San Jose has a bunch of money in expiring contracts:
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=SJMarleau - $6.3M
Blake - $3.5M
Nabokov - $5.275M
That's over $15M coming off the books for three players.
The only way I see the Sharks letting Pavelski come to Buffalo is if the Sabres trade Ryan Miller to SJ to replace Nabokov.
And we all know that is not going to happen.
I see Pavelski being given a whole bunch of Marleau's money and the Sharks let Marleau walk. Especially given that Pavelski has been CLUTCH in the playoffs (Pavelski leads all playoff goal scorers right now with 9 goals) and Marleau has been near invisible.
Here are the stat lines:
Pavelski - 8 games 9 g 14 pts +7 3 GWG
Marleau - 7 games 1 g 4 pts -2 0 GWG
I would be STUNNED if the Sharks don't have Pavelski signed to a big extension prior to July 1st.