San Jose Sharks re-sign or decline: Unrestricted free agent defensemen and goalies
By Matt Hawkins
Dalton Prout, Defenseman
This offseason, Dalton Prout signed a one-year, $800k deal with the San Jose Sharks. At 29-years-old, Prout was looking to make the team as a third-pair defenseman or seventh defenseman.
However, Prout was placed on injured reserve (IR) with an upper-body injury on October 4th, 2019. Prout remained on IR until mid-February of this year and has only played two games since coming back.
In those two games, Prout has no points, an even plus/minus, seven penalty minutes, three blocked shots, three hits, and averaged 12:49 of time on ice. With just two games with the Sharks, it is unseen how good he could be in San Jose.
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That said, Prout has been a bottom-four defenseman for most of his nine-year NHL career. He’s an alright stay-at-home defenseman with 38 points (seven goals, 31 assists), a -13 plus/minus, and an average of 16:32 of time on ice in 264 career games.
Prout is a larger defenseman at 6-foot-3 and is prone to taking a good amount of penalties, having over 300 career penalty minutes. Prout also hasn’t played in many games over the last four seasons, playing in just 55 games.
It’s probably best for the Sharks to let him walk. With his inability to break into a lineup, whether it be because of injury or skill, it shows me that he’s not worth keeping around.
The Sharks don’t need a defenseman that takes himself off the ice by taking penalties, they need a defenseman that can stay on the ice and make plays.
Decision: Decline