San Jose Sharks
Sharks Can Target These 12 Possible Cap Casualties in Trade
The San Jose Sharks need all the help that they can get, but they can’t bring just anybody in.
They’ll need to navigate the trade and free agency market this summer carefully.
San Jose, flush with over $30 million of cap space, could be in the market for another team’s cap dump.
But again, they shouldn’t be trading for just anybody. So who should they trade for?
There are three things that the Sharks need to keep in mind when they’re adding players this summer: Leadership, top-nine ability for a forward or top-four for a defenseman, and reasonable cost acquisition.
Leadership should be the No. 1 priority on San Jose’s shopping list this summer: You’ve got to bring in the right people around Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini. You should’ve done that last year for William Eklund and company. You want to re-establish a winning culture? This is how you start doing it, by putting winning influences around your kids.
Of course, the Sharks also need better players. They’ve got one top-nine center right now in Mikael Granlund — Logan Couture is hurt, while Celebrini and Smith are unproven. They don’t have enough competent two-way wingers. And they’ve got to push plucky Mario Ferraro down the line-up on defense.
Finally, it wouldn’t be wise for the Sharks to push in their chips this summer. So forget a big trade for a Mitch Marner or giving seven years to a UFA like Jake Guentzel. You don’t do something like that until you know what you’ve got in Celebrini and your prospects. So fast forward to next summer, say Celebrini and Smith have established themselves as top-six forwards, it’s a different ballgame.
But now? It’s still too early.
So how do the San Jose Sharks acquire veteran NHL talent and leadership for a good price?
Here are 12 players, seven forwards and five defensemen, in positional and alphabetical order, who might be on the move this summer because their teams could be looking for salary cap relief.
Which of these players fulfill the three things that the San Jose Sharks have to keep in mind this summer?
Cam Atkinson
Age: 35
Contract: $5.875 million AAV, 1 year left
Movement Clause: 10-Team NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 15:57 (2:06/1:20)
2023-24 Stats: 70 games-13 goals-15 assists-28-points-27 penalty minutes
The heart-and-soul Philadelphia Flyers winger’s offensive peak is probably behind him, especially after missing all of 2022-23 with injury.
Patrik Laine
Age: 26
Contract: $8.7 million AAV, 2 years left
Movement Clause: 10-Team NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 15:13 (2:52/0:01)
2023-24 Stats: 18-6-3-9-6
The Columbus Blue Jackets winger’s reputation, made in his 44-goal sophomore campaign, has suffered in the last half-decade. He can still score, but does he have anything else to his game?
Andrew Mangiapane
Age: 28
Contract: $5.8 million AAV, 1 year left
Movement Clause: 8-Team NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 16:00 (1:10/0:43)
2023-24 Stats: 75-14-26-40-47
The Calgary Flames winger is two years removed from his breakout 35-goal campaign in 2021-22. He’s combined for just 31 goals over the last two years.
Ilya Mikheyev
Age: 29
Contract: $4.75 million AAV, 2 years left
Movement Clause: 12-Team NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 14:16 (0:53/0:47)
2023-24 Stats: 78-11-20-31-4
After a hot start, the Vancouver Canucks winger struggled to score, potting just one goal in his last 61 regular season and playoff contests. He is a solid two-way forward.
J.G. Pageau
Age: 31
Contract: $5 million AAV, 2 years left
Movement Clause: 16-Team NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 15:55 (1:31/1:54)
2023-24 Stats: 82-11-22-33-13
The New York Islanders alternate captain is a very reliable two-way center.
Brandon Saad
Age: 31
Contract: $4.5 million AAV, 2 years left
Movement Clause: Full NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 15:30 (1:40/0:25)
2023-24 Stats: 82-26-16-42-20
The offensive-leaning St. Louis Blues winger can usually be counted on to score, surpassing 20 goals seven times.
Reilly Smith
Age: 33
Contract: $5 million AAV, 1 year left
Movement Clause: 8-Team NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 16:08 (1:47/0:45)
2023-24 Stats: 76-13-27-40-18
The 2023 Stanley Cup winner was a disappointment for the Pittsburgh Penguins this year. But he’s a five-time 20-goal scorer who’s a reliable two-way winger.
Justin Faulk
Age: 32
Contract: $6.5 million AAV, 3 years left
Movement Clause: Full NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 21:58 (1:49/1:32)
2023-24 Stats: 60-2-28-30-39
The Blues alternate captain struggled to score this season, but he’s reached double-digit goals six times, most recently in 2022-23.
Torey Krug
Age: 33
Contract: $6.5 million AAV, 3 years left
Movement Clause: Full NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 21:58 (2:56/1:10)
2023-24 Stats: 77-4-35-39-32
The St.Louis offensive dynamo declined a trade to Philadelphia last off-season, so hard to say if he’d be willing to go to the San Jose Sharks. But at some point, a player probably grows tired of feeling unwanted.
Nick Leddy
Age: 33
Contract: $4 million AAV, 2 years left
Movement Clause: Full NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 22:22 (0:08/2:38)
2023-24 Stats: 82-3-25-28-14
The smooth-skating blueliner is on a team-friendly contract, so the Blues might not be inclined to deal him.
Dmitry Orlov
Age: 32
Contract: $7.75 million AAV, 1 year left
Movement Clause: None
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 17:19 (0:29/0:53)
2023-24 Stats: 82-6-20-26-36
A solid all-around defenseman, the 2018 Stanley Cup winner is the only player on this list without any trade protection.
Jacob Trouba
Age: 30
Contract: $8 million AAV, 2 years left
Movement Clause: 15-Team NTC
2023-24 Time on Ice Per Game (Power Play/Penalty Kill): 21:15 (0:22/2:51)
2023-24 Stats: 69-3-19-22-73
Better known for his sometimes over-the-line physical presence, the New York Rangers captain is an underrated puck-mover, crossing the 30-point barrier four times in his career.
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I would be happy if the Sharks took on as many of these contracts as possible (3 or 4). But these kinds of trades seem to happen much more rarely than speculated.
What do you guys think are the realistic trades of taking these as cap dumps?
It’s obviously not going to be perfect but PuckPedia has a “cap relief calculator” that suggests the pick value depending on cap amount. Keep in mind that some of the players are overpaid but not completely worthless…if a guy is getting 10M but he’s worth 5M the amount of relief is more like 5M. Assuming that the players here are worth 0, which some of them absolutely are not: Atkinson: pick 30 Laine: pick 12 Mangiapane: pick 30 Mikheyev: pick 21 (this is frequently mocked at capfriendly and most people give a 2025 2nd Pageau: pick 20 (frequently mocked at… Read more »
These seem really high – if I was MG, I’d do it! Except for Laine – seems to be a culture drag.
The biggest thing I tried to make clear is those prices are treating those players as pure cap dumps. Something like Marleau when he was going to be bought out or Campbell since he’s sitting in the minors (in which case I’m unsure if you use 5M or 3.875M as the buried number). I also haven’t researched if the numbers are accurate, but their pick value calculator seems in line with what I’ve seen in actual trades so if they used similar methodology it’s probably reasonable. The biggest difference between the numbers is the majority of pick for pick trades… Read more »
I think one of the reasons these trades don’t happen often is all the trade protection that high paid players have. As Sheng pointed out, on his list only Orlov has no trade protection. So not only would Grier have to sell the other team’s GM on a trade, he would have to convince the player to waive his trade protection to come to the worst team in the league. It would be interesting to see a list of cap dump candidates who don’t have trade protection. The other reason campdumps are rare is that teams can just buy out… Read more »
This story would seem to support your point, sounds like the Sharks are indeed interested in Atkinson but that the feeling isn’t mutual.
https://www.tsn.ca/philadelphia-flyers-continue-to-weigh-interest-in-cam-atkinson-san-jose-sharks-among-suitors-1.2136254?tsn-amp
where’s goodrow???? 😀
I think if Rangers get rid of Trouba’s 9mil cap hit, they can keep Goodrow
Goodrow placed on waivers today, measuring the market on him….
Not convinced he can play top-nine on a regular basis anymore
You called it! Goodrow is a Shark again!
Mangiapane is a really intriguing idea because there’s a legitimate possibility that he re-finds his form. At 28, he may well have a career year left in him.
The flames aren’t really in cap trouble and with them likely moving on from Markstrom this off-season I don’t see why Mangiapane would be moved to clear cap.
Yeah good points, even if Calgary really wanted to retool and take a few big swings in free agency, Mangiapane’s deal expires in a year so they’d probably be fine. Still, the most interesting player on this list, which is probably another strike against getting him as a cap dump.
As a Rangers fan I’d love to see Trouba and suggested this recently with the Sharks cap minimum need. I love JT at $4M a yr not 8. He would serve the sharks well and the Rangers only face him 2x a year.
Where’s Anders Lee? He’d be perfect. Leadership. Isles Captain. Top 9. 20+ goals. Net front. Size. Contract expires in two years. With all the smaller play makers the Sharks have they could use a larger goal scorer.
That’s a good call, I missed him
I came up with a similar list recently (spent a lot of time on capfriendly after hearing it was going away). Here are a few more names I came up with:
1 Year left:
Neal Pionk
Yanni Gourde
Kyle Palmeri
Brock Nelson
Tanner Jeanot
2 Years left:
Josh Manson
Kevin Hayes
Anders Lee
With a few exceptions, that’s a lot of risky choices. I’ve been reading Habs are stupidly thinking of moving Price’s contract, I guess they think having one line that can stay healthy and score is reason enough to start going for the playoffs. It’s total nonsense given Habs finished only a few points of the Sharks. So gouge them to take the deal after his 2024 signing bonus of 9 million. I’m a Habs fan, but if Hughes is going to be stupid enough to pay for Cap space we don’t need, then I say gouge the dummy.
Just because the Sharks are going to have lots of cap space should not mean that we become the poster child for the leagues salary dump. San Jose should not be trading away any picks for anyone, especially when there will be plenty of free agents available.
I would also stay away from smaller players and Patrik Laine. He has had injuries and problems everywhere he has played.
The idea is that they would receive picks for taking on bad contracts, not give them up.
Agreed. However, I don’t think all the players on Sheng’s list have negative value. Discounted value yes, but some we’d still have to pay for.
Absolutely not the way to go. With the Sharks at the bottom, they would be better off building through the draft and ONLY signing veterans willing to help teach and almost coach. Player development on every level. Try to pay Pavelski to develop on the minor and NHL level. If you piecemeal and eat up your cap with guys who age out and are already underperforming, the Sharks could be stuck on the bottom 1/3 of the league for a long time.