I know I sound like a giddy schoolgirl, but one of my wishes has come true. TSN is reporting that Dan Boyle has waived his no-trade clause, and agreed to a trade to the Sharks. The Sharks get Boyle and Brad Lukowich, a #6 defenseman, in exchange for Matt Carle, a unnamed prospect (rumored to be Ty Wishart), a 1st round pick, and a 4th round pick.

So let’s evaluate this trade, and this offseason. The Sharks spend about $10M (Boyle’s 6.67 + Lukowich’s 1.5 + Blake’s 5 – Carle’s 3.5) get two better defensemen than the one they lost, and a guy for the third pairing. Boyle’s the #1 guy on most teams in the league, and I think an upgrade over Brian Campbell. We get him for less money than we would have paid Campbell, and for less term. We lose (allegedly) Wishart, a 1st rounder, but he’s been supplanted by Nick Petrecki as our best defensive prospect. Carle is in limbo- will he turn into a Dan Boyle type player? Or a guy we saw last year- stuggling to compete defensively, with rare entries on the scoreboard? That’s now the Bolts’ headache.

Can you imagine Blake and Boyle at the point on the power play, coached by Todd McLellan? The mind boggles.

Two quick issues going forward:

1. The Sharks have given up another #1 draft choice. After this year with nothing until the third round, you don’t want to see the Sharks be thin on the board two years running.
2. They now have about a dozen defenseman on the roster. Perhaps #1 could be addressed by an additional trade, like McLaren. Or we could let Ehrhoff sign an offer sheet elsewhere, hope somebody overpays him, and take the compensatory draft picks.

I found a lot of pun headlines about Boyle, but they’ve only used the boring heat-up-the-water meaning. Why not go out on a limb, and use something like “Sharks Lance the Boyle” or something like that? Now that’s innovative and disgusting all at the same time.

God Bless America.

In a surprise move, the Sharks have signed Rob Blake to a one year, 5M deal.

Wow….I’m surprised. According to the SJ Merc, this has no effect on the Sharks confirmed pursuit of Dan Boyle. With Blake, the Sharks are at 50M and still need to sign Clowe and deal with Ehrhoff and Goc. Does anyone else find this strange that all three are flappin’ in the breeze? Could they be used as trade bait? Hard to know…

According to Darren Dreger on TSN, Tampa Bay prefers to do business with San Jose and they might have a deal in place, pending Boyle’s approval. I think Tampa Bay needs defense and we have plenty to offer, but the money needs to make sense. McLaren and Carle equal 5.9M in salary and the Sharks take on Boyle at 6.7M. So this would put the Sharks at 50.8M with Ehrhoff, Clowe and Goc still on the outside looking in…you would have to think that there would be another move to follow.

Rob Blake is 39, but was still effective on a really bad team last year. I don’t hate this signing as much as it appears that other Sharks fans seem to on some message boards I’ve been reading. I think this is Part One is a roster overhaul that will involve another new face on D and a new forward. Let’s hope Boyle is Part Two.

More action today and the San Jose Sharks were out of it. Last night during our latest podcast (feed link here), I brought up Sean Avery and how I wouldn’t have minded seeing him in San Jose, but not for 4M. Well, that was the price and I’m glad Doug Wilson didn’t go there. As for some of the players who moved today, the Sharks were never in on Hossa. There’s no way they could compete with the mega-bucks Edmonton was offering and there is no way they could offer the prestige of playing in Detroit, which ultimately won him over. It sucks, but that was never a realistic option. As for Ron Hainsey, take a look and tell me if you think he’s a better option than Ehrhoff.

Hainsey 245 NHL games 85 points -11
Ehrhoff 264 NHL games 90 points +31

And remember, this is coming from a non-Ehrhoff fan, but Hainsey is three years removed from being WAIVED. He was WAIVED by the Canadiens – I’m sorry, not worth 4.5M. I applaud DW staying out of the Streit/Hainsey market. This would not have been an upgrade and the Sharks can do better for the money.

In a conversation with David Pollak the Sharks GM made it clear that the money was too rich on Campbell. Now DW is a man of mystery, as we know, but he also likes to drop hints and let you read between the lines. His high praise for Detroit should have led us to McLellan’s name and now his mention of finding a defensemen on the trade market has to lead you to believe that he is working the phones. Getting a UFA appears out of the question, excpet for Bret Hedican who apparently negotiations are “ongoing”, so who else could the Sharks get?

Dan Boyle? If he wanted to come here and waive his NTC and if Tampa Bay is stupid…I mean crazy….no, I mean stupid enough to trade him then I would fax the Sharks roster over to Tampa, cross off Joe, Patty and Nabby’s names and say “pick two guys”.

Pavel Kubina? Well…we know it almost happened last season. Could Wilson catch Fletcher at a weak moment and convince him to still trade Kubina for McLaren straight up? Toss in a case of Ensure and maybe we’ve got a deal.

Brian McCabe? Sharks could wait until Fletcher has McCabe completely bent over the barrel with the threat of being sent to the Marlies and force McCabe to accept a trade. He could be had for nothing I’m sure.

Cam Barker? Is he the odd man out in Chicago? Could the Blackhawks feel sorry for the Sharks and send Barker, the 3rd player selected in the 2004 draft, to San Jose? If Wilson dangled Setoguchi, is that enough? He hasn’t really gotten a shot to crack the regular rotation, but his size, mean streak and PP ability are big selling points.

In my opinion, in order to improve, San Jose needs to add two new defensemen to replace McLaren and Ehrhoff and one new veteran checking forward. Could this all happen via trade? Yes. Could San Jose strike for a more under the radar player like Chris Gratton to play on the 3rd line? Sure. But the big names were never a real option on the UFA market and before we start cursing Doug Wilson’s name, we have to remember that he locked up Joe Thornton when San Jose would have lost him to some loony team like Vancouver or Edmonton offering 7 years/70M this offseason. Give Wilson a chance….maybe he’ll get a Boyle for you? If the Sharks ended up with Hedican, Barker and Gratton – that is pretty damn good.

We broke a lot of it down in the latest podcast (feed link here), especially the stuff with Campbell.  Not a real great day for the Sharks, but the free agency season ain’t over yet.  Oh yeah, we got the podcast listed on iTunes as well, so if you search for Dudes on Hockey or ‘sharks hockey’ you should be able to find it.  Spread the word, and keep those questions and comments coming.

In this episode Mike and Doug talk about the start of NHL free agency season. They break down the biggest signing of the day, Brian Campbell to Chicago.  Also, they identify some players or free agents that are still available that the Sharks should target. Finally, they give their take on the winners and losers of the day, and address some listener comments.

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We broke a lot of it down in the latest podcast (feed link here), especially the stuff with Campbell.  Not a real great day for the Sharks, but the free agency season ain’t over yet.  Oh yeah, we got the podcast listed on iTunes as well, so if you search for Dudes on Hockey or ‘sharks hockey’ you should be able to find it.  Spread the word, and keep those questions and comments coming.

Pollak’s latest article in the Merc states that Marleau is likely to stay on the Sharks- that is, he won’t be traded today.  His no-trade clause kicks in with free agency tomorrow.  Also, all restricted free agents have been tendered offers, so it looks like we will have another year of Ehrhoff, Goc, and Clowe.  The only player we know won’t be back is Curtis Brown.  Even Shelley is supposed to be re-signed.

I’m jumping the gun here, but this is shaping up to be a pretty disappointing offseason so far, if it continues on this path.  If my prediction of Campbell’s departure comes true, the Sharks won’t have changed a single major (or really even minor) piece since opening day last year.  Doug Wilson may have something up his sleeve, but as we said on last week’s podcast, the Sharks haven’t signed a major free agent in the last ten years.  Every good player we have was drafted or traded for.

We’ll be recording the next podcast tomorrow night after the first crazy day of free agency.  At least I hope it’s crazy.  If it’s not that crazy, we can at least talk about all the trades that happened in the last 24 hours.  If you have anything you want us to talk about, free agents to consider, or just feedback on the show, please email us at questions (at) dudesonhockey.com, and we will read your email on the air.

There’s been a lot of talk about Brian Campbell around Sharksland the last few days, with these posts from David Pollak of the Merc, this one from Mike Chen, and probably many others around the blogosphere. Of course we’re all up in a lather about the premier free agent defenseman leaving San Jose, probably for more money elsewhere.

But that’s no longer the full story. The first Pollak post alludes to “family matters”, while the second quotes Campbell as being “spoiled” since his family got to go to a lot of games in Buffalo. I’m know I’m burying the lead here, but now that I’ve discovered the wonder of NHL Live on the NHL Network, there’s actually a bit more information that I can lend to this story, for what I would consider a very reliable source- Kevin Allen of USA Today. He said on the show this week (and I’m pretty sure this is an exact quote) that the major reason why Campbell would want to come back East is because of a “family illness.”

This puts a big brick on that side of the scale. Couple that with the prospect of other teams like the Rangers and Blackhawks being in a financial position to outbid the Sharks, I think the chances of Campbell being locked up before July 1 are now best described as “miniscule”.

I hope Doug Wilson has a hell of a sales pitch. Between the prospect of more money and being closer to a sick family member, who could honestly blame Campbell for leaving?

Me, for one. But I’m an asshole.

Based on recent history, and the signings earlier in the week – you have to expect that Doug Wilson is going to announce coming to terms with Ehrhoff and Clowe before July 1st. Wilson, following the model of the Red Wings, appears insistent on keeping the core of the team together and allowing them to sink or swim as a group that still hasn’t enjoyed success beyound Round Two of the playoffs.

Ryane Clowe – Based on what Pavelski got, you can’t expect Clowe to get more, right? Pavs had 121 NHL games and 68 regular season points. Clowe has 91 NHL games, 44 points plus a DUI and he’s coming off a major injury. So…with all that info I’m going to guess the same term as Little Joe and little less cash. Two years/3.2M for Mr. Clowe.

Christian Ehrhoff – Looking at other defensemen who have resigned this offseason, you can look at Carolina’s Tim Gleason and Trevor Daley in Dallas.

Gleason 262 NHL games 54 points -4 239 PIM Four years/11M (2.75M per)
Daley 264 NHL games 56 points -7 249 PIM Three years/6.9M (2.3M per)

And now look at Ehrhoff’s stats.
Ehrhoff 267 NHL games 90 points +31 181 PIM

So, based on the raw numbers, Ehrhoff is the superior player and at the least, will get a deal similar to Gleason’s. If Matt Carle is getting over 3M, doesn’t Ehrhoff have to be paid in the ballpark – but he certainly can’t be paid more than Rivet at 3.5M. If it happens, how about three years/9M for Ehrhoff?

Don’t forget to check out our podcast debut at dudesonhockey.com. The direct link to the post is here, and on that page, you can also find a link to the podcast feed.

I’m very pleased that Doug Wilson locked up Boucher and Pavelski today. No word on the official numbers, but we know the term – I’m guessing Boucher got 1 year/0.7M, which is in line with other veteran backups like Kevin Weekes and Brent Johnson. I am a little surprised that Pavelski only signed for two years – thought DW might go for a longer term with him. I say 2 years/3.6M for Little Joe at this point. If Patrick Eaves got 1.5M (roughly) – then Little Joe gets a little bit more. That’s a great deal for San Jose, if I’m right.

J.R. we knew about, and I think I heard that deal was for around 1M for one season. So now that he’s locked up two UFA’s and one RFA, you might expect that Clowe and Ehrhoff (if Wilson wants him to stay) might be next. I am still hoping the Sharks will try and do better than Ehrhoff, but player upgrades are likely only available via the trade market since the Sharks never have any luck in the UFA market.

Speaking of the UFA market, Mike and I both are crossing our fingers that a miracle might occur and Doug Wilson can get Darcy Tucker to the Sharks. It will take a miracle for sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tucker went back to Tampa Bay actually….

Don’t forget to check out our podcast debut at dudesonhockey.com. The direct link to the post is here, and on that page, you can also find a link to the podcast feed.

This is the inaugural episode of the Dudes On Hockey podcast, released on June 25, 2008.  Mike and Doug talk about the recent NHL draft, how the Sharks did, who the winners and losers were in the draft, and how the complexion of the Pacific division changed.  Also, they look forward to the start of unrestricted free agency on July 1, and weigh the Sharks options, including Brian Campbell, Patrick Marleau, and more.

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