Sharks will train in Arizona; NHL sets start date
Just call them the Scottsdale Sharks for now.
General manager Doug Wilson announced Sunday that the San Jose Sharks will be holding training camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., presenting another challenge to a team that is looking to rebound from one of its most turbulent seasons in the last 20 years.
Hours earlier, the NHL and the Players’ Association completed a deal to hold a 56-game 2021 season from Jan. 13 to May 8 with playoffs to last into July. The league’s Board of Governors voted Sunday to approve the agreement that was supported by the NHLPA executive board Friday night.
With skating at their own facility in San Jose prohibited due to Santa Clara County’s ban on contact sports — the ban has been extended into January — the Sharks’ training camp will take place at Scottsdale Ice Den, a privately owned facility where the Arizona Coyotes usually practice.
“We explored a lot of different places, and this was a place that checked the majority of the boxes,” Wilson said. “There’s no perfect scenario. The perfect scenario is playing in our own market. But we looked just about everywhere, and this just seemed to fit the majority of our needs.”
As one of the seven teams that was not part of the NHL’s Return to Play this summer, the Sharks would be allowed to open camp Dec. 31.
The league’s 24 other teams would open Jan. 3 and the regular season would begin Jan. 13. There will be no exhibition games and to cut down on travel, NHL teams will only play teams within their divisions.
With the Canadian border closed to non- essential travel, the Sharks were placed in the same division as Anaheim, Arizona, Colorado, Los Angeles, Minnesota, St. Louis and Vegas. A division with the seven Canadian-based teams was formed, and the 16 other U.S.-based teams were realigned into two new divisions.
“The way it ended up with the divisions,” Wilson said, “it makes sense to me on paper.”
The Associated Press reported Saturday that the Sharks would stay in Arizona for the start of the regular season. That, however, has not been finalized, Wilson said. Wilson said the Sharks will
likely start the season on the road, allowing for the possibility that they could play home games later in the season.
“If games can’t be played in Santa Clara, there’s a couple of potential options that we’ve been exploring, just like we were exploring sites for training camp,” Wilson said. “It could be a hub city, it could be us playing in another NHL city for a while. Until we see our schedule, I don’t think we’ll know which
and how many games will be affected.”
The NHL is expected to release its schedule this week.
The Sharks’ move out of San Jose had been speculated since Santa Clara County issued its ban on contact sports.
The Sharks will be the second of Santa Clara County’s three pro sports teams to relocate in Arizona. The 49ers have been headquartered in suburban Phoenix since Dec. 2.
The Sharks are looking to rebound from a season in which they finished 29-36-5 overall and 15th and last in the Western Conference. Their .450 points percentage was the worst since the 2002- 03 season when they were 28-37-9 (.445).
The Sharks have a new full- time coaching staff, led by Bob Boughner, and have a handful of new players, including goalie Devan Dubnyk, and forwards Ryan Donato and Matt Nieto.