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Report: Doan To Sharks

August 4, 2012, 8:26 AM ET [116 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
When will it end? When will all of this Shane Doan lunacy end, for good? Just when you thought it was safe to conclude that the UFA winger would land in Vancouver, comes word out of Northern Califiornia that the San Jose Sharks have been secretly lurking, all the while tracking Shane Doan.

A source has told csnbayarea.com:


According to the source, the Sharks, who are generally very tight-lipped about personnel decisions, have flown “under the radar” in their pursuit of Doan. Doan reportedly met with the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, and has also drawn interest from the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. His preference is to remain in Phoenix, but the uncertain ownership situation there has led to him exploring other options. There are reports that Doan is seeking a four-year contract worth $30 million, averaging out to a $7.5 million cap hit. According to CapGeek.com, San Jose has approximately $5.57 million in cap space. Signing Doan, who has spent his entire 16-year career with the Winnipeg/Phoenix franchise, could mean the Sharks would have to subsequently shed salary elsewhere.


As we sit here on Saturday August 4, five weeks after the UFA market bell first sounded, Doan has attracted a ton of attention. Rightly so. Right now, the Sahraks have 20 player contracts signed for the 2012-13 season. The contracts total $64,629,167. Thus, the Sharks are trying to lure Doan with the remaining $5,570,833. Try as they might, the Sharks will not be buying Doan for pennies on the dollar. Ain't gonna happen. i was told earlier this week that the reported and conformed four year, $30 million deal for Doan that has been on the table for three weeks now, has been stepped up to five years and $8 million per. Its believed by many teams folks inside the NHL that the Sabres were the team that made the original $7.5 million annual salary offer for Doan.

Why would doan and his agent take a $2- $2.5 million haircut just to play for the Sharks. Its ludicrous to think that Doan would leave $2+ million on the table at this juncture in his career. He's about to sign he final contract of his storied career. he won't be leaving crumbs on the counter. Trust me on that one. He and his agent are going to squeze every last penny out of the team that eventually signs him to a lucrative UFA deal. That team, be it San Jose or Vancouver, will have to hope and pray that Doan stays healthy and that he can live up to the lofty expectations that accompany such a lucrative contract.

Signing Doan to a contract north of $7.5 million per season all but seals the fate of one or two present Shark players. Joe Thornton earn $7 million this season and next. Patrick Marleau will earn $6.9 million this season and next. D Dan Boyle will earn $6,666,667 million this season and next. Brent Burns will earn $5,760,000 for the next five seasons. Martin Havlat will be paid $5 million for the next three seasons. Joe Pavelski will be paid $4 million this season and next. Ryan Clowe is an interesting player in that he'll earn $3.625 million this season and he'll be UFA on 7/1/13.

Doan is a right winger, which is the weakest area on the Sharks roster. Havlat is their best option there right now. In theory, the Sharks could trade the enigmatic Havlat and his $5 million tab to another NHL squad. But honestly, who's looking for "Bootsie" havlat right now? talk about a guy who can't live up to his potential. He's moved from Ottawa to Minnesota to Chicago to San Jose. $5 million is a lot of escarole to be dishing out $5 million per copy for the next three seasons. Good luck with that.

The Sharks are a team that can use an influx of a lot of things. They've stiffed out of the playoffs on a consistent basis in the past few seasons. They've been Trazan in the regular seaosn and Jane in the postseason for far too many years in a row. Makes sense that their GM, Doug Wilson, would want to import more scoring and leadership from outside the family. Wilson and gead coach Todd McLellan survived the axe this past Spring when their team was unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs in the first round. It was widely rumoured for months that Wilson was in hot pursuit of disgruntled winger Rick Nash. The thought process was that Thornton and Nash played extremely well together in Davos during the last NHL work stoppage in 2005-06. The duo also played well together for team Canada at the 2010 Olympics. When the Rangers made the trade for Nash, it threw a huge monkey wrench in Wilson's master plan to acquire the scoring winger.

It makes total sense why he'd want Doan right now.

Wilson can't have Doan unless and until he subtracts heavy dollars off his cap. the only way he can do that is by trading away a high dollar veteran player. I've saying it loudly into my megaphone for the past few months: Joe Thronton would look quite dapper in Blue and Gold.Darcy Regier has been patient to this point in his pursuit of a veteran centreman. I thinks its time to push the pace and play the uptempo puck pursuit game as it pertains to trading for a veteran leader, who has proven that he can carry a team on his two broad shoulders. Imagine what type of tricks of the trade that Thornton could teach Buffalo's bevy of young centres in Ennis, Hodgson, Grigorenko, and Girgensons.

On locker clean out day, Thornton said that he still has "10 years left" in his legs. I believe him. Like a fine Napa Valley Merlot, Thornton seems to get better with age. The former first overall pick of the Boston Bruins in 1997, Thornton has been a consistent points producer and has excelled on special teams. Maybe its time for come home. He's a London boy. He'd be a par five away from his hometown. Maybe a change of scenery will do him good.


thanks, sharks.nhl.com


On December 1, 2005, San Jose sent forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart to the Bruins for Jumbo Joe.

Here's a trivia nugget for you:

Thornton played his first game as a Shark in Buffalo on December 2, 2005. The Sharks won the game 5-0. Thornton notched two assists in the win.


I'm all for Buffalo sending a package to the Sharks for Thornton. They are thin at right wing, so I'd include Jason Pominville ($5.3 million). They'd need a centre to replace Thornton, so I'd include Luke Adam ($875,000). If Wilson wants more sugar in his coffee, I'd include a second round pick for next season.





If the Doan to San Jose chatter is correct, Iand I hope that it is, then Mike Gillis and Doug Wilson will be MMA fighting for the same guy. Their intense battle will no doubt drive up Doan's value to the point where either GM will have to shed some serious money in order to get the deal done. Let the bidding war begin. Then, I hope that Montreal and Pittsburgh join into the fray and cause a four team donnybrook that results in a grossly over-inflated balloon of a UFA contract for Doan.

If I'm Darcy Regier, I jump to the front of the line and make a trade proposal for Jumbo Joe.


How about you?

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