Expansion Draft Preview: San Jose Sharks

The San Jose Sharks are in the midst of their longest playoff drought since the 1990s.

Loaded with an expensive, ageing core, the Sharks again missed the playoffs in 2021 after posting a 21-28-7 record. The 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons were the last time we saw the Sharks miss the playoffs in back-to-back years.

Working out of this jam and returning to contention will be a challenge for the Sharks, who took a win-now approach for much of the past decade. Can the Seattle Kraken help their division rivals out by taking on one of San Jose’s massive contracts?

Eligible Forwards

@Logan Couture, @Evander Kane, @Timo Meier, @Tomas Hertl, @Kevin Labanc, @Ryan Donato, @Marcus Sorensen, @Alex True, @Rudolfs Balcers, @Matt Nieto, @Kurtis Gabriel, @Patrick Marleau, @Dylan Gambrell, @Jonathan Dahlen

Eligible Defencemen

@Erik Karlsson, @Brent Burns, @Marc-Edouard Vlasic, @Radim Simek, @Greg Pateryn, @Christian Jaros, @Jacob Middleton, @Nicolas Meloche

Eligible Goaltenders

@Martin Jones, @Josef Korenar

Exempt Players

@John Leonard, @Alexander Barabanov, @Ozzy Wiesblatt, @Tristen Robbins, @Lean Bergmann, @Timur Ibragimov, @Dillon Hamaliuk, @Noah Gregor, @Vladislav Kotkov, @Adam Raska, @Ryan Merkley

What should they do?

The Sharks have two players, Karlsson and Vlasic, with no-movement clauses in their contracts, so two decisions are already made for them.

In terms of forwards, the Sharks have a few obvious players to protect: Couture, Kane, Meier, Hertl, and Labanc. Donato and Balcers seem to be the other two forwards San Jose would likely protect, though these aren’t slam-dunks. Despite poor play over the past few seasons, Jones is also likely the goalie that the Sharks will opt to protect.

San Jose’s biggest decision comes on the blueline. As I said above, they only have one open protection slot among defenders if they take the standard 7F/3D/1G protection scheme. They can use it on either Brent Burns or Radim Simek.

Burns is a franchise icon, having played 716 games over 10 seasons in San Jose. But he also carries an $8,000,000 cap hit for four more seasons. Simek is a solid defender on a reasonable deal with a $2,250,000 cap hit for three more seasons.

San Jose could take a gamble here and protect Simek while leaving Burns exposed. That would dare the Kraken to take on Burns’ contract, which could become an albatross as he goes into his late-30s.

Even if Burns’ game declines, he’s still a big-name player who would help the Kraken sell tickets and merchandise. Would saving $8,000,000 in cap room be worth the Sharks losing one of the faces of their franchise?