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Sharks Looking For Grit
by Paul on 07/10/09 at 07:15 AM ET
Comments (12)
via David Pollak of Working the Corners,
Today’s hint of what’s to come: Look for the Sharks to acquire someone to fill the role of fourth-line center as early as Friday, no later than early next week. The goal is to bring in someone with a much grittier style of play than Marcel Goc or Tomas Plihal. Let the speculation begin.
Filed in: NHL Teams, San Jose Sharks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
Quality, grinding centers are hard to find. But for the fourth line, they would best be served by bringing up someone from the AHL and hanging onto that 200-500K they’ll save for later in the season.
Posted by JAMESinMI on 07/10/09 at 07:38 AM ET
There’s actually a few guys that fit the bill that would be nice in that spot for the Sharks. Rob Niedermayer and Manny Malhotra certainly.
Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 07/10/09 at 08:54 AM ET
Their salary cap situation is a little tenuous. They could use Marleau as a bargaining chip to get a couple of players with a different style of play.
Posted by Moq from Denmark on 07/10/09 at 09:18 AM ET
I think I heard Claude Lemieux is available…uh, never mind.
Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 07/10/09 at 09:31 AM ET
Their salary cap situation is a little tenuous.
“Tenuous” is an understatement. According to CapGeek.com, here’s their current situation…
ROSTER SIZE: 17
SALARY CAP: 56,800,000
PAYROLL: 56,572,497
CAP SPACE: 967,503
Obviously, dumping Marleau’s $6.3M contract would help…
ROSTER SIZE: 16
SALARY CAP: 56,800,000
PAYROLL: 50,272,497
CAP SPACE: 7,267,503
But even that might not be enough to add at least six more guys, including a back-up goalie. Any SJ fans know if this is the reason they didn’t resign Grier?
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/10/09 at 09:46 AM ET
No, Grier was a decision to go in another direction. He was the captain of the penalty kill during the regular season according to Todd McLellan, but injuries during the last 2 postseasons severely limited his play.
Posted by PJ from San Jose on 07/10/09 at 10:08 AM ET
...injuries during the last 2 postseasons severely limited his play.
I see from his injury history that he had a knee injury just before the playoffs began last spring. Do you recall what it was exactly? He did end up playing all six of the Sharks playoff games.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/10/09 at 10:22 AM ET
But even that might not be enough to add at least six more guys, including a back-up goalie.
Posted by OlderThanChelios
Five one-million guys and a cheap backup goaltender could work. I think I’ve read a few negative pieces about Michalek ($4.33M) and Cheecho ($3M), but not exactly the player/salary combinations that would tempt a lot of teams. Not to mention seven defencemen all making more than $1.5M.
Another interesting situation to watch along with Chicago.
Posted by Moq from Denmark on 07/10/09 at 11:09 AM ET
Five one-million guys and a cheap backup goaltender could work.
Well, that would work out a lot better for their opposition than it would for the Sharks.
Unless they have a number of AHL guys ready to make the jump at entry-level salaries, they’re in a bind even if they can move Marleau…and that’s gonna be a tough one unless they simply give him away for a couple of picks.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/10/09 at 11:23 AM ET
Unless they have a number of AHL guys ready to make the jump at entry-level salaries, they’re in a bind even if they can move Marleau…and that’s gonna be a tough one unless they simply give him away for a couple of picks.
I think there are a lot of teams that would take Marleau off their hands. The NYR would kill to grab his bad contract if they had the room to do so, to name one. I would not be surprised to hear that Toronto might be willing as well. Centers who can score 70 a season and have the size to, in theory, survive the rigors of an NHL playoff series (tired cliche, but still listened to) are a premium, even if they aren’t as good as their numbers suggest, score more goals than they dish out assists, and play on a line with Joe Thornton at least part of the season.
Had they not grabbed Ryan Smith, it’d seem like LA would be a great fit for him as well. He played LW when paired with Thornton, right? Anyhow. He’s a kind’ve versatile guy whose contract kills you but you could probably talk yourself, your owner, and your fan base into if you were a bad GM for a bad team with 6 mill or some young “yeah, we’ve decided he’s maybe never going to ‘get there’ offensively but could grind” guys at a low payrate.
Posted by shanetx on 07/10/09 at 03:22 PM ET
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How about Pascal Dupuis?
Posted by Scurvy____BBLLLAARRRGGGHH from Chicago on 07/10/09 at 07:18 AM ET