My take on the aforementioned players not being resigned.
1. "Hamburgers" Wallin. NOT worth 2.7mm or whatever. 36 year old bottom pairing Dmen are never worth this much, ESPECIALLY when you throw in a NTC, and the cap hit is high due to no bonus. Really puzzling move here last season after a relatively mediocre season before, where he was brought in at the trade deadline and didnt add much spark. He was a bit of a liability against chicago.
Hamburgers was a decent bottom pairing guy I suppose.. mid thirties with lots of playoff experience.. had a good shot and had good veteran presence, and at times he was brilliant, but never 2.7mm brilliant.
However, he decided to leave the Sharks however, and signed with Lulea Hockeyforening to be their captain next year, so we wont be re-signing him, or dealing with his oversized contract anymore.
That said, his overpayment was somewhat well worth it, due to the funniest .gifs ever to happen to the internet (for Sharks fans)
2. Nichol. This guy's been one of my favourite players since his Calgary days... and I'm not a Flames fan OR a Preds fan.. I just appreciate 5'9 guys who have incredible faceoff %, good PK awareness, and who can draw penalties like a motherfucker without being a goon, but aren't afraid to throw down with guys a lot bigger than them...
Nichol has balls, but he's also, like Hamburgers... old. He's cheap, but he's not what he used to be. He has a torn labrum that needs repairing, and we now have younger guys who, not as polished as Nichol is, can certainly fill in at that 4th line faceoff circle for just as cheap, and add a lot more speed to the package, as well as retain the physical presence. I'll miss his PK, but we need someone who's going to be healthier next season than Nichol. He will get a job on another NHL team next year, as he has at least another year or 2 in him, but the Sharks need to make room for prospects right now - such as Desjardins who added quite a spark in the playoffs last year.
3. Mayers. He was brought in for veteran 4th line presence and, because he was cheap, expendable, and played a good 'plugger' role like that of Nichol on the 4th line. He played 78 games with us last year and had 14 points. For the 4th line, and only making 600k that's not godawful I guess, but it could be better, and we have lots more guys in the ranks who can fill his role. He was ok on the PK, when I thought he'd be terrible. Still, he didnt bring much to the table this year, and played 78 games that could have been utilized by some prospects for development. On top of that, he, like Nichol and Hamburgers, is 36. We dont need older guys like that. He'll fill a hole on the 4th line somewhere else, I hope, but his time in San Jose was going to be limited unless he broke out for something, somehow.
There have also been talks that White wont be resigned, but, seeing as hes a UFA like he is, it would have been a total waste of what we gave up for him at the Trade Deadline - (a 2nd rnd pick and Derek Joselin) He's well worth 3-3.5mm, and, though he's not the shutdown Dman i'd want, he's good in his own end, and fantastic on the powerplay and handles the puck well. He's not Dan Boyle, but he's pretty dang good in his role and I'd like to keep him...
Right now, our Defense is our greatest concern. Boyle, Pickles, Crankshaft, and Demers are all locked up for the next few years, but we need a bottom pairing guy (Im thinking Justin Braun can step in, and we can give someone like Nick Petrecki a chance) and we need a legit #2 defenseman. White is a solid 2nd pairing guy, but unless Vlasic or Murray step up their shit and one becomes a legit #2 next year somehow, then we need to either sign or trade for someone to fill such a role.
Doug Wilson has gone after RFA's before... last year he offer sheet'd both Niemi (and got him) and Hjalmmerson (and they matched that offer) The problem is that this fucks with our draft picks, but I feel like we can get away with that if the guy develops well.
I'm not saying we go after Shea Weber.... but someone like Keith Yandle would be AWESOME to snag off the loaded RFA market.
