much closer to forcing his way to the Sharks
that would be pretty nuts having 2 players taking up 40 mil in cap space.
They won’t ask for $20M each – they know that hurts their chances of maintaining a competitive team around them. They want to win more than they want to be the two highest paid players in the league.
I understand this is kind of a fantasy scenario type thing, but I’m genuinely curious in the internal logic of this dream why Connor McDavid would come to the Sharks specifically at a discount? Why not go to, say, the Ducks who is farther along on the rebuild? Why not go to a team in a no-tax state?
Personally, while we are fantasizing, I’m more interested in Cale Makar who still hasn’t extended with Colorado yet.
But of course, in the real world, the reason he hasn’t signed yet is probably because he is asking for more money than Kaprizov.
EDIT: Oops. I gotta correct myself. Makar is not eligible to sign until July 1. Well, there goes my fantasy. I guess I have to jump on the McDavid fantasy bandwagon now.
I am not suggesting they would necessarily come cheap. I’m just saying they aren’t going to try to exceed the highest contract by $3M. What is fantasy, IMO, is this belief that all players always hold out for the max amount of money they can get, and that simply isn’t true. Crosby has been taking $8.7M for forever. McDavid didn’t take a raise in his two year extension. Eichel took less than he could have gotten to stay in Vegas. These are just a few examples. Yeah, the no tax thing can help a bit in some cases. But there… Read more »
Jumbo also wanted to keep his salary similar to Pattys out of respect. There’s a lot of hate out there for a guy who was incredibly classy to his teammates.
The Ducks aren’t actually much further ahead. Their defense is still an abomination other than LaCombe and I’ll take the Sharks forwards all day.
And the answer to your question is simple. Macklin Celebrini. There were many Canadian pundits who speculated on it around the Olympics. It might not happen, but we aren’t the only dreamers
The “other than Lacombe” part is kinda funny. Because he’s out there 27min a game!!
It’s a little funny now, and you’re not wrong. But it will be less amusing if, in the not so distant future, we’re sitting here saying “but Dickinson is out there 27min a game” while there are no other core high end D around him. I actually think the Sharks may be better served to see ANA get to the conference finals even if it was over UTA – not only does it bump us up to #19, but if they lose in the next round and slide into a draft spot immediately in front of us, they could very… Read more »
There’s more than one way to get a functional blue line, but having the stud at age 25 who does the 25min a night thing makes everything else so much easier. The Ducks blue line isn’t really a mess. Guys like Zellweger, Helleson and Mintyukov are functional, young players. They have Solberg in their pipeline. Lacombe really is the key to it all. Put Lacombe on the Sharks and the blueline looks respectable as most guys would play closer to where their talent level is. Take Lacombe out of the Ducks line-up and the d-group is a mess. I do… Read more »
Absolutely agree on Lacombe’s impact. But I guess we can agree to disagree on how much of a mess their overall D is. I would classify their young players you mentioned as guys with potential more than functional.
Here’s the reality…the Sharks only allowed four more goals than the Ducks did. That looks even worse for ANA when you factor in that Dostal had a much better season than Askarov. SJ, VAN, TOR – those are the teams that allowed more goals than the Ducks. So for me, their D is a mess.
I spent awhile replying to Zeke and I should have just read the rest of this where I basically agree with you both, haha
just looked it up. Lacombe was the 12th d-man off the board in his draft class 39th overall, Sharks top pick came later in rd 2.
There were some misses, along with some pretty good d-men taken ahead of Lacombe. But Mo Seider is probably the only one who is better. Byram, Broberg, Harley among the pretty good ones.
True, but the simple fact is the Ducks allowed only 4 fewer goals than the Sharks, so clearly everyone else on that vaunted young D is not pulling their weight. Lacombe is 25, so Dickinson has 6 years to get to his level. He’s bigger and he skates just as well. Another simple truth is the Ducks caught the Oilers at the right time with McDavid, Draisaitl and Hyman all dinged up. That will make your D look a lot better, though let’s still give credit to LaCombe because he did a great job on McDavid in this series and… Read more »
I’d say the Ducks defense is substantially ahead of the Sharks, even absent Lacombe, because they’ve got young guys coming along in the NHL. Zellweger, Helleson, Mintyukov. Heard Solberg has looked pretty respectable in AHL. Noticed Hinds is playing for them now, not familiar with him, though he didn’t look out of place. They’re getting answers. Thing is, they’re in the show getting that growth. There’s enough youth that’ll hit. Even if its 3 of those 5, none has to be that 1A guy. Which makes guys like John Carlson a useful addition and not the guy who does the… Read more »
Well, if your point is that the young Ducks D-men are in the NHL playing badly, I can get behind that. I can also see the argument that this is a good thing and better than not in the NHL, since I’m basically making that argument for Dickinson. I guess my further point is that I don’t see anything particularly high ceiling about the Not LaCombes in that group. If we agree that the Ducks have a real 1st pairing D in LaCombe, and yet the team gave up only 4 goals fewer than the Sharks with better goaltending, then… Read more »
I’m not sure it follows the other guys were awful and I’m not sure the goaltending was all that good.
They do have a lot of younger players across the line-up and its been a run-and-gun kind of team. Its kind of who they are.
If Dickinson becomes Lacombe in 5 years, that’ll be a fantastic result. Within the realm of possibiilty as Sam has a lot of talent
Didn’t Mintyukov ask to be traded? I think it’s a fairly open question as to whether he’s really even a part of their future.
And if you’re talking about young defenders in the NHL getting experience and hoping they’ll develop into guys that can be counted on, you can’t have the same conversation about the Sharks and not include Muk.
I recall there was some of that on Mintyukov. Didn’t that come from his camp? Something about playing time/opportunity maybe. Memory is fuzzy. Not sure where that sits now, but he does seem to be playing
Fair point on Mukh. Shoulda included him
i remember seeing Lacombe at U of Minn a few year ago. I thought he was the best defenseman in the Final Four by far the year that I watched it..can’t recall if 2022 or 23. There was a poise to his game even then that showed he didn’t get frazzled when under duress on the forecheck and when navigating traffic to exit the zone. He calmly controlled the puck and made the right moves to either skate out or move the puck out of the d zone.
I don’t agree. Anaheim’s forwards are quite a bit better suited to play the NHL game than what SJ is trotting out there. They can all skate and they’re much bigger, and more of them can fill the net. All that is to say that they are probably built better for the playoff season than SJs smallish forward group that seems less able to sustain a north-south playing style against bigger, physical teams. SJs forward, with the exception of Celbrini and Chernyshov, and somewhat Wennberg, have trouble maintaining possession of the puck, protecting and controlling play. Sherwood should help out… Read more »
Yeah, we aren’t gonna agree, but that’s cool
30 goals? He produced solid numbers considering his teenage build. I think it’ll be more fair to pass judgment when he shows up to camp looking like a grown ass man. 🙂 Agreed on Eklund though.
Good to see you back on here, David! To reference the 50 Cent meme, why am I taking a shot here lol? I think it’s an interesting question, not so cut-and-dry, San Jose’s young forwards versus Anaheim’s. Misa’s development is going to be essential to this; I think he does develop into a hard-to-play-against two-way center, freeing up Smith and Eklund, in theory, to be “small” and offensive, even in a playoff setting. Let’s match up top-6 (or 9) caliber U23 forwards… SJS: Celebrini, Misa, Smith, Eklund, Chernyshov, Graf ANA: Carlsson, Gauthier, Sennecke, McTavish This obviously isn’t accounting for prospects… Read more »
Yup. Sharks getting Cele has likely dramatically changed the landscape for UFAs. We’ll most likely see the beginnings of that this summer.
Yeah, the only issue is there really isn’t much in the UFA market, so if the few guys out there don’t buy in, that’s it. I think one more season of guys seeing just how well the UFAs are doing is going to entice a lot more guys to take the risk and not sign the team friendly deal. Maybe that starts next year, maybe the year after. But Raddysh and Anderson haven’t signed yet, and I think it’s because they want to get some money, and that’s great. The good news for the Sharks is they have some money… Read more »
If the Cele effect lands the Sharks Raddish and Anderson I’ll take it.
It’ll help the trade market too as you’ve mentioned in the past. I think the Sharks are being deleted from a lot of no trade lists.
Hoping for both of these, and I think I would prefer the idea of getting Raddysh at high AAV and shorter term over Andersson who I assume wants 8/$10M AAV on a contract that will take him to age 37. If Anderson is willing to sign shorter term at high AAV, he’s very much back in the mix obviously. And yes, I realize it’s all speculation about what Raddysh wants, so there are exactly zero facts in my equation. 😂 And I can’t see anyone with an opportunity to get traded here turning it down. Amazing city, great fans, improvements… Read more »
I don’t think Anderson is even an option. I can’t remember the details, but there is some technical reason Vegas can’t sign him right now. I think it is something about cap space and the cap for next season hasn’t officially risen yet and there’s some kind of limitation in the CBA. So supposedly they basically already have a deal in place to extend him that just can’t be finalized until after the season.
Yeah, not sure the details, but all that sounds plausible. Dorofeyev is due a huge raise along with guys like Sissons, so they have some cap gymnastics to do for sure. I think this kind of speaks to the value in trading for a guy you think you want to sign long term though, because he gets to see what it’s like and you get exclusive rights to talk to him up to July 1st to make arrangements like this. I doubt Sherwood would have had the Sharks at the top of his list but for the trade, for example.… Read more »
Raddysh is fascinating because TB is very rigid in how they value players and what they will offer a guy, and this season is considered a significant outlier from his norms. How sustainable does TB think this season’s stats are? And do they view his numbers dropping next season simply based on how they would use him with Hedman back in the lineup? They can afford to keep him if they want, but they may not be willing to go as high as they technically could afford to. If TB can’t get it done with him, and if GMMG is… Read more »
They technically can’t afford to go that high because they are kinda running up against the cap, and he would basically take up all the rest of their space to bring him back. If Montreal beats them tomorrow, they might decide to part ways just because Tampa might want to fill more varied needs and Raddysh will still want to get paid. As I keep saying though, it’s all speculative, there are so many moving parts and as fans, we have almost no actual information to, well, inform us on how it might go. But squeezing teams with the high… Read more »
I dunno. Agree that ~13M projected cap space isn’t a ton – he would eat into that. But pretty much all of their big names are locked up for years. Kucherov is the one big one in ’27, but their projected cap space jumps to $41M in ’27 and $62M in ’28. And he’ll be 33 in ’27 and is already at $9.5M, so it isn’t like his increase is going to be unmanageable given that much cap space. Seems like this upcoming year would be the only one that would be a crunch. That said, I’ll admit I am… Read more »
There’s one more thing to factor in. Tampa’s championship window is probably 2 or 3 years max, and that’s maybe generous given their fairly pathetic first round performance against Montreal. So if they can afford Raddysh for, say, 5/$40, 6/$45 or whatever, the question is whether they should actually do it. If they have a 3 year window, but they sign Raddysh for 6, that’s 3 years where he is locking up a chunk of a fairly ugly cap sheet full of old guys. Might sound familiar because we saw this movie already with the way the Sharks ran the… Read more »
We’ll have to see how bad the injury was – if he believes his injury is what cost them the series, he’s probably less likely to want out (immediately). And if SJ is his target, he probably still has a better chance to win the Cup in EDM than SJ this next season.
Waiting another year also lowers the cost a bit for SJ to acquire him – which benefits him.
The best case is probably he comes in the 2028 offseason as a UFA. Then it’s just money. Obviously none of this is more than a distant dream, but it got a lot less ridiculous this year, plus Edmonton is in for another very rough year as they have little money to spend and they have a lot of UFAs and that’s just to get the team back to being mediocre like this year.
💯 I’d much rather just sign him as a UFA. EDM will be looking for players and not draft picks if there is a trade – they won’t want to rebuild (yet) with Draisaitl and Bouchard still there. McDavid has a full no move – I’d rather him play out the two years and refuse to be traded.
There is almost no way Edmonton lets him walk for nothing. If they get any indication that he wants out, they would trade him for sure.
They would want to trade him, yes. But Connor has a full no move, so he holds all the cards.
He does. Being a free agent in the 2028 offseason, I’m not sure why McDavid would drop his NMC before that point. Stan Bowman would have a to be wizard negotiator to convince him that either this year, or next offseason that he could move him to an instant contender that wouldn’t have to give up critical pieces in a trade to get him. I kinda doubt that would be the case, but who knows?
While this is all hypothetical, what would we do if he joins? Push Mack to the 2nd line, Misa to 3d, Wenny to 4th, and Chucky to the AHL? Push Mack to the wing? And this is for as long as McDavid stays with the team. Maybe trade Misa for a D?
Honestly, I don’t think this will sit nicely with the team culture.
The best parallel I can think of is KD coming to the Warriors or Lebron taking his talents to Miami Beach. They figured out a way to make it work
Sure, but it will be a huge setback for many guys. If he was a winger, that would work, no problem. But would you put McDavid to a wing? Give Mack a “C” with McDavid on the team? Will McDavid agree to play on a wing?
Maybe… I’d say it is a very risky move for the team culture. It may work out or break it. And as we saw at the last Olympics having the best players in the world in the lineup doesn’t guarantee a win.
It would certainly be an adjustment. I think that Mack would keep the C and he would be happy to share glory to get his name on the Cup, just like Steph shared the spotlight gracefully with KD. As for all the other guys,.there are just too many variables to know what it might look like, but I just think if McDavid wants to come here, the team will be happy to have that problem. It’s all a fantasy until it’s real though, so I’m just having fun with it because I have nothing better to do Also, the Olympics… Read more »
I think we’re quite a ways from this hypothetical. There’s nothing to suggest McDavid will request a trade for this next season anyway – it’s early, obviously, but all the commentary so far is that he won’t. If the Oilers were to trade McDavid to the Sharks at some point, they’re going to ask for Misa (among others). It’s all hypotheticals on fit without knowing what the Sharks would agree to send back in a trade. And if we’re actually signing him as a UFA, we’re two years away from having to figure it out. Things we think now might… Read more »
Yeah no doubt on any of this. It’s just fun fanfic at this point
This kind of wild speculation is what the off-season is for.😉
The Sharks added EK65 in their contention window. Build the best sharks team in their history if only for a season. It’s doable.
Dumb fantasy above, but that’s what you get from adult aged children. Since he’s under contract until 2028 summer (when he’ll be close to 32), SJ would probably be giving up Misa as a piece in a trade package to bring him in. If such a trade were a reality, would SJ have the pieces that Edmonton would want? If they trade Mcdavid, they would seem to be committing to some degree of a rebuild. They would still have Draisaitl so not a full rebuild. But any trade for Mc would gut the prospect pool and players already on the… Read more »
We already said the best scenario is signing him UFA after 2028. The timing could work well and if the cap keeps rising, the team will hopefully have the ability to make it work and it wouldn’t cost any other assets. Is it the most likely scenario two years from now? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous. But it’s fun to discuss. If you’re not having fun, maybe reading internet fan hockey posts isn’t for you
Al?
as Farr as what most regular fans think… guarantee they would prefer to trade prospects and mediocre NHL players for a superstar. Look at the Jumbo trade.
“what would we do if he joins?”
You roll 4 lines and win the Stanley Cup!
On a more serious note, the problem of this dream scenario is really more a matter of salary cap space. This fantasy really only works if both Celebrini and McDavid to take a significant discount to accommodate each other, so Sharks don’t have holes in other areas of the roster.
Given McDavid’s personality, I think he’ll be happy to not wear the C and do less ceremonial/media stuff.
By that point McJesus takes mostly Ozone starts, Cele is your hard match guy and Wenny plays with Misa on line 3. Not trading Misa. Maybe Wenny?
One other thing is if you are rooting for the 19 slot, you have to keep rooting for the Ducks if Vegas beats Utah. Luckily it means rooting against Vegas.
Yes, true. I’ll root more passively though. Obviously dropping to 28/30/31 would be far more painful than not moving up to19 from 20. I won’t lose sleep over that one spot, lol. Hopefully UTA can rally – pretty disappointing to see them let both games 4 and 5 get away.
same!!
The Ducks next series is so much weaker than any other in these playoffs, whether it VGS or UTA. The concern was EDM wins two rounds against weak competition and the Sharks draft spot slides 10 spots.
Glad that’s out of the way. If the Sharks do pick at 20, the likelihood that the guy they wanted goes at 19 is pretty small. Still hoping VGS loses …
I’d imagine the pre-draft trade value of 19 and 20 is essentially the same, too, which is nice.
There are some possibilities on D in that range that are intriguing. There’s a big Swede and a Finn with a very late birthday who stand out to me as possibly being on the board at that pick. But as you said, we have no idea if the team will make it, and I think we would all welcome a deal for the right blue liner who fits the championship window
Was listening to the Chris Peter flohockey podcast with Cam Robinson who is at the U18s. Count on there being spelling errors in the names below. They didn’t like what they saw from Verhoeff. Thought Malte Gustafsson (is that the Swede you’re referring to?) improved his draft stock and Ryan Lin as well. Scouch likes Gustafsson, too. There’s another Swede (I think) named William Hankensson and I think the Finn is Urho Pipirinnen. Neither got mentioned. As the days go on, I just want the Sharks to take the best d-men, regardless of which side. Towards the end of the… Read more »
Well you don’t need to go very far back to see that the team is willing to dream on a guy. I still like Wang, but the Sharks would probably be better off if they had taken the guy who went next to Montreal. He had a monster D+1 year in the KHL and I think he would have probably made a strong trade asset to use in the next two years. Unless Wang pans out, of course. He made some major strides for sure, but it definitely seems generous to assume he’s closer than 3 years away. We will… Read more »
I think there’s a lot to like about Gustafson. It seems, though, like he was already trending up to the top half of the first round, and apparently he’s had a strong U-18s which seems to be cementing this. So I think realistic hopes of him still being available at 19/20 are fading pretty quickly. Pipirinnen may well still be there though – he’s a bit all over the place on opinions. I’ve seen him as high as 17-ish but also down in the 40s and 50s with a couple people. Hard to know what to think, or more importantly,… Read more »
Just listened to Athletic podcast where Wheeler and Pronman both talk up Gustafson, so maybe he’s moving up to the top 10 range and is an option if the team stays at 9 or slides a spot or even 2. If the Malhotra helium is real, there should be at least 3 forwards going top 9, and there would be 6 D-men with Gustafson and Rudolph sliding in. There could be a center starved team taking Viggo Björck or Tynan Lawrence, which could push back Smits, Carels, or Verhoeff. And if a miracle happens and the Sharks win the lottery… Read more »
This draft is gonna be extremely interesting. So many ways it could go. There is such a diverse set of opinions from the experts/scouts and still, no one knows what the teams are thinking. There are flavors for everyone. The Sharks? Defensive D (?) two way D (if available?), puck moving play driving D (?), highly skilled F (?), playoff style power F (?)
They are all there.
That’s my thinking as well. Seriously doubt the Sharks use that pick to draft a player.
I hope they package it for a defenseman like every other Sharks fan on the planet, no doubt about that. I think someone of Hronek’s caliber can be obtained for a package fans can stomach. Hell, it might not take that much more than pick 19 or 20 to get him. Vancouver already sent away Connor Garland who had a longer contract and his age isn’t terribly different. I’m sure they will be taking calls on Hronek. Now in a short bit of research, I learned Hronek had a weird injury in a World Championship exhibition game where the opponent… Read more »
One thing on Hronek that nobody is talking about – he has a full no move clause and thus far has said he doesn’t want to be traded. Not sure why this is never mentioned. So until he changes his mind on that, all this trade chatter on Hronek is a pipe dream.
Lots of guys have full NMCs. If Hronek wants to stay, he will stay. But the way I see it is that he controls where he wants to go. I put little to no stock in his comments about wanting to stay, because saying that is in his best interest even if it’s not true since it becomes a story and a headache for him otherwise. If the Sharks want him and get a chance to speak with him and convince him that San Jose is a good spot for him, I think it’s very far from a pipe dream.… Read more »
I certainly agree anything is possible. I do think there is a difference between guys not putting SJ on their list (Hamilton) versus guys that don’t want to go anywhere. And yes, there are reasons for him to say he doesn’t want to leave, even if he is open to it. There is not, however, much reason for a team to say they don’t want to move a guy if they really do. Normally, if you want to move a guy with a NMC, you let it leak that you’re open to it to start putting pressure on the player… Read more »
Well, I don’t think anything you’re saying is that controversial, but I can quibble on the periphery that deals like Toffoli and Wennberg were actually fairly significant overpays, but they were worth it to give credibility to an org that needed it.
Also, Carey Price will tell you there are ways to hit the cap floor. You don’t wanna know about em, but there are ways. Vancouver can hit the cap floor by 3pm if they want to
Haha – I actually was wondering how many more Carey Price contracts are out there. Off the top of my head it doesn’t seem like there have been new contracts of the Price/Couture type lately that can be had for cap manipulation, but there could easily be guys I am forgetting about.
Pietrangelo is a guy who comes to mind. And speaking of Couture, maybe Grier send him to Vancouver as part of a Hronek deal for exactly the reasons you’re laying out. He’s got one year left and my assumption is the actual cash outlay on that deal is much less than the AAV, like several other examples, due to bonuses and insurance
Yeah, I thought of Pietrangelo after I sent that. He only has one year left, like Couture, so he’d be of limited help to someone longer term. I’m sure Vegas will try to move that if he officially retires, or at least rules himself out for next season. Of course, if he actually thinks he can play, it will be fun watching Vegas try and find room for both Anderson and Pietrangelo under the cap. 😂 As for Couture – Sharks are well below the floor and seemingly only have a few roster spots open. And the most common name… Read more »
They have up to as many as 4 D spots open. That’ll take a chunk of change.
who knows maybe Vancouver will want to retain on Hronek. I’m not sold he’s the guy Grier will target. I think maybe it’s a UFA on a big contract (Anderson or Raddysh), a short term filler like Hamilton and maybe a reclamation project like Kesslering.
I think one of the big unknowns is how strongly GMMG feels (or doesn’t feel) about giving time to Cags/Allen/Pohlkamp in the NHL. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s 3 spots and they’re intent on filling the 7th (and 8th) D spots with a combination of those guys. Certainly with Cags and Allen he’s got to be thinking he needs to find out sooner rather than later if they can hold down NHL roles. And with Pohlkamp we’ve really no idea how he feels about his readiness. I’d have also thought Vinny would be filling one of those spots (and… Read more »