Climbing Out of the Tank

Équipe: 2024-25 Sharks de San Jose

Date de création initiale: 18 oct. 2023

Publié: 18 oct. 2023

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

After another season of tanking, the Sharks will want to show some sort of progress to climb their way out of the dredges of the Pacific.

Their needs this season:
- 2024 1st to be as high as possible (hopefully Celebrini will be in teal, but NHL lottery has never played nice with the Sharks so I do see them more realistically getting Eiserman or Catton)
- An additional late 1st, which will likely have to come from trading away another piece to a playoff-bound team.

Next season:
- Continue blooding in the youngsters, and have Bystedt start his career with the Cuda, with frequent call-ups in the cards pending on his progress.
- No need to trade Couture until Smith and whoever is the Sharks' 1st are ready for NHL action. Unless Celebrini is a Shark, a Couture trade would likely occur on 24-25's TDL.
- Get some help in the Top 6, ideally from teams that have had success. Stephenson from Vegas and Reinhart from Florida stand out as guys who could really help out San Jose's top 6 next year.
- Get our blueline's groove back with defense and offensive contributions. Pesce's is the dream D of this upcoming UFA market, but Dumba would probably be more willing to join the Sharks at their stage. To add Top 4 help defensively, Sharks should target Brodie from Toronto.
- The goaltending has been atrocious for the Sharks for years now, and I don't see Kahkonen as the answer. This is an area the Sharks should be willing to break the bank as a 1A has been a need for the franchise even when they were firmly a playoff team in the past. Samsonov is the standout target in my book.

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