The 22-23 season was mired in disappointment for the San Jose Sharks as despite great performances from Erik Karlsson, Logan Couture, and Tomas Hertl the team finished in the bottom percentile of the NHL. Heading into the offseason there were a lot of questions for San Jose, some of which were answered resoundingly, some of which are still open. At this point, the last remaining question is what the Sharks are going to do about the right side of their blue line.

They did not make a large number of veteran free agency moves, the headline among them was not renewing the contract of goalie James Reimer which is inconsequential, as he was a below average backup goalie who saw minimal ice time, and unfortunately only made headlines for non-hockey related narratives. In terms of additions the Sharks brought in Filip Zadina, Mackenzie Blackwood, and Anthony Duclair. Zadina is a prospect reclamation project, as he has shown flashes of being a good playmaker in the NHL, but has seen regression in his productivity and value on a Detroit team that at times seem to lack focus or direction. Blackwood comes over with many of the same questions as Zadina, as he has suffered setbacks over the last several seasons in New Jersey, but hopefully with a clean bill of health and a fresh start he could work to resolve San Jose’s goaltending woes of last year. Last year’s starter Kahkonen had a GSAA of -25 last year while Blackwood posted a -5. The Sharks would need a remarkable improvement in that position from either of them to contend for a playoff spot this year. The headline veteran acquisition of the Sharks off-season was forward Anthony Duclair.  Duclair only managed to suit up for 20 games last year in the regular season for Florida; however, in the two years prior he averaged .75 PPG, indicating consecutive star seasons in a top six role. If Duclair and Zadina reach the levels that San Jose expects from them, this team will be substantially better in the offensive zone than it was a year ago.

On August 6th, the San Jose Sharks in a three-team trade sent Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins, receiving Mikael Granlund, Jan Rutta, Mike Hoffman, and a conditional 1st round pick. Going out is a superstar defenseman who has a propensity to sacrifice defense for counterattacks, which often gets maligned by the casual hockey observer as bad defense, but Karlsson’s impact in the offensive zone tends to substantially outweigh these gaps in the defensive zone. This trade’s return is reminiscent of a different Sharks trade 16 years ago when they brought Joe Thornton over from the Bruins for a trio of Veteran pieces. Granlund will likely slide in as a bottom-six player coming off of a Down year, but is usually a reliable Defender who has occasional bursts of offensive productivity. Rutta factors in as a reliable stay-at-home third-pairing defenseman who is not inept in the offensive zone and can create chances with the puck, even if he does not collect a large number of points. Mike Hoffman, the third player brought back in this trade, has been an average second line contributor for the last three seasons. Hoffman will add depth to their forward group, providing coach Dave Quinn with more flexibility in his top nine than he had last year. This trade unfortunately does not position the Sharks to be better than they were a year ago; however, if their three Acquisitions play to their ceiling, the Sharks will be a stronger defensive unit then they were a year ago.

Into the draft, the Sharks had both the most challenging and luxurious spot on the draft board. They were guaranteed to get one of the four elite forwards in the draft, all of whom would have been first overall selections in any other year; they just had no say in which of the four fell to them, which perhaps is a stroke of luck where they cannot second guess who they got. Will Smith might be the greatest consolation prize in the NHL this decade, aside from perhaps Matvei Michkov. Smith comes from the US NTDP, where in competition against the USHL, he posted 42 points in 20 games, giving him a closest draft year comparable to Marian Hossa. The Sharks will wait with bated breath as he plays his freshman year at Boston College alongside Flyers standout prospect Cutter Gauthier, as well as eighth overall selection by the Capitals Ryan Leonard and highly touted Rangers selection Gabe Perreault (both linemates of Smith’s with the US NTDP). The Sharks used their second first round selection on forward Quintin Musty from the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL. Musty posted 78 points in 53 games last season giving him a close draft year comparable to Sonny Milano and Kyle Turris. Looking at Musty and Smith’s productivity, both players look like they could slide in well with forward William Eklund for the long term. Speaking of Eklund, he posted 41 points in 54 games in the AHL last season, which should give the Sharks optimism about the future of their young core. The Sharks also selected Kasper Halttunen in the second round. Halttunen, out of the Finnish Junior League and headed to the OHL’s London Knights, projects to be similar to players like Adam Erne and Dave Bolland, indicating the Sharks may have a key bottom six player of the future.

Overall, the Sharks had an interesting off-season. Mike Grier has now unloaded two of the three heavy, aging contracts on his blueline between Burns and Karlsson. The Sharks, on paper, figure to be one of the worst teams in the NHL this year, however, due to a lack of talent coming into a team who has already in the bottom 20% of the league a year ago. In spite of this, the Sharks receive a B- for their offseason due to a good draft, several good low-cost acquisitions, and the overall cap-flexibility that they will see as the rebuild starts to take off.

-Christian