From just about the moment the San Jose Sharks' regular season ended, GM Doug Wilson has been open about his plans to up the aggression in getting the Sharks back into serious playoff contention.
Just like he telegraphed his plan to move veterans for draft picks, he’s made it clear that he has assets opposing teams want in terms of draft picks and prospects, along with cap space to capitalize on those who don’t have it.
It’s a combination that makes the Sharks a team to keep an eye on this offseason, but during the draft weekend it was his Pacific Division counterparts who struck first.
The Calgary Flames made the early splash with the addition of Dougie Hamilton, giving them the best defense in the division. The Kings made their splash by adding Milan Lucic, the most prototypical King forward not already playing for Los Angeles.
The Anaheim Ducks went out and solidified their goaltending with Anton Khudobin, and then added the speedy Carl Hagelin in a deal with the New York Rangers. Edmonton added hockey's best prospect since Sidney Crosby, and addressed their goaltending with the addition of Cam Talbot.
When the dust settled, Wilson and the Sharks were still waiting to make their move, but to re-purpose a phrase Flames GM Brad Treliving likes to use for the draft, the offseason is measured with a calendar, not a stopwatch.
“Last time I checked, it’s still June,” Wilson said after the draft wrapped up. “We haven’t even started playing games yet.”
Further, we haven’t even hit the start of free agency. The Sharks' focus is adding a veteran presence to their defense. The bigger priority is to bring in a No. 1 goalie to pair of with Alex Stalock, who didn’t get as many starts last season as Wilson would have liked.
It looks like Dallas has found its goalie to pair with Kari Lehtonen in Antti Niemi, Edmonton and Anaheim got theirs and Buffalo’s Tim Murray paid a premium to grab Robin Lehner from Ottawa. The best goalie trade might have been Carolina’s reasonable deal to grab Eddie Lack. The best free agent goalie available, Devan Dubnyk, was locked up long-term in Minnesota.
If Wilson was concerned about the run of goalies, he hid it well. He still believes there are more goalies available than there are teams that need to add a goalie. He hinted that there are goalies who could shake loose that haven’t been a regular part of the public discussion.
“There are more people that are available or could be available in discussions than probably you guys hear about,” Wilson said. “There are teams looking to do things, whether it be for cap things or whatever, and we’re in those conversations.”
Wilson declined to name names, but if you go to the top of the list of teams dealing with salary cap issues, it raises some interesting options and fun speculation:
The Bruins acquired goalie Martin Jones and may be embarking on a rebuild -- would they be willing to move Tuukka Rask?
The Blackhawks just won another Stanley Cup with Corey Crawford but his $6 million cap hit sure makes things tight.
The Jets Ondrej Pavelec ended his season by single handedly getting his team to the playoffs, with a 188:48 minute shutout streak and 4-0-1 record down the stretch against top competition. Any team would be lucky to have him frankly.
Jimmy Howard lost his starting job in the playoffs to Petr Mrazek and now Mrazek’s former coach is behind the bench in Detroit, perhaps Wilson could pry Howard away from Detroit.
Brian Elliott seems to have been passed by Jake Allen in St. Louis and has an attractive .923 save percentage since joining the Blues.
Or maybe Ben Scrivens is the next Devan Dubnyk, a talented goalie who just needs to get out of Edmonton.
It’s fun to consider, and it makes the Sharks a fascinating team to watch because they can afford to take on money if they want to, they just need to find the guy who is worth it.