One of the fill-in-the-blank insults for the San Jose Sharks is that they’re too easy to play against. (Surely Ryane Clowe loves to hear that.)
The Sharks just became more irritating to deal with as they acquired agitating center Dominic Moore from the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bolts received a 2012 second-round pick (originally Minnesota’s, which likely makes it more valuable) and sent a seventh rounder to San Jose to complete the deal.
With 19 points on the season, Moore won’t add a ton of firepower, but that’s OK because the Sharks are ludicrously explosive at center right now. (Seriously, their top-six forwards are crazy heavy on pivot talent.)
Moore is a good faceoff guy (an impressive 55.7 winning percentage this season) and averaged an even two minutes of penalty kill time per game with Tampa Bay, so his role should be fairly obvious.
This isn’t the kind of move that will push the Sharks over the playoff hump on its own, but we might look back at this as a subtle move that gives the team much-needed depth and a spicy note of irritation.