Identifying main issue is easy, fixing it isn't

Sharks winger Rudolfs Balcers had a breakaway in the second period against the Nashville Predators that was followed later by a partial breakaway for fellow forward Noah Gregor. Tomas Hertl then had his own one-on-one chance against goalie Juuse Saros in overtime.

If the Sharks had buried any one of those opportunities Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena, their season-long losing streak would now be over.

Instead, the Sharks were shut out for the eighth time this season and fell to 0-5-2 in their last seven games, as Ryan Johansen scored in overtime for a 1-0 Predators win.

“We talk about this all the time — it's trying to get some bounces, trying to get a little puck luck, trying to get more shot volume to try and produce some more offense,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said, “because it's very hard, as you can see, winning hockey games when the puck's not going in.”

The Sharks have scored just 13 goals in their last seven games, but the lack of offense has been an issue all season.

Going into tonight's road game with the Chicago Blackhawks, the Sharks are averaging 2.56 goals per game, tied for 30th out of 32 NHL teams.

If that average stays the same, it would mark the Sharks' lowest since 201213 when they scored 2.42 goals per game.

During 5-on-5 play, the Sharks' numbers are even worse with just 122 goals in 72 games, a per-game average that ranks last in the league.

“Trying to outscore our mistakes has been our issue all year,” Boughner said. “We can't ever seem to get that third goal we need once we get the second one, and that's important.”

How important? Scoring on average just a half a goal per game more would make a huge difference for the Sharks. This season they are 6-27-7 when they score two goals or less, but 236-3 when they score three goals or more.

So the issue is obvious. The only question is how the Sharks will go about trying to solve the problem.

The Sharks do not have a ton of salary cap space left for next season after they signed Hertl to an eightyear, $65.1 million contract extension. They like their young prospects, including forwards William Eklund and Thomas Bordeleau, who is making his AHL debut on Wednesday.

But to add an experienced top-six winger, the Sharks might have to create cap space by either trading players or buying out contracts.

Some candidates to be moved include goalie Adin Hill, forward Kevin Labanc, and defenseman Radim Simek.

Hill is injured and the Sharks already have two goalies under team control for next season in James Reimer and Kaapo Kahkonen. Labanc had fallen down the team's depth chart before he suffered a shoulder injury in December and Simek has been a healthy scratch in nine of the last 10 games. Both Labanc and Simek have two years remaining on their respective contracts.

Parting ways with those three players in the offseason – assuming there is no retained salary and depending on what players are brought back in a trade – would create over $9 million in cap space. The Sharks might also look at buying out the final four years of defenseman MarcEdouard Vlasic's contract, which would save just over $8.8 million for the next two seasons.

Those decisions could be made by interim general manager Joe Will or whoever the next full-time GM will be if that person is hired prior to the draft.

“You've seen over the season we have some worldclass players and some incredible talent in this organization,” Sharks president Jonathan Becher said last week. “But openly, we do need a few more pieces, which will be part of both Joe's job and the GMs as well.”

One of those pieces needs to be a proven goal scorer.