The San Jose Sharks are seemingly out of the playoff race once again this season and with the trade deadline approaching, general manager Doug Wilson will have some decisions to make.
Given San Jose's place in the standings, selling off players can be expected. Looking at the Sharks’ roster, however, there really aren’t all that many players that both carry value and are on a movable contract.
Up front, Logan Couture and Evander Kane likely both have too much money and term remaining to be moved. While I think Kevin Labanc brings reasonable value for his contract, I question how many teams would even be willing to take on his deal, which has three more years at nearly $5 million per season. Plus, Labanc is still young enough that the Sharks don’t need to aim to move him. Given Timo Meier's age, he's likely safe for now as well.
Then on defense, Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic are all on virtually immovable contracts, while Mario Ferraro is young enough to factor into the future.
This leaves the Sharks with very few options heading into the deadline. They could opt to play it safe and potentially get some mid-round picks back for the likes of Devan Dubnyk and maybe Matt Nieto but those aren’t the moves that are going to help this team become competitive in a few years.
Then there’s the bolder move, which would be dealing a legitimate impact player and getting a larger return. If the Sharks went that route, I think there’s one clear player to trade and that’s Tomas Hertl.
Hertl is 27 years old and has one more year remaining on his contract. If the Sharks were to re-sign him, he’d be turning 29 years old in the first year of his contract and by the time the team is actually competitive again, he could be declining and locked in with term, which is the exact issue the Sharks face now with several of their players.
If they moved him instead, however, they’d be able to get good value back and hopefully speed up the process. Hertl’s deal carries a $5.63 million AAV, which is a very fair price and especially if the Sharks were able to retain some of that money, they could get some quality assets back. With minimal term remaining, he’d be an attractive option to several teams.
I will clarify that I don't expect Hertl to be moved. Not only would he likely have waive his partial no-trade clause, but Doug Wilson also seems intent on trying to get this team to be competitive once again and moving a top-six forward isn't going to help that.
That said, the Sharks can deal as many depth players as they want but at the end of the day, those late picks aren’t likely to be difference-makers for the future.
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Do you think the Sharks will make any major trades before the deadline?
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