Before we get started, Renaud Lavoie tweeted out this for all of us to enjoy:
On to the main post.
Yesterday the Sharks sent Jason Demers and a 3rd round pick to the Stars for Brenden Dillon. The deal also includes $1.19M in retained salary on the Sharks end.
Initially I had a mixed reaction to the deal, because I liked Demers despite his rough start to the current campaign. I’d attribute his poor numbers to the fact that he has had less than stellar line-mates for the majority of the season, often playing with Hannan/Irwin and the third and fourth forward lines. That’s a pretty tough spot to be put in with how the Sharks team has been playing.
After looking into Dillon a bit more I warmed up to the trade.
Dillon has slightly better possession numbers on a worse possession team which means if he brings the same level of play to the Sharks his numbers should, at the very least, stay the same, which is still better than Demers, and they could trend up.
That being said if the Sharks plan on pairing him with Hannan or Irwin it’s going to be tough to distinguish any benefit from the trade. Doug Wilson’s theme behind the deal was that he wanted a big left handed shot on the back end. They sacrificed their balance of left and right shot defenders to get the big left shot the GM was after. They now have two right shots and five left shots, something I’m not a fan of; I like the balance.
Here’s a look at the Stars and Sharks defenders :
Dillon was 2nd on the Stars in Fenwick% for players with at least 175 minutes TOI and played tougher competition with the Stars than Jason Demers did with the Sharks with a slightly better Fenwick%. Dillon also had a tougher Off ZS%.
Size-wise Dillon gets the nod, standing 6’4” 225lbs compared to Demers at 6’1” 195lbs and it’s never a bad thing to get bigger on the blue-line. Dillon is also two years younger than Demers.
From a cap stand-point the deal saves San Jose 960K this season and it’s unknown what the savings, if any, will be for the following year because Dillon is an RFA and they have retained $1.19M of Demers’ contract. I don’t like the retained salary, but that’s the cost of business when a player doesn’t perform up to expectations.
It appears as though he’ll slot in nicely as a minor upgrade from the current situation which is something the Sharks definitely need on the back end. I’d like to think that this isn’t the end of the moves for the Sharks on defense because nothing about this deal absolutely blows me away, but it’s a start. Perhaps both players will thrive from a change of scenery.
I haven’t heard much negative about Dillon’s game, only that he’s a big, young, defensive defender that hits generally the same amount as Demers, blocks more shots and plays more minutes per game. After all that, I’m pretty happy with the deal and I hope this is the start of more moves for the Sharks to upgrade and address needs within the organization.
SJ vs ARI
The Sharks are still at home tonight, this time facing the Arizona Coyotes who have struggled themselves this season.
I think the Coyotes are a beatable team for the Sharks and it will be interesting to see how the team responds tonight after losing a well-liked player around the locker room. They have to be aware now that changes are coming, something that they might have neglected to believe given the recent track record of the management staff and promising “change”. I’d also like to believe that the Dillon trade means that Wilson is working the phones and that acquiring Brenden Dillon wasn’t the only conversation he’s had.
The Sharks are slowly slipping down the Western Conference standings and they need to get their season back on track right now before things get too out of hand.
The offense is going to have to find their way because they can’t continue to post 2.1 goals per game and expect to have good things happen. Niemi just isn’t built for that little goal scoring.
It should be a good game tonight and hopefully we get to see Dillon in action to properly begin assessing the trade. If we don't get to see him, well, hockey gods have mercy on our third defensive pairing.
Puck drop is at 10:30pmET(7:30pmPDT).
Thanks for reading.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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