The Pacific Division’s offseason has handed the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers plenty to smirk about, and the San Jose Sharks are right at the center of it.
San Jose has been generating buzz because of its young core, with Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini drawing plenty of attention. But the moves around that group have raised eyebrows.
The Sharks signed 32-year-old defenseman Jacob Trouba to a four-year deal worth $8.25 million AAV, and the contract includes a no-trade clause for the first two seasons. They also brought in Darnell Nurse from the Edmonton Oilers, taking on his full $9.25 million cap hit for four years.
That’s where the skepticism starts. The Sharks are still building around young talent and continue to draft well, but those blue-line additions are hard to ignore. Instead of clearing a path for the future, they’ve tied themselves to two aging defensemen, and that creates a problem for a team trying to climb back into contention.
Edmonton, meanwhile, handled the Nurse situation in a way that looks a lot cleaner from the outside. The Oilers moved off the contract and didn’t owe Nurse a single cent, with a division rival absorbing the deal. They also added Shakir Mukhamadullin, a 24-year-old project for the blue line, giving their roster another piece to work with.
For Golden Knights fans, there’s a little extra satisfaction in watching this play out. During the Stanley Cup Final, Sharks fans were more than happy to troll Vegas for its run to the championship round. Now the picture looks different, with San Jose locking itself into veteran defensemen while still facing major future decisions on players like Celebrini, Smith and Michael Misa.
Those extensions won’t come cheap, and that only adds to the pressure on the Sharks to keep producing at a high level. The front office has more than enough to juggle, and the roster construction leaves questions that are hard to miss.
The Anaheim Ducks belong in the conversation too. The Philadelphia Flyers gave Leo Carlsson an offer sheet for five years and $18 million, and that puts the Ducks in a tough spot. They also lost part of their blue-line core and are leaving their goaltending exposed to a lot of shots.
Put it all together, and the Golden Knights and Oilers look like they may be staying near the top of the Pacific Division for a while longer. The teams around them are making life harder on themselves, whether it’s through expensive contracts, roster holes or both.
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