San Jose Sharks Sign Key Free Agents

The San Jose Sharks announced that three of their free agents signed contracts Wednesday, June 25. Their top free agent, defenseman Brian Campbell, was not among them.

Center Jeremy Roenick was already reported to have agreed to a one-year contract worth a reported $1 million, making his signing rather anti-climactic. It has now been confirmed as $1.1 million.

However, Joe Pavelski would have been a restricted free agent on July 1. Last year, Edmonton General Manager Kevin Lowe filched restricted free agent Dustin Penner from the Anaheim Ducks and was willing to give up the compensatory draft picks in return.

Thus, the team was very much at risk of losing a young (23 year old) two-way center like Little Joe. His deal was reported at two years and $3.3 million.

The other player who re-signed was recently acquired goalie Brian Boucher. At 31 years old, he has a long-term future with the team, but also was eligible for unrestricted free agency, meaning the Sharks would have received no compensation had they lost him.

His contract has been reported as a one-year, $650,000 contract, meaning he also came at a bargain.

Pavelski was a pretty sure thing to be re-signed, and figures to be a necessary cog in the Sharks machine for years to come. He was already on the second line, counted on for special teams, and capable of the big goal, as evidenced by his overtime game winner in the Dallas series.

Boucher, on the other hand, was a player I had projected to leave the team mostly because he would want a chance to play elsewhere. Had he been on the team from the start of the season, he almost certainly would have received more playing time.

However, even after joining the team in late February, he played in only five games. General Manager Doug Wilson seemed to elude to top goaltender Evgeni Nabokov being overused by former coach Ron Wilson, saying “our goal is to have two guys rested by playoff time.” Perhaps that was what made Boucher more willing to stay, and at a very reasonable price.

This leaves the team with potential restricted free agents: left wing Ryan Clowe, defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, and center Marcel Goc. All have been given the necessary qualifying offers to ensure they would receive compensation if they did leave.

Clowe has also shown himself to be an essential part of this team’s present and future, and I would be surprised if he is not re-signed. Ehrhoff will be almost indispensable if the Sharks are unable to re-sign Campbellor are not confident they can bring in another marquee defenseman. Goc is young but has not played a full season yet, and could be looked at as expendable.

Meanwhile the team has several other potential unrestricted free agents left: Brian Campbell, center Curtis Brown, wingers Jody Shelley, Patrick Rissmiller, and Tomas Plihal, goalie Dimitri Patzold, and defensemen Sandis Ozolinsh, Alexei Semenov, and Brad Norton.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the team is closest to a deal with Shelley, and is not expected to re-sign Ozolinsh, Semenov, or Norton.

It does not mention Plihal or Patzold one way or another, but I could find no news that either had been signed. Both would likely get league minimum contracts and not see much demand from outside the Sharks, so I would expect them to be signed.

However, the team is loaded with goalies and may want to avoid dividing opportunities between too many prospects.

Brown should be the team’s next priority, even above Shelley. He is a gritty role-player, strong defensively and in the face-off circle, making him an essential penalty killer. Rissmiller had a solid season, with eight goals and nine assists on the third and fourth lines.

Neither is likely to cost the team deeply, so it really is a matter of whether they want to move on and receive greater opportunities on a team not as deep in forward talent. That was how they lost Mark Smith last year, but only time will tell if these forwards will follow him out of the South Bay.