This is what it looks like to put their ceiling back on RFA Ferraro with a four-year, $13 million contract.
| attackers | 2022-23 |
|---|---|
| Hertel, Thomas | 8137500 |
| Couture, Logan | 8,000,000 |
| Meyer, Timo | 6,000,000 |
| Labank, Kevin | 4,725,000 |
| Take it, Luke | 2,750,000 |
| Barabanov, Alexander | 2,500,000 |
| Lindblom, Oscar | 2,500,000 |
| Nick Bonino | 2,050,000 |
| Nico Sturm | 2,000,000 |
| Lorentz, Stephen | 1,050,000 |
| Ecklund, William | 894167 |
| Neto is dead | 850 thousand |
| the total | 41,456,667 |
| defense | 2022-23 |
| Carlson, Eric | 11,500,000 |
| Vlasic, Mark Edward | 7,000,000 |
| Ferraro, Mario | 3,250,000 |
| Simk, I’m working | 2,250,000 |
| Notivara, Marcos | 1,750,000 |
| Building Matt | 1,250,000 |
| Knigov, Nikolai | 850 thousand |
| Megna, Jacob | 762,500 |
| the total | 28612500 |
| Objectives | 2022-23 |
| Kähkönen, Cabo | 2,750,000 |
| Reimer, James | 2,250,000 |
| Hill, Aden | 2,175,000 |
| the total | 7,175,000 |
| Buy | 2022-23 |
| Jones, Martin | 2,416,667 |
| Balzer, Rudolph | 8334 |
| the total | 2,425,001 |
| keeps | 2022-23 |
| Burns, Brent | 2,720,000 |
| the total | 2,720,000 |
| 2022-23 Total | 82.389168 |
You will notice that there are 12 attackers, eight defenders, and three goalkeepers to form an unusual roster, but only compatible with a maximum of 23 players. The cap is $82.5 million for the 2022-23 season. You can also replace Nikolai Knigov’s waiver-free blueliner with a seat. Knigov has been away from hockey for a year with a groin injury and a post-surgery infection, so starting the season in the AHL isn’t a strange way for him to get his timing back.
The difference can, of course, increase by 10 percent over the maximum salary during a recession.
The San Jose Sharks have yet to re-sign RFAs Noah Gregor and Jonah Gadjovich, but don’t expect any young attacker to outshine the veteran’s bottom line of $750,000.
Obviously, I don’t expect the Sharks to enter the season with eight defenders and three goalkeepers. So what happens if they can trade Radim Simek and James Reimer? That should open up a place forward for Gregor, Gadjovic, Thomas Bordello, Jasper Weatherby, Jeffrey Vail, Max Verono or Scott Reddy in my crossover:
| attackers | 2022-23 |
|---|---|
| Hertle, Thomas | 8137500 |
| Couture, Logan | 8,000,000 |
| Meyer, Timo | 6,000,000 |
| Labank, Kevin | 4,725,000 |
| Take it, Luke | 2,750,000 |
| Barabanov, Alexander | 2,500,000 |
| Lindblom, Oscar | 2,500,000 |
| Nick Bonino | 2,050,000 |
| Nico Sturm | 2,000,000 |
| Lorentz, Stephen | 1,050,000 |
| Ecklund, William | 894167 |
| Neto is dead | 850 thousand |
| Gregor, Noah | RFA |
| the total | 41,456,667 |
| defense | 2022-23 |
| Carlson, Eric | 11,500,000 |
| Vlasic, Mark Edward | 7,000,000 |
| Ferraro, Mario | 3,250,000 |
| Notivara, Marcos | 1,750,000 |
| Building Matt | 1,250,000 |
| Knigov, Nikolai | 850 thousand |
| Megna, Jacob | 762,500 |
| the total | 26362500 |
| Objectives | 2022-23 |
| Kähkönen, Cabo | 2,750,000 |
| Hill, Aden | 2,175,000 |
| the total | 4,925,000 |
| Buy | 2022-23 |
| Jones, Martin | 2,416,667 |
| Balzer, Rudolph | 8334 |
| the total | 2,425,001 |
| keeps | 2022-23 |
| Burns, Brent | 2,720,000 |
| the total | 2,720,000 |
| 2022-23 Total | . 77889168 |
This is to build a more natural roster of 13 forwards, seven defenders and two goalkeepers.
For cover purposes, by the way, the Reimer and Adin Hill should be considered interchangeable. Reimer has one year left on his contract at $2.25 million, and Hill has just one year left on his contract at $2.175 million. In this exercise, I sent Reimer away because his trade value is higher than Hill’s now, but it’s very likely Hill that goes.
So, without Simk and the goalkeeper, and adding the 13th striker to the mix, the Sharks have about $3.5 million of cover space to play with, if they so choose.
However, the UFA market is now very sparse, and shark-based spots, for better or worse, are more or less accounted for. So that $3.5 million of space could also go toward burying Simek’s contract at AHL – the sharks could save $1.125 million of Simek’s $2.25 million cap space in this scenario – and of course, looms over everything, Evander’s complaint Kane that is not resolved.
It is still impossible to say if the Sharks will escape Kane’s terminated contract or if they will eventually be charged some fees.
But the San Jose Sharks seem to have set aside some space to deal with any situation between now and the start of boot camp.
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