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Marleau, Sturm, Stuart &
Parker signed
Wilson locks up nine players total on
Monday
8/16/05 - by Mike Lee
Two
weeks ago the Sharks roster consisted of ten players who were formally under
contract. Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson has since signed twelve players
who are likely to open the regular season on the NHL roster and five more
prospects. All of this signing activity was capped on Monday when Wilson inked
four of his regulars, including captain Patrick Marleau, forward Marco Sturm,
enforcer Scott Parker and defenseman Brad Stuart.
Only forward
Alexander Korolyuk remains without a contract, and the Sharks have filed for an
arbitration hearing to decide the Russian forward's fate. Korolyuk also has the
option of playing abroad, should he not like what the arbitrator's deem
appropriate in terms of salary.
The Sharks gave Marleau a three-year
contract, which should give the eight-year veteran a chance to solidify his
role as captain. His 28 goals and 29 assists in 2003-04 tied career highs, and
his 558 games played ranks him third all-time among Shark players. Mike Rathje,
who recently signed a five-year contract with Philadelphia is the Sharks
all-time leader with 671 games played.
"The primary objective is to
take care of your core group," Wilson said. "We don't change how we've operated
for the last couple of years. We certainly like where a lot of our own players
are at, and it's an exciting time for this group."
Sturm and Stuart were give two -year contracts.
Sturm's contract will pay him $2 million this coming season. The speedy German
winger was on his way to besting his career point mark until an ankle injury
sidelined him with 20 games remaining in the 2003-04 season.
Stuart
set a career high by scoring 39 points in 2003-04 and will return as one of the
Sharks primary defenders along side Scott Hannan and Kyle McLaren.
San
Jose also announced the re-signing defensemen Matt Carkner, Garrett Stafford
and Doug Murray, left wing Josh Pruden and goaltender Nolan Schaefer, all to
one-year deals.
"Every day is a trade deadline to me, so there's
different ways of acquiring players," Wilson said. "We look every day at
options and opportunities that are there."
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