Ben Shelley: Offseason departures played a large role in Sharks' disappointing season

Braun settled in nicely in Philly and was a steady presence, A good part of the reason for the teams success Not flashy, Not a big point guy but once he got a few games in here he really became a good reliable d man

You didn't even mention trading Dillon, their best top 4 outside of Burns.

EK is a joke.

You didn't even mention trading Dillon, their best top 4 outside of Burns.

EK is a joke.
- DutchCanSaveUs

PK is worse...... Anybody want him and his 9M AAV?????

You didn't even mention trading Dillon, their best top 4 outside of Burns.

EK is a joke.
- DutchCanSaveUs

To clarify, the article was specifically looking at offseason departures. Dillon was traded at the deadline (same reason why Barclay Goodrow wasn't mentioned).

Thanks for reading!

Braun settled in nicely in Philly and was a steady presence, A good part of the reason for the teams success Not flashy, Not a big point guy but once he got a few games in here he really became a good reliable d man
- GPerogie

Was a necessary move to trade him but yeah, he's a quality player and it certainly hurt the Sharks.

Thanks for reading!

This is a tough one for me to pick one to say its was a harder loss than the others. I'd keep all of them and toss EK in a heartbeat.

Ben; You have to go back to the summer before, when the Sharks were heavily courting Tavares to come aboard as the new #1 Center. He would have commanded a $13mm salary to account for CA's exorbitant State Income tax, which would have created more cap issues than we have with EK65's contract at $11.5mm. Pavelski was a goner either way, and the fact that Doug chose not to re-sign him when he could, as he did Logan, was a clear indicator of his thinking. In hindsight, it was the right move as Pavs only scored 31points all year..same as Jumbo.
Donskoii was the bigger loss for his secondary scoring and his ability to play up and down the lineup. The cap dropping to $81.5mm instead of the $83-84mm probably doomed bringing him back..It would have been nice to keep Gus but the cap didn't allow and we effectively lost our entire 2nd line.
I do miss Braun as he and Vlasic were a very effective pair that you could rely upon. Had we signed Tavares, the cap issues would have forced the trade of Dillon earlier than it was, making the D more susceptible and vulnerable. It would have been Vlasic, Burns, Ferraro, Heed, Simek, and then Middleton/Carrick/Prout etc. What would have been the plus side is that we would still have had Norris and our #1 pick this year.
It was always going to be difficult to replace an entire 2nd line; LeBanc did not step up this year, Goodrow isn't a Top 6 forward, and no one from the Barracuda has stepped up to play Top 6..Gambrell needs to improve and we'll see what the new signings bring...