Defenseman Dylan Demelo finally came out as a pool worthy defenseman in the 2018 regular season, after spending the previous four seasons in the San Jose Sharks organization, up and down between the minors and being a healthy scratch more often than not. So, when the Sharks didn't qualify him to be a restricted free agent, it did seem somewhat strange. Well, with a couple of weeks on the open market, Demelo did opt to re-sign with the Sharks, getting a 2-year, $1.8 million deal on Saturday, which doesn't rank him with the top of the team's blueline, but he is at least trending in the right direction.
Demelo finished 99th among all defensemen in scoring with 20 assists on the year, but most importantly, his games played at the top level has been increasing year over year. He played in 68 games last season with the Sharks, where his previous high before that was 45 games in his rookie season.
The Sharks' depth on the blueline isn't remarkable, but Demelo, if he can be a regular guy on it, he could be a very serviceable player, if his trend lines are to be believed. That could also mean you could get him in a very late round in your hockey pool draft and he could surprise a few.
The Sharks have one more restricted free agent to look after in this off-season, forward Chris Tierney, and they can do so with about $6.4 million left under the salary cap ceiling today. With that much space, they could be players in the shallow free agent pool that is left over this summer or they could be even bigger players at the trade deadline in February.
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