Report: Sharks ‘Trying To Be Creative’ To Move Granlund

Will the San Jose Sharks end up moving Mikael Granlund by the Mar. 8 Trade Deadline?

If they don’t, it won’t be from a lack of trying, according to Pierre LeBrun, who mentioned on Monday, “San Jose was open to anything in trying to be creative in a Granlund trade.”

There are a couple reasons why Granlund is hard to move.

First, the 32-year-old has one year left on his contract after next season at $5 million AAV, which is too expensive for the better teams in the league.

Second, the San Jose Sharks have only one of their three salary retention slots available. Granlund would be another multi-year retention on top of Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson’s multi-year retentions, and that would tie up all of San Jose’s flexibility in that regard through the end of next season, which isn’t ideal.

But LeBrun suggested one way around these obstacles, like taking on another team’s unappealing contract to facilitate a swap.

Maybe the San Jose Sharks could also involve a third team in a Granlund trade?

“At a reduced cap hit, I think Granlund is an under-the-radar pickup,” LeBrun wrote.

It’s also worth noting that the San Jose Sharks don’t have to trade Granlund now. He could potentially be more valuable, as an expiring contract, next year.