SAN JOSE

Most hockey fans are chilling this time of year. Beginning immediately, they should prepare for the sudden blast heat of the unexpected.

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Home sweet home? Giants, visitors at Oracle Park, tie franchise record in win It’s no exaggeration to say that the Sharks’ next three weeks will define their next three seasons. Doug Wilson, the Sharks’ general manager, has big choices to make. And owing to a confluence of events–including the one-off expansion draft for the new Las Vegas franchise–those choices will ripple ahead in unprecedented ways for the franchise.

Here’s why:

Each of Wilson’s decisions is a domino that will knock down another domino. Those domino-falling opportunities are numerous. They could go many different directions at any moment–as was proven by Saturday’s out-of-nowhere trade with the New Jersey Devils in which Wilson gave up his 2013 top draft selection Mirco Mueller in exchange for multiple 2017 draft picks from the New Jersey Devils.

It’s just the beginning. By the time we reach October’s opening faceoff, the Sharks could either look very familiar or have several new faces in key roles.

During a recent phone conversation, Wilson revealed nothing about his offseason strategy, except to say that no matter what, “I think we’re set up to be a very good team for a long time . . . You’re talking about the natural transition that every team goes through.”

Yet somehow, this seems on the extreme edge of that “natural” transition. It’s because the principal focus is on whether franchise mainstays Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau re-sign with the Sharks–or if they instead utilize their free agent status to leave for another team.

Both men will be 38 years old by next season. Both want multi-year agreements, reportedly for three more seasons and at salaries of $5 million or more per. If Wilson signs both to three-year extensions, the team is obviously going to look different through 2021 than if he can’t sign either one. My best guess? If Thornton and Marleau fail to take haircuts in either salary or length of contracts, at least one will be playing somewhere else come October for a lot more money–which is a right they’ve both earned as NHL veterans and a right they might well exercise.

Wilson prides his organization on being one that develops personal relationships with players so that they want to come to San Jose and stay. In light of that, I asked him if it’s difficult to put aside his personal feelings about Thornton and Marleau

“You have to have a heart and a head,” Wilson said. “Look at two of my favorite people, Nabby and Reech.”

That would be former Shark goalie Evgeni Nabokov and former Shark centerman Mike Ricci. Wilson allowed both to leave as free agents, then hired them for his staff after they retired as players elsewhere. A clue?

The truth is, all the Thornton-Marleau intrigue barely scratches the surface of what lies ahead on a busy upcoming calendar for Wilson and the beloved Los Tiburones. There’s also the expansion draft, the entry draft, contract extensions for two key players and who knows what else?

Let’s take it day by day and week by week, starting this weekend:

— SATURDAY: Like every other NHL franchise, the Sharks had until 2 p.m. to submit their list of protected players unavailable for the new Vegas Golden Knights to select. Teams had an option. They could protect either seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender; or protect eight skaters and one goaltender. The protected list was initially not announced but Mueller must not have made the Sharks’ cut, which is why they traded him to receive those draft-pick assets rather than possibly lose him for zero return to the Knights. Mueller was once a promising defenseman prospect but after the Sharks rushed him onto their roster in 2014, he seemed overwhelmed and never returned to the NHL full-time.

— SUNDAY, PART ONE. Every team’s list of exposed players will be made public to the other 31 teams. When those names are released, you can expect general managers to start calling other teams to try and acquire certain of those players in trades on the cheap. Will Wilson do that? Unlikely. But you never know. Wilson could also try to cut a deal with the Vegas front office to guarantee they use their expansion pick to take a certain Sharks’ salary off their hands (hello, Mikkel Boedker) by offering the Knights an extra draft pick or two. That doesn’t mean the Knights have to agree. It says here they’ll make Joel Ward or Brenden Dillon their selection off the Sharks’ unprotected list.

— SUNDAY, PART TWO: Beginning this morning, the Las Vegas franchise receives exclusive rights to negotiate and sign unrestricted free agents such as Marleau and Thornton. Would the Golden Knights attempt to do so? Would Marleau and Thornton be interested? Again, seems unlikely. But the two veterans would have to listen, especially if the offer comprises twice as much money as they might make elsewhere. Las Vegas needs a box office attraction to make a splash in Year One and either Thornton or Marleau could fill that role. Also, if the Golden Knights do sign one of them, the Vegas franchise would forfeit any right to take another Shark player in the expansion draft.

— WEDNESDAY: The Golden Knights will make their expansion draft selections and reveal them with much fanfare at the NHL Awards Ceremony at the team’s new T-Mobile Arena on the Strip. Wilson plans to be there in support of Sharks’ star Brent Burns, who should win the Norris Trophy for the NHL’s most valuable defenseman. But with so many other general managers on the premises, trade talks could indeed percolate. And this could be the start of serious negotiations with Thornton and Marleau. Wilson did not want to sign them before the expansion draft because if that happened, they would need to go on the Sharks’ protected list and take spots away from younger players.

— THURSDAY: The moratorium on trades or other roster moves, which has been in effect for five days so the Knights can conduct exclusive business, will be lifted. Somewhere in here, you’d think the NHL’s new salary cap figure will be announced after its approval by the Players’ Association. It’s expected to be $75 million but could be lower. That’s important for Wilson because the Sharks are always nudging up against the cap. The new number will affect any moves Wilson can or might make.

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Kurtenbach: View the SF Giants’ lack of deadline action as a good sign — FRIDAY: It’s on to Chicago for the NHL’s entry draft of 18-year-old prospects. After the Mueller trade, the Sharks own eight selections–one each in the first, second and fourth rounds, followed by two in the sixth round and three in the seventh round. This should theoretically yield some fresh talent–although the Sharks have now dealt away their No. 1 picks of the 2013 and 2014, Mueller and Nikolay Goldobin (sent to Vancouver in February for Jannik Hansen). So maybe it would be better if you pay attention to the seventh round picks. Fourteen years ago, the Sharks selected Joe Pavelski in that round.

— JUNE 24: The entry draft continues. With so much else going on, it’s easy to forget that one of Wilson’s primary summer goals is to extend the contracts of goalie Martin Jones and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, whose deals both expire after the 2017-18 season. Jones makes $3 million and Vlasic makes $4.25 million .Both seek and deserve major raises.

— JUNE 25: Teams can begin “discussions” with impending free agents, which would include Thornton and Marleau unless they are signed by Wilson before this date. It’s going to be complicated. The Sharks currently have 17 players under contract for 2017-18, not including Thornton and Marleau or restricted free agent Chris Tierney. According to the spotrac.com website, Wilson should have roughly $22 million in cap space to play with as he plans his moves. That would provide plenty of room for both Thornton and Marleau and their salaries–but just for next season. If the two sign multi-year deals, the problem would arrive in 2018-19 and beyond after the rich new contracts for Vlasic and Jones kick in and fill up the cap tank.

— JULY 1: Free agency signing period begins. This is the first day Thornton and Marleau could sign with any team . . . and also the first day that Wilson can sign up free agents himself. There have been rumors about his interest in Ilya Kovalchuk, the former NHL All-Star winger who has spent the past four seasons in Russia. More realistically, the Sharks have been mentioned in connection with Martin Hanzal, the steady 30-year-old centerman who spent most of his career in Arizona before a late-season trade to Minnesota last spring.

— REST OF THE SUMMER: Be ready for anything and everything. Wilson is confident the team will end up in an okay place. In his mind, Wilson believes a true watershed moment for the franchise occurred two years ago when the Sharks’ top minor league affiliate moved to San Jose from Massachusetts and became the Barracuda. This brought the team’s best prospects more under the daily watch of the front office and allowed the Sharks’ developmental staff to integrate more smoothly with Barracuda head coach Roy Sommer. Barracuda players such as Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc were promoted to the Shark roster and had several highlight moments last season.

— BEYOND THAT: In Wilson’s vision, we’ll definitely be seeing more of Meier and Labanch and other young players in 2016-17. And as always, it ultimately comes down to this for Shark followers: They either believe in Wilson’s vision or they don’t. The believers point out that since Wilson became general manager in 2003, the Sharks have compiled more regular season points than any other NHL team. The non-believers say the Sharks have still never won a Stanley Cup. Each side is correct on the facts. The stance here is that Wilson deserves applause and skepticism in equal measure. But with franchise owner Hasso Plattner empowering his general manager to make all hockey decisions unilaterally, any other chatter is moot. Wilson’s vision is what we’ll be see on the ice indefinitely.

It doesn’t mean we can’t keep chattering. Be ready for three years worth of it over the next three weeks.