Only the names change as Sharks keep winning
At the beginning of this NHL season, it finally seemed the San Jose Sharks would learn about life in the draft lottery.
Over the summer, they lost franchise icon Patrick Marleau, while Joe Thornton, the best player in team history, was coming off knee surgery as he turned 38. True, they still had some foundational pieces in place, but they had also turned over their supporting cast to a bunch of players the average fan couldn’t pick out of a police lineup.
“We knew this was going to be a transition year,” said Sharks GM Doug Wilson.
And it has been. In 2017-18 the Sharks have transitioned from a playoff team to, well, the same playoff team we’ve been watching for the past 14 years. The only difference? Trying to figure out the names on the backs of their jerseys.
“They all play the same way,” Canucks head coach Travis Green said before the Sharks beat his team 4-1 on Thursday in California. “They’re all on the same page. They put pucks ahead. They make you play in your zone. Every guy on their team can skate and get after it. It’s a real effective way to play.
“Ultimately, that’s the way we want to play.”
That’s an admirable goal. But if it was as easy as the Sharks make it look, every team would do it.
This season, the team from NorCal is in a position to make the playoffs for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons.
They currently sit in second place in the Pacific Division.
So how have they managed to stay competitive when so many teams struggle to find consistency? Yes, the Sharks have failed to capture the game’s biggest prize over those 14 seasons, but ask yourself this: Would you trade what they have for the last 14 seasons of Canucks hockey?
On the most basic level, the Sharks’ secret isn’t that complicated. They’ve built a foundation that has allowed them to remain a playoff team while changing the players around their core.
Five years ago, the Fish swept the Canucks in the first round of the playoffs with a team built around Thornton, Marleau, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns. Over the next five seasons, those same five players would lead the Sharks in scoring, with the exception of 2015-16, when Tomas Hertl crept into the fifth spot.
This season, they began life without Marleau, but their top five scorers are still Burns, Thornton, Couture, Pavelski and Hertl.
That continuity, in turn, has allowed the Sharks to change their supporting cast without sinking in the standings. Players such as Chris Tierney and Timo Meier aren’t exactly household names, but they’re being groomed to take on feature roles. Behind them, there’s a collection of worker bees brought in from all over the hockey world who, as Green says, all play the same way.
The team that beat Vancouver on Thursday featured two undrafted free agents in Melker Karlsson and Barclay Goodrow, a European free agent in Marcus Sorensen, a seventh-rounder in Joakim Ryan, two sixth-rounders in Kevin Labanc and Dylan DeMelo, and a fifth-rounder in Tim Heed.
Off the ice, the Sharks’ organization has been a model of stability. Wilson has been the team’s GM for 15 years. Ace scouting director Tim Burke has been with the organization for more than 20 years.
The Sharks’ shelf life will likely last as long as Burns, Pavelski and Couture remain at the top of their game. But the lessons they provide are eternal. Build the organization from the top down with quality hockey people, adhere to a philosophy and assemble a core group of players who can carry a team.