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Will the Sharks go after James van Riemsdyk?

Carolina Hurricanes v Philadelphia Flyers

PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 21: James van Riemsdyk #21 of the Philadelphia Flyers skates against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Wells Fargo Center on November 21, 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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According to CSNBayArea’s Kevin Kurz, the odds of the San Jose Sharks landing Columbus’ Rick Nash aren’t great. The Blue Jackets are reportedly insisting on the inclusion of Logan Couture in any potential Nash deal, which doesn’t make a ton of sense from San Jose’s perspective.

After all, Couture is much younger, far cheaper, and coming off back-to-back 30-plus goal seasons.

So if the San Jose Sharks have to abandon their pursuit of Nash, what should their next move be? Kurz thinks James van Riemsdyk would make for an intriguing consolation prize.

San Jose was reportedly interested in van Riemsdyk back at the trade deadline and it wouldn’t be surprising if Philadelphia dealt him over the summer. After all, James van Riemsdyk is about to start a six-year $25.5 million deal and getting him off the books would go a long way to ease the Flyers’ cap problems.

It’s safe to assume that van Riemsdyk would be cheaper to obtain than Rick Nash via a trade, but at the same time, the Flyers aren’t likely to send him away if all they’re getting out of it is cap space. van Riemsdyk hasn’t lived up to his potential, but he’s still young. He could certainly break out next year and end up looking good despite his $4.25 million annual cap hit. Philadelphia will probably factor that in.

It’s also worth noting that van Riemsdyk has been rumored to be involved in a potential Rick Nash deal, but as we recently discussed, getting Nash might not be in Philadelphia’s best interests.

At any rate, a van Riemsdyk-to-San Jose deal is certainly an interesting possibility, and just one of the potential stories to keep in mind as we approach the NHL Entry Draft and unrestricted free agent period.