Yesterday, I posted an article examining the San Jose Sharks’ cap situation and whether or not they'll be able to add players in the offseason. With a bit of cap space remaining, I’ll look at which low-cost free agents the Sharks could look to sign in free agency. This first article will focus on former San Jose Shark, Thomas Greiss.
I have Greiss in mind as a great fit for the Sharks for a few reasons. First of all, he’s shown over the last two years that he’s highly capable of taking on a sizeable workload as a backup. He’s played 74 regular season games over the last two seasons, where he’s posted a combined .921 save percentage, and would likely be able to take on 40 games next year to split time with Martin Jones.
This year, Greiss posted a .913 save percentage, along with a .929 save percentage in four playoff games. He’s also managed at least a .913 save percentage in five of his last seven NHL seasons.
Considering Greiss is 34 years old and has never played more than 43 games in a season, chances are the longest deal he’d get would be two years. He’s a year younger than Jaroslav Halak, who just signed a one-year deal worth $2.25 million with very similar stats over the last two seasons combined.
With that comparable, as well as the flat cap and the deep goalie market in mind, I could see a $2.5 million AAV on a two-year deal as a reasonable contract for Greiss. This would hopefully be a temporary fix for San Jose’s problems in net but would be short enough and cheap enough that it’s still a fairly low-risk move.
The Sharks don’t have a lot of assets to trade for a goalie and realistically, they shouldn’t move those assets anyways, as they try to build for the future. They’ll be priced out of the market when it comes to the top goalies available and Greiss could be a quality short-term solution for the Sharks.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you like the idea of the Sharks targeting Thomas Greiss in free agency?
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