2021-2022 Season Projections
For all my season previews, we’ll be utilizing my 2021-2022 team and player projections. You can find much more background on these models here, along with more on assessing value of contracts here. Yesterday, we looked at the Florida Panthers. Today we head to back to the Pacific Division to preview the San Jose Sharks.
2021 Offseason
The Sharks have much of their cap space tied up in their top players for a number of years, so had little cap room to work with this offseason. In my 2020-2021 Sharks season review, I thought the Sharks priority this offseason should be to offload at least one of these contracts to help their long term cap situation. They did just that, buying out Martin Jones which also allowed them to look for an upgrade in goal. With limited cap space, the Sharks most notable offseason additions were free agent veterans James Reimer, Nick Bonino and Andrew Cogliano.
2021-2022 Season Preview
Roster Strength
While there aren’t many areas where the Sharks look really strong, they don’t have glaring weaknesses either. Their top line could be stronger, but they have good depth through the rest of the forward lines. Their defense and revamped goaltending tandem look relatively solid.
Forwards
The Sharks have a mix of high and low value contracts in their top six forward group. Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier have the best projected impacts for the 21/22 season and look like they will provide good value for their cap hits. Logan Couture and Evander Kane, on the other hand, need to outperform their projections to be worth their cap hits.
Nick Bonino was an excellent addition to the bottom six, with a strong projected impact and high value contract. The Sharks’ other veteran free agent acquisition, Andrew Cogliano, also came with a very reasonable cap hit and should fit on the fourth line.
Defensemen
The Sharks have $26.5M of cap space tied up in Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic for the next four years. All three are in their 30s and the Sharks need them to avoid significant regression with their contracts already looking like very poor value propositions. Youngsters Mario Ferraro and Nikolai Knyzhov may grow into larger roles if the opportunity presents.
Goaltenders
The Sharks completely revamped their goaltending tandem this offseason. With Martin Jones bought out, they brought in free agent James Reimer to be the starter. Reimer’s projected impact is of starting goaltender quality and it should be an upgrade over Jones. The Sharks also acquired Adin Hill from the Coyotes. Hi projected impact looks very strong, yet we should be cautious with his projection due to limited data from the past couple of seasons. That said, he looks like at least a capable backup.
Team Performance
The model likes the Sharks and it has them in 2nd in the Pacific Division. This is in large part due to the strong goaltending projections. However, with the top projected 5v5 offense in the division, they could challenge for a playoff spot even if the goaltending is roughly average.
2021-2022 In Season Projections
Make sure to subscribe and check back for updates to the 2021-2022 season projections throughout the season. Watch for updates and enhancements to the models, updated player projections using 2021-2022 season data, analysis of trades and injuries, and more.
