Reported start date could hurt Sharks’ prep
The San Jose Sharks may not be getting as much time as they would like for training camp — wherever that may be — to prepare for the start of the 2020-21 NHL season.
Multiple reports indicate the league and the NHL Players’ Association are now targeting a Jan. 13 start to what would be a 56- game regular season. That could be preceded by a 10- day training camp with no exhibition games, according to TSN, although discussions between the league and the union are ongoing.
TSN’s report also indicated that the seven non- playoff teams that were not part of the NHL’s Return to Play plan this summer, including the Sharks, would only get a short head start to training camp.
Those teams had sought at least an extra week to prepare for the 2020-21 season considering they had not been allowed to skate together in large groups since March. Now, though, they may only get a few extra days, with players reporting on a voluntary basis on or around Dec. 28.
Sharks coach Bob Boughner may be in for a tough time getting the team ready for a reported Jan. 13 start to the season.
If Santa Clara County’s ban on contact sports remains in effect beyond Dec. 21, as county executive Dr. Jeff Smith has predicted, the Sharks will likely have to move their training camp outside of San Jose. Possible destinations include Arizona and Las Vegas, places two other Santa Clara County teams — the 49ers and the San Jose State football team — have made their temporary home.
All plans are subject, if not likely, to change, though, as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths reach record levels throughout many parts of North America. In California alone Monday, county health departments around the state combined to report 34,136 new cases of COVID-19, shattering a previous single- day record.
Whatever the case, the time frame as currently proposed wouldn’t give new coach Bob Boughner and his staff much ice time to make changes to a team whose record (2936- 5, 63 points) was the worst in the Western Conference last season. Last year, training camps lasted more than two weeks and the Sharks had six exhibition games.
Boughner has talked about implementing new systems that are tailored to his personnel. Associate coach Rocky Thompson, in particular, has several ideas to rejuvenate the Sharks’ power play, which finished 23rd in the NHL last season.