On June 19, the San Jose Sharks did the New York Rangers a bit of a favor by claiming the three-year, $3.64 million cap-hit contract of forward Barclay Goodrow off of waivers. He has a modified no-trade clause (M-NTC) and is 31 years old.
The Rangers now have a lot more money to work with in the offseason and freed up a roster spot, while the Sharks are making moves to be compliant with the floor. What does this move mean for San Jose?
Sharks Bring Back a Familiar Face
Instead of overpaying free agents for the next few seasons to reach the team-wide required salary, the Sharks did the simple thing and brought back a familiar face to play some fourth-line minutes. All teams need to spend a certain amount of money, so the rebuilding Sharks decided that spending some of that money on a former player was the best course of action. In 268 games with San Jose from 2014-2020, he had 26 goals and 45 assists for 71 points.
To put it bluntly, Goodrow was not good for the Rangers from the time he signed there in 2021-22 to the time he left. He graded out poorly both offensively and defensively for New York in 2023-24 and was forced into a depth role for the team, scoring 12 points in 80 games. He did have a solid scoring output in the playoffs with six goals in 16 games, but he had an unsustainable shooting percentage of 40 and still wasn’t the best defensively.
With that being said, the Sharks didn’t acquire Goodrow to be an effective fourth-line player on the ice. He is there to be a veteran influence for a young San Jose team that has Will Smith, William Eklund, Quentin Musty, and the first overall pick for the 2024 NHL Draft which is all but guaranteed to be Macklin Celebrini. Goodrow can provide protection for those youngsters and give them some pointers when they need it.
Goodrow’s contract only lasts three more seasons, and the Sharks are probably not going to be in a position where they need to maximize their cap space by the time that last season comes around. They could have always gone for a better player, but Goodrow might also be a trade piece down the line. He has an upside as a penalty killer, so not everything is negative with him.
The Rangers should be thanking the Sharks for improving their salary cap situation, but they were helping themselves at the end of the day. San Jose has a very bright future, so they’re trying to help those young guys out by going after a player who should be willing to both protect and instruct them over the next three years.
