RWJC Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Sharks Looking To Add Top-Four Defenseman In Free Agency June 6th, 2024 at 10:30am CST • By Josh Erickson The Sharks will look to pick up an experienced top-four blue liner when the free agent market opens July 1, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. San Jose, coming off a last-place 19 wins and 47 points, allowed the most goals in the league last season, conceding nearly four per game on average. That was despite largely solid performances in the net from Mackenzie Blackwood and Kaapo Kähkönen, their tandem for most of the season, who each performed slightly above expected, per MoneyPuck. That places the blame squarely on an understaffed defense led by Mario Ferraro, journeyman depth piece Jan Rutta and rookie Henry Thrun. A blue line that was designed to fail after shipping out Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the Penguins over the summer performed as expected. According to MoneyPuck, the Sharks allowed 313 expected goals against in all situations, 24 more than the second-to-last Blue Jackets, who had 289. Thus, with their big offseason splash at forward already set in the form of projected first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini, prioritizing defense on the open market is the logical choice for general manager Mike Grier. Most of the Sharks’ cast last season is set to return – veteran Jacob MacDonald (who played forward for half the season anyway) is the only pending UFA. But pushing overworked depth pieces down the depth chart is never a bad thing, and any addition will have its benefits outside of the player’s skill set. Allowing for reduced minutes for the trio above, plus reduced responsibility for others like Calen Addison and Kyle Burroughs, should lead to a slight overall improvement in their defensive game. In terms of specific targets, Sean Walker is a name to watch when Free Agent Frenzy begins, Pagnotta said. The 29-year-old is coming off a career season in which he scored 10 goals and 29 points in 81 games split between the Flyers and Avalanche, averaging a career-high 19:14 per game to boot. Thus, with their big offseason splash at forward already set in the form of projected first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini, prioritizing defense on the open market is the logical choice for general manager Mike Grier. Most of the Sharks’ cast last season is set to return – veteran Jacob MacDonald (who played forward for half the season anyway) is the only pending UFA. But pushing overworked depth pieces down the depth chart is never a bad thing, and any addition will have its benefits outside of the player’s skill set. Allowing for reduced minutes for the trio above, plus reduced responsibility for others like Calen Addison and Kyle Burroughs, should lead to a slight overall improvement in their defensive game. In terms of specific targets, Sean Walker is a name to watch when Free Agent Frenzy begins, Pagnotta said. The 29-year-old is coming off a career season in which he scored 10 goals and 29 points in 81 games split between the Flyers and Avalanche, averaging a career-high 19:14 per game to boot. There are plenty of other defenders with top-four experience for the Sharks to target if they don’t get Walker. While the biggest names like Brandon Montour and Brady Skjei seem unlikely to join a team in the throes of a rebuild, Alexandre Carrier, Matt Roy and former Shark Dylan DeMelo are names with top-four experience that could make sense. https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2024/06/sharks-looking-to-add-top-four-defenseman-in-free-agency.html#ref=home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWJC Posted June 6 Author Share Posted June 6 Going to be a fair amount of competition for our potential needs. Some teams may not be competitive club but can easily afford to overpay. I wonder if we make another deal by draft day to better align for our targets or to acquire a piece or two outside the standard ops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanSeanBean Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 everyone and their dog is looking for a top 4 D. While a strangely high amount to pick from this July, there is still going to be quite the competition. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Sean Walker is a guy that has flown a bit under the radar here on CFF. He doesn't have the size of Pesce or Roy, but he is excellent defensively. As @RWJC mentioned above, there is gonna be a fair amount of competition, but man there are a LOT of UFA defencemen this year... and several decent to good ones too. certainly helps the situation. Myers Pesce Skjei Tanev Demelo Walker Brodie Dumba Zadorov Myers Gostisbehere Dillon Grzelcyk Montour Roy Lyubushkin Hakanpaa Schultz Forbort Kylington Carrier Miller DeAngelo Chatfield Tinordi Edmundson Klingberg Stecher Reilly Gustafsson Dermott De Haan Mete Desharnais Pysyk OEL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillipBlunt Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 11 minutes ago, HKSR said: Sean Walker is a guy that has flown a bit under the radar here on CFF. He doesn't have the size of Pesce or Roy, but he is excellent defensively. As @RWJC mentioned above, there is gonna be a fair amount of competition, but man there are a LOT of UFA defencemen this year... and several decent to good ones too. certainly helps the situation. Myers Pesce Skjei Tanev Demelo Walker Brodie Dumba Zadorov Myers Gostisbehere Dillon Grzelcyk Montour Roy Lyubushkin Hakanpaa Schultz Forbort Kylington Carrier Miller DeAngelo Chatfield Tinordi Edmundson Klingberg Stecher Reilly Gustafsson Dermott De Haan Mete Desharnais Pysyk OEL That list is enormous. Hopefully Zadorov is taken off of there in short order. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Just now, PhillipBlunt said: That list is enormous. Hopefully Zadorov is taken off of there in short order. Right? It's pretty insane. It's not a list of a bunch of bums either. There's actually a LOT of serviceable defencemen on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanSeanBean Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 1 minute ago, HKSR said: Sean Walker is a guy that has flown a bit under the radar here on CFF. He doesn't have the size of Pesce or Roy, but he is excellent defensively. As @RWJC mentioned above, there is gonna be a fair amount of competition, but man there are a LOT of UFA defencemen this year... and several decent to good ones too. certainly helps the situation. Myers Pesce Skjei Tanev Demelo Walker Brodie Dumba Zadorov Myers Gostisbehere Dillon Grzelcyk Montour Roy Lyubushkin Hakanpaa Schultz Forbort Kylington Carrier Miller DeAngelo Chatfield Tinordi Edmundson Klingberg Stecher Reilly Gustafsson Dermott De Haan Mete Desharnais Pysyk OEL I'd be interested in poking around these guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) 47 minutes ago, HKSR said: Sean Walker is a guy that has flown a bit under the radar here on CFF. He doesn't have the size of Pesce or Roy, but he is excellent defensively. As @RWJC mentioned above, there is gonna be a fair amount of competition, but man there are a LOT of UFA defencemen this year... and several decent to good ones too. certainly helps the situation. Myers Pesce Skjei Tanev Demelo Walker Brodie Dumba Zadorov Myers Gostisbehere Dillon Grzelcyk Montour Roy Lyubushkin Hakanpaa Schultz Forbort Kylington Carrier Miller DeAngelo Chatfield Tinordi Edmundson Klingberg Stecher Reilly Gustafsson Dermott De Haan Mete Desharnais Pysyk OEL Lot of D out there absolutely, how many of them are legit top 4D at this point is another thing entirely though imo Maybe Myers, Dillon, Demelo, Pesce, Skjei, Tanev, Walker, Zadorov, Gostisbehere, Hakanpaa, Roy, Montour, Carrier Not sure what Dumba is at this point, same goes for OEL despite his season in Florida Some of em are on the older side, some of em will be retained by their teams Edited June 6 by Coconuts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Vanderhoek Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Every club is looking to add a top four defenseman or improve on what they have. San Jose will be interesting as Greer himself let it be known to their players that they were the reason for the poor record and lack of success after he gave a very decent coach an AHL squad to work with only to then fire the coach. Not sure how many free agents play this game and put so much work and time into their games only to sign to be in a warm " happening " state and not give a crap about playing for a horrible club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 10 minutes ago, Coconuts said: Lot of D out there absolutely, how many of them are legit top 4D at this point is another thing entirely though imo Maybe Myers, Dillon, Demelo, Pesce, Skjei, Tanev, Walker, Zadorov, Gostisbehere, Hakanpaa, Roy, Montour, Carrier Not sure what Dumba is at this point, same goes for OEL despite his season in Florida Some of em are on the older side, some of em will be retained by their teams Dumba had the highest ATOI for RHD for TBL this year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) 3 minutes ago, HKSR said: Dumba had the highest ATOI for RHD for TBL this year... 18 game sample size, Tampa's D overall also isn't as impressive as it used to be, they also got him for a 5th Seems like his stock has fallen the past couple seasons Edited June 6 by Coconuts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 5 minutes ago, Coconuts said: 18 game sample size, Tampa's D overall also isn't as impressive as it used to be Seems like his stock has fallen the past couple seasons The fact he played the most RHD minutes for a team like TBL down the stretch tells me he's still a capable top 4 guy (more 2nd pairing material than top pair obviously). Not to mention he played more minutes than Cernak. That says a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) 14 minutes ago, HKSR said: The fact he played the most RHD minutes for a team like TBL down the stretch tells me he's still a capable top 4 guy (more 2nd pairing material than top pair obviously). Not to mention he played more minutes than Cernak. That says a lot. Eh, I view it more as Tampa having had limited options given their lack of picks/prospects to ship out, if they got him and a 7th for a 5th teams clearly weren't lining up to acquire him. It was Cernak, Perbix, and Dumba on RD, not shocking that he got minutes. Though when they were at their best Tampa was stacking their left side more anyway, which is probably why they're trying McDonagh again. Edited June 6 by Coconuts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 14 minutes ago, Coconuts said: Eh, I view it more as Tampa having had limited options given their lack of picks/prospects to ship out, if they got him and a 7th for a 5th teams clearly weren't lining up to acquire him. It was Cernak, Perbix, and Dumba on RD, not shocking that he got minutes. Though when they were at their best Tampa was stacking their left side more anyway, which is probably why they're trying McDonagh again. I think if Myers is on your top 4D list, then Dumba should be right there too. He has played over 20min a night consistently his entire career... and he's only 29yo. Not saying he's a top tier top 4 guy, but he certainly would be considered a top 4 RHD for most teams shopping for one in the UFA market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 1 minute ago, HKSR said: I think if Myers is on your top 4D list, then Dumba should be right there too. He has played over 20min a night consistently his entire career... and he's only 29yo. Not saying he's a top tier top 4 guy, but he certainly would be considered a top 4 RHD for most teams shopping for one in the UFA market. That's fair. Though I do view Myers as more of a maybe, he's a guy with a history of being a top 4D but that applies to Dumba as well. Ideally he's more of a 5 going forward as a Canuck, but when injuries hit he wouldn't be a bad guy to have around. Maybe a weaker team has to play Dumba up the lineup, given how lousy the Sharks were this season it wouldn't surprise me if he was a Shark next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 2 minutes ago, Coconuts said: That's fair. Though I do view Myers as more of a maybe, he's a guy with a history of being a top 4D but that applies to Dumba as well. Ideally he's more of a 5 going forward as a Canuck, but when injuries hit he wouldn't be a bad guy to have around. Maybe a weaker team has to play Dumba up the lineup, given how lousy the Sharks were this season it wouldn't surprise me if he was a Shark next season. Yeah, there are definitely tiers of top 4D... the Tanevs, Pesces, Roys are in that upper tier... then there's the top 4 guys like Myers, Dumba, even OEL that are borderline. My list of UFA defencemen could probably be broken down into tiers... Tier 1 (pretty clear top 4 guys) Pesce Skjei Tanev Demelo Walker Zadorov Montour Roy Gostisbehere Carrier Tier 2 (could be top 4 on several teams around the league) Brodie Dumba Myers Dillon Lyubushkin Hakanpaa Kylington Miller DeAngelo Gustafsson OEL Tier 3 (probably best as bottom pair guys) Forbort Grzelcyk Schultz Chatfield Tinordi Edmundson Klingberg Stecher Reilly Dermott De Haan Mete Desharnais Pysyk That's 10 pretty clearcut top 4 guys, and then 11 guys that are on that cusp of top 4/5 depending on the team, defensive structure, coaching, etc. That's 21 defencemen that are very serviceable. It's unusually high this year. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmaster Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 If Hronek wants too much I would flip him to the Sharks for their first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 7 minutes ago, HKSR said: Yeah, there are definitely tiers of top 4D... the Tanevs, Pesces, Roys are in that upper tier... then there's the top 4 guys like Myers, Dumba, even OEL that are borderline. My list of UFA defencemen could probably be broken down into tiers... Tier 1 (pretty clear top 4 guys) Pesce Skjei Tanev Demelo Walker Zadorov Montour Roy Gostisbehere Carrier Tier 2 (could be top 4 on several teams around the league) Brodie Dumba Myers Dillon Lyubushkin Hakanpaa Kylington Miller DeAngelo Gustafsson OEL Tier 3 (probably best as bottom pair guys) Forbort Grzelcyk Schultz Chatfield Tinordi Edmundson Klingberg Stecher Reilly Dermott De Haan Mete Desharnais Pysyk That's 10 pretty clearcut top 4 guys, and then 11 guys that are on that cusp of top 4/5 depending on the team, defensive structure, coaching, etc. That's 21 defencemen that are very serviceable. It's unusually high this year. I'd agree with this chart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Grandmaster said: If Hronek wants too much I would flip him to the Sharks for their first. He might fetch Pittsburgh's 2024+ or Vegas's 2025+, but certainly not a San Jose 1st Edited June 6 by Coconuts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillipBlunt Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Sharks will have to pay through the nose to have any true top 4 defenseman to want to play for that team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorvatToBaertschi Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Why? What’s the rush? Embrace the tank, you have the perfect team for it. 1 more year of lotto picks, maybe 2, and then you’re set for 10 -15 years. You can worry about getting that top 4 D in UFA in the future. They have all the cap space for that either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmaster Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) 22 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said: Why? What’s the rush? Embrace the tank, you have the perfect team for it. 1 more year of lotto picks, maybe 2, and then you’re set for 10 -15 years. You can worry about getting that top 4 D in UFA in the future. They have all the cap space for that either way. Because you have an owner that is bleeding out financially and players who don’t want to be there. Tanking the way they had was too much. Edited June 6 by Grandmaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 6 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said: Why? What’s the rush? Embrace the tank, you have the perfect team for it. 1 more year of lotto picks, maybe 2, and then you’re set for 10 -15 years. You can worry about getting that top 4 D in UFA in the future. They have all the cap space for that either way. Right? Embrace the rebuild. Short term pain for long term gain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whorvat Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Is this where we swing for the fences? SJ likely still says no, but it might at least have them thinking. Im ultra high on both prospects, but the thought of Celebrini coming into the mix is quite enticing To SJ: Hronek, Lekerimakki/Willander, Silovs, '25 1st To VAN: SJ 1st This obviously leaves a hole for us at RD now and possibly in the future, so not sure its that palatable from a Vancouver perspective either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BabychStache Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 1 minute ago, Whorvat said: Is this where we swing for the fences? SJ likely still says no, but it might at least have them thinking. Im ultra high on both prospects, but the thought of Celebrini coming into the mix is quite enticing To SJ: Hronek, Lekerimakki/Willander, Silovs, '25 1st To VAN: SJ 1st This obviously leaves a hole for us at RD now and possibly in the future, so not sure its that palatable from a Vancouver perspective either Not worth it. Last year yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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