Marc Edouard Vlasic
Toronto Maple Leaf fans are of course familiar with Sharks veteran Patrick Marleau who opted to return to his old team for $700,000.
However, they are probably less familiar with Marc-Edouard Vlasic, the San Jose Sharks defenseman who recently signed a 8 year, $56,000,000 contract.
It is one of the worst deals in the NHL. Vlasic is already 32 and in decline, but the contract runs until 2026 when he is 38 years old. The seven million dollar cap hit is already a massive overpay and it’s just year two of the deal.
Vlasic put up great defensive numbers until his late twenties. In the last four years Vlasic has become a negative possession player, and his stats across the board have declined.
I don’t know how the Sharks are going to rebuild with the contracts they gave to Brent Burns (8 year, $64,000,000), Erik Karlsson (8 year, $92,000,000) and Vlasic.
As well, Jumbo Joe Thornton, who hasn’t been a #1 Center for quite a few years, signed a 1-year, $2 million contract at the age of 40.
Their top seven players make up more than $52 million for the next season, plus $63 million in commitments (per CapFriendly), which does not allow for a lot of room for young studs or trades.
Add to this captain Logan Couture’s injury and All-Star Tomas Hertl season-ending injury….well, it doesn’t look good. However, in an attempt to be positive, they’ve got a nice core locked in and if they could nab a good goaltender they’re not a bad team.