How Sean Monahan and the Canadiens could impact Mikael Granlund and the San Jose Sharks

The San Jose Sharks know that they are going to be enduring the pain of a rebuild for the foreseeable future. The days are starting to darken in the Bay after the great times this fanbase enjoyed under the old guard, the Sharks need to start building for a brighter tomorrow. It'll take time, and it has seen the Sharks lose some of the beloved players we have had in teal over the last ten years. Joe Pavelski's now a Dallas Star, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton rode into retirement, Brent Burns is a Hurricane now.

One player that was moved more recently was Erik Karlsson. When he was shipped to Pittsburgh, the Sharks moved all but $1 million of his $11 million salary. To do this, a few players came back to the team in teal to make sure the money worked. Mike Hoffman and Jan Rutta came in, and both have been fine members of the Sharks, but the player I want to focus on here is Mikael Granlund, who has been sensational.

When the Sharks got him from the Penguins, he was intended as a cap dump that was brought in so the $5 million cap hit he has was out of the Steel City after they picked him up at the deadline. He was dumped in San Jose, and the Sharks have since turned him into one of the best players on the roster. In 38 games, Granlund has 5 goals and 24 assists for 29 points, that trails only Tomas Hertl for the team lead. Even then Hertl only has 5 more points in 10 more games.

So, a cap dump that has turned into a positive value player, the Sharks can look to the most eastern team in Canada for an example of how to turn an asset that has negative value when it gets into an organization into something extremely positive. Sean Monahan was dumped with a first-round pick to take that contract from the Calgary Flames. Montreal took that and it helped their rebuild, knowing they have an extra first in a future draft. That's now what I'm alluding to.

Sean Monahan was traded to the Winnipeg Jets for another first round pick last week as he put up 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points in Montreal. Now, Monahan is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year while Granlund has an extra year, but Granlund is two years older. It's an interesting conversation, could Granny return more than Monahan did? It would be extremely nice for the Sharks.

If they do move Granlund, with retention he'd return a lot more. But the issue with that is that the extra year would tie up all three Sharks retention spots for the following season. If they wait until next year, the return they could get for him will be significantly less if his production drops. There's also always the risk of injury, or other issues. If they move him without retention, it could be a little more realistic.