I was reading Puck Daddy on Yahoo! Sports blogs like I usually do daily, and I ran upon an article stating that Dany Heatley, one of the top snipers on the Ottawa Senator's coveted scoring line, wanted to be dealt. Further reports have stated that he is considering a move to the Western Conference. Obviously, the first thing that came to mind was "how can we get this 75+ point winger onto the Sharks?" Of course, my train of thought expanded to more free agents this summer, and here are the results.
Free agents for the Sharks this summer:
Looking at the free agent list, we have Mike Grier at 1.775 million, Jeremy Roenick at 1.1 million, Travis Moen at 912.5k, Marcel Goc at 775k, Torrey Mitchell at 725k, Tomas Plihal at 500k, Claude Lemieux at 500k, Rob Blake at 5 million, Alexei Semenov at 650k, Brian Boucher at 650k, and Kent Huskins at 625k (these were the salaries of the 2008-2009 season).
First and foremost, Dany Heatley. He is still under contract with the Senators for a whopping 7.5 million. Before we get into all the mathematics, let's see what Heatley will bring to the Sharks. First, he's another pure scorer for Joe Thornton to distribute to. He was also in the Stanley Cup finals 3 years ago when Ottawa fell to the Anaheim Ducks. That said, many critics are thinking he's losing his touch, as his point totals have dropped from an average of 2.95 to 2.20 in the past year (per 60 minutes played), and he had his lowest point outing last year since his rookie year. Still, 2.2 points is quite a hefty amount, and a quick comparison to a Sharks player would be along the lines of Devin Setoguchi or Joe Pavelski. Think the Sharks can use another Seto in their roster? I sure do. If the Sharks do get Heatley, we're looking at a potential 3 scoring line roster, something that GM Doug Wilson and Coach Todd McLellon expected to happen during the playoff series against Anaheim this past postseason. Obviously, Heatley would be moved to the first line right next to Thornton. Personally, I would move Patrick Marleau rather than Devin Setoguchi off the line, because Marleau can create plays on his own and is more versatile than the young Setoguchi. Keeping the second line in tact, we would have a third line of Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo, and one more. That would be a deadly line, and may even rekindle Cheechoo's scoring touch.
Now to the mathematics. In order for the previous paragraph's scenario to work out, Marleau, Setoguchi, the second line, and Cheechoo would not be dealt.
I would really hate to trade Blake, but that would be the quickest way to take out a huge chunk of the 7.5 million we need for Heatley. Roenick retiring would save us another 1.1, so we have 1.4 million to go. Travis Moen and Kent Huskins would be the next expendables, and you could probably make the case for Marcel Goc. Keep in mind as well, these are just the free agents in the summer. We wouldn't necessarily have to trade any of these guys, just not re-sign them. Theoretically, they can also take a pay cut to stay in San Jose. If we look at Sharks who are signed through 2010, Jody Shelley's name pops up, as well as the rest of our starting 6 defensemen. One of our fan favorites would have to go (or we could shorten our roster by 10 skaters), but it could be worth it for Heatley.
Immediately after the postseason began, I wanted Marion Gaborik on the Sharks. He would provide everything Heatley would provide, but we have injury concerns to worry about. But don't forget the same thing happened with Dan Boyle, and he stayed relatively healthy for the Sharks. And in the extremely short 2008-2009 season Gaborik had, he had 23 points in 17 games.
In terms of the mathematics, Gaborik would also cost the Sharks 7.5 million, so the thinking process would be along the same lines as Heatley. Gaborik has a lot more upside, but a lot more downside as well. Heatley would be the safer of the two picks; Gaborik has more potential to produce more points.
Nikolai Antropov is the cheapest for his skill set on the list of free agents this summer, as he is coming off a 59 point regular season and 3 points in the 7 game series against Washington in the playoffs. A signing of Antropov would be 2.15 million based on his 2008-2009 contract. Those point totals may not seem entirely impressive by themselves, but remember that he was playing most of last year as a Toronto Maple Leaf, before being traded to a Ranger team that struggled the entire year offensively (one of the main reasons why they went for Antropov).
What to do with a guy like Antropov would be the biggest question for San Jose. He is a center/right wing hybrid, so he could theoretically be a good replacement for Patrick Marleau on the first line if Marleau moves to center or wing the third. His skill set is also too valuable for the third line, although you could also make that argument for Marleau as well. And I really don't think San Jose will break up it's second line. Can Antropov fit on a third line and bring out the offense in that line as well as other guys can? For 2 million, I think it'd be an experiment worth testing. The only problem would be whether or not Antropov would be willing to move out West.
The most ideal signing for the Sharks would be Michael Cammalleri. He's only 26 years old, and role-played for the Calgary Flames, jumping around all the lines as a centerman and winger. His salary last year was 3.6 million, not too bad for a young talent that produced 82 points last year. 34 of those points also came on the power play. As a left wing, he would be perfect in replacing Marleau on the first line if Patty is moved to the third. 3.6 million is relatively cheap for a guy who has had two 80 point seasons (including one in Los Angeles!), so I'd expect if the Sharks sign him, he'd also come with a more expensive contract. That said, a contract like Rob Blake for Cammalleri would be much more worth it than, for say, Gaborik and Heatley, because of the age factor. The only downside is, like Antropov, he was only a 3 points producer for Calgary in their 6 game series against Chicago.
Other big names would be Marian Hossa, and the Sedin Twins. Assuming Detroit wins the Stanley Cup this year, what are the odds that Hossa would want to leave the team he took a paycut for? Then again, can the Red Wings even afford Hossa past next year? And can anyone in the NHL imagine splitting up the Sedin twins? Each one costs 3.575 million, combining for a total of over 7 million. San Jose could use either, but Henrik (the center/playmaker) would be too expensive for a third line role, so Daniel (the winger/scorer) would be the best fit (and 3.6 million is pretty cheap as well). The only question is will he have the same syngery with Thornton as he had with Henrik? Do you believe in twins having ESP?
Regardless of what we do, free agents that are expendable would probably be Moen, Goc, Lemieux, Huskins, and Roenick. Despite Grier's inability to score, he's a very good role-player on the penalty kill. Roenick will probably retire, Boucher is extremely cheap for a back-up goaltender with his skill level, and I wouldn't mind if Rob Blake stayed one more year for a shot at the cup with San Jose. Moen did his job fairly well, but I could care less whether he stays or not. And Huskins didn't do anything for us. Finally, the one free agent I want to see re-signed is Torrey Mitchell. We had an entire season without him last year, so imagine how much better we'll be if he stays healthy all or most of next year.
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