Sharks' cap situation worse than the Leafs; Sharks could lose a top player, but nobody's talking about it

On Monday, we saw quite a bit of chatter surrounding Leafs winger Michael Bunting, particularly from the NHL Network, who seem to be convinced that the Leafs won't be able to afford to bring him back. There hasn't been much, if any, talk about the Dallas Stars and starting goalie Jake Oettinger or winger Jason Robertson - both of whom are RFAs without deals for THIS season - and yet the NHL Network is already focusing on what potential problems the Leafs are going to face NEXT summer. Go figure.

There's another major name out there with whom the San Jose Sharks haven't even begun extension talks with yet and were it not for Sharks correspondent Sheng Peng, the story might not have received any coverage at all.

Per Peng, 25-year-old forward Timo Meier is set to become a restricted free agent next summer and contract talks have not even begun yet, despite the fact that the two sides were eligible to begin negotiations in July.

Meier was nearly a point per game for the Sharks last season, posting a career-high 76 points in 77 games, setting personal bests in both goals (35) and assists (41). A piece that important should not be overlooked.

The Sharks have a significant amount of salary tied up beyond this coming season, which will make locking up Meier to a long-term deal fairly difficult. Deals for Logan Couture ($8M AAV), Tomas Hertl ($8.137M AAV), Erik Karlsson ($11.5M AAV) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($7M AAV) make it challenging for the Sharks to fit another $8.5M-$10M player in under the cap and still balance the roster.

If this was a Leafs problem, it would be headline news on every station. Since it's the Sharks though, I suppose they get a pass.