Everyone who follows hockey knows that the Sharks are up against the cap, with several holes on the roster sill to be filled. While everyone who supports teal would love to see Danny Heatley suit up in San Jose, the likely hood of that happening is very slim. That means that DW has to look in other directions to both cut salary and ice a winning team before the puck drops in October. That said, I have done some digging and number crunching and I have a few moves that I think make the sharks a better team and get them under the cap.

1. Trade Cheech and Luko to the Isles for Jesse Joensuu and picks/prospects.

Cheechoo needs a change of scenery and Lukowich is expendable with the resigning of Huskins. The Islanders need scoring to put along side Tavares and a veteran defense-man to shore up the blue line, plus they have the cap space to absorb both players from the Sharks. Joensuu is a 6'4" 21 year old former second round pick who can line up on either side of center, at the cost of 850,000. This would net a saving of about 3.7 mil for next year. 

2. Dump Shelly where ever they can.

I am a fan of Jody Shelly, but to be honest, I would rather have a younger cheaper Brad Staubitz. By replacing Shelly with Staubitz Wilson could save 250k (not a lot but every little bit counts).

3. Sign Manny Malhotra for the neighborhood of 1.75 per year for 2-3 years.

Malhotra is an excellent defender and great in the face-off circle, who can kill penalties with the best of them. Essentially he is Mike Grier five years ago, but better at face-offs. Plus it would benefit Malhotra to be on a perennial playoff team considering he has only been there twice in his career.

4. Resign Torrey Mitchell at 750K per for 2 years and Brad Staubitz to 500K for one year.

These are fair deals for both, giving them raises over last  year while not breaking the bank.

5. Trade Millan Michalek and whatever picks/prospects were received in the Cheechoo deal from New York plus a second rounder next year to the Canadians for Tomas Plekanec and Jaroslav Halak.

Montreal is very small on their first two lines so adding Milan to the left wing of Gomez and Gionta adds some size, and allows Cammalleri to move into his natural position at center on the second line, and balances out the scoring. Tomas Plekanec is a slight downgrade to Michalek, but costs 2 million per year less, for similar production (20 or more goals the last 3 years). Halak though is the prize. This is a goaltender who is young (24), cheep, (775K), and has the skills and makeup of a number one goaltender. Instead of having Greiss as a question mark as the backup, Halak would give the Sharks a reliable presence on the bench who could spell Nabby for 20 plus games next year. He also could push Nabakov to be the number one net-minder of the future, giving DW the freedom of trading one of the Sharks blue chip goalie prospects. This move will save the Sharks about 800K next year.

6. Now here is the kicker: trade Patty for Kovalchuk.

Ilya wants out of Atlanta, and will likely bolt for a winning team in the off-season when he becomes a UFA. Forget Heatley, Kovalchuk has scored 50 goals practically by himself. Put him next to Joe, and Dan Boyle and you have 60 to 70 goal potential. Patty has been scapegoated by the fans and media and could use a change of scenery. This is as close to equal value as Atlanta could get for Kovalchuk, and they have a much better chance of resigning Marleau. while Ilya makes more per year than Patty, the cap hit is for intents and purposes the same, at 6.3 mil.

So this would round out the lineup as such:

Kovalchuk-Thornton-Seto

Plekanec-Pavelski-Clowe

Mitchell-Malhotra-Mcginn

Joensuu-Nichol-Ortmeyer

Staubitz

Boyle-Vlassic

Blake-Huskins

Erhoff-Murry

Joslin

Nabokov

Halak

All of this gives San Jose 13 forwards, 7 defense-men, and 2 goalies, while fitting just under the cap.