Sheng Peng
Approaching training camp last season, the San Jose Sharks had a couple million dollars of cap space.
But free agency, especially up front, was slim pickings at that point. These were the one-way UFA forward signings from August 1, 2019 to the beginning of the season:
- Valeri Nichushkin (1 year, $850K)
- Derick Brassard (1 year, $1.2 million)
- Patrick Maroon (1 year, $900K)
- Riley Sheahan (1 year, $900K)
We know what happened to the 2019-20 San Jose Sharks: They hoped their youth would emerge — they didn’t — but you can argue that there was nobody obvious for them to sign anyway.
That’s not the case right now. Free agency has been a buyer’s market because of the pandemic and the resulting lack of revenue. There were, at least earlier this week, plenty of quality free agents available.
Approaching training camp this year, the San Jose Sharks have a couple million dollars of cap space and holes to fill up front.
Time for the Sharks to feed, right?
But Mikael Granlund, Conor Sheary — and San Jose Hockey Now can confirm — Erik Haula, all signed elsewhere with no recent contact from the Sharks.
Haula and Sheary, in particular, went for cheap: Haula agreed to a one-year, $1.75 million dollar contract, while Sheary inked a one-year, $735,000 pact.
Earlier in free agency, sources had told San Jose Hockey Now that the Sharks had talked to Sheary and Haula’s camps.
Carl Soderberg and Anthony Duclair — SJHN doesn’t know whether or not San Jose was involved with either — also signed this week for one year and cheap.
So what gives?
Apparently, this isn’t from the top, and I don’t mean Doug Wilson.
Wilson said of San Jose Sharks owner Hasso Plattner in September: “Going to the cap is something we have the green light to do.”
So unless something changed in the last three months, this isn’t an ownership or budgetary issue.
The money is there, the term is as low-risk as possible, and unlike last year, the talent is there: This inactivity in free agency appears to be Wilson’s call. It’s instructive to see who he didn’t make an effort on, as it suggests a confidence in his organization’s own talent and depth at forward. It’s also interesting to note that the Sharks made early inquiries on Sheary and Haula, then pulled back.
So in a summer where you could’ve re-built the core of the third line for possibly under $3 million total — say Haula up the middle and Sheary at wing — instead, San Jose is gambling on the likes of Alex True, Lean Bergmann, and company…again.
Does Wilson see something that we don’t see? Is he right this season where he was wrong last season?
We’ll see. But unlike last year, Wilson had an unprecedented opportunity this off-season to improve San Jose at rock-bottom rates, and it looks like he’s passed to bet once again on his youth.
Let’s hope he’s right. Because if his other best-laid plans pan out, it’ll be a shame to see a revived Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns dragging along an unworthy supporting cast.