San Jose sign Jamal Mayers
The San Jose Sharks have announced that they are finalizing a deal with forward Jamal Mayers. Last season Mayers split his time between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Calgary Flames.
Mayers began his career with the St. Louis Blue, being drafted by the organization 89th overall, in the fourth round of the National Hockey League entry draft. Mayers spent 10 years with the Blues enjoying his best season in his last year with the franchise, scoring 12 goals, and 15 assists for 27 points.
In 2008-09 he moved to the Maple Leafs, where he underperformed in his first season with the club. In his second season in Toronto, Mayers struggled to remain in the line-up, and was traded just before the trade deadline in the deal that brought Dion Phaneuf to the Leafs.
Mayers will bring more grit to the Sharks line-up. San Jose already has a promising crop of forwards to fill out their top-six, and Mayers is General Manager Doug Wilson’s first acquisition to fill out the bottom-six group. Mayers is expected to log fourth line minutes with the club, being used primarily as a penalty killer and an enforcer. The Sharks are in need of a tough guy in their line-up, the Mayers signing does something to address that hole.
For Mayers this could be his last contract. He is 35 years old, and his age seems to have caught up with him. He still has some speed, but he is no longer as effective on the penalty kill, and has struggled maintaining his position of enforcer.
The details of the deal have not been released, but anything over two years would be highly unexpected. Mayer will be in and out of the line-up all year, and his minutes should resemble those from last year with the Maple Leafs and Flames.
Last year split between Toronto and Calgary, Mayers tallied 3 goals and 11 assists for 14 points and was a minus-three on the season.
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