Patience with Meier early paying dividends for Sharks
SAN JOSE >> Timo Meier, just a couple weeks after he was drafted ninth overall, was making such an impact as an 18-year-old in the Sharks’ development camp in 2015 that members of the team’s coaching staff and front office were starting to think he could play in the NHL that year.
“He was a man (with) a teenager’s mindset,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said of Meier. “He was running around, hitting everything in sight. He looked like he could have played on the fourth line right away.”
But while a few other teams — understandably, in most cases — inserted their 2015 top picks into NHL lineups that year, the Sharks opted to stay patient with Meier, listed at 6-foot and a sturdy 210 pounds, and send him back to junior hockey.
“Thankfully, we fought that urge,” to keep him in San Jose, DeBoer said, “because I don’t think he would have been where he is today if we had done that.”
Now in his third full professional season, Meier, 22, leads the Sharks with nine goals and is carrying a career-best nine-game point streak into today’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at SAP Center.
The Sharks’ restraint in 2015, if you will, is paying off.
“Playing with some good players, the coaches helped me work on my game,” Meier said when asked about his consistency. “So I feel better now. It’s a tough league, so I think I’ve learned a lot from when things weren’t going as good.”
Meier’s growth has come in stages. He dominated his final year of junior hockey in 2015-16, collecting 87 points in 52 games before he led Rouyn-Noranda to a spot in the Memorial Cup final.
Two years ago, he split time between the Sharks and Barracuda of the AHL, and last year he came on in the second half of the NHL season to finish with 21 goals and 36 points. With the Barracuda in 2017, he had seven points in 14 playoff games after the Sharks were eliminated in the first round of the NHL playoffs by Edmonton.
“We figured just that one year in junior would be good for him, and then he could come right out and play in the American League,” Sharks assistant general manager Joe Will said. “Where he really stepped up was in that Grand Rapids series, the conference finals. He was a real bright spot coming in.”
Meier’s first goal Sunday in Anaheim came on a one-timer from the high slot after he joined the rush. His goal Tuesday against the New York
Rangers also came off the rush, as he flew down the wing after he received a pass from Brent Burns and neatly picked the high, far corner past goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
Meier, though, has always been comfortable in front of the opposing team’s net, like he was Sunday against the Ducks when he scored the winner in overtime.
“Sometimes in games, it’s tough, and then you just have to find another one, bang one in,” Meier said. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Trying to put myself in those positions where I can score those goals. It’s been working out.”
The Sharks knew they were going to get an impactful player with the No. 9 overall pick in the talent-rich 2015 NHL Draft. They just had to decide what type of player they wanted.
Available at that point were wingers Mikko Rantanen, who went 10th overall to Colorado, and Jake DeBrusk, who went 14th overall to Boston. The New York Islanders, with the 16th overall pick, took center Mathew Barzal, who won the Calder Trophy last season as the NHL’s best rookie.
And if defenseman Zach Werenski, taken eighth overall by Columbus, had been available at No. 9, there would have been some interest from the Sharks there, as well.
“It was kind of a pick ’em at that point,” Will said. “You could get a (defenseman), you could get the power forward,
you could get the centerman.
“We just felt at that point in time for us,” Meier was the right selection, Will said. “He’s showing now he really fits.”
What attracted the Sharks to Meier was, naturally, his no-nonsense playing style, but also his ability to play with skilled forwards. While Meier was with Halifax of the Quebec Major Junior League, he played with Jonathan Drouin for a year and Nikolaj Ehlers for two seasons.
That’s paying off now, as well, as Meier has become a staple in the Sharks’ top-six forward group.
Along the way, Meier developed into a clutch playoff performer. In three seasons of junior hockey, Meier had 48 points in 44 postseason games.
From the QMJHL to the AHL to the NHL, Meier has played in 73 playoff games.
“We’re looking for postseason performer-type guys, hard players,” Will said. “They’re such a good commodity to have, they’re hard to find, any type of power winger, and that’s what we saw in Timo.”
As far as the 2015 draft class is concerned, Meier ranks 14th in NHL games played (127) and points (56), and ninth in career goals (33). But with Meier’s current trajectory, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him move up a few spots in each of those categories. All it may take is a little more patience.
“He’s what you’re looking for in a modern hockey player,” Will said. “He skates very well, and he’s an inside player. He goes through people instead of around people, but he goes through people in legal ways.”