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SJHN Daily: Barracuda Sign 4, Jumbo & Patty Talk Mack & Will, Throwback Combine Pics
On Tuesday, the San Jose Barracuda announced they’ve signed four players to contracts for the 2025-26 season.
Forwards Donavan Houle, Anthony Vincent, and Lucas Vanroboys will be back at Tech CU Arena next season, as will defenseman Braden Haché.
Vincent is the longest-tenured of the four, as he made his Barracuda debut during the 2022-23 season. Over the course of four seasons, he’s played a total of 108 games and recorded 27 points in the American Hockey League.
Vanroboys and Houle both made a few appearances during the 2023-24 season, but are coming off of their first full season at the AHL level. Both provided depth goal-scoring for the Barracuda, scoring 11 and 10 goals respectively in their rookie campaigns. Vanroboys had more of a physical role though, finishing the season with 151 penalty minutes, leading the team in that regard.
All three have proven to be solid grinders at this level.
The youngest of the four, Haché split his time between the Barracuda and the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL, even appearing in six playoff games for the Barracuda.
The #SJBarracuda have signed forwards Anthony Vincent, Donavan Houle, Lucas Vanroboys, and defenseman Braden Haché to AHL contracts for the 2025-26 season
📝: https://t.co/EbrmF5Nb4N pic.twitter.com/IOO3DQtjLg
— SJ Barracuda (@sjbarracuda) June 3, 2025
At San Jose Hockey Now…
What would a William Eklund contract extension look like?
A couple of San Jose Sharks prospects, Sam Dickinson and Kasper Halttunen, won the Memorial Cup.
Other Sharks News…
A look back at some throwback San Jose Sharks’ Draft Combine photos:
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) June 3, 2025
Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau sat down with Brodie Brazil:
.@BrodieBz gets the story behind the extra guests at the Marleau and Thornton dinner tables this season.
Catch a special Tank Talk with Jumbo and Patty ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/yRS8ArIPfw
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) June 3, 2025
Is Sam Dickinson NHL-ready?
What could the San Jose Sharks trade for the first-overall pick?
William Eklund is still grinding hard in the offseason while recovering from the skate cut on his left wrist. 💪
(IG 🎥: @Träningsverkstan) #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/cpPWNdyktz
— SnipeCity420 (@SnipeCity420) June 3, 2025
David Pagnotta says he thinks “the Sharks will make a decent pitch” for Mitch Marner.
Around the League…
The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ coaching search may include a new name.
Corey Perry intends to return for another season.
Joe Sacco is out of the running to be Boston Bruins head coach.
Does Nicolas Hague make sense for the Colorado Avalanche?
The Carolina Hurricanes expect to be big spenders in free agency.
The NHL Awards will air before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Why the New York Islanders could trade down from first overall.
Bill Zito says the “job isn’t done” for the Florida Panthers.
The pros and cons of Jonathan Toews for the Detroit Red Wings.
Thornton and Marleau are the only reason the sharks have a chance at Marner. A 0.1% chance.
Getting to play with Celebrini will be a reason players come here. Oh and San Jose is a lot nicer than Canada, as Thornton and Marleau might have mentioned. It actually has the perfect combo, I think. The media isn’t ravenous, the fans are great (even this year had some pretty raucous crowds on a lot of nights), the weather is perfect, and the team has some real potential. I think if the Sharks do decide to make him an offer at the top of the scale, Marner will very seriously consider it. I know some are saying the Kings… Read more »
I think where some fans have lost the thread is around this concept of it being okay to overpay a player by $1-2 million for seven years. The Sharks are in a position to overpay significantly on short term contracts. But if they add a player for the next seven years, they need that player to fit into their structure when they’re contending, not just in the years that they spend crawling out of the basement. If Marner is willing to come to San Jose for market value and Grier’s team feels that it’s a good choice, I can live… Read more »
I also don’t think many players are going to make decisions on where to go because they want to play with Celebrini. Ain’t nobody taking a lesser deal than they could get elsewhere because they want to play on his team. Guys who would have signed here anyway because they got the right deal will say they are looking forward to it, perhaps. But they aren’t making their decision based on being Celebrini fanboys. These are grown-ass men with many other higher priorities than playing with him. Player to his wife: Well, we can get this but I wanna take… Read more »
I never said lesser deal to play with Celebrini. Just that they’d want to play with him. And Toffoli did the opposite. He took more money and more term to play here after talking to his wife. We aren’t on the same page, sir. And the price over market for Marner is less than what I’d be willing to do for the guys who will take 2 and 3 year term for sure. I agree with you fully. I just think Marner could get multiple 7/$105M offers is all. If that happens, he would have to actively choose to come… Read more »
A few other folks have mentioned this in previous comments, but potentially the best advantage the Sharks have on the open market this summer (other than money) is their recent track record of rehabilitating reputations. From Karlsson and Blackwood to Granlund and Walman, a number of players have come through the Sharks system under Mike Grier’s staff and drastically improved their perceived value around the league. That is no small thing. You might be thinking, “The Sharks don’t need any more reclamation projects at this point, they need surefire NHL players.” And you’d be right. But this year’s free agency… Read more »
Doesn’t Marchand have like 14 point in 17 games this playoff? Or more now? 15 in 18 and plus 11! Holy crap! From the 3rd line. He’s cashing in this summer. I would over pay him on a 2 year deal. A contender won’t hesitate for a second to give him money.
Glad to hear the Sharks are safe.
My attempt at smartassery aside, I think Marner’s desire to play for a contender (Vegas and LA keeps coming up in rumors) is what will save the Sharks from repeating the mistake Toronto got itself into. (That and Grier has shown himself to be pretty sensible so far.) The future Sharks core is already very forward heavy, and most likely to get more forward heavy if the Sharks draft Misa as expected. It is light on D. It is not just light on future D but there is not really a #1 D to act as a mentor for Dickinson,… Read more »
You think the team is under the salary floor now? Wait ’til next year. They have exact $0 devoted to the blue line. They have $2M for goalies. They have $19.5M for forwards ($8M Couture, $6M Toffoli, $3.6M Goodrow!!?!!, and $950K each for Celebrini and Smith). That’s it. Let’s fast forward 2 years when Smith and Celebrini are 21 and 22, and they are RFA’s for the first time. My guess is the team will want to lock them up to 8 year deals for each. Let’s say it’s $15M for Celebrini, $13M for Smith. The total cap that year… Read more »
If they signed Marner it would allow them to trade from their forward group to address the D. It’s not like they would sign Marner and be done for the off season.
Would it? The only forwards the Sharks have with any real trade value are Eklund, Celebrini, Smith and Toffoli. That’s just four top-six forwards. They really need to add to that group, not subtract — even if they sign Marner. Otherwise, they’re right back where they started, with no wingers for Will Smith as he tries to be a top six NHL center as a 20 year old. If the Sharks want to make progress in the standings, they can’t roll into October with four top-six forwards on the roster — especially when two of them are heading into their… Read more »
Yes. Again, it’s not like those are the only moves. There’s a shit ton of cap they’ll need to spend even if they sign Marner. Remember Hasso was willing to overpay Tavares by apparently more than 2mil what he got from Toronto. I would be he’s nudging Grier to hurry this along.
You must have missed this part of my post: “So to fill those slots they’d need to trade for or sign two more forwards capable of playing top six minutes in addition to Marner. I don’t think landing three top six forwards in a single summer — including the most sought after free agent on the market — is a very likely outcome for San Jose given how shallow this year’s crop of UFAs is shaping up to be.” In other words, it’s not as simple as just spending money. What’s your actual, tangible plan for filling out the wings on the… Read more »
I probably did miss that. But they don’t need to be full fledged top 6. They can be guys who fill a needed role such as F1 that havent gotten a chance to play that high. Guys paid a little extra on short term like Wennberg. Could be more distressed assets? There’s a lot of ways to skin a cat. They ave 4 extra picks in the first 2 rounds over the next 2 drafts too. but the D deserves top billing as far as improvement.
I’m just going to go ahead and call it. In their “notoriously difficult sophomore seasons,” both Celebrini and Smith will be above a point per game. I’m sure both guys are training like hockey zealots and Smith will come in 10 pounds heavier and Celebrini about 5. Guys like them don’t take steps back. Even Bedard’s notoriously difficult sophomore season was because hockey is a team sport and his team around him was hot garbage. But none of this changes the problem Grier needs to solve. The Sharks need to win about 15 more games than last year. They can… Read more »
Yeah, but the right moves just aren’t there, are they? What would be the two major upgrades on the right side of the blue line? I have poured over every roster in the league for the last month putting together lists of trade targets, and it’s short. The list of UFAs is even shorter. I think you guys just really underestimate what a difficult summer this is going to be to add talent, especially considering a) how many teams have real playoff aspirations and b) how much money they’re all going to have in contrast to the number of available… Read more »
Girard, Necas and one other Avs player could be available this off season. Avs are up to the cap now and don’t have enough players. Miller from NYR is your LD target IMO. i love a lot of what you propose but seriously fuck bringing burns back and feeding him 1st pair minutes.😜 I’m not watching that shit.🤣 3rd pair? Sure. Shakir should probably be 1st pair if they can’t add 2 guys that can handle the minutes. obviously I don’t want Eklund with Celly and he was pulled off his line multiple times last season. I think Toffoli should… Read more »
I agree there is a shortage of decent players.
I am a fan of the JJ Redick contract – give massive short term money to a good-but-not starter to stabilize the team.
A couple 4 x $10M ish contracts would do a lot of good for SJS. I don’t know if they can sell Ekblad, Bennett, Gavrikov, or Ehlers (maybe even Provorov or Boeser) on this type of thing – will be interesting to see.
It would be nice but I don’t think so. If we look at recent UFA signings, the trend is still for 7 or 8 years, Auston Matthews ended up being unusual among star players in taking 4 years. The general trend since then still favors stability of a long contract over earning potential of another contract at 32 or 33.
But what might be interesting is whether these players will consider 6 if there is an incentive in terms of higher AAV.
more teams are going rebuild than you’re admitting and a bunch will crash the system for a shot at McKenna.
i think for D the reality is they’ll need to sign one and trade for another top 4. Pointless to add yet another 3rd pair level defender to this roster.
It’s not pointless to add a third pairing player if they’re an upgrade over the current options for the role, especially considering that third pair is where Dickinson is most likely to start his NHL career. Murphy is a much better player than Desharnais and a much better defender than Liljegren.
As for more teams than expected going into rebuild, I doubt it – at least not to start the season. I can’t even think of five teams that would prefer futures over roster players right now in a trade.
Agree on Murphy but then you’ll need to dump Lily or Deharnais is would seem? Can’t do burns in 1st pair. Who’s a reasonable target?
Sorry I’m replying out of order.
if the defense can be addressed in UFA then great. That means you can delay moving Eklund or Musty etc. But still add Marner if he’ll come. You don’t pass on a guy like him. It’s going to be a long while before you have to deal with more than 2 guys making over 12-14mil.
Joe Thornton is such a gem.
I wish Hertl could have stayed healthy in that Cup final in 2016, I would have liked to have seen what the Sharks could have done.
As someone who paid thousands of dollars to attend both home losses in that series, I agree wholeheartedly!
Yeah, the Warriors were in the finals that year and I paid $700 to go to game 1 because Sharks tickets were twice that. And I live basically down Santa Clara St from the tank. So that was sad I couldn’t afford it.
I knew I’d made a bad financial decision when I ended up three rows back from half of Metallica.