William Eklund should infuse more talent into the forward group, provided his offseason rehab work goes well. 4-6 range isn’t helping next season, and Fantilli might go back to Michigan for his sophomore season. If the Sharks win one of the two lottery picks, Connor Bedard would, and Adam Fantilli might, join the lineup right away. If he wants to open up more cap space, looking to move Kevin Labanc or Radim Simek, both in the final years of their contract, could be an option but also might require some retention. Even if Karlsson stays, that’s not likely to change. Grier said potential buyouts aren’t an enticing option right now. Kahkonen returning to his previous level of play would help with that as well. Discussions about timelines and whether or not it’s a good idea for San Jose to not be bad next season and not add another high draft pick aside, the right goalie could immediately make the Sharks more competitive. That is one addition that could help turn the Sharks’ needle upward. The biggest hole will be the goaltender spot next to Kaapo Kahkonen. They have several restricted free agents, but none that are likely to cost a lot to retain. The Sharks currently have a little shy of $15 million in salary cap space for next season, per CapFriendly. Translation: Don’t bet on Jason Zucker, Vladimir Tarasenko, Damon Severson or Matt Dumba arriving with a long-term, expensive free-agent contract. Grier said he would like to keep improving the roster this offseason, but he’s also not going to make decisions that the Sharks might regret in three years. Some of those coin flips could go their way. The Sharks should have finished higher this season, but a collection of issues, some more controllable than others, conspired to leave them in 29th place with their fewest points in an 82-game season since 1995-96. But it would improve the chances that San Jose rises in the standings next season. Keeping Karlsson does not mean the Sharks are trying to expedite this rebuilding process. As it stands right now, he’s a big piece of our team and we’re going to head into the offseason with that.” If something does come up, we’ll take it to Erik. “As we’ve done for the last four months, if there’s interest in him we’ll listen and see if it makes sense. “Hopefully he’ll be back, but we’ll have to see as he takes some time away to think about it and as we get down the road in the offseason what might pop up as far as other teams’ interest,” Grier said. Karlsson could also be offered a chance to move and not like the destination. The Sharks may not like any of the potential trades, either because of salary retention concerns or because the return doesn’t tempt them enough. There are obvious reasons why the Sharks and Karlsson may continue together. We’re going to explore both possibilities in a two-part series.įirst up, the path forward with Karlsson on the roster. So what could these two very divergent paths look like for the Sharks? Where does San Jose go from here if Karlsson is elsewhere on opening night? And what can the Sharks do to build around him if EK65 is back for the 2023-24 season? He can reject any trade, but he’s made it pretty clear that the right situation will tempt him. Karlsson has a full no-movement clause in his contract. Grier reiterated his position, which hasn’t changed since before the 2023 trade deadline: The Sharks enjoy having him on the roster, would be happy if he stays but will also continue to listen and if there is serious interest and a return Grier likes, he’ll present it to Karlsson and see what happens. He reiterated the same themes Saturday on the final day of media availability for the 2022-23 season: Karlsson wants to win, and he enjoys living in San Jose and playing for the Sharks.
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