Might be time for struggling team to make some moves
SAN JOSE >> Can a move or two be far off for the Sharks?
Small moves, drastic moves. Whatever the case may be, it’s hard to imagine Sharks general manager Doug Wilson standing pat much longer as his team goes through one of its toughest first-half stretches in quite a while.
The latest loss, 5-2 to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, was the fifth straight for the Sharks and dropped their record to 4-10-1.
During the losing streak, the Sharks have been outscored 22-8 and have managed just five even-strength goals.
By the end of Saturday night, the Sharks were last in the Western Conference in points percentage, and nine points out of a playoff spot. This is uncharted territory for a franchise that has made the postseason 14 of the last 15 seasons.
”No one in this league feels sorry for the San Jose Sharks. No one,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “We’ve made the playoffs so many times in the last bunch of years. No one out there is saying, ‘We feel bad for them.’ We’ve got to get ourselves out of this, and it’s going to be us in this room that’s going to do it.”
Couture said much the same last Tuesday night after the Sharks were drummed 5-1 by the Boston Bruins to conclude a 1-3-1 road trip.
The Sharks thought they were on to something after getting 53 shots on goal Friday in a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. But for the 11th time in 15 games, the Sharks gave up the first goal of the game. They were down 2-0 by the 12:46 mark of the first period, and 3-0 just 45 seconds into the second period.
“You want to build on it. That’s always the goal,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said of Friday’s game. “It is disappointing. Like I said, it’s tough to start in a 2-0 hole like that. From there, you bleed out.”
So what can be done? One has to expect that if defenseman Radim Simek emerges healthy from his Sunday tuneup with the Barracuda, he will rejoin the Sharks for Tuesday’s game against Chicago.
Simek won’t be a cure-all, not with all of the problems the Sharks are having. But he can do add some depth and some much-needed bite to the Sharks’ defense. As a physical left-shot defenseman, he can slide next to Brent Burns again and allow Marc-Edouard Vlasic to partner with Mario Ferraro
Simek made an impact when he joined the Sharks’ lineup last December. You can’t expect a lot from him right away, but the Sharks know what he can bring and how steady he can be.
When the Sharks were on the verge of missing the playoffs in the lockoutshortened 2012-13 season, Wilson traded Ryane Clowe, Michal Handzus and Douglas Murray in a span of eight days and brought in Raffi Torres and Scott Hannan.
Additionally, Burns was moved to forward by former coach Todd McLellan. The Sharks got their house in order and made the postseason.
In 2015, the Sharks went 0-5-1 in the first two weeks of December. No major moves had been made, other than signing Dainius Zubrus to a one-year deal the month prior. Still, even after the losing skid, the Sharks were 14-14-1.
And of course, when the Sharks had won just eight of their first 23 games in late November of 2005, Wilson pulled off his biggest trade of all, acquiring Joe Thornton from Boston for Brad Stuart, Wayne Primeau and Marco Sturm.
Point is, when the Sharks have scuffled either early or at the midway point of a season, Wilson has traditionally done something — big or small.
Other moves:
Lean Bergmann has been impressive since his return to the Barracuda, producing three goals and three assists in four games leading into Sunday. He could come up and provide a bigger impact on the fourth line than Lukas Radil, whose impact Saturday was negligible. Dylan Gambrell could also return at some point next week; he suffered a hand injury in the loss to Boston.
Having Bergmann and Gambrell return will help, but it’s really just nibbling at the edges. Turning the season around is going to fall on the Sharks’ best players.
Erik Karlsson has to figure out what will work for him on the defensive end, because opposing teams are going right at him. Timo Meier, now without a point in six straight games, has to rediscover the confidence that made him a 30goal scorer last season. Couture now has one assist in five games.
Finally, goaltenders Martin Jones and Aaron Dell have to find a way to help their teammates. The Sharks simply do not have the offense to offset sub.900 save percentages.
“I think everyone’s looking in the mirror right now and everyone’s disappointed in how they’re playing,” Couture said. “I can only speak for myself. When I go home from the rink, I think back on the game I played and right now I’m not happy. I’m counted on to do a lot for us, and right now, I’m not.
”So, it’s difficult. It’s something that being here in San Jose, we’ve never gone through. I’ve never personally gone through it. ... There’s no blame game going on in the room at all. Everyone looking at their own game. Individually, we all need to be better.”