There are many roads the Sharks can travel down - and this might be the wildest one – to get better now and in the future. Trading Logan Couture may not seem like a benefit for the now, but it might not be as apocalyptic as you’d think. Worst case scenario, the Sharks are equal to what they were last season – which is a team that should have made the playoffs.
For the purpose of this off-season fun post we’ll assume the Sharks are operating under an internal cap that, without creating some space, is going to limit their ability to fill in holes and get themselves back in contention.
James Tanner was kind enough to take Couture and the struggling Tommy Wingels off my hands. Here’s the deal:
To Arizona Logan Couture Tommy Wingels
To San Jose Brandon Gormley 2015 CHI 1st 2015 ARI 2nd
What the Sharks get is a solid young defender who is NHL capable right now – which would allow them to develop Mirco Mueller properly – elsewhere. The picks give San Jose four selections in the first 39 picks of a deep crop to replenish and underwhelming prospect pool.
It also gives San Jose $8.45M in extra space (minus, of course, the cost of Gormley) to work with to fill holes elsewhere.
Losing Couture creates an immediate hole in the top-six – but not at center. This is where I’d go against everything I stand for and break up the Joe’s. Does anyone really have a problem with Thornton and Pavelski as the top six centers? Wingers are easier to plug in, so the center hole created by losing Couture is actually a winger hole now.
The second line will actually, probably, become a better shutdown line with Pavelski than it was with Couture.
Despite his point totals, Couture underperformed in his increased role last season (-4.79 dCorsi60) and, minus a jump in the lockout shortened season, has been at a steady decline since his rookie year as his roles increased. He’s also pretty vocal about his displeasures with the team in regards to not getting a letter, culture problem, etc. Let’s take a step back and consider that, maybe, the culture problem isn’t that bad and, maybe, Couture is of a small few that are unhappy and planning a coup d'état.
The cap space can be used to bring in a guy like, say, Andrej Sekera on the blueline. Does this blueline look better, or worse than last year?
Vlasic/Burns Sekera/Braun Gormley/Dillon
Vlasic can play with Burns – the pairing everyone wants to see anyway. Braun gets a good possession defender to play with so he can function without Vlasic. Gormley and Dillon can continue to develop at the NHL level together in sheltered situations while the big boys do the heavy lifting.
The forward group is where it gets a little trickier. With Couture gone it now looks a little empty. We’ll put Marleau with Thornton on the first line to try and salvage what’s left of his career – and because he’ll be able to play at a slower pace, which is better for an old fella, and be almost guaranteed to avoid his horrendous possession stats of 2014-2015.
Marleau-Thornton-X Hertl-Pavelski-X Karlsson-Tierney-Condra Goodrow-Smith-Nieto
The four lines have potential to be on the favorable end for possession, giving the new coach an option to roll lines more successfully. Matt Nieto surely won’t be as unlucky this year as he was last year, but we’ll put him on the fourth line with the hopes of rolling that out more, and Melker Karlsson can settle into his natural habitat on the third line with new free agent addition Erik Condra.
Hertl is a waste out of the top six when there are spots open. He’s got offensive talents that need to be groomed and accessible – something that isn’t an option playing in the bottom six. He’s a better passer than he gets credit for and would be fine with Pavelski.
The Sharks get a big boost in the bottom six signing Condra.
Let’s fill in the two X’s.
Will Nikolay Goldobin be ready to step in next year? He can go with either of the Joe’s lines and be given a great chance to succeed. That leaves one open X for the top six. Free agency, baby.
It’s not a great free agent class, but they’ll do. Michael Frolik or Matt Beleskey, on reasonable dollar figures, would be fine for the other open top six position.
Yes, you’ve lost Logan Couture – but you’ve gained Sekera, Condra, Gormley and Frolik/Beleskey to deepen the skaters, all the while preparing more for the future. Maybe you even bring back James Sheppard for a more natural role of fourth line duties. After all, he didn’t play so bad for San Jose this year.
Would this team really be worse than last year? Or would it be better?
The goalie scenario is pick your poison. There’s nothing spectacular out there via free agency.
If everything is as it seems and Thornton/Marleau will retire as Sharks then we’re looking at 3-4 more years of the two of them. Realistically the Sharks have to build now and give themselves another chance at a playoff run. They can’t do that without help on the blueline. This scenario solves that. It also gives them a pile of assets to get ready for the post-Thornton/Marleau era – a time when Pavelski will be nearing his end and Couture would have been on the wrong side of 30.
Can the Sharks bring in the free agents mentioned without losing Couture? Yes, they probably could – but they’d be a cap team and we’re operating under the premise of that not being an option.
They could also bring in someone to remove one of Smith or Goodrow from the fourth line, but they could do that internally as well. Bottom line: The Sharks get better now and later, get less whiny, probably don’t slew foot anyone anymore - and do this all under an internal cap.
It’s really not as high of a negative impact move as you’d think if it makes the whole roster better.
Thanks for reading.