EYES ON THE PRIZE
Sharks have sights set on Stanley Cup after Karlsson deal; Thornton gets ‘clean bill of health’
SAN JOSE >> Of course the Sharks faced some personnel questions as they started training camp Friday at their practice facility.
What can the Sharks reasonably expect from a legend like Joe Thornton at this stage of his career with two surgically repaired knees? Are they deep enough at center? Can the younger players take another step forward?
And, yes, remarkably, who will wind up playing alongside defenseman Erik Karlsson?
Nevertheless, expectations for the Sharks have perhaps never been higher than they are right now, especially after acquiring Karlsson from the Ottawa Senators on Thursday in one of the biggest trades in franchise history.
Just making the playoffs won’t quite be good enough.
“It’s a pressure to win,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said Friday. “There’s no shirking that, there’s no hiding from it. I’m not a big believer in you don’t talk about the Stanley Cup. There’s no hiding from that. That’s what we’re here to do.”
The Sharks’ offseason up until Thursday had been highlighted by the longterm extensions handed out to Evander Kane, Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl, plus the one-year deal given to Thornton for him to come back and play a 14th season in San Jose.
They were thought to be playoff contenders again, like they have been for most of the last 15 years. Maybe not in the NHL’s top tier, but among the teams that have a reasonable shot at a division crown.
All that has changed with the acquisition of Karlsson, who should help a power play that ranked 15th in the 2017-18 regular season and sixth in the playoffs.
The message is simple. It’s time to hang a Cup banner in the rafters of SAP Center.
“Things kind of get shaken up after a big trade,” said Couture, who centered a line with Hertl and Timo Meier on Friday. “It’s a good energy, it’s a nervous energy, it’s every type of energy that there is . ... Everyone’s just ready to get going and today was a very good day.”
That’s partly because the Sharks saw Thornton back on the ice, healthy, rested and eager to play.
Thornton took his normal spot among the forward lines Friday at the team’s practice facility — at center ice with Joe Pavelski on his right side and now Kane on his left.
Thornton said Friday team doctors gave him a clean bill of health the day before, eight months after he had his second major reconstructive
knee surgery in as many years.
“I feel good,” Thornton said. “Everything’s healthy, 100 percent, ready to go.”
Friday was the first opportunity for Thornton, 39, to go through a full practice with Kane, who the Sharks signed to a seven-year extension in May.
“For me being a passer and to have the luxury of passing to two goal scorers, it’s something that you enjoy,” Thornton said. “You look forward to coming to the rink because you know you have two finishers on your line.”
As solid as the defense corps looks, and how dangerous the top six forward group appears to be, there’s still a question mark regarding the Sharks’ depth.
Back are forwards Kevin Labanc, Joonas Donskoi, Marcus Sorensen, Melker Karlsson and Barclay Goodrow.
Labanc and Donskoi had their moments last season, but also battled inconsistency, with Donskoi coming in and out of the lineup with injuries. Goodrow also spent the first half of the year injured before he came on in the second half, and Sorensen, who started the year with the Barracuda, played his best hockey of the season in the Sharks’ two-round playoff run.
There’s also the potential for two first-year players to start the season as the Sharks’ third- and fourthline centers.
Antti Suomela, 24, looks like he’ll replace Chris Tierney as the Sharks’ thirdline center. He signed a one-year deal with San Jose in June after he led Liiga — Finland’s top professional league — in scoring this past season. Dylan Gambrell, who played three
games with the Sharks at the end of last season after he was signed out of Denver University, looks like the leading candidate to be the fourth line center.
There are some unknowns.
“Everyone’s making a big deal out of that right now,” Couture said. “Pete has done a great job throughout his tenure here of finding lines and what works, putting guys in spots that benefit them.”
As far a where the Sharks fit in the Western Conference, it’s fair to say that if there’s a favorite to win the Pacific Division, it’s San Jose. But the playoffs matter most, and the question is whether the Sharks stack up with Nashville and Winnipeg from the Central Division and teams like Toronto, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and the defending Cup champions, Washington, from the East?
“There’s very rarely an easy game,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said. “When teams go out and get better, it forces other teams to get better.”
“Doug and ownership have sent a message to our group that they believe that we’re one of the teams that has the capability of (winning the Cup),” DeBoer said. “Now that the journey starts, it’s on us to get better every day and make sure that give ourselves a chance to win.”
• DeBoer said Melker Karlsson — who didn’t practice with either of the top two groups Friday — is dealing with an upper body injury right now, and has been for most of the summer. Karlsson is unable to take contact right now and it is unclear when Karlsson will be able to be a full participant in practice again.