Confirmed with Link: Sharks sign Alexander Wennberg 2 years 5M AAV

[Dicdonya]

There is an easy fix to the over crowding if the prospects actually earn a spot on the roster, none of these players are big losses if we have to waive them at the start of the season. But even then we can carry, 2 goalies, 7 (6) defense, 14 (15) forwards if need be.

Right now we have 18 players signed according to capfriendly.

Sorry I do not buy this argument really, sure if there is like one, maybe two prospects that really impress at camp and force their way onto the team, then yeah I could see us waiving a couple guys to get them on the roster.

However lets just pretend for a second that all of Celebrini, Smith, Guschin, Musty and Bysted have great camps and look primed and ready for NHL time at various spots in the lineup. Can you honestly tell me you think 5 roster players are getting waived to accommodate that many prospects looking ready for NHL time?

Which 5 players do you honestly think Grier would waive to fit that many prospects on the team?

Sorry I just do not think Grier went out and got a bunch of new players, to turn around and just bench/waive them because some of our prospects look like they might be able to fill some of the roles already filled.

Grundstrom and Givani Smith are absolutely not going to block Celebrini and Will Smith from lineup spots. Be serious.

Watching the two best prospects in the entire NHL play for us this season isn't exciting enough for you? Which other young prospects did you want to see make the team?

Wipe the snark out of your mouth, because I sure as shit never said or implied Grundstrom and Smith would block Celebrini or Smith from making the team. Those players are not competing for the same spots on the roster in the first place.

On the other hand, guys like Bysted, Musty, Guschin etc, who might be ready for middle six playing time might get blocked by guys like Kunin, Wennberg, Kostin etc, and I frankly would rather watch our prospects play and maybe struggle and learn at the NHL level, then watch another year of freaking Kunin wasting a roster spot.

That is not even taking into account any of our prospects that might be bottom 6 players and not middle six, where I think there is no shot in hell a prospect makes this team on the 4th line due to how many bottom 6 players we have.

As to your second question
1- There is no guarantee Smith and Celebini are on the team this year.
2- I would like to see Guschin, Musty, Bysted, or any other prospect that surprises at camp play on this team. Literally any prospect I would rather watch play over any of Grundstrom, Dellandrea, Smith, Kunin, Goodrow, Kostin etc.

I am all for having veterans in the lineup to help ease the burden on our prospects, I just think we got a few too many veterans to the point where now I fail to see more than like 2-3 prospects actually make the team, and that is only if Celebrini and Smith decide to leave college. If they dont decide to make the jump, I would frankly not be shocked if no prospects made the team, not including Eklund, and that thought makes me very unhappy, because I do not want to watch another season with a roster filled with guys that have no future on this team suck ass all year.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Sorry I do not buy this argument really, sure if there is like one, maybe two prospects that really impress at camp and force their way onto the team, then yeah I could see us waiving a couple guys to get them on the roster.

However lets just pretend for a second that all of Celebrini, Smith, Guschin, Musty and Bysted have great camps and look primed and ready for NHL time at various spots in the lineup. Can you honestly tell me you think 5 roster players are getting waived to accommodate that many prospects looking ready for NHL time?

Which 5 players do you honestly think Grier would waive to fit that many prospects on the team?

Sorry I just do not think Grier went out and got a bunch of new players, to turn around and just bench/waive them because some of our prospects look like they might be able to fill some of the roles already filled.



Wipe the snark out of your mouth, because I sure as shit never said or implied Grundstrom and Smith would block Celebrini or Smith from making the team. Those players are not competing for the same spots on the roster in the first place.

On the other hand, guys like Bysted, Musty, Guschin etc, who might be ready for middle six playing time might get blocked by guys like Kunin, Wennberg, Kostin etc, and I frankly would rather watch our prospects play and maybe struggle and learn at the NHL level, then watch another year of freaking Kunin wasting a roster spot.

That is not even taking into account any of our prospects that might be bottom 6 players and not middle six, where I think there is no shot in hell a prospect makes this team on the 4th line due to how many bottom 6 players we have.

As to your second question
1- There is no guarantee Smith and Celebini are on the team this year.
2- I would like to see Guschin, Musty, Bysted, or any other prospect that surprises at camp play on this team. Literally any prospect I would rather watch play over any of Grundstrom, Dellandrea, Smith, Kunin, Goodrow, Kostin etc.

I am all for having veterans in the lineup to help ease the burden on our prospects, I just think we got a few too many veterans to the point where now I fail to see more than like 2-3 prospects actually make the team, and that is only if Celebrini and Smith decide to leave college. If they dont decide to make the jump, I would frankly not be shocked if no prospects made the team, not including Eklund, and that thought makes me very unhappy, because I do not want to watch another season with a roster filled with guys that have no future on this team suck ass all year.

So to be clear, you want to rush prospects just to be entertained next season?

 

[sampler]

I believe you will enjoy next season better than the last. There will be hopefully couple of future stars (Celebrini and Smith) playing, so that should be exciting to follow.

Of course it will be fun watching them, and potentially the army of other intriguing guys going pro (bystedt, edstrom, musty, cagnoni, etc)

That said, I remember being excited about Eklund, but I think his development was hurt being mired on such a bad team. I think one of the great strengths of Doug Wilson was that he put together a good roster within a year of taking over the helm, and then strategically put kids in a good position to succeed. None of pavs, cooch, seto, cheech or any of the other guys went straight into the NHL. All began in the A and none were expected to be stars right away. Sommer was a great coach in the A, and they had patty, jumbo, and other vet forwards to play behind. They also had blake, boyle, burns or other vet D to play behind when a 19 year old pickles makes the roster. hertl, meier as well came up without expectations of being a star right away.

We need that top line vet presence. Toffoli is a good one. Granny is OK, though not spectacular. We could really use a marchassault-like top 40+ goal scorer, cup winner as a real pro mentor.

Alas, I guess it is what it is....

 

[wayward]

The sharksbhave had issues signing free agents even in their peak years. My goal for today was to see the sharks sign ANYONE.. I mean I remember when the top story on the sharks website on the first day of free agency was how DW was taking a fishing trip that day.

Is this a game changing player? No but it is a two year deal that is going to end probably before the sharks get good again. We aren't going to get elite players and have struggled to get average players through free agency.

I am ok with this

 

[Hodge]

Sorry I do not buy this argument really, sure if there is like one, maybe two prospects that really impress at camp and force their way onto the team, then yeah I could see us waiving a couple guys to get them on the roster.

However lets just pretend for a second that all of Celebrini, Smith, Guschin, Musty and Bysted have great camps and look primed and ready for NHL time at various spots in the lineup. Can you honestly tell me you think 5 roster players are getting waived to accommodate that many prospects looking ready for NHL time?

Which 5 players do you honestly think Grier would waive to fit that many prospects on the team?

Sorry I just do not think Grier went out and got a bunch of new players, to turn around and just bench/waive them because some of our prospects look like they might be able to fill some of the roles already filled.



Wipe the snark out of your mouth, because I sure as shit never said or implied Grundstrom and Smith would block Celebrini or Smith from making the team. Those players are not competing for the same spots on the roster in the first place.

On the other hand, guys like Bysted, Musty, Guschin etc, who might be ready for middle six playing time might get blocked by guys like Kunin, Wennberg, Kostin etc, and I frankly would rather watch our prospects play and maybe struggle and learn at the NHL level, then watch another year of freaking Kunin wasting a roster spot.

That is not even taking into account any of our prospects that might be bottom 6 players and not middle six, where I think there is no shot in hell a prospect makes this team on the 4th line due to how many bottom 6 players we have.

As to your second question
1- There is no guarantee Smith and Celebini are on the team this year.
2- I would like to see Guschin, Musty, Bysted, or any other prospect that surprises at camp play on this team. Literally any prospect I would rather watch play over any of Grundstrom, Dellandrea, Smith, Kunin, Goodrow, Kostin etc.

I am all for having veterans in the lineup to help ease the burden on our prospects, I just think we got a few too many veterans to the point where now I fail to see more than like 2-3 prospects actually make the team, and that is only if Celebrini and Smith decide to leave college. If they dont decide to make the jump, I would frankly not be shocked if no prospects made the team, not including Eklund, and that thought makes me very unhappy, because I do not want to watch another season with a roster filled with guys that have no future on this team suck ass all year.

If Bystedt, Musty, Gushchin, etc. can't beat out Kostin, Dellandrea, Grundstrom or Givani Smith for roster spots they don't belong in the NHL.

Spoiler alert: they don't belong in the NHL.

 

[Crankshaft Mechanic]

Do you think Grier signed badly and hired badly in order to suck on purpose? I get that the plan was to unload the aging contracts, but do you think he brought in those guys to target being one of the worst teams in recent NHL history?

I mean, absolutely it's been on purpose. Signing and hiring "badly" is all relative to what your goals are. And the goal is to be one of the worst teams in the league for this 3-4 year span in order to efficiently collect the high-end talent we need to work back to contention.

 

[LadyStanley]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807899341807669540

 

[jMoneyBrah]

even if they are better, why would Grier tank the trade values for established NHL vets like Kostin & Kunin by cutting their ice time?

that's the biggest problem I have with the Wennberg signing. It's literally blocking our NHL-ready prospects at this point.

Which of the prospects you mentioned are blocked by Wennberg? I was unaware that any of those young players project as centers at the NHL level.

 

[sampler]

The sharksbhave had issues signing free agents even in their peak years. My goal for today was to see the sharks sign ANYONE.. I mean I remember when the top story on the sharks website on the first day of free agency was how DW was taking a fishing trip that day.

Is this a game changing player? No but it is a two year deal that is going to end probably before the sharks get good again. We aren't going to get elite players and have struggled to get average players through free agency.

I am ok with this

You are right that dougie was almost always nearly silent on UFA day. He used to call it silly day. His biggest moves were usually depth guys for little money. He prefered to build his roster by acquiring guys in trade, seeing how they fit in, then resigning them year over year. It was proven strategy that worked wonders (Until Kane and EK65), as it made sure that the chemistry of the team remained positive. I think DW understood the importance of the locker room and bringing in UFAs with big $ and term was always risky.

I am OK if grier continues to build via trade. Walman, zetterlund came accordingly. camp is over 2 months away. Alot can happen in that time. Teams that didnt land a desired UFA might come calling. Teams with cap space they still want to dump might come calling.

And we will see this year what we have in most of the kids. Nearly all are going pro this year (smith, musty, bystedt, luca, etc) so we will get to see what we have by December. If we have more than we thought, Grier can make additions via trade. If we have less than expected, then we can unload granny, sturm and others at the deadline, and try again for next year.

I suppose the "play it by ear" method is not necessarily dumb, and I definitely dont mind being patient.

Sharks got Boyle on July 4th after the UFA insanity, so the roster isn't set until its set.

I mean, absolutely it's been on purpose. Signing and hiring "badly" is all relative to what your goals are. And the goal is to be one of the worst teams in the league for this 3-4 year span in order to efficiently collect the high-end talent we need to work back to contention.

If the goal is to suck, then grier has dont very well , but then again, maybe my grandma could too.

Dont we have the high end talent in the system now with dickenson, smith, musty, mack, and co? Do you think we need another year of sucking to acquire another 3-4 good prospects before the cupboard is ready?

 

[jMoneyBrah]

Of course it will be fun watching them, and potentially the army of other intriguing guys going pro (bystedt, edstrom, musty, cagnoni, etc)

That said, I remember being excited about Eklund, but I think his development was hurt being mired on such a bad team. I think one of the great strengths of Doug Wilson was that he put together a good roster within a year of taking over the helm, and then strategically put kids in a good position to succeed. None of pavs, cooch, seto, cheech or any of the other guys went straight into the NHL. All began in the A and none were expected to be stars right away. Sommer was a great coach in the A, and they had patty, jumbo, and other vet forwards to play behind. They also had blake, boyle, burns or other vet D to play behind when a 19 year old pickles makes the roster. hertl, meier as well came up without expectations of being a star right away.

We need that top line vet presence. Toffoli is a good one. Granny is OK, though not spectacular. We could really use a marchassault-like top 40+ goal scorer, cup winner as a real pro mentor.

Alas, I guess it is what it is....

Uh… Wilson inherited a team that had progressively improved their record each of the four seasons prior to a setback in 02-03. This includes winning their division and making the second round of the playoffs in 01-02. This is not to say Wilson was bad or did nothing in this era; just that he largely inherited a fairly complete team and a strong roster of prospects and young players to build upon. Grier has had none of those things.

And as far as today’s contracts and the Sharks cap space, neither is of any consequence as the Sharks won’t be approaching the cap over the next 2-3 seasons unless they continue eating bad contracts for assets (please do). It’s not wasted space if it wouldn’t be used anyways.

 

[Barrie22]

Sorry I do not buy this argument really, sure if there is like one, maybe two prospects that really impress at camp and force their way onto the team, then yeah I could see us waiving a couple guys to get them on the roster.

However lets just pretend for a second that all of Celebrini, Smith, Guschin, Musty and Bysted have great camps and look primed and ready for NHL time at various spots in the lineup. Can you honestly tell me you think 5 roster players are getting waived to accommodate that many prospects looking ready for NHL time?

Which 5 players do you honestly think Grier would waive to fit that many prospects on the team?

Sorry I just do not think Grier went out and got a bunch of new players, to turn around and just bench/waive them because some of our prospects look like they might be able to fill some of the roles already filled.



Wipe the snark out of your mouth, because I sure as shit never said or implied Grundstrom and Smith would block Celebrini or Smith from making the team. Those players are not competing for the same spots on the roster in the first place.

On the other hand, guys like Bysted, Musty, Guschin etc, who might be ready for middle six playing time might get blocked by guys like Kunin, Wennberg, Kostin etc, and I frankly would rather watch our prospects play and maybe struggle and learn at the NHL level, then watch another year of freaking Kunin wasting a roster spot.

That is not even taking into account any of our prospects that might be bottom 6 players and not middle six, where I think there is no shot in hell a prospect makes this team on the 4th line due to how many bottom 6 players we have.

As to your second question
1- There is no guarantee Smith and Celebini are on the team this year.
2- I would like to see Guschin, Musty, Bysted, or any other prospect that surprises at camp play on this team. Literally any prospect I would rather watch play over any of Grundstrom, Dellandrea, Smith, Kunin, Goodrow, Kostin etc.

I am all for having veterans in the lineup to help ease the burden on our prospects, I just think we got a few too many veterans to the point where now I fail to see more than like 2-3 prospects actually make the team, and that is only if Celebrini and Smith decide to leave college. If they dont decide to make the jump, I would frankly not be shocked if no prospects made the team, not including Eklund, and that thought makes me very unhappy, because I do not want to watch another season with a roster filled with guys that have no future on this team suck ass all year.

Bysted, musty has zero chance of making the team. And Guschin has a outside chance of making it.

 

[coooldude]

Dont we have the high end talent in the system now with dickenson, smith, musty, mack, and co? Do you think we need another year of sucking to acquire another 3-4 good prospects before the cupboard is ready?

We have a ton of high end talent in the system, but it's going to take them 3 years at least just to get to the beginning of their real careers in the league.

If we're absolutely crazy lucky, Celebrini is a passable 2C this year. He's not leading this team to the playoffs for at least a few years.

Any rebuild in the past where the team won very soon after a 1OA, typically already had a great foundation. CHI in 2010 already had many key pieces for many years in the league (Keith, Seabrook, etc). Our rebuild, stripped to the studs, is more like Colorado's, and MacKinnon didn't win until 9 years after he was drafted.

It takes a hell of a long time to rebuild like this. We will be lucky (and I'll be ecstatic) if we're in wildcard contention in 2026-27. I still think our true window doesn't open until ~2029-2030 -- when Celebrini and Dickinson are 24 years old, by the way, and Smith 25.

 

[Dicdonya]

So to be clear, you want to rush prospects just to be entertained next season?

I expect more from you, your reading comprehension is better than that.

I never once said rush prospects to the NHL, I very clearly have been arguing that IF we have some prospects that look READY for NHL time this year, I fear they will get blocked from playing because there are not really any open roster spots on the team right now.

I never said just throw all our prospects in the NHL whether or not they are even close to ready so I can be happy.

Do you honestly think that if we have a couple prospects, whoever they may be, that have a good camp and look like they might be ready for a bottom 9 role, that the team will burn ELC years to get them on the team over guys already on the roster that can fill whatever roll those prospects MIGHT be able to fill?

 

[dmcccdmn]

Don't care how much Sharks spends because we're not strapped for cap, but better use for that cap space would be to take a cap dump for draft picks. At least we won't affect our draft position.

 

[sampler]

We have a ton of high end talent in the system, but it's going to take them 3 years at least just to get to the beginning of their real careers in the league.

If we're absolutely crazy lucky, Celebrini is a passable 2C this year. He's not leading this team to the playoffs for at least a few years.

Any rebuild in the past where the team won very soon after a 1OA, typically already had a great foundation. CHI in 2010 already had many key pieces for many years in the league (Keith, Seabrook, etc). Our rebuild, stripped to the studs, is more like Colorado's, and MacKinnon didn't win until 9 years after he was drafted.

It takes a hell of a long time to rebuild like this. We will be lucky (and I'll be ecstatic) if we're in wildcard contention in 2026-27. I still think our true window doesn't open until ~2029-2030 -- when Celebrini and Dickinson are 24 years old, by the way, and Smith 25.

Wow, that would make me sad to have to wait another 4-5 years for a competitive team.

On the bright side, the team is better (a little) today than they were at the start of last year. Hoffman, Labanc, barabanov were awful. Zadina was also very bad. they lost hertl and duclair but wennberg and Toffoli might be a wash there especially given hertl's knee issues. Add in walman and the kids and the sharks are already improved.

I wonder if grier is done. He has approx 17M in cap space left. I expect he might not deploy all of it, but Dillandrea, emberson, bordy, and grundstrom cannot cost more than 1-1.5M each (total of 5M or so) and the two kids are just 2M too. That would also give him 16 forwards on the NHL roster so two people are gunna need to end up in the A or waived (G smith and...?)

That leaves approx 11-12M in cap space for one more D spot assuming benning returns. Perhaps, grier is not quite done. I don't know if he will go into the year with 10M in free space.

 

[Juxtaposer]

I expect more from you, your reading comprehension is better than that.

I never once said rush prospects to the NHL, I very clearly have been arguing that IF we have some prospects that look READY for NHL time this year, I fear they will get blocked from playing because there are not really any open roster spots on the team right now.

I never said just throw all our prospects in the NHL whether or not they are even close to ready so I can be happy.

Do you honestly think that if we have a couple prospects, whoever they may be, that have a good camp and look like they might be ready for a bottom 9 role, that the team will burn ELC years to get them on the team over guys already on the roster that can fill whatever roll those prospects MIGHT be able to fill?

Musty might be ready for nine games as is, but with both Celebrini and Smith in the fold there’s no way it’s a smart idea to have all three of them in the top-9 of a roster that’s trying to improve. If Musty shows up and literally outplays guys like Toffoli, Eklund, Zetterlund, and Wennberg; then yes, I absolutely believe we would waive Grundstrom or Afanasyev or trade Kostin.

Bystedt is not NHL ready. It’s clear that that the org doesn’t see an NHL future for guys like Bordeleau and Gushchin. So what I’m saying is that your premise is faulty. The only guy who might “earn” a roster spot that we aren’t already pencilling in is Musty, and if he’s really that good right now then we can easily find a way to make room on the roster.

 

[Mattb124]

Who is gunna score on the sharks?

You seem to think that a GM can start and finish a rebuild in 3-4 years. The question you should have asked which was just answered is “who is going to sign with the Sharks?”, and what you saw is that the answer is marginal players who still require overpayment to sign here.

Stop with the NHL24 pipe dreams about quality goal scorers signing with the Sharks after last season.

 

[jMoneyBrah]

I’d never have preferred trading for Pageau with an asset attached over signing Wennberg - but perhaps JPG wouldn’t waive for the Sharks (seems likely). If that move wasn’t available Wennberg provides the same utility I’d have hoped to have gotten with Pageau, as a vet 3C to play with Smith, PK, and as insurance in case Couture can’t return. He also serves as a decent placeholder C to replace Granlund if Grier ends up trading him at the deadline.

Overall the term and player are a good fit for what I think the team should be aiming to achieve over the next two years.

 

[Boy Hedican]

I mean, absolutely it's been on purpose. Signing and hiring "badly" is all relative to what your goals are. And the goal is to be one of the worst teams in the league for this 3-4 year span in order to efficiently collect the high-end talent we need to work back to contention.

For some reason this is lost on many Sharks fans. I don’t get it.

 

[Star Platinum]

This I can believe. It was hard for dougie to land top UFA's even when the sharks were good. I mean, if there is no othe way to deploy space, then OK.

Still, it seems a bit weird. Our money is still green. Overpaying massively for short term seems like a win win for a UFA and for grier.

Either way, grier is gunna need to bring in at least another few top forwards and D over the next season or two. Toffoli is a good start. You cannot build a team entirely out of home grown prospects and signed 3/4th liners unless you suck for a LOOONG time and consistently get the #1 pick. Personally, I really don't want to suck for three more years and even that doesnt guarantee you anything.

When you're drafting 17/18 year old kids in hockey, it takes a while before they're ready to be high-level players. If everything breaks right and Celebrini and Smith make a lot of progress over the next two seasons, maybe in 2026 you have more options in free agency. Right now, no.

For some reason this is lost on many Sharks fans. I don’t get it.

Most of us have never seen a frozen-over body of water in our lifetimes, so the subtleties of hockey are sometimes lost on us.

 

[Dicdonya]

Musty might be ready for nine games as is, but with both Celebrini and Smith in the fold there’s no way it’s a smart idea to have all three of them in the top-9 of a roster that’s trying to improve. If Musty shows up and literally outplays guys like Toffoli, Eklund, Zetterlund, and Wennberg; then yes, I absolutely believe we would waive Grundstrom or Afanasyev or trade Kostin.

Bystedt is not NHL ready. It’s clear that that the org doesn’t see an NHL future for guys like Bordeleau and Gushchin. So what I’m saying is that your premise is faulty. The only guy who might “earn” a roster spot that we aren’t already pencilling in is Musty, and if he’s really that good right now then we can easily find a way to make room on the roster.

My premise is not faulty, because the fact that Musty would need to outplay someone to replace them is exactly the issue I have with the current roster. The only way a prospect makes the team is if they massively outplay their counterpart that is already signed and penciled into the roster, OR they fill a totally different role, like Celebrini and Smith making the team has nothing to do with who makes the bottom 6 on the team. Those two are not fighting with guys like Grundstrom, Giavani, Goodrow etc for spots.

In other words, you would not play a third line ready prospect, over an already established and signed third line player, even if they are basically the same in current ability. You wouldn't do that, not because the prospect doesn't look ready for third line duties, but because they may not be signed, or you can slide their ELC, while also not having to waive/bench a player already signed wasting money and potentially losing them on the waiver wire.

So let's pretend for a second that Musty had a great offseason and looks as good as Wennberg, or Zetterlund, or anyone you see playing on the third line, not better than, as good as. Do you honestly think they would bring Musty in over them? I do not, but I am saying I would prefer they do. I would rather watch Musty in the NHL, excited to potentially see him grow over the season, possibly start to build some chemistry with guys like Eklund, Celebrini or Smith than watch the players already penciled into that role now do that.

Just look at how many people love Zetterlund now, and basically expect him to play in our top 6. There is no chance that would be the case if our top 6 was already filled with players around his caliber before the season started, and he was sent to the AHL/Minors. Our top 6 was barren last year, and because of that a lot of guys got a chance to play in the top 6, one being Zetterlund who ran with it moreso than the others, and now many consider him a top 6 player.

This year if Celebrini and Smith make the team, our top 6 is pretty well filled out. Eklund, Celebrini, Smith, Granlund, and Toffoli are all essentially locks for the top 6, maybe with the exception of Smith being 3c, but I kinda doubt that. If Couture can play, and play basically like he did before his injury (yes that is a huge if) our top 6 is now a competition with already established NHL players. Musty would have to be absolutely lights out in the preseason to even entertain the idea of him making the team.

Im saying I would rather we had a couple spots, not a ton just a couple, that were open for our prospects to fight over. Not like it is now, where our roster is already filled, with the only way a prospect makes the roster is to play above and beyond what you would expect them to do for whatever role they fill.

In short I would rather watch Musty play on the third line IF he looks ready for it, over literally anyone we currently have on the roster that might fill that role right now, but I doubt they would do that because our bottom 6 is already filled with players that can play on a third line and are signed to 1 way contracts. It simply would not make a ton of sense to waive one of them for Musty given the contract situation unless Musty looks far better than them.

Anyways, clearly my opinion is not shared by many/any and my concerns may not even be relevant at all if none of our prospects actually look NHL ready, so I will bow out at this point.

 

[Juxtaposer]

My premise is not faulty, because the fact that Musty would need to outplay someone to replace them is exactly the issue I have with the current roster. The only way a prospect makes the team is if they massively outplay their counterpart that is already signed and penciled into the roster, OR they fill a totally different role, like Celebrini and Smith making the team has nothing to do with who makes the bottom 6 on the team. Those two are not fighting with guys like Grundstrom, Giavani, Goodrow etc for spots.

In other words, you would not play a third line ready prospect, over an already established and signed third line player, even if they are basically the same in current ability. You wouldn't do that, not because the prospect doesn't look ready for third line duties, but because they may not be signed, or you can slide their ELC, while also not having to waive/bench a player already signed wasting money and potentially losing them on the waiver wire.

So let's pretend for a second that Musty had a great offseason and looks as good as Wennberg, or Zetterlund, or anyone you see playing on the third line, not better than, as good as. Do you honestly think they would bring Musty in over them? I do not, but I am saying I would prefer they do. I would rather watch Musty in the NHL, excited to potentially see him grow over the season, possibly start to build some chemistry with guys like Eklund, Celebrini or Smith than watch the players already penciled into that role now do that.

Just look at how many people love Zetterlund now, and basically expect him to play in our top 6. There is no chance that would be the case if our top 6 was already filled with players around his caliber before the season started, and he was sent to the AHL/Minors. Our top 6 was barren last year, and because of that a lot of guys got a chance to play in the top 6, one being Zetterlund who ran with it moreso than the others, and now many consider him a top 6 player.

This year if Celebrini and Smith make the team, our top 6 is pretty well filled out. Eklund, Celebrini, Smith, Granlund, and Toffoli are all essentially locks for the top 6, maybe with the exception of Smith being 3c, but I kinda doubt that. If Couture can play, and play basically like he did before his injury (yes that is a huge if) our top 6 is now a competition with already established NHL players. Musty would have to be absolutely lights out in the preseason to even entertain the idea of him making the team.

Im saying I would rather we had a couple spots, not a ton just a couple, that were open for our prospects to fight over. Not like it is now, where our roster is already filled, with the only way a prospect makes the roster is to play above and beyond what you would expect them to do for whatever role they fill.

In short I would rather watch Musty play on the third line IF he looks ready for it, over literally anyone we currently have on the roster that might fill that role right now, but I doubt they would do that because our bottom 6 is already filled with players that can play on a third line and are signed to 1 way contracts. It simply would not make a ton of sense to waive one of them for Musty given the contract situation unless Musty looks far better than them.

Anyways, clearly my opinion is not shared by many/any and my concerns may not even be relevant at all if none of our prospects actually look NHL ready, so I will bow out at this point.

My point is that you are being extremely short-sighted because you want to be entertained. I don’t exactly blame you, I do too. But If Musty does not definitely outplay one of the vets who are pencilled into top-9 wing roster spots at the moment, then he doesn’t deserve to be on the roster. Partially because rookies wane over the course of an 82 game season, and partially because there’s no real harm in slow-cooking them a bit. Remember Quentin Musty is literally still 18 right now. When Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier broke camp in their D+1 seasons they were almost 20 years old and the only rookies on the team, and had the support structure of an elite hockey team.

If Musty were 21 years old and still being blocked by vets, I would totally agree with you. But as it is, guys like Musty/Bystedt are still incredibly young. There’s a ways to go before worrying about creating roster space for them.

 

[Bizz]

My point is that you are being extremely short-sighted because you want to be entertained. I don’t exactly blame you, I do too. But If Musty does not definitely outplay one of the vets who are pencilled into top-9 wing roster spots at the moment, then he doesn’t deserve to be on the roster. Partially because rookies wane over the course of an 82 game season, and partially because there’s no real harm in slow-cooking them a bit. Remember Quentin Musty is literally still 18 right now. When Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier broke camp in their D+1 seasons they were almost 20 years old and the only rookies on the team, and had the support structure of an elite hockey team.

If Musty were 21 years old and still being blocked by vets, I would totally agree with you. But as it is, guys like Musty/Bystedt are still incredibly young. There’s a ways to go before worrying about creating roster space for them.

I wouldn't want to keep any singular prospect up for the entire year, but having the spot open so that you can rotate any one of those prospects so they can get, I dunno, 10-15 games then cycle the next guy in would be worthwhile.

 

[Anomie2029]

Wennberg is an OK pick up. Probably not a move that I would have made.
I understand wanting to add some center depth to cover for the potential loss of Couture.

This is a signing that's probably more than what anyone should pay for Wennberg, but hey - Sharks need to reach the cap floor.

 

[CanadienShark]

This one I'm good with. Low risk contract and he'll help insulate the young guys.