The San Jose Sharks were firmly entrenched as one of the best teams in the National Hockey League for over a decade — but all good things must come to an end, and the California-based franchise are one of the worst teams on paper heading into the 2023-24 season. Sharks general manager Mike Grier knows this, and he's made some excellent moves to make sure the team rebuilds properly and gets back to being competitive in the Pacific Division as soon as possible.

After an abysmal 22-win, 60-point season in San Jose, the Sharks figure to be at the bottom of the Western Conference again. That is especially true after Grier finally traded Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins after months of speculation. That came after star forward Timo Meier was dealt to the New Jersey Devils at the NHL Trade Deadline. Two core pieces in Karlsson and Meier are now gone, and it's time to look to the future in San Jose.

Erik Karlsson finally off the books

Erik Karlsson is due to make $11.5 million for the next four seasons, something that is not at all viable for a rebuilding team. It was time for the Swedish superstar to go, and Grier did some tidy business by working with both the Penguins and Montreal Canadiens on a three-team trade that landed them a first-round pick, along with Mikael Granlund and Mike Hoffman. Although they probably could have got some more draft capital, considering Karlsson's massive AAV, it wasn't bad.

“While it is always difficult to trade a player of the caliber of Erik Karlsson, this trade accomplishes several goals for our franchise,” Grier said after the trade broke. “It adds two forwards to our roster who have proven ability to produce offensively at the NHL level, and solidifies our NHL defense corps. Additionally, acquiring another first round pick gives us the opportunity to continue fortifying our development system with high-end prospects and provides us some financial flexibility to add players as we see fit in the future.”

Now that Karlsson will play with a contending team next season, something he desperately wanted, this team can look to the next chapter.

Acquiring Anthony Duclair a mystery

Part of the next chapter is probably not acquiring a player who is in the final season of his contract. Although Anthony Duclair is a solid player who had a nice playoff run with the Florida Panthers, he probably would have been better suited going to a contending team in 2023-24. The good news is that the Sharks barely had to pay anything for Duclair, prying him out of South Beach for only a fifth-round draft pick and Steven Lorentz.

Duclair is a former 30-goal scorer, and he'll be motivated to play well so he can improve on his $3 million AAV when his contract expires next summer. The Sharks have two choices here: either offer a long-term contract to the winger and keep him for the future plans, or move him at the trade deadline. If he can have a decent start and fetch a higher draft pick from a contending team, this trade will age well. But that's no guarantee on a much weaker team than Duclair played on last season.

Sharks must trade Kevin Labanc

The bottom line is, the Sharks should be trying to trade players and acquire draft capital, not the other way around. San Jose is in a fairly tough position, as they have some top-end talent on large contracts, including faces of the franchise Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl. They need to sell and get younger to properly rebuild, and with the cap hardly increasing over the last few seasons, big contracts have become extremely difficult to move. That's probably why it took so long to get Erik Karlsson dealt.

One of the best trade chips the Sharks have is 27-year-old Kevin Labanc. He took a team-friendly bridge deal before being awarded with a bigger contract, and had a career season in 2018-19 with 56 points in 82 games. But it's been downhill since then, with Labanc set to start next season on the fourth line, according to Daily Faceoff. He is headed into the last year of his $4.5 million AAV deal, and it's likely the team will look to give him a change of scenery at the NHL Trade Deadline.

It's time for the Sharks to stop trading for players, and start dishing them out for draft capital instead as they look to accelerate the rebuild and return to the top of the Pacific Division. Kevin Labanc, who has multiple seasons of playoff experience, should be next.