If I'm DW, I am not resigning Jumbo or Pavs, for much, if anything at all. They have two problems:
1. Not fast enough for today's NHL, as witnessed by even the 2016 cup run they made where the Sharks weren't fast enough to keep up with that young speedy skilled Penguins team.
2. Neither are physical enough to be contenders at the C position. Sure, Jumbo can command HIS space, but he can't really disrupt or control beyond that. Pavs is a great tipper, scrapper, but I don't think his game is physical enough either - we saw that there is a new dawn of the NHL post 2016/17 now which is not only speed and skill, but PHYSICALITY as demonstrated by the Blues and Bruins to get to the end. Unfortunately, while DW learned from the 2016 loss and tried to build a younger team with faster, skill players as illustrated by LeBanc, Donskoi, etc, they still aren't all that fast or physical compared to others. Timo is a model example of what we need. If we could replicate him for all 12 positions we'd win the cup easy. Hard to find in today's NHL though.
I think the EK deal was spot on. Run 2 top D pair hard, plus DW has a nice pool of talent to pick from and develop. We are seeing that hockey has so much depth in it's farm system and the NHL is just now starting to tap in to it in different ways.
Look at VGK as an example of hidden talent emerging. Karlsson is a 3rd or 4th liner, then comes to VGK as a top 6 forward and is instantly a superstar and leading goal scorer in the NHL. How could this be possible? Because we leave old stagnant talent in place because of politics and name brand recognition, and that is exactly what is happening with Thornton and Pavelski.
If you want Thorton for $1m as 4th line center, OK.
If you want Pavelski for $2.5m as 3rd line center, OK.
Otherwise, say goodbye to them if you want your team, the Sharks, to win a cup.
