Speculation: 2022-23 Sharks Roster Discussion Part II

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They also had to ice a team. Even if you replace Sturm, Lindblom, Kunin, Lorentz and Benning with players making league minimum that would only have saved about $5.8 million, not enough for Monahan who was the premier cap dump of last offseason. And again that leaves you with essentially an AHL bottom six. There's a lot more breathing room this year, especially if we dump Karlsson.
It didn't have to be Monahan though. It could've been Nemeth or it could've been Dickinson for the purposes of showing that weaponizing cap space was a priority for Grier. He's done none of those things. He may end up doing it this year. I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm just not worried about cap space when that is clearly not the way he's looking to rebuild this club. For the purposes of Grier's building plan thus far, cap space just isn't really a priority for him.
 
I think last year was MG signing vets to at least give the impression they were trying to compete for ownership. By “trying” to compete and failing it looks like he has been able to convince ownership of a full rebuild instead of a refresh. As a new GM if he just started full tank mode from the start he would have lost a lot of faith from ownership and casual fans.
 
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Last year, Mike prioritized bringing in players the could help change the team culture over bringing in underperforming players that came with draft picks.
Honestly. The first year was all about a shift in culture and a little more team stability. It doesn’t matter how many draft picks you bring in if you’re bringing them to a place in constant disarray with no direction.
 
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Honestly. The first year was all about a shift in culture and a little more team stability. It doesn’t matter how many draft picks you bring in if you’re bringing them to a place in constant disarray with no direction.
Which is ultimately meaningless because the team doesn’t have stability and won’t next year because their two best players are gone. Stability only means anything if you’re winning.
 
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Which is ultimately meaningless because the team doesn’t have stability and won’t next year because their two best players are gone. Stability only means anything if you’re winning.
I think it’s more management and culture stability. Grier is trying to instill an identity even if a majority of the players there now aren’t in the plans long-term. Grier is transitioning from the players that were there into the players he believes fit that concept. Even losing teams can have stability if there’s a vision. Just look at New Jersey.
 
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I think it’s more management and culture stability. Grier is trying to instill an identity even if a majority of the players there now aren’t in the plans long-term. Grier is transitioning from the players that were there into the players he believes fit that concept. Even losing teams can have stability if there’s a vision. Just look at New Jersey.
To me, the 1st year was mostly about getting the staff in place. I thought it was kinda crazy that he made the Kunin trade at the draft last year before he actually had his team set up. The moves after that were more sensible.
 
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To me, the 1st year was mostly about getting the staff in place. I thought it was kinda crazy that he made the Kunin trade at the draft last year before he actually had his team set up. The moves after that were more sensible.
I had no issues with it. He clearly wanted a guy and made a move to get him. I like Kunin’s game. He may not be the smartest or the most skilled but can’t say he’s not a gamer. He’s very much like Grier in that sense and I think every team needs one whether you’re at the bottom or the top. Vegas had a bunch of em in Kolesar or Carrier or even Barbashev.
 
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Anyone else having a loss of caring about the team? Ever since Thornton basically retired I haven't really cared about the team. Getting Bedard was a hope that would get me caring against but that ship has sailed and I can't see myself really caring that much at least for the next few years.

Karlsson's 100 pt season didn't do anything for me. There's no player I'm attached to anymore.
 
I think it’s more management and culture stability. Grier is trying to instill an identity even if a majority of the players there now aren’t in the plans long-term. Grier is transitioning from the players that were there into the players he believes fit that concept. Even losing teams can have stability if there’s a vision. Just look at New Jersey.
I don’t know if I’d call New Jersey stable in their losing.
 
Anyone else having a loss of caring about the team? Ever since Thornton basically retired I haven't really cared about the team. Getting Bedard was a hope that would get me caring against but that ship has sailed and I can't see myself really caring that much at least for the next few years.

Karlsson's 100 pt season didn't do anything for me. There's no player I'm attached to anymore.
It's been awhile since I've been positively emotionally invested
 
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That's kool. Sharks should be rebuilding, ie tanking. This year should be his "up" year for save percentage.

I don't even buy this, we were supposed to be "tanking" in 2003 & 2015 after missing the playoffs and we had our best years immediately after.
 
Anyone else having a loss of caring about the team? Ever since Thornton basically retired I haven't really cared about the team. Getting Bedard was a hope that would get me caring against but that ship has sailed and I can't see myself really caring that much at least for the next few years.

Karlsson's 100 pt season didn't do anything for me. There's no player I'm attached to anymore.
Not at all
Win or lose, I still enjoy the game day experience
Puts the emphasis from the post season to the off season .
For decades I was a huge NFL draft enthusiast. It was a fun hobby. Now I'm pretty much just a Niner game day fan but, I still keep an eye out at positions of need
 
Anyone else having a loss of caring about the team? Ever since Thornton basically retired I haven't really cared about the team. Getting Bedard was a hope that would get me caring against but that ship has sailed and I can't see myself really caring that much at least for the next few years.

Karlsson's 100 pt season didn't do anything for me. There's no player I'm attached to anymore.

On one hand, absolutely. I find I don’t particularly have a fondness for anyone on this team except for maybe Eklund, Guschin, Hertl (though I was put off by him this year a bit) and Barabanov. Eklund and Guschin are probably the only two I’m actively cheering for though.

It feels a bit like a bunch of spare parts in wait of a few major pieces to make it all work. I think a big part of that is that no playoffs means no heroes, no leading roles, no storylines that matter — so it’s all a bit meaningless-feeling.

On the other hand, I’ve never in my life, as a hockey fan, been this well-educated on the draft, on prospects, on the cap, on other team’s players (that we may trade for or want), etc. Because the only storyline to attach to is, “when will we be good again?” I’ve found myself way more excited by the draft and summer, just to see what big changes may happen… the potential of hope.

So, yeah. It sucks, but some of it is fun, and hopefully things start coming together sooner than later. I’m sort of looking forward to having this team be taken over by the Eklunds, Bystedts, Bordeleaus, Will Smiths — they can lose all they want but I’d rather cheer for upstart rookies than to the bones of our old great teams taped together with players we won’t remember when they’re gone.
 
Anyone else having a loss of caring about the team? Ever since Thornton basically retired I haven't really cared about the team. Getting Bedard was a hope that would get me caring against but that ship has sailed and I can't see myself really caring that much at least for the next few years.

Karlsson's 100 pt season didn't do anything for me. There's no player I'm attached to anymore.
Living in vegas, I tend to be more of a fan of anyone playing the knights right now. Good thing is when we’re decent again Vegas should be basement dwellers.
 
The 5.75-11.5 million a year in cap space we open up for the next four seasons is the Karlsson return.
Is it really a return if it's not getting used to actually compete? We're not at a position where we're suffocating on the cap front. Let's say that we make zero moves except for re-sign our RFAs. With 13F, 8D, and 1G there is ~$10M of cap space even with Karlsson on the roster.

I don't see a scenario where the Sharks go full on Desert Dogs and take on everyone's bad contracts for 2nd and 3rd round picks. Plus, it seems that as the cap goes up next year and we've been under the flat cap for so many seasons there are going to be fewer of those contracts that teams are trying to move anyway (or they are going to be so fresh that it's not worth taking on because of the years remaining).
 
Is it really a return if it's not getting used to actually compete? We're not at a position where we're suffocating on the cap front. Let's say that we make zero moves except for re-sign our RFAs. With 13F, 8D, and 1G there is ~$10M of cap space even with Karlsson on the roster.

I don't see a scenario where the Sharks go full on Desert Dogs and take on everyone's bad contracts for 2nd and 3rd round picks. Plus, it seems that as the cap goes up next year and we've been under the flat cap for so many seasons there are going to be fewer of those contracts that teams are trying to move anyway (or they are going to be so fresh that it's not worth taking on because of the years remaining).
The way I think about it is, we’re not gonna win with Karlsson on the roster and if anything he’s just a detriment to our short term goal of drafting as high as possible.

But there is a chance, however remote, that within the next 2-3 years Will Smith or Leo Carlsson develops into a 1C for us (especially if we’re lucky enough to draft Carlsson, just look at how dominant Elias Pettersson was in his D+2 season), we grab a future 1D at the top of the 2024 draft, Eklund develops into a first line winger and we hit on at least one other prospect between Bystedt, Lund, Havelid and 26th/36th this year.

At that point you’re going to want cap space to surround the new core with young impact players from other teams much more than you’re going to want a 35 year old Karlsson taking up 11.5 million in cap space.

Would I bet money on all of those things happening? Probably not, but at the same time Ottawa went from being a shambles in 2019 to trading for DeBrincat and Chychrun 3 years later. And that was despite trading away the 2019 4th overall pick and blowing another top 10 pick in 2021.

Things can change quickly and it’s better to create maximum flexibility going forward than hold on to players like Karlsson and Couture who will likely never contribute to a winning Sharks team again, and certainly won’t provide value relative to their cap hit.
 
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