Who might be a fit with the San Jose Sharks as free agency begins?

SAN JOSE The San Jose Sharks have tens of millions of dollars in cap space to play with and a bunch of roster holes to fill Now it s a matter of who the Sharks can sign once unrestricted free agency begins in the present day at a m PDT It s not a star-studded class but there are players available who could help make San Jose a more competitive unit after they finished at the bottom of the NHL standings this past season for a second straight year The Sharks per PuckPedia have over million in cap space with just players set to be on the -man NHL roster next season By the time the Sharks begin the regular season in October their total cap hit has to rise from its present total of million to the cap floor of million The Sharks are not interested in signing players in their late s or early s to seven-year contracts However ideally they would like to add a goalie who can compete with Yaroslav Askarov for playing time and bolster their defense corps particularly on the right side With that in mind here are five players the Sharks could target in free agency Mikey Eyssimont winger INFO The Sharks need to add depth wingers after parting procedures with pending restricted free agents Klim Kostin Noah Gregor and Nikolai Kovalenko and Eyssimont s no-nonsense style fits in with the identity the Sharks want to create Eyssimont who turns in September played with the Sharks briefly during the - season and had eight points in games before he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning Besides that familiarity Eyssimont also played for Ryan Warsofsky on Unit USA s gold medal-winning World Championship group and having that prior relationship shouldn t be discounted Playing between Tampa Bay and Seattle last season Eyssimont had points in games and averaged in ice time A two-year contract with an AAV between and million could get this done for San Jose Mikael Granlund forward INFO Granlund was the Sharks leading scorer this past season before he was traded to the Dallas Stars in February The Sharks know what he s about and how valuable his leadership is and could easily slide him into their top-six forward group The Sharks will have competition for Granlund s services Being in a rebuild San Jose might need to significantly outbid other teams for Granlund s services going above the million AAV his next contract is expected to carry Ryan Lindgren left defense INFO The Sharks need to upgrade their defense corps and could have interest in Lindgren given the familiarity that general manager Mike Grier and assistant GM Ryane Clowe have with the left-shot defenseman who spent seven seasons with the Rangers Lindgren isn t flashy and will not provide much offense However the Sharks need veteran minute munchers after trading Cody Ceci and Jake Walman last season and Lindgren has averaged nearly minutes per tournament in - He isn t the biggest defenseman available but he plays a steady match and can move pucks He made million last season and the Sharks might need to go a bit above that to sign him Nick Perbix right defense INFO After letting Jan Rutta become a UFA the Sharks have two right-shot defensemen on their NHL roster right now in Timothy Liljegren and Vincent Desharnais so it s fair to say they ll want to add to that group Perbix could be a nice fit at an economical price Related Articles Sharks cut ties with Nikolai Kovalenko after rocky tenure in San Jose San Jose Sharks RFA forward receives qualifying offer goalie does not Sharks have restocked the cupboards now comes the hard part for Mike Grier San Jose Sharks draft picks since have mostly something in common Sharks make historic pick in Simon Wang to begin second day of NHL Draft Perbix has averaged just under minutes of ice time per competition in his three-year NHL career but could be ready for a bigger role His points last season would have made him the Sharks highest-scoring defenseman after Walman was traded At -foot- and pounds he adds particular size to the mix A two-year deal with a million AAV could get this done for the Sharks Dan Vladar goalie INFO The Sharks need to come out of the offseason with an experienced goalie and Vladar who turns in August could be an attractive option Playing behind Dustin Wolf with the Flames last season Vladar had a save percentage in games In his last games he went - - with a save percentage Vladar has the requisite size at -foot- and pounds wouldn t break the bank as he s coming off a two-year deal that carried a million AAV