Quoting: CEO
So San Jose rejects?
Here's my take on the current assets in this AGM:
- Kassian and Barrie would be valuable additions. Kassian is overpaid for his role, but he's a good veteran presence and he can be a locker room mentor like Bonino is for our youngsters. Barrie is a defensive liability, but in this situation, we may end up losing Burns in a separate trade during TDL and Barrie would be a fit for our offense-heavy D at a lower cap hit to boot.
- Keith is over the hill but he only has 1.5 years left in his deal. The buyout we would have used for Kane could be used for Vlasic, so he'd fill in for 3rd line duty and serve as a mentor for guys like Merkley and Kniazev. He does have an NMC though, so perhaps 2023 2nd or 3rd could suffice in his place if he doesn't want to waive.
- Benson is a mediocre player but at least he's cheap and out of contract at the end of this year. He can rotate tween the 4th line or the taxi squad as needed.
- Klefbom would provide LTIR relief for the Sharks. He has 1.5 years left in his deal and all signs point to his career being finished so we could treat his contract the same way as Tampa is doing with Seabrook's contract.
- Ryan has become a liability at the NHL level and it'd be likely that he along with Vlasic would be our buyouts at the end of the season.
The main challenge is whether we want to swallow $9M in cap to get rid of full-fat Evander. The good news is that most of these players would be out of contract by 2023, and at that point, we'd have more than enough prospects to take their place and start forming a young, competitive and inexpensive team. I could see why other Sharks fans here would decline, but this isn't the worst idea I've heard re: getting rid of Evander.