Sharks find groove in time for holidays
CHICAGO >> With just five games remaining before the Christmas break, the Sharks appear to be turning the corner.
They’ve won five of six games, Erik Karlsson is playing his best hockey as a Shark and the goalies have produced a .932 save percentage since Dec. 2.
In the meantime, the Pacific Division is finally heating up after a dismal showing over the first two months of the season. The Calgary Flames are leading the way, trailing the Winnipeg Jets by just two points for first place in the Western Conference. The Anaheim Ducks are 8-2 in their last 10, the Edmonton Oilers are 8-2-2 under head coach Ken Hitchcock and the Vegas Golden Knights are starting to rekindle last year’s magic with Paul Stastny rejoining the lineup Friday.
As a result, puckheads should have lots of good hockey to watch over the holiday season.
Without further ado, let’s open the mailbag:
The tone in Sharks territory definitely changed after Doug Wilson pulled off the trade of the decade to bring Karlsson to town on the eve of training camp.
As the Sharks and Karlsson struggled through an adjustment period early in the season season, the fan base grew increasingly impatient. With every loss, social media blew up with calls for head coach Pete DeBoer’s ouster, insisting that the team is too talented to be waddling in the middle of the pack.
In reality, the Sharks are probably right where they should be. They’re within striking distance of first after integrating Karlsson into the mix, reintegrating Joe Thornton into a new role and adding a group of rookies to the bottom of the lineup. The Sharks’ fate will be determined by how they play from here on out, not by what happened in October and November. They should only get better from here.
The root of the problem is the belief that the Sharks became a “super team,” like the Warriors, with Karlsson’s arrival in September. A segment of the fan base expected the Sharks to storm out of the gates, leave the Pacific Division in the dust and lead the race for the Stanley Cup throughout the winter.
A quick glance at the Bay Area sports landscape and you can see why. The Warriors have snagged three titles in four years, the Giants have won the World Series three times over the last decade and the 49ers are five-time Super Bowl champions. The bar is set high in this region.
But that isn’t how hockey works. There aren’t super teams in the NHL; it’s rare for a single player to come in and tip the scale. In truth, the Sharks are one of about eight teams with a good chance to win the Cup this spring. The Jets, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals and Nashville Predators are equally-talented teams. The Flames and the Golden Knights could give the Sharks trouble in the Pacific.
In addition, despite the Karlsson trade, the Sharks are still a team with flaws. Timo Meier’s injury last month exposed the Sharks lack of forward depth as it forced Kevin Labanc to play up on Logan Couture’s line, diminishing the third and fourth lines in the process. The lesson: If the Sharks lose a top-six forward, there’s a trick-down effect throughout the lineup.
It’s also fair to question how Thornton’s surgically-repaired knees will hold up over the course of an 82-game schedule (he missed three practices this week) and whether Martin Jones and Aaron Dell can give the Sharks the type of elite goaltending needed for a Cup run.
That’s why I never bought into the narrative that it’s Stanley Cup or bust for the Sharks this season. It isn’t a construct that works for the NHL. I commend Wilson for UP NEXT
Sharks at Blackhawks, today, 4 p.m., NBCCA
going out and getting a difference-maker, giving the Sharks a hand at the table this spring. That said, the team will still meet realistic expectations with a trip to the Western Conference Final this year.
You’re right, the fourth line is giving the Sharks a lot of good shifts these days. That’s why this is a story that will play out over the next couple of months. At this point, coach Pete DeBoer is running auditions for fourth line center for the playoffs. According to my scorecard, he’s already decided that it won’t be Antti Suomela, who got reassigned to the AHL Barracuda this week, or Dylan Gambrell.
Barclay Goodrow is getting a good look right now, and if he fails, Rourke Chartier will get his number called next. If it’s not settled by the All-Star break, looks for a trade. I’m not going to throw any names out there yet because this will likely be an off-the-radar type of move.
As far as the price tag goes, be prepared to part ways with a defenseman this winter, either Tim Heed or Joakim Ryan. With Radim Simek grabbing hold of the sixth defenseman job, the Sharks aren’t going to want to carry around eight defensemen as we get deeper into the winter. Heed is a pending-unrestricted free agent and Ryan in a pendingrestricted free agent. With everything that’s on Wilson’s plate this summer, I’d expect the Sharks to part ways with at least one of them, probably both if Karlsson re-signs. As a result, Wilson will want to get something for whoever he’s planning to cut ties with, making a trade this winter for forward depth even more plausible.
Yes, there’s lots of chatter out there about the NHL expanding its playoffs to 20 or 24 teams after Seattle joins the league as a 32nd franchise in 2020-21. Commissioner Gary Bettman has batted down this idea, but it’s gaining traction among players, owners and media.
At your request, I asked around the Sharks room and here’s what I found out:
As someone who’s reached the playoffs in eight of his nine NHL seasons, Logan Couture wants the invitation to be a challenging get.
“It’s good the way it is right now with 16 teams,” he said. “You should have to work for it. I don’t see any reason why they should change that.”
Joe Thornton also wants to maintain the integrity of the current system.
“It’s been this way forever with 16 teams. Why change it?” Thornton said. “Every year there are good teams that don’t make it — that’s how it should be. If you get in, and you belong, you can go on a run like the Flyers (2010) or the Predators (2017) wherever you’re seeded. That’s what makes the regular season interesting.”
DeBoer, offered a different view, acknowledging his own bias a coach.
“We get fired, and a lot of times, what hangs around your neck is you didn’t make the playoffs. The more teams, the better,” the Sharks coach said with a chuckle. “I also believe that the parity in the league is such that (it’s fair). I’ve gone to the Stanley Cup Final as a No. 7 seed and a No. 6 seed, so I’m for it.”
As for me, I’m with Kane, Couture and Thornton. The balance in the NHL is perfect right now. Every game means so much starting in October and the playoffs are still the best thing in sports. Let’s stick with tradition and not try to fix what isn’t broken.”