The San Jose Sharks can trade more than Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson. Adam Proteau says the interest in all their tradeable players should lead to nice returns.
The NHL trade deadline is only 14 days away, and we’re getting to a time when all the attention is on the league’s “seller” teams. We all know which teams will be “buyers,” but the teams that hold the assets are the sellers. And of all the seller teams we need to focus on – Arizona, Chicago, Anaheim, St. Louis, Vancouver – the biggest, most-intriguing seller is the one in San Jose.
The Sharks will command the most attention in the next two weeks because they’ve got good-to-great-value options at every position, and San Jose can make or break a team’s post-season dreams with one transaction. And all you need to do to see that’s true for them is to look at the notable names on the trade block in San Jose.
We’ll start with the Sharks’ top trade piece at forward – 26-year-old veteran winger Timo Meier, who has all kinds of suitors, and rightfully so, as Meier has a team-best 31 goals and a second-best 52 points.
The Swiss native can step into virtually any playoff contender’s lineup and play on the top line if needed. He can also thrive on a team like Toronto, which might choose to play him on the second line. Leafs fans are imagining the delights that would come with Meier on the left wing alongside center John Tavares and right winger Mitch Marner. That would arguably be the league’s best second line, and Meier’s acquisition would boost the already-high playoff expectations in Toronto.
But what if a team like New Jersey or Carolina steps up and bids the most for Meier? Instantly, the Devils and Hurricanes would have the double victory of a) adding Meier’s talent and, quite possibly, a long-term contract extension for the soon-to-be restricted free agent, and b) preventing a divisional or conference rival from acquiring Meier themselves.
But no one is ruling out a Meier trade that would make him a rental for the rest of this season, with no contract extension beginning next season. Teams with little salary-cap space would have to make a deal with Sharks GM Mike Grier that was dollar-for-dollar for cap reasons, but we’re going to argue that at least a few teams will be willing to go that route in addition to the slew of teams that would be willing and able to sign Meier for the long term.
All-in-all, there are enough teams bidding on Meier, for different reasons, to suggest Grier should be conjuring up a hot market for Meier. There’s a genuine bidding war to be developed here. Grier needs a home run swing for any Meier trade, and building for the future can be accelerated by the assets Grier lands in a Meier trade.
Similarly, Grier and the Sharks have a needle-mover on defense who is up for a blockbuster trade. As everyone and their grandmama know, San Jose employs superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Yes, moving Karlsson is more treacherous because of his $11.5-million-per-season contract, which lasts until the summer of 2027. So there may well be a percentage-of-contract-retention requirement in a Karlsson deal, and the only question may be how much San Jose can get out from under Karlsson’s contract. But who knows, maybe a team really steps up above all other bidders and assumes all of Karlsson’s contract. We don’t see it happening, but that result would be a massive win for Grier, as he’s likely seeking as much cap flexibility as possible as he establishes his own vision for the franchise.
OK, we’ve established the Sharks have got the top forward available and the top defenseman available. In goal, San Jose doesn’t have the next coming of Jacques Plante to trade to a Stanley Cup contender, but they do have a veteran goaltender to offer up in 34-year-old James Reimer, who is in his 13th NHL season and still has a little bit left in the tank.
Reimer’s individual numbers (including a 3.31 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage) have to be seen as partially created by San Jose’s subpar defense corps. On a better team, Reimer could give you some great backup for their primary goalie. He’s essentially an insurance policy, and he’s a pure rental with a $2.25-million cap hit this year, according to CapFriendly. There are few goalies available on the trade market, so Grier should be able to land some decent draft picks in a Reimer trade.
So, the picture here is clear. San Jose has an elite forward, an elite D-man, and an affordable option for teams seeking goalie help. Grier should be driving a hard bargain for each of Meier, Karlsson and Reimer. The Sharks don’t want to be languishing in the weak Pacific Division for very long, as they still have some core veteran players in their midst.
If Grier delivers young, NHL-ready players in every position with his three forthcoming trades, he can push the Sharks back into playoff contention faster than he otherwise would’ve been able to.
All eyes are on the Sharks in the next 14 days. Grier may wait until the final minutes before the deadline strikes at 3 p.m. ET on March 3 to try and leverage bidding teams against each other to drive up the price of San Jose’s assets. Regardless, with the three key talents Grier has available, he has the opportunity to turn a very good team (not his own, at least, not for the foreseeable future) into an electrified group that’s a Cup front-runner. And he has that opportunity three times.
Very few GMs can boast of that power heading into the deadline, so we’ll be highly intrigued to see what Grier comes up with in return for his three veteran talents and which teams give San Jose an infusion of promise with notable prospects and draft picks.