Cheechoo - Should he stay or should he go now?

Jonathan Cheechoo is the San Jose Sharks highest valued trade bait.  Jonathan is a young player coming into his prime with an acceptable contract for any team to handle for a second line scoring winger.  Everyone knows what Cheechoo has done, so let’s figure out what to do with him now.

TRADE HIM:

Jonathan’s trade to another team will free up a prorated $3M against the cap which right away will allow the team to bring up Kyle McLaren (providing Kyle doesn’t get picked up on re-entry waivers) from the AHL adding depth at defense for the playoff run and the playoffs when the rosters expand after the trade deadline, not to mention freeing up cap space next year for resigning Ryan Clowe (and extending Pavelski and Setoguchi).  Jonathan is stuck on the third line, a checking line, and whiffs on nearly every check.  Trading Cheechoo for a draft pick isn’t the best way to go, so who could take Cheechoo and who could the Sharks get back in a trade.  At the beginning of the year I fantasized of a Michalek and Cheechoo for Kovalchuk trade, let’s look at some lower profile options however:

Nashville Predators NEED a scoring winger and do I mean badly.  Nashville’s defense is good to go along with inconsistent goaltending and still the Preds are on the hunt for the playoffs even though their offense is 28^th in the league in goals scored.  The need is there for Cheechoo, I am just not sure who we could get for him, although a first round draft pick would be nice.  That being said, the fact that the Predators are so good defensively points to the fact that they have a t least one good strong grinding winger who can fit into the Sharks’ third line as a checking/grinding defensive minded player.

New York Islanders could use a player like Cheechoo, especially with the prospect of adding a Franchise player like John Tavares in the upcoming draft.  With the potential fire-sale about to go down on the Island of Guerin, Weight, and anyone else who they can unload, the Sharks can get some good value by looking below that radar at Richard Park.  Park, a Sharks killer in the past, is paid only $795,000 and won’t be much of a help to the Islanders any time soon.  Plus, Park is Asian and would certainly sell more than a few jerseys in San Jose.  Park is a character forward, serving as an Assistant Captain on a team with Guerin, Weight, Witt, and Mark Streit.  Cheechoo for Park would be a huge upgrade to the Islander’s core, so it doesn’t seem too farfetched to imagine trading Cheechoo for Park and a 2^nd round pick in 2009.  The second round pick from the Islanders is one pick away from being in the first round and the Sharks could use some high draft picks to balance their system right now.

KEEP HIM:

If Ryan Clowe goes down again, who is taking his spot on the second scoring line?  No one, that’s who.  Having a seventh offensive forward is not the worst thing in the world, and if you don’t think we’ll need the depth this year, how about the year after?  Remember when the Ducks won the cup and in the offseason the Oilers signed Dustin Penner away from Anaheim as a Restricted Free Agent and the Ducks could not match because they didn’t have the cap space?  The Penguins fans I know get sick thinking about Ryan Malone in a Lightning uniform for a largely similar reason, cap space.  This is exactly the situation The Sharks are in with Ryan Clowe after this season.  If the Sharks keep Cheechoo, then The Sharks will be in a better position to let Clowe go and pick up the high draft picks from letting Clowe go as a RFA.  I know this sucks to think about, but this is the situation Doug Wilson is facing right now. 

But that’s looking too far forward.  The real issue Wilson is facing now is how do we win the Stanley cup this year?  Blake is getting older, JR is retiring, Claude Lemieux is on his last legs, Grier is a UFA, Clowe is a RFA, who knows what happens to the cap in this economy (can anyone say creative accounting by the owners to lower the cap?); this is the year the Sharks have to win the Stanley Cup.  This is the last bullet in the chamber and this is the year the Sharks win the Stanley Cup.  Period.  Throw salary cap and resigning out the window, unless the Sharks get a BETTER player than Cheechoo right now, The Sharks have to keep him and win the cup this year… period.

So that is your question of the week.  Do the Sharks trade Jonathan Cheechoo RIGHT NOW or not?