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The NHL season may be over and the Blackhawks will once again celebrate their championship with a parade and a summer long party, but that doesn’t mean the excitement surrounding the league is over.
With the shortened season that we just endured the playoffs finished later than normal and the usual month or so until the draft ends up being less than a week away.
We have marquis players who have been bought out of ridiculous contracts adding to the already intriguing free agent list, we have what many call the richest draft in years beginning on Sunday, we have a couple of trades already made and certainly more to come before and after the draft with a salary cap coming down to 64.3 million, and all this in an Olympic year.
This is the type of draft that can make or break an organization, particularly the ones with multiple picks in the first few rounds. The Sharks have four picks in the first two rounds, one in the first and three in the second which really puts them in a good position. They could try to move up in the draft from the twentieth position in the first round by packaging up picks from this year or next season where they have two in the second round, move down, or stand pat.
The word around the league so far has been that moving up hasn’t been easy, however with teams needing to fill out their rosters and get under the cap the next few days could be a flurry of activity and anything can happen.
The Sharks don’t have a lot of cap space left after re-signing Jason Demers, Andrew Desjardins, and James Sheppard, but these were all good signings and necessary ones for the organization. None of these players are being overpaid and all three have their best years ahead of them.
With a little over 3.5 million to work with and four players to sign it will be interesting to see how GM Wilson maneuvers this summer.
So far the only thorn in the side for the Sharks has to be Martin Havlat’s injury and surgery which means the Sharks can’t buy him out until he recovers, which won’t be until the 2013/14 season is underway. Under the new CBA a player must be bought out during the off-season and can’t be bought out if they are recovering from an injury.
The 5 million that Havlat is due to make this year could go a long way to improving the roster. There has been no word official or otherwise from the Sharks that they intend to buy out Havlat so my comments are speculation; however it just makes too much sense not to.
We could even see a similar situation like we did in Montreal where the Canadians asked Scott Gomez not to report to camp because they didn’t want to take the chance that he finished the season hurt and they wouldn’t be able to buy him out. With Havlat’s history of injuries there is a chance he could be hurt next summer as well which would mean the Sharks would be stuck with him until the end of his contract which expires at the end of 2014/15.
With Raffi Torres on board for the next three years the third line will be much improved from the start of this past season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the team’s first round pick from last year Tomas Hertl make the squad and add another threat to the depth lines.
Thomas Greiss still hasn’t been inked and has proven to be a worthy back-up. He also hasn’t shown signs of greed and will likely stay on for a home town discount if that is the direction they go in. Greiss is another player who has good years ahead of him as he is only 27 years young.
This is a pivotal season for the Sharks with many of the team’s top performer’s contracts due to expire at the end of the 2013/14 season. On that list are Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, and Dan Boyle. There are too many scenarios to speculate on before the puck drops, but what history has shown us is that GM Wilson often finds a way to make things work out one way or another and comes out smelling like a rose when it is all said and done.
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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