Sharks Shoring Up the Blueline

			2009/2010 NHL Statistics
To San Jose	Position	Age	GP	Goals	Points	2010 Cap Hit	2011 Cap Hit
Niclas Wallin	Defenseman	35	47	0	5	$1.725 million	UFA
2010 5th Round Draft Pick
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To Carolina	Position	Age	GP	Goals	Points	2010 Cap Hit	2011 Cap Hit
2010 2nd Round Draft Pick

This is a deal that has been in the making for a little while, being in and out of the news over the weekend, which saw the Sharks upgrade their blueline defensively with the acquisition of Niclas Wallin from the Hurricanes. The Sharks have paid a significant rental price in a 2nd round pick to shore up their defense a bit before the stretch run, but this is also the Hurricanes charging a high price for selling off their assets. Obviously, there was some meeting in the middle, as the Sharks recouped a pick in the deal, although its a lter one.

Now, the Sharks are a curious case when it comes to the salary cap, as if they have a regular 22-man roster with Wallin, they are looking at an annual salary cap hit of about $58.7 million, which is way over the cap ceiling. The Sharks have been doing their best to call up and send down two-way players like Jason Demers, Derek Joslin, Frazer McLaren, Logan Couture and Jamie McGinn all season to help ease their cap hit during off days, which do add up in the season. There hasn't been much for injury discounts, so you can't take much off of there. This will likely be the only deal that the Sharks make, because they have no room to move.

The Hurricanes are going to dump some salary and move their bottom line down a bit, likely getting them closer to the black (or further into it).

The only place that Wallin may appear would be deep in the Eastern Conference blueline boxes, but that isn't to be. Wallin has no pool value this season, so there are no immediate implications with him directly. He does make it rather interesting for Jason Demers, who is a Waiver Draft pick-up of Clayton's this season, who is a constant up & down, whether or not he'll come back up anymore this year.

As a rental goes, this is an expensive one for the Sharks, but it could be a pretty good one. Their blueline is solid offensively, so it was a good pick-up to put up another barrier in front of Evgeni Nabokov going down the stretch. This is going to be one of those quiet genius moves, if its to be considered anything.

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