Why the Sharks lack depth
The Sharks 2019–2020 season is off to a bad start. Any number of stats could be used to exemplify the fact that the team has been bad. Their points percentage is team’s the lowest since 95–96, they are tied for second to last place in terms of goal differential, and most importantly for fans, they do not pass the eye test.
Many are quick to point to the loss of Joe Pavelski, and explain how the team may have failed to vill the leadership void he left when he departed. Others point to the defensive lapses of Erik Karlson, the team’s highest paid player. Still others are quick to point the finger at the team’s goaltending or coaching.
These are all reasons that the team has struggled. The goaltending has not been good, the defense in front of the goalies has been porous, and coaching and management did not address the departure of Pavelski and his 38 goals properly.
While it might be easy for fans to call the coaches and management incompetant and demand their firing, Peter Deboer and Doug Wilson did not come to their jobs by accident. Wilson, in particular, is lauded across the league as a very good general manager. His ability to keep both Marleau and Thornton in teal through their prime should serve as more than enough evidence to his capacity as a GM. A number of team friendly deals on the current roster show evidence of this as well.
That being said, the Sharks are suffering the consequences of one of their manager’s mistakes. Perhaps it is because of his history as a defensemen in the NHL, but it is clear that Wilson overvalued a veteran defensemen and rewarded him with a long term contract whose term and cap hit have far outweighed his performance.

We are not talking about Erik Karlson.
We are talking about Marc-Édouard Vlasic.
Sharks fans will be quick to point out that Vlasic boasts the reputation of being one of the top shutdown defenseman of the league, and this was true. It was even true on July 1, 2017 when he signed his $7 million per year extension that locked him in teal through 2026. His defensive prowess was even put on display last year when his return to the Sharks line up saw the team finally able to play defense against the Vegas Golden Knights.
However, signing a then 30 year old to a contract extension that would keep him on the team until he is 39 is a big risk. This is especially true in the current NHL, where youth, speed, and puck possession are seen as the key to team success. Projecting out over the course of the contract, it would not be a stretch to assume Vlasic would eventually not live up to his cap hit.
While Vlasic is most certainly an NHL level defender as he enters the second year of his eight year extension, he is not a top pairing defenseman, he is being paid like one. Overpaying for a player who’s services the team could benefit from would not be a problem in the pre-salary cap NHL. Yet, the league features a hard cap, meaning that every dollar given to one player means a dollar not given to another player. And giving a defensive defenseman $7 million dollars a year for 8 years means that the team is unable to add or retain similar depth players.
The year Vlasic signed his extension, the Sharks were committing just under 10 percent of their salary cap to him. While the cap has gone up each year since, the team is currently committing 8.5% of the cap to a player who contributed to just 3% of the scoring last season. While some may argue that since Vlasic is not a scorer and should not be judged by these metrics, it is clear that as a consequence of giving Vlasic such a big piece of the pie there is much less room for scorers on the team.
Projecting out through the duration of his contract, Doug Wilson must have known that the production of Vlasic would not match his cap hit. Maybe signing a long term contract was the only way to keep the defender. With the rare exception, most hockey players get progressively worse after they turn 30. With elite offensive talents (like Brent Burns or Joe Thornton), a team can deal with decreasing production over the course of a player’s 30s because they still produce points and score goals.
With a defensive player like Vlasic, declining production does not mean less and less points, it means less and less defense. And when a defensive defenseman is declining in his defensive ability… Let’s just say the Sharks are approaching a place where Vlasic’s contract is clearly not getting the bang for the buck they hoped for, and it is actually hurting the team by restraining the ability of the GM to add to the rest of the roster.
When it comes to paying 8.5% of the cap to a defensive specialist that is -10 in +/-,it is not a stretch to say that the Sharks cap space has been improperly utilized when it comes to Vlasic.
This might be a bit of Monday morning quarterbacking here, but for Vlasic’s cap hit, the Sharks could have signed Derek Brassard, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Jake Gardiner last summer (their combined cap hit was $7 million). While Shattenkirk and Brassard are low cost veterans looking for fresh starts, the flexibility that comes with cap space can enable a team to bolster their roster by adding such depth players.
Even though this is just speculation, it simply shows that cap space is very valuable and can be utilized to benefit the team. How it would have actually been used is less important than the fact that this year’s Sharks team were in a handicapped position over the summer, unable to retain or add talent to the team.
Considering his current lack of value, it is hard to imagine any team wanting to acquire the life-long Shark. Therefore, the $7 million defender will likely remain on the Sharks roster for the duration of his deal. Fans can hope that the gold medalist can return to his elite shut-down form, and therefore be worth his cap hit. Regardless of his production, fans will continue to be disappointed by the teams lack of depth as there are only so many dollars that Doug Wilson can spend within the cap system.
