Kane not feeling extra pressure
Winger isn’t expected to ‘carry the mail’ for Sharks
SAN JOSE >> Almost right from the moment he arrived in the Bay Area from upstate New York and was so famously picked up at the airport by Joe Thornton, Sharks winger Evander Kane hasn’t had a problem fitting into his surroundings.
He had 14 points in 17 regular-season games for the Sharks after he was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in February in a trade deadline day deal. In the summer, he attended his first NASCAR event at Sonoma Raceway, and a few days later, took part in former Warrior Javale McGee’s charity softball game at the Oakland Coliseum.
And even after he signed a seven-year, $49 million contract extension with the Sharks, bringing with it some high expectations, there isn’t a need for him to stand out on his own.
“We’re not asking him to, and we never have asked him to, carry the mail here,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “He’s a piece of what we’re doing, and an important piece, but it’s not a situation where if he doesn’t produce, we don’t win.
“That’s a better pressure. You’re maybe not taking as much on yourself as a guy would in a similar situation on a different team.”
Twice in his NHL career, Kane, 27, has been the leading scorer for his team. In 2011-12, he had 30 goals in his first season with the Winnipeg Jets and two years ago, had 28 to lead the Sabres.
The Sharks would like nothing more than to see Kane eclipse those totals in his first full season in San Jose. Still, even after signing the deal — which was at that point the biggest contract for any Sharks forward — he isn’t putting extra pressure on himself.
“I know what type of player I am, and obviously they do. That’s why they signed me,” Kane said when asked if there was any pressure to live up to the contract. “I’m just going to continue to do what I’ve been doing, which got to me this point. You want to get better and better every year and bring more.
“That’s a goal of mine going into this year, especially if you want to win, everybody’s going to have to raise their level of play.”
As a reminder, Kane showed what he brings to the Sharks in a span of about four minutes during Thursday’s preseason game against the Calgary Flames.
Midway through the third period, Kane sped up the ice and set up Timo Meier for a shorthanded goal on a pretty two-on-one play.
A few minutes later, Kane was carrying the puck close to his own blue line when he was rudely stood up by Flames forward Sam Bennett.
After Kane was knocked down by the open-ice hit, he got up and skated right toward Bennett, and the two dropped the mitts for a short but spirited tussle.
“I’m not the type of player you can take a run at and be able to skate away from,” Kane said. “It was me just answering my own bell, I guess.”
The crowd at SAP Center ate it up. So did the Sharks’ bench.
“I think he shows up and plays with an edge almost every night,” DeBoer said. “That doesn’t mean he’s fighting every night. I think he consistently shows up and you know that you’re playing against him.”
Kane formed an instant chemistry with Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi after he was acquired by the Sharks. His mixture of skill, speed and toughness provided the perfect tonic to a team that at that point was still in a battle just to make the playoffs.
Now, with one game left in the preseason — Sunday on the road against the Vegas Golden Knights — the Sharks are still trying to figure out where Kane might fit best.
For all of training camp this month, Kane was again on San Jose’s top line, playing with Pavelski and for the first time, a healthy Thornton.
Their first game together, last Saturday at home against the Golden Knights, didn’t quite go as planned, as all three players finished a minus-3.
But the preseason is the ideal time to tinker, and midway through Thursday’s game with the Sharks struggling to gain any traction, Kane was moved to the third line with Donskoi and center Antti Suomela. The speedy trio created a handful of chances, and practiced together again Friday.
“I thought we worked well with each other for never really practicing or playing prior to,” Kane said of Thursday’s game. “Looking forward to Sunday and seeing how that goes.”
UP NEXT
Sharks at Golden Knights, Sunday, 5 p.m., NHLN