Sharks Have Missed Unprecedented Free Agency Opportunity

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?