Here’s the link to the ESPN.com chat where I got two questions in about the Sharks and free agency. If you want to take an NHL insider at his word, it appears LeBrun’s source is saying Doug Wilson will deal with his opening in net tomorrow and perhaps hold off on acquiring another d-man. I’m sticking to my original prediction that the Sharks will sign former nemesis and playoff performer, Marty Turco, to a contract tomorrow. Turco wants to win and this will be his last hurrah, and there’s no better situation than the one in San Jose. Get ready to start chanting TURCO, TURCO…but with love…

I also asked a question about the Sharks resigning Manny Malhotra or perhaps turning to Mike Modano – we all know how much Doug Wilson loves a veteran role model and Modano would fit the Roenick/Lemieux/Blake mold. His response was the Sharks love, love, love Malhotra both on and off the ice.

So, there you go. More tomorrow. Let the fireworks begin.

Some other real quick hits for you to comment on as we wait for July 1st.

A name for us all to keep an eye on is Cam McIntyre. The Sharks gave him a two year contract as a college free agent and his AHL salary according to CapGeek is $575,000 – in comparison Jason Demers’ AHL salary if he were sent down is $52,500 – which means Doug Wilson must think he’s a strong contender for a checking line position next season. I don’t know much about him other than he’s built like a mini-tank (6’1/220), which is a similar build to Ryane Clowe. I think he’s in line to compete for Jed Ortmeyer’s vacant roster spot.

Remember this name too, Andrew Desjardins, from the “Crazed Rats” line in Worcester. People in the AHL are very high on this minor league agitator and perhaps he’s ready to make the leap to the NHL. He’s caught Doug Wilson’s eye and for a guy who went undrafted and toiled in the Central Hockey League and the ECHL, he was a +29 with 46 points and 129 PIM’s and 7 fighting majors. If I were Torrey Mitchell, I wouldn’t buy a house in San Jose…this guy might take your j-o-b.

I am fine with Nic Wallin returning the Sharks because he is gold for the podcast soundbites and I don’t think we saw the best of him last season, but the contract is bizarre. If this means Huskins is gone and the Sharks add a legit #2, we’ll forget about this contract in a few weeks. But if DW signed Hamburgers to replace Blake, we will be haunted by it – I just can’t imagine that’s the case. Bye bye Huskins.

Speaking of #2 d-men, the more I think about it, the more a Devin Setoguchi to the Minnesota Wild for Brent Burns trade makes perfect sense. The Wild desperately need scoring and Seto would fit their up tempo rebuilding style and the Sharks could sure use Burns. At 6’5 and age 25, this big, smooth skating d-man is signed for two more years at a 3.55M cap hit. If DW strikes out July 1st with Michalek, Martin and Hamhuis, this could be a perfect marriage.

Leaving town tomorrow, so unfortunately I don’t have the time to properly write up what’s been happening, so I figured I’d create a new post for draft weekend discussion.  Topics of interest:

• Drafting Charlie Coyle 1st round (who?)
• Ducks getting both Cam Fowler (at 12!) and Emerson Etem
• Trade of Keith Ballard to the Canucks
• Sharks re-signing Wallin and Nichol (Wallin?  $2.5M?  I sincerely hope we only saw an injured Wallin last year)
• Possibility of trading Nabby’s rights for something
• Seto?
• Hamhuis sweepstakes
• Anything else your little hearts desire

I hope you’ve been following our thoughts recently on twitter. Link on the right there.

HAHAHAHA MONEY!!!

I never know to express the action of signing again. If I don’t hyphenate, it looks like they are resigning, like Nixon.  But is re-sign really correct English?  And why am I writing about this when the two major Sharks free agents have, uh, accepted new contracts?

Now, per Bob McKenzie’s twitter, we see that Marleau has signed a new contract worth $6.9M per year for four years, and Pavelski’s is good for $4M per year for the same duration.  First of all, I’m surprised that Marleau’s number was so high, but I guess it makes sense after a 44-goal season.  Like others have mentioned, I thought it was somewhat likely Marleau would get a ‘lifetime’ contract, for 7 or more years, with a more manageable cap hit.  Given that Marleau’s wife is from the Bay Area, and he certainly has roots in the community, it would seem a long-term deal would be right up his alley. But for a player who’s main asset is his speed, I can see the logic in only paying him until he’s 34.

Pavelski’s deal, however, could be a little on the low side.  During a podcast discussion we figured his salary range would be between $4M and $5M (between Kesler and Staal, in line with Plekanec’s production), and we just made it.  $4M for a good two-way second-line center that may be named the captain in two months?  Sounds like a good deal to me.  I’m not going to go into the whole cap situation just yet, but this should enable the Sharks to sign Devin Setoguchi to a new contract as well.  $3M sounds like the right number, given he only had 19 goals last year.

In other (good) news, Pollak reports the Sharks did a minor deal with Atlanta that greased the skids for Chicago sending Dustin Byfuglien there.  That’s Doug Wilson, always the facilitator.  Because of a certain maximum number of contracts that could be held per the CBA, ATL was up against the limit, and the Sharks were the white knight.  DW took a couple of low level prospects (and a seventh round pick) off of Don Waddell’s hands so the Thrashers could accept Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel, and Akim Aliu’s contracts.   I like that deal for Atlanta, and I like that deal for the Sharks.  Get the big lug out of the West.  It does give the Hawks some cap relief, but it cost them a top 6 forward and a great prospect in Aliu.  Atlanta, for once, seems to have this trade solidly in the win column.

All this, and we haven’t even made it to the draft yet.  Go Sharks.

Even though we are months away from the first preseason game, there is still a ton of hockey to talk about.  The Dudes are joined by Jon Swenson of Sharkspage to process the biggest news of the offseason so far- the departure of Evgeni Nabokov.  Now that the captain and the #1 goalie are gone, there are tons of different ways the Sharks can go here- Mike, Doug, and Jon try to explore some of those avenues.  Then, Mike and Doug try and predict what will happen to the marquee free agents out there.

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The news came down from Pollak (and the Sharks own site) that Evgeni Nabokov, who has been with the Sharks his entire career, will not be back for the 2010-2011 season.  Avid readers of this blog and listeners to our podcast know that we have advocated this move since the season ended.  That’s not to take anything away from Nabby- he’s been a stalwart goalie for the Sharks for many years, but given the Sharks cap situation and their bevy of young netminders already in the system, there’s no more room for a 35-year old goalie who will likely make something near his 2009-2010 salary of $5.3M.  With Marleau, Pavelski, Setoguchi, and others to be signed, the money wasn’t there.  It’s also not certain the money should be there, as Nabokov’s career and post-lockout SV% numbers do not put him in the ‘elite’ category.

We’re going to Select-A-Seat tonight, then recording the podcast.  Stay tuned.  Lots of other NHL news to talk about too.

The Montreal Canadiens traded their playoff hero and perhaps the best Cinderella Story of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Jaroslav Halak, to the St. Louis Blues today for two prospects, Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. According to Bob McKenzie’s twitter feed (I can’t believe I just cited Twitter as a source) he said that the Sharks, Tampa Bay and Philly were “pitching hard” for Halak and Montreal decided to go with St. Louis’ offer.

According to Hockey’s Future Spring Prospect report, The Canadiens got the Blues #2 overall prospect in Lars Eller (a projected top six forward with skill) and their #17 prospect in the WHL player Shultz (tough guy with upside). If we assume that Montreal was asking for two prospects and not roster players, wouldn’t this hypothetically equate to Montreal wanting Logan Couture and possibly junior player and tough defensemen, Taylor Doherty? If that was indeed the price, and again I’m just pulling that squarely out of my rear, would you have made this deal? Comment below and vote in the poll to the right and even offer what you think the trade price for the Sharks might have been.

So, what does this mean for our goalie situation and Nabby’s future? Well, it means that if McKenzie’s sources are correct, that Nabby isn’t the teams first choice going forward in net for next season if they tried to acquired Halak. So could this be a sign that Nabby is a goner for sure? Not necessarily. Nabby could be Plan B now that DW couldn’t pull off another magic trick OR they could continue to search outside the organization for the answer in net.

I do know this. The offseason just officially began.

Now that the NHL season is completely over, with the Blackhawks winning the Cup, Mike and Doug talk about the series, and the challenges facing the Hawks and the cap next year.  Rob Blake will make final what we heard last week- that he will be retiring from the Sharks.  Mike and Doug talk about what that means for the defense, and process other rumors and speculation involving free agents.

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According to CSN, which I’m not going to dispute.  It’s what we heard Mark Purdy allude to the very night the Sharks were eliminated.  On today’s podcast (which you already listened to, didn’t you?  WHY NOT???)  we thought that we wouldn’t hear anything until after the Stanley Cup Finals were over, but “a source close to the situation” couldn’t keep his/her trap shut.  Hard to keep these things a secret.  1270 NHL regular season games, 777 points, 1679 PIM, 146 playoff games, 73 points, 166 PIMs.  If that ain’t a Hall of Fame career for a defenseman, I don’t know what is.

And of course…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkstGDNXWEM#t=0m24s[/youtube]

The Dudes continue the quest to understand the issues facing the Sharks; this week, they talk to Eric Lindquist, voice of the AHL Worchester Sharks.  Eric gives first-hand info on the Baby Sharks’ top players, and how they might fit into the San Jose roster next year.  Eric talks about Alex Stalock, Mike Moore, Derek Joslin, Nick Petrecki, and several others.

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