Haula is 29 years old and spent the majority of last season with the Carolina Hurricanes, before being dealt to the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline. He scored a total of 12 goals and 24 points in 48 games, a pace of 21 goals and 41 points per 82 games. While he’s unlikely to reach his 31 goal and 59-point pace from the 2017-18 season with Vegas, we’d probably be able to expect 20 goals and 40 points from him next year, if he’s used in a middle-six role again.
He’d be a great fit in San Jose and would likely slot in as the team’s third-line center. Haula would certainly be a solid replacement for Joe Thornton and would give the Sharks some depth down the middle.
I do wonder what it would take to get a deal done with Haula. Perhaps he’d take a one-year deal based on the current market, however, the Sharks have very little cap space remaining, so it’d be interesting to see whether they’d be able to work out a deal. Haula is coming off a three-year deal which carried a $2.75 million AAV and you have to imagine he’d ideally be looking for a bit of raise.
While it’s still uncertain as to whether any deal could actually materialize here, bringing in Haula would certainly be a win for the Sharks.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Would you be in favour of the Sharks signing Erik Haula?
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