This is the PERFECT trade for the Sharks...

A 6'6", 23-year-old defenseman who averaged over 20 minutes on ice tonight from the blue line has still not played a game this season and we're up to 10 teams who are in on trade talks with him and the San Jose Sharks are one of them. His name is Simon Evans. Detroit drafted him sixth overall in 2021. He is unsigned restricted free agent and TSN's Pierre Lebrun reported that the Sharks and the Boston Bruins are among the teams interested. So what have the Sharks actually done? There haven't been any reports about trade talks engaging between the Sharks and the Detroit Red Wings at this point, but one thing that we can say is that the Sharks are on a list of teams interested, and he's a guy who will solve a lot of our problems. So here's what I did. I went through every report, talked about why Detroit is stuck and they can't sign an extension from him, what a trade would look like, and talked about what a potential extension would look like as well, so let's dive into it. So first, let's dive into the timeline, because it moved fast. Edvinsson didn't have a contract going into training camp, and on the eve of the season, he left and went back to Sweden to start trading with the team over there. On October 3rd, Pierre Lebrun reported there was, quote, word around the league that unsigned defenseman Simon Edvinsson prefers a trade from the Red Wings. Two days later, Freebun said the Flyers were one of the teams circling. On October 14th, Detroit's interim general manager, Sean Horkoff, pushed back and his own words said, not something I'm entertaining, we want to sign him. But a week later, LeBron reported that Horkoff, quote, still wants to sign him and is still holding out hope there, but he continues to have trade talks with up to 10 teams. LeBron also said Edmondson has not made an official trade request the way his teammate Dylan Larkin did, but after a standoff this long, he sees a trade as the most logical way out. On October 25th, San Jose Hockey Now ran it under the headline Sharks Interested in Edmondson, and that is the whole file on the Sharks. One reporter, one name on a list, and no word on what San Jose would pay. And here's why it's even possible. Edmondson just finished his three-year entry-level contract, and is still looking to be signed here as a restricted free agent, and the Detroit Red Wings hold the rights for him, and they have to sign him, but right now, there's no contract in place, and it seems like a trade is the best way out for the Detroit Red Wings, and for Simon Edvinsson himself. And the gap is big. Detroit's latest offer has been reported at six years and $8.5 million a year. Edvinsson is believed to be seeking about $11 million over a seven-year term. That is $77 million. And there is a clock. If he does not sign by December 1st, he cannot play in the NHL this season. That is about five weeks away. The NHL even has him on the Red Wings' injured non-roster list. The reason it gives? A contract dispute. They have talked. LeBron reported that Edvinsson and his agent J.P. Berry met with Horikov in person. No agreement came out of it. So why doesn't Detroit just go out and pay him? They already have $16.8 million in cap space this year, but that's not the holdup. The holdup is the $11 million price tag and the term of the contract as well, not the cap room. So that is the setup. The team says they want to sign Simon Edvinsson, but a deal has not even been close to being reached at this point. And there are 10 teams out there vying for a trade for Simon Edvinsson. And I think the Sharks make a better case for trading for him than a lot of people give them. So who would the San Jose Sharks actually be getting? They'd be getting a 23-year-old left shot defenseman, 6'6", 222 pounds, who logs over 20 minutes a night. That is a great player to get and there's just one trait out of him that jumps off the stats. He played 72 games last season with nine goals and 25 points and averaged 22 minutes a night. The year before, 31 points in 78 games and 175 NHL games. He has 19 goals and 60 points. The trait that jumps off the page is blocked shots. He blocked 2.1 shots a game last season. That is in the 98th percentile in the league, the top 2%. Here is the flip side. He gave the puck away 1.24 times a game and that is the 9th percentile. So he does a lot and some of it is messy. So he's a big young defenseman that logs heavy minutes and is great in front of the net blocking shots. And there's a lot of upsides with Simon Edvinsson for sure. He's 23 years old, still has a high ceiling in this league. The big question is whether you're paying for something now at 11 million dollars that he will become in the future will he get better and that's what you're paying for and that's why you're paying him 11 million dollars because the ceiling is there for him to grow into a way better defenseman the question is will that happen and one more number he has not played an NHL game since April 15th that is 195 days quickly before we move on here we're on the road for 4,000 subscribers on the channel so if you're new here you're enjoying the daily updates here on the San Jose Sharks go down below hit that subscribe button. It's completely free to do so to stay up to date on everything around your San Jose Sharks. Now the Sharks, 12 games into the season, they're 6-5-1 and 4th in the Pacific Division. And the problem isn't hard to find. They give up 3.5 goals a game, 25th in the league. They allow 30.3 shots a game, 27th. Their goal differential is minus 6 and both goalies are under 9.05 so far. And look at who is playing the minutes. Jacob Trouba, 22 minutes a night. Darnell Nurse, 21 minutes a night. Michael Kesselring, 19 minutes a night. Sam Dickinson, 18 minutes a night, almost 19. Dmitri Orlov, 18 minutes a night. And Evanson averaged 22 minutes last season. And the big thing is, Trouba is 32, Orloff is 35, Nurse is 31. They have an aging blue line. Simon Evanson is 23, and he would be the next generation of the blue line for the San Jose Sharks. The Hockey News made the same case back on October the 4th. Quote, Dickinson alone wouldn't be enough. and San Jose Hockey Now wrote that Evanson will become, quote, the Sharks' top defenseman, but it would cost a lot to acquire him. The counter-argument here is Sam Dickinson. Obviously, we think he is going to be the defenseman of the future for this team, and he's going to need a big deal coming up in a couple years' time, but right now, I'm not saying Evanson is better than Sam Dickinson. He's just a second option to have here on the blue line, and just make this blue line a lot younger than what it is, because when we get into the competitive years, a 35-year-old Orlov is not going to be there I don't think Nurse or Trouba will be there either but Simon Evanson will be so looking at the price that we would have to pay for Simon Evanson a lot of people are saying it would be around what Dobson and Nemec trade the trades were and it's multiple assets prospects first round picks and that's a lot of a big price to pay for this player but I definitely think it's worth it Noah Dobson June 2025 Montreal sent the Islanders 16th 17th picks and forward Emil Heineman Then he signed for eight years, $9.5 million. Mikhail Sergachev, June 2024. Utah sent Tampa Bay defenseman J.J. Moser, center prospect Connor Kiki, and a second-round pick. Bowen Byram, this June, Chicago sent Buffalo a fourth pick and 45th pick, and a defenseman Louis Crevier. Then Byram signed six years, $12.5 million. Simon Nemec, June of 2026. Calgary sent New Jersey two conditional first-round picks, the 35th pick and prospect Etienne Morin and got Nemec and a winger Maxim Siplykov the Nemec signed five years 7.25 million a year notice what is in all four big picks and you know a big prospect to go back the other way here and it was reported here that the Detroit Red Wings are looking for a young NHL center to really help them out in their you know upcoming rebuild or just kind of retool this team and they need an NHL center prospect or a young NHL center at this point to really fill into this roster, he named Utah's Caleb DeNoyau, Seattle's Berkley Catlin and St. Louis Dalibor Dvorský and Columbus Kent Johnson as targets, the Sharks have two young centers like that and both are off the table, I'll get the one who's not. So now the part most of you guys came for, what the mock trade would actually work obviously our big guys like Celebrini, Stemberg Misa, all these guys are off the table obviously it needs the tradings to fit under the cap as well with Evenson coming in under a contract so let's talk about it, let's get into what this mock trade would look like. So here it is, the mock trade. San Jose gets Simon Evenson, Detroit gets Filip Buyse, San Jose's 2027 first round pick, San Jose's 2028 first round pick, top 10 protected, and San Jose's 2028 second round pick. Why Buyse? Because Detroit wants a young center. He is a 6'3 center. The Sharks took 27th in 2022. Last season in the AHL, he had 22 goals and 60 points in 65 games, and this season he has 8 points in 8 games so far. Why these picks? Dobson costs two firsts and a forward. Nemeth costs two conditional firsts and a second and a prospect. Mine is two firsts, a second, and a prospect center. And the 2028 first is protected. If the pick lands in the top 10, it turns into a 2029 first. That is the Nemeth structure. Now the cap. San Jose side. SportTrack has the San Jose Sharks at $100.56 million, under a $104 million cap. Evanson at $10 million does not fit. But Logan Couture, who has said his career is over, counts $8 million while he sits on injured reserve. The Hockey News suggested long-term injured reserve. Do that, and it works. $100.56 million plus 10 minus 8 is $102.56 million, about $1.4 million of room left under the cap. Obviously, under the CBA, the league would have to sign off on this, and with Couture retiring and saying he's not playing again, I think this would be an easy sign-off by the league. Detroit's side is easy. They have $16.8 million in cap space, and they take back $918,000 in buyout cap hit. Nothing about this trade makes their cap harder at all. So how this actually works going forward is that Mike Greer and the agent, J.P. Moser of Simon Evanson, would have to meet, get in a deal signed before the trade does happen, and then the teams make the call when the signing's in place, and then they make the trade happen. So that's what's going to have to happen here before December 1st, because if he passes that deadline, he won't be able to play in the league this year. So now we've got to talk about the extension, because right now Detroit's offering $8.5 million. Evanson wants $11 million. Let's talk about what the market has to say about where his value is at. Here is the market. As a share of that year's salary cap, Nemec 7%, Dobson 9.9%, Byram 12%. Detroit's reported offer is 8.2% of this year's cap, and Evanson's reported ask is 10.6%. And now, obviously, with the new rules under the CBA, you cannot sign a seven-year deal to a team, to a player who you didn't draft and is not in your organization. So in this trade, the max that we could give Simon Evanson is six years. We can't give him seven. Seven is only for our own restricted free agents. So here's my extension. Six years, $10 million a year, $60 million total. That is 9.6% of this year's cap between Detroit's number and his, and here under Dobson, the modified no trade clause in the last three years, he would be a free agent in the summer of 2032 at the age of 29. Is that fair for the numbers? He had 25 points last season. Nemec had 26 when he signed. Dobson had 39. Byram had 42. That is why he is not $11 million, but it is the price of a 22-minute defenseman at age 23, and everyone in this market knows it. Now, can the Sharks carry it? Sportrack has them at $83.7 million for the 27-28 before Edmondson. That already includes Celebrini's $18.8 million deal, which starts that season at $10 million, and it's $93.7 million against a projected cap of $113.5 million, about $19.8 million of room, so that's great. That room has to cover a lot. Will Smith and Jaroslav Askroft both hit restricted free agency in 2027. Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson follow in 2028. The Hockey News said it directly, the Sharks need to save money to sign Smith, Askroft, and Misa. my honest opinion i think 10 million dollars is perfect if we had to pay him 11 then that's where i walk away because we have to save some room for our guys right now and with 10 million dollars gets us 19.8 million in room we can definitely sign smith and Askarov for that so I like that so a scorecard the good 89th percentile and block shots and over 22 minutes a game last season the bad ninth percentile and giveaways 25 points last year and a 10 million dollar cap hit for six years. So what can stop this kind of trade? Obviously, if someone beats us to the punch and they get Simon Edvinson on a trade before us, that's one thing that stops it. Another thing that stops it, if Horkov and Edvinson do come to an agreement and he does sign in Detroit, and another thing that could stop it is if he maybe doesn't even want to play in San Jose at all, but I think at this point, Edvinson just wants to play hockey, just not in Detroit. So where are the Sharks as a team? 47 points in 23-24, 52 in 24-25. 86 last season, a big jump. They are building. The question is whether Edvinson is the piece to build around or one more big contract next to the two they already have. So this is what I'm thinking. This is what I would do. I would do the trade that we suggested. Two first round picks and Philip Lysset. Even if they want to throw in Quinton Musty here, I'm fine with that. But when you get to some of our core members like Dickinson or Graf, this is where I back out on this one. And if he wants $11 million, I back out on it as well. But for $10 million, two firsts for a big defenseman in Simon Edvinson, who I think is a great defender and has a lot of room to grow in this league, I'm happy for that, and it's a guy we definitely need right now. So I like the trade we put forward, and if they do end up knocking back for one of our big guys, obviously we step out on it at that point. Tell me in the comments, what are you guys thinking? Would you go out and make this trade for Simon Edvinson? I'd love to hear from you guys down below in the comments section. Do you agree with this mock trade? Do you think it's a little light? Do we need to add something? Love to hear from you guys down below in the comments. And as always, I've been your host, Casey. Thanks for watching another episode here on San Jose Sharks Digest. We're going to be back for another video tomorrow, and we're going to have a live stream tomorrow. Watch along the game tomorrow as well. So stay tuned. Hit the subscribe button. Put those notifications on. As always, I'm your host, Casey. Keep your stick on the ice.