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Who should the Sharks buyout? |
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With the new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) teams have the option of buying out two players, but it is a one-time buyout and the clock is ticking.
We have already seen the effects of the buyout in San Jose as current Shark Scott Gomez was bought out by the Montreal Canadians and re-signed here. He was making 7.0 million in Montreal and the league minimum of $700,000 with the Sharks.
Gomez started off slow in teal but eventually came to become a valuable piece of the puzzle for San Jose; but if he was making 7.0 million dollars a year the fans would have heckled him to no end. Gomez was a bargain at the league minimum and will likely make something north of the amount he earned this year, but not much more.
The question becomes who should the Sharks cut ties with? The obvious answer to that question is Martin Havlat. Havlat has been a disappointment and is most likely a trade that GM Wilson would want back. He is slated to earn 5.0 million in 2013/14 and 6.0 million in 2014/15. That kind of money for only 79 games played the last two seasons is just too far out of whack.
In those 79 games Havlat has scored 15 goals and 30 assists. He is way too often injured and his groin injury from last season that happened when he jumped over the bench onto the ice just doesn’t want to go away. He has been troubled by it ever since.
When he is healthy he only comes to play once in a while which has been his reputation throughout his career and while in San Jose he has been fairly well protected on the second line by playing with top line players, yet he has still been unable to produce.
To say he has been a bust would be an understatement.
Nobody refutes the man’s skill and ability which makes it that much harder to swallow. We have seen flashes from Havlat that make you wonder where he has been hiding all that talent, but most of those highlight reels happened when he wore the uniform of a Blackhawk or Senator.
The question then becomes who, if anybody is the team’s second buyout. The Sharks are fairly well positioned going into next year’s decreased cap season. According to capgeek.com they have 15 players signed and 8.6 million left in cap space. If they were to dump Havlat that would another 5 million to make it a total of 13.5 million to add eight players to the 23 man roster.
There is no other obvious choice on the buyout; however the recently signed Adam Burish could be on the block. Burish is scheduled to make 1.850 for the next three years which isn’t necessarily a lot of money, however his 1 goal and three points from this shortened season make it hard to justify paying him that much. Burish may benefit from a lack of depth position from the organization’s standpoint.
The lack of depth on the bottom six forwards is no secret and there aren’t a number of players in Worcester knocking on the door showing they are ready to log heavy minutes in the NHL including penalty kill time which is where Burish does earn some of his paycheck. Unless GM Wilson is extremely active on the free agency market (which he hasn’t shown that he is a big fan of) then Burish will most likely remain a Shark.
Even though San Jose has a number of draft picks this June we can’t expect more than one or maybe two of these players to be NHL ready come next fall. Burish will most likely remain part of the team until some young blood has proven that they can contribute quality minutes with the big club.
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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