San Jose Sharks: Final Steps to Roster Completion

In the first two articles I wrote on what the Sharks needed to do in order to form a roster more capable of winning in the playoffs, I suggested two trades. The first involved trading Christian Ehrhoff and Milan Michalek to the Ottawa Senators for Dany Heatley. In the second, the move I favoured was Jonathan Cheechoo to Toronto for the more experienced, grittier (but less skilled) Jamal Mayers. In total, those moves were designed to not only improve scoring that has been the Achilles heel of the Sharks in the past four playoffs, but also clear cap space. The Sharks are currently less than $600,000 from the cap with only 16 skaters and one goalie under contract, and need to have at least 18 and two goalies to have a complete roster. The moves I suggested freed up about $1.6 million in space, but actually cost the team one skater. That room was designed to allow the Sharks to sign centre Torrey Mitchell, enforcer Brad Staubitz, and backup goalie Thomas Greiss, leaving them one skater ...