I have bad news for the rest of the NHL:
The rebuild is over for the San Jose Sharks.
The push for the playoffs is now, unequivocally, unapologetically, 100 percent on.
And that playoffs-or-bust status will remain in place in the South Bay for a long, long time.
I hope the league enjoyed their sojourn from teal. They’re going to have to get used to seeing it again, because it’s not leaving the party anytime soon.
Acquiring demolition-derby winger Kiefer Sherwood was the first salvo Sharks’ general manager Mike Grier made in this direction this season.
Extending him on Wednesday was his definitive statement of intent.
Now, this isn’t to say that Sherwood is the kind of player who fundamentally changes the Sharks’ fate. No, those players were already drafted and are being developed in front of sold-out crowds and increasing television audiences.
But it is to say that adding and then keeping Sherwood before Friday’s NHL trade deadline makes the Sharks’ intentions for the remainder of this season crystal clear.
The foundation is in place. The finishing touches are coming together, with Sherwood now sitting in pride of place.
They’re going for a spot in the tournament for the first time since Macklin Celebrini was 12 years old.
This Sherwood extension speaks louder to that point than the justified, sharp contract given to center Alexander Wennberg in January or even William Eklund’s three-year extension signed last summer.
In Sherwood, who was acquired from the Canucks in late January for two second-round picks, the Sharks traded for a player improve their here and now, and now that the Sharks’ here and now is looking pretty good — by virtue of three thrilling wins over the last three games — Grier decided to further that commitment.
The rubric was clear: Sherwood would either stick around on a new contract or be on the move again before Friday at noon.
Surely in this trade market, Grier could have commanded exactly what Sherwood cost him just weeks ago, if not more. And, perhaps, if the Sharks had lost their back-to-back over the weekend or even Tuesday’s game with the Canadiens, that would have been the right course of action, as San Jose’s playoff hopes would have been severely dashed, and Sherwood was a pending unrestricted free agent.
But they won, and Sherwood, albeit in limited time in teal, has proven to be everything the Sharks thought they were getting from Vancouver.
It was a great match then, and the Sharks’ answering of the bell the past three games makes it a great match moving forward.
Now, I’ve heard the accusations that Sherwood’s new annual cost of $5.75 for the next five years (the contract runs until 2031) is steep. After all, he’s a grinder who is yet to score 20 goals in an NHL season (though he’s currently on the precipice of that mark).
And that’s all well and good. I can admit that future editions of this team might think that’s a bit too much to pay him.
But the Sharks weren’t just tossing out funny money. Sherwood might not be considered a premium player compared to the rest of the league, but compared to the other unrestricted free agents set to hit the market this summer, he was going to be a real catch. There would have been a bidding war.
If the Sharks wanted to keep Sherwood, their choices were to sign him to a big contract now or, in all likelihood, an even larger contract this summer.
Why risk losing him and the two second-round picks you traded for him, in turn?
This was the cost of doing business. The cost of committing to winning.
This team has a good thing going. There have been swoons, yes — stretches where this team has looked its age on the ice. But they also have more non-shootout wins than the Vegas Golden Knights, who lead the Pacific Division. Going into Wednesday’s games, they’re three points back of a Wild Card spot with a game in hand on Seattle, the team they’re chasing for that seeding. They’re 30-21-2 since Oct. 23.
This is not the time for fiscal prudence for the Sharks. The team still has nearly $49 million in cap space for this upcoming summer, and extensions for Celebrini and Will Smith are still two years away, when the NHL’s salary cap is projected to be $18 million higher than it is this season.
The Sharks have done nothing to hamper their exceptionally bright future with this deal.
All Grier did was ensure that the bright tomorrow starts, in earnest, today.
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