The Florida Panthers are your 2025 Stanley Cup champions, which means we are officially in the NHL offseason. With 41 million in cap space, the Sharks have a multitude of options available to them, but what will they do with it? In this article, I will be going over my three bold predictions for the Sharks this offseason.
Sharks trade for a young defender
It's no secret that the Sharks' blueline has been a significant weakness over the last couple of seasons, and as things currently stand, this trend could continue into next season. Unfortunately, the Sharks will likely miss out on Schaefer at the draft, which was an easy way for them to add to their backend, and while they still have Sam Dickinson, he is far from a can’t-miss number 1D prospect. With that in mind, this opens up the possibility of the Sharks being more aggressive in the trade market for a defenseman. Interesting names could potentially be available in the likes of Bowen Byram, K’Andre Miller, and Simon Nemec; any of these options could fit with the Sharks' timeline and could flourish with the opportunity the Sharks have on a weak backend. While they wouldn't come cheap, the Sharks were aggressive last offseason, using acquired capital to snag Yaroslav Askarov from the Predators. They could do something similar to address the backend this offseason.
Sharks stay quiet in free agency
With 41 million dollars in cap space, it's fair to think the Sharks could be somewhat active in free agency; they need to spend to get to the floor, and have significant holes to fill all over the roster, even for a rebuilding club. However, now is not the best time to open the checkbook. This offseason is going to be a very dangerous one for teams to navigate. It's a weaker class in terms of depth on paper, and with a rising cap, more teams than normal have excess space this offseason, and prices will likely be at a premium to get players to come to the Sharks over contending teams, more so than in past seasons. Bad contracts are a quick way to destroy rebuilds. I expect Grier to be conservative and focus more on smaller contracts around the roster's edges, potentially taking on unwanted contracts for assets to reach the cap floor. This doesn't mean the Sharks won’t aim to be more competitive next season, but I don't expect a significant push for contention this offseason.
Sharks trade up at draft
Last year, the Sharks traded up a couple of spots from 14 to 11th overall, a smart move in hindsight as it netted them their choice of top D prospects that would not be available otherwise. I wouldn't be shocked if the Sharks do something similar this year. Armed with picks 30, 33, and 53 in the top 60, the Sharks have some ammo to move up at the draft. And while it won't get them up to the number 1 overall pick for Schaefer, it could get them another pick in the top 20 or so. Sharks need to add quality prospects on the blueline and with a deep system can afford to sacrifice quantity for quality, if it nets them one of the 2nd-tier defenseman like Jackson Smith, Logan Hensler, or Kashawn Aitcheson, who are all projected to go in the 10-20 range. This would set the Sharks up nicely, leaving the draft with both Misa and a quality defense prospect.
These are just my predictions on how the Sharks will handle the offseason. The offseason is always unpredictable, and anything can happen. It will be interesting to see how Grier navigates the offseason this year and if he changes his tactics from previous years. Nonetheless, the Sharks have an exciting young core starting to take place and should only get better heading into next season.