Sharks 2010 Free Agency: The Bad

With the tough salary cap restrictions this off-season, the San Jose Sharks had to let some players they would have liked to re-sign go.  This difficulty coupled with my love for the movie, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly has led to a series with that theme examining the Sharks free agency moves in the summer of 2010.

The best western actor in the best western movie is the inspiration for this analysis of the Sharks' free agency moves

The reality is that with the cap issues facing the Sharks this summer, the team that reached the final four fighting for Lord Stanley’s Cup last season was not going to remain intact, and some unpleasant departures were necessary. Losing players means not being as good next season, but the same was the case for the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks–this comes with the territory in the post-lockout NHL.

There is little doubt that Doug Wilson made more good moves than bad ones. Yet there are two moves in particular that stick out as head-scratchers, and if this team does not repeat last year’s success, their contracts are the most likely reasons why…

Niclas Wallin was signed to a one-year, $2.5 million contract, as much as Douglas Murray and more than Kent Huskins. Both performed better in the regular season and playoffs than Nick. (Todd McLellan made special note of Huskins’ play in the playoffs, and he anchored rotating and inexperienced partners to finish top-four in the unit in almost every statistic.)

Wallin is a solid defensive presence on the blueline with a Stanley Cup championship on his resume. But he is aging, a reason why has not stayed healthy since winning that Cup. He offers nothing on the offensive end, averaging about one point every ten games.

The bottom line is he was scarcely better than Jay Leach last season, who signed for one-fifth what Wallin will be making. Here is a look at indisputably better defencemen who signed this year for less than the Sharks will pay Wallin: Brett Lebda, Joe Corvo, Carlo Colaiacovo, and Kurtis Foster (source: HockeyBuzz).

There is also a cavalcade of players being paid substantially less than Wallin who are arguably as good. And there are even more who are indisputably better players signed for amounts within the team’s reach given their minimal remaining cap room plus Wallin’s salary.

The other move that is the most questionable is signing goalie Antero Niittymaki to replace Evgeni Nabokov. Niittymaki is a capable starter who Drew Remenda remarked kept the Tampa Bay Lightning in contention for a stretch of last season with exceptional play.

However, there are questions about whether he will even beat out Thomas Greiss as a starter. If he does not, why pay him four times as much; even if he does, there is little reason to believe that he is good enough to backstop a contender:

1. Last season was the first in which Niitymaki has been a team’s primary starter and managed a save percentage of .900.
2. He has never played in more than 52 games in a season.
3. In two of three seasons in which he had more than 32 starts, he was at his worst statistically.
4. He has career numbers are mediocre at best: .903 save percentage and 2.98 goals against average.
5. In the playoffs, he has just two appearances with a save percentage of .828 and 4.11 GAA.

Meanwhile, every other goalie signed thus far this summer has a more favourable contract for the team they signed with. Dan Ellis has a better resume and was signed for $1.5 million by the team that opted not to re-sign Niittymaki.

Furthermore, Johan Hedberg, Michael Leighton, Andrew Raycroft, Martin Biron, and Patrick Lalime are at least comparable players who all signed for between $900,000 and $1.6 million. Four of the five also would certainly have taken less money to be in a competition for the starting job in San Jose than they took to be clear backups in their new homes.

Unless Niittymaki comes up with a career year, this will be the one unit that will suffer most in comparison to last year’s Sharks. It is this one move that leads me to believe the 2010-11 Sharks will not even win their division or get home ice in the first round of the playoffs.