Will Dan Boyle Be The First To Go From San Jose Sharks?

At some point in the near future, if they don’t get their current play back on track, this San Jose Sharks roster is going to see quite an overhaul.

This is a team with a boatload of veteran talent that could fetch a lot out on the trade market and help towards stockpiling the young talent that the Sharks currently lack overall. Given their recent playoff failures, and the struggles of 2013, it could only be a matter of time before they start shipping out some of these veteran guys.

While the Sharks will certainly receive calls on guys like Joe Thornton and especially Joe Pavelski, one player that could be among the first to leave San Jose is defenseman Dan Boyle.

Boyle is a guy capable of putting up around 50 points from the blue line, even now. He’s coming off of another steady year, with 48 points in 81 games in 2011-2012. He’s a solid two-way defenseman and carries a cap hit well over $6 million through next season.

There are plenty of teams that would have interest in Boyle. He brings an extremely solid game as a top pairing defenseman and is a veteran presence in the locker room. Quite a few teams would be interested in that sort of addition. Which is why the Sharks would be interested in dealing him.

The Sharks could probably improve their forward ranks in such a deal, as they’d be looking to get an NHL player back, and not prospects. If they can manage to get the return they’d like, I don’t think they’d hesitate to deal Boyle in the way that they may with other players currently on the rosters.