Top 6 Forwards Who to Target for Next Season

Montreal is going to want way too much for Toffoli, I’d imagine the same with Seattle and Eberle with how little offense they have. I’d do labanc and maybe a mid rounder for Konecny nothing more though. The way to go for the sharks would be to sign a ufa like the last three on the list.

1st three are going to take overpayment which I would caution SJS from doing.

Makes sense given our current rebuilding situation. If we re-sign Hertl (say $8M for 6 years), Ferraro for 4x4, and want to save room for Meier when he's out of contract next season, it's likely we'd have between $4.5M to $6M to play with for a Top 6 Winger. Course, if Hertl decides to walk, then we'd have room for two wingers to play with Eklund and Cooch, but we may at that point also opt to just take draft picks and tank for Michkov. Really depends on what will happen this TDL re: Hertl, and I'll be eager to see what we do.

Palat either decides he wants to stay in Tampa cheap or gets 7+ on the open market especially in an extremely tax heavy state like California

Another potential option the Sharks have, although I’m not sure they would go for this, they could buy out EK65. Now before you get your knickers in a twist, let me explain. Most of EK65 contract is signing bonuses, and if he gets bought out this summer, when he has 5 years of term on his contract left, SJ would have to deal with the cap penalty for 10 years. But because his contract was structured so weirdly, while you get screwed in buyout year 1, 4, and 5, you get 8 million in cap savings in year 2 and 3. Meier is up for a new contract in year 2, and the same goes for Balcers, Weatherby, and JTV. Plus, with Kane gone, you have the 7 million off his cap hit to give towards a Hertl extension. The cap penalty for years 6-10 would be under 2mil, and with that being the likely time of true contention, it works out perfectly.
https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-calculator/erik-karlsson

Another option would be to buyout MEV, which would be cheaper, and if done in the summer when he only has 4 years remaining, it would last 8 years. Cap savings for buying out MEV would range from 2-5.5 million, with 5.5 happening in buyout year 2, and 3.3 happening only buyout year 1. The cap penalty in years 5-8 would be sub 2 million, so that’s also not too bad.
https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-calculator/marc-edouard-vlasic

I would think of the 2, they would choose to buyout MEV, but who knows.