Pickles in the Shark Tank for Long Term
August 27th, 2008 by cantstopthegrierBreaking news today when the Sharks announced the contract extension of pending RFA and now poster boy for the Sharks young defensive core, Marc-Eduoard Vlasic. With exact contract terms of his four year deal not released by the Sharks and no info to be found at my usual sources, but if I had to guess (and I’m going to) I would say it is a slight improvement to Ehrhoff’s deal because of the major minutes Vlasic will asked to log this season and in the future. So I’m saying four years, 14M - at an average of 3.5M per season.
So should Mike rush out and buy his Vlasic jersey or will we see the “Matt Carle Effect” here? Is Vlasic going to crumble under the pressure of his new deal and lay a big steamer on the blueline? Will Doug Wilson be forced to package Pickles in the offseason to get a veteran D-man to take up the slack. No, no and no. Pickles isn’t in the same situation Carle was in last year and is signing the extension as a more proven NHL player with 163 NHL games under his skates who has already shouldered a major role on a playoff team…which Carle hadn’t really done when he signed his extension and still hasn’t done yet with any consistentcy.
Another great move by DW, setting up the Sharks to win a Stanley Cup today and contend for years to come. When does the season start again?? SHARKS!!!!
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3 Responses to “Pickles in the Shark Tank for Long Term”
By Ian on Aug 27, 2008
One word… Awsome! I’m right with you on the fact that he will be staying in the tank for a long time. Lets face it DW would not have sent Carle out for just anyone. The guy still has alot of potential but for Boyle it was worth it especially after losing Soupy although you could argue that if Carle found his potential or was looking like he was close to it we would not have needed Soupy to begin with. Looking at our Blue line I see three untouchables, those being Boyle, Erhoff (especially if he finds the net) and Vlasic. I can’t wait for the season to start and I love the way we look going forward.
By Jerry on Aug 28, 2008
Erhoff? An untouchable? Puh-lease.
Did you see that Doug Wilson’s doing Jeff Friesen a solid and giving him a tryout?
http://www.sportsnet.ca/thewire/hockey/2008/08/28/jeff_friesen_invited/
By SoCalSharksGirl on Sep 1, 2008
Pickles being signed for the long-term is definitely a good thing for all the reasons already stated. As long as he continues to develop as he has, he will be a solid D-man for the team for many years.