If you're the GM for the Sharks, what do you do?

[j.hoop 64]

Trade Joe Thornton to Toronto for Tomas Kaberle, Mikhail Grabovski, and a first round pick.

Trade Dany Heatley to Florida for Stephen Weiss, Michal Frolik, and a second round pick.

Trade Dan Boyle to Dallas for Matt Niskanen, Fabian Bruunstrom, Toby Petersen, and a second round pick.

Sign Patrick Marleau to a deal worth $6.5m-$7m per year for 3-5 years.

Sign Jose Theodore, Martin Biron, or Marty Turco to a deal worth $1.5m-$2m.

Let Nabokov walk, trade his negotiating rights before July 1st if possible.

In other words:

F: Thornton, Heatley for Weiss, Grabovski, Frolik, Bruunstrom, Petersen

D: Boyle for Kaberle, Niskanen

G: Nabokov for Theodore/Biron/Turco

No, the top line is not the ridiculous line it was. But it allows the Sharks to roll three solid scoring lines with skilled personnel. Kaberle for Boyle is a fair swap, with $2m off the books. Niskanen comes in as a bonus providing solid play to the D. No, Theodore, Biron, and Turco are not Nabokov. But here's the kicker; Nabokov is slightly better than those guys. Making the changes I stated is more of a positive than swapping out Nabokov for Theodore/Biron/Turco would be a negative. Plus in my dealings I've dropped $4m-$5m off the Sharks' cap hit and picked up a couple of picks. Figure the Sharks then add one more solid defenseman like Kubina to the group, or maybe a forward like Frolov.

Could get scary.

i havent skimmed through the rest of this, but why would they sign marleau for that amount of money? that seems a little over the top to me

[eva unit zero 271]

i havent skimmed through the rest of this, but why would they sign marleau for that amount of money? that seems a little over the top to me

Minor raise for a PPG forward who plays good D and was the only top-sixer to show up in all series the Sharks played this year. Even without the letter, he's the real captain of the team and led them as far as they went. Definitely the Sharks' #1 forward to keep.