The San Jose Sharks are reportedly talking to free agent forward Conor Sheary, according to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng.
Sheary is 28 years old and spent the majority of this past season with the Buffalo Sabres, before being dealt back to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the trade deadline. Between his time with the Sabres and Penguins, Sheary scored a total of 10 goals and 23 points in 63 games, a pace of 13 goals and 30 points per 82 games. Generally, that’s close to the production you can expect from Sheary in a given year.
Here are his goals and points per 82 paces over each of the last three seasons:
While the Sharks could certainly use a center, Sheary would be a solid addition as well. It would give San Jose the option to potentially use either Ryan Donato or Patrick Marleau as a third-line center, without really sacrificing middle-six depth on the wing.
We’ve also seen that when playing alongside quality linemates, Sheary can produce at a high rate. When playing with Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh during the 2016-17 season, Sheary managed 23 goals and 53 points in 61 games, a pace of 31 goals and 71 points per 82 games. Obviously, Sheary had to be playing with one of the best players in the game to produce at that level, but perhaps if he was playing on the wing in San Jose’s top-six, he’d be able to boost his production a bit once again.
This will probably come down to what kind of contract Sheary is looking for. He’s coming off a three-year deal that carried a $3 million AAV and the Sharks should probably steer clear if that’s what it would take. But if San Jose was able to work out a reasonable deal with Sheary, he’d be a welcome addition to the lineup.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Would you be in favour of the Sharks signing Conor Sheary?