Minnesota Sharks? San Jose Wild?

Since the offseason began, the San Jose Sharks seemed to have found a good trading partner with the Minnesota Wild.  First, it was Devin Setoguchi and Charlie Coyle for Brent Burns.  A week later, it was Dany Heatley for Martin Havlat.  And just in today, James Sheppard was sent to San Jose for a third round pick in 2013.

All of these dealings make me wonder two things: are these deals designed to help the Minnesota offense while dumping salary (i.e. Sheppard) and is San Jose truly better after making these deals?  The first part will definitely  depend on whether Heatley can find the net more than 26 times, his goal scoring totals from last year.  Sheppard was a former first round pick in 2006, yet, like every other first rounder since 2004, never lived up to expectations.  As for San Jose, Burns will provide offense from the blue line and in many respects, take some of the pressure off of Dan Boyle.  Havlat doesn't have the offensive ability that Heatley does on his best day, but he does provide some speed and San Jose is obviously looking for performance in the playoffs, something Heatley never did in his two seasons in San Jose.  Sheppard will likely be a third or fourth line player who could benefit from a fresh start.