A little more than a week ago, the San Jose Sharks did what many of their fans never imagined they’d do: cut ties with cornerstone defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Buying out the final season of Vlasic’s eight-year, $56-million contract raised eyebrows at first because the Sharks have loads of cap space. But GM Mike Grier made the appropriate move for now and the long haul. You can’t accuse Grier of not liking players with experience, either, because his free-agent signings show he wants to set a sense of veteran professionalism to guide the way for San Jose’s young, up-and-coming stars.
In buying out Vlasic, Grier saves about $2.33 million this year. Every penny he can save brings Grier more flexibility when pursuing free agents and trades.
Even after a relatively busy spending spree this week, Grier still has about $22.9 million in salary-cap space. That’s after signing veterans Adam Gaudette (two years, $2 million average annual value), Dmitry Orlov (two years, $6.5 million AAV), and John Klingberg (one year, $4 AAV) trading for goalie Alex Nedeljkovic (one year left, $2 million AAV) and claiming defenseman Nick Leddy (one year left, $4 million AAV) off waivers.
The Sharks opted to hire older players to surround their youngsters. That’s a plan that didn’t turn out well for the Chicago Blackhawks and young star Connor Bedard last year, but there are good reasons why Grier is trying the same type of roster composition.
For one thing, most people expect San Jose to be out of the playoff mix next season. And Grier is a realist – he probably knows that, too. But if he can control something, it’s the professionalism in the room.
Grier is entrusting his room to older players like the 34-year-old Leddy, the 33-year-old Orlov and the 32-year-old Klingberg. He’s also taking a modest gamble by investing in players who, if things work out well, become trade assets.
Ultimately, the Sharks didn’t need Vlasic to continue being a sub-NHL-level player and occupy a roster spot. Instead, Grier made the difficult decision to move on from Vlasic, and as a result, San Jose can now bring in more players who contribute to a higher quality of play.
Granted, Leddy and Klingberg are hardly the epitome of shutdown defensemen. There’s a reason why they were available to Grier, and they’re likely not going to make life easier for young goalie Yaroslav Askarov and Nedeljkovic. But they can help set the tone in the room, and that’s one of the things Grier is hoping for.
If those veteran players play well all year, Grier can sell high and trade many, if not most of them, for younger players with more talent who can help them in the long term. That’s the asset management play that’s going on here. And while it’s a shame to see Vlasic go, the choice to buy him out and the choice to lean on other older players who still have something to contribute are solid bets by Grier.
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