An offseason checklist for the San Jose Sharks

Back in 2019, the Sharks signed winger Timo Meier to a four-year, $24M contract as a restricted free agent. On its own, the AAV was reasonable and it allowed him to still be RFA-eligible at the end of the deal. But his contract was the most extreme of the backloaded contracts done that summer as his salary for next season is $10M. Since that deal was signed before the new CBA, he’s not subjected to the new rule where the qualifier is the lower of the previous salary or 120% of the AAV. In other words, they have to qualify him at $10M next summer if he’s not on a new contract by then.

A few years ago when the salary cap was steadily on the rise, the number would have been a little inflated but potentially manageable. Now, with the upper limit barely moving for the time being, offering Meier $10M isn’t manageable, at least with the state of the rest of their roster.

While Meier is signed for next season already, there is a pressure point of sorts this summer. In an ideal world, San Jose doesn’t want him to enter 2022-23 without a new deal in place. Getting to next summer where Meier either has to be let go or qualified at an above-market rate isn’t palatable for the team. As a result, finding a suitable extension now has to be a priority. Meier is worth a raise on his current AAV and is coming off a career-best year that saw him pick up 35 goals and 41 assists but it shouldn’t be up to $10M per season. Whoever is named as the permanent GM is going to have a big negotiation this summer as a result.

Free Up Cap Space

The Sharks have some big contracts on the books, especially on the back end where they have over $31M in commitments and that doesn’t include RFA Mario Ferraro who is coming off a season where he logged 23 minutes a game. Even without arbitration eligibility, he’s in a good position to command a sizable raise of his own off his entry-level salary.

Right now, San Jose could get through the summer. They could try to sign Ferraro and Kahkonen for one year, sign their other RFAs to one-year deals, trade a goalie and manage to narrowly stay cap-compliant by carrying a roster close to the minimum size. But will they be any better than they’ve been the last few seasons? Probably not. 

Looking ahead to the 2023 summer, they’ll have 11 players signed at just over $57.5M which doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for improvement in the future either, especially considering Meier needs a new deal that summer.

As a result, if they want to add an impact player or even have the flexibility to shake up their roster, they need to move a big contract. Brent Burns ($8M through 2024-25), Erik Karlsson ($11.5M through 2026-27), and Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($7M through 2025-26) are the possibilities, although they each have at least some form of trade protection and not a particularly robust trade market because of their contracts. 

Resolve Kane Grievance

There is one other factor at play when it comes to San Jose’s summer and that’s the Evander Kane situation. The expectation is that it will be resolved by the start of free agency. However, there is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding whether or not his deal will be put back on their books, the termination will be upheld or a settlement is reached. The details of any potential settlement will go a long way towards determining what space they have to work with this summer and how much extra emphasis will have to be placed on clearing out one of their existing contracts.