Burning Sharks questions at the break
David Quinn has been behind the bench — as an assistant, associate, or head coach, in college, the AHL, or the NHL — for close to three decades.
But this season with the San Jose Sharks stands alone for Quinn — both because of its immense challenges at times, and its understated rewards.
“Jesus, I saw a lot,” Quinn said Wednesday night after the Sharks' 3-2 overtime loss to the
Anaheim Ducks.
San Jose entered the NHL All-Star break with a 14-32-5 record and 33 points, only good enough for next-to-last place in the league's overall standings.
Veterans have left, some younger players have taken their place, the numerous injuries have been decimating, and any remote hope of competing for a playoff spot ended before October was even over.
Barring some improvement after the break, when they have 31 games left, including 11 before the NHL trade deadline on March 8, the Sharks will finish with their fewest points since 1995-96 when they had 47. They had 60 last season.
“I would say challenging, and I think we've answered a lot of challenges,” Quinn said when asked to describe the season so far. “We all understood where we were going in the season. Everybody in the world picked us dead last. Every prediction.”
But Quinn and his staff have taken pride in the way the
Sharks have, for the most part, competed, stuck together, and shown improvement as they've gotten healthier.
“Sometimes, if you want to develop as an organization, not just individually, but if you want to grow as an organization, unfortunately, you have to suffer and go through what we're going through,” Quinn said.
“That's the pain of success, and that's what we're going through. And I think we've handled it well. I really do.”
Here are some questions about the Sharks going into the break, which doesn't see them play another game until Feb. 14.
NO LAST PLACE? >> After a crushing 12-game losing streak this season from Dec. 15 to Jan. 9, the Sharks went into the break having earned points in seven of 10 games (5-3-2). That's allowed them to climb out of the league's basement, past the Chicago Blackhawks, and into 31st place overall.
It's tough to see the Sharks falling back into last. Quinn is hopeful Tomas Hertl, Mikael Granlund, Mario Ferraro, and Henry Thrun will all be healthy enough to play after the break, which should help a Sharks team that, per tankathon.com, has the league's easiest remaining strength of schedule, with their opponents combining for a .524 points percentage.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, will be without star forward Connor Bedard for at least another five weeks, hurting their chances of putting a competitive product on the ice between now and the March 8 trade deadline. So it appears Chicago has the inside track to finish in 32nd place, thereby having a 25.5 percent chance of winning the draft in the spring lottery.
The team that finishes with the second-worst record will have a 13.5 percent chance of winning the lottery, and the third-to-lastplace team has an 11.5 percent
chance. San Jose is five points back of Anaheim for 30th.
EKLUND'S AUDITION? >> William Eklund played center for the Sharks in their final two games before the break, and collected three assists. He was filling in for an injured Hertl, with Quinn calling it an “evaluation” of what he would look like as a center.
The question is: where is all of this going? The Sharks would seemingly be set at
center for a while as Hertl, Granlund, Logan Couture, and Nico Sturm are all signed through next season. Injuries can continue to happen, of course, and if any one of those players is felled again next season, the Sharks would have some insurance in Eklund, who has a team-high six points in the last five games.
Perhaps, too, it's about whether Eklund is ready for a full-time center role, should a deal occur between
now and the trade deadline, or this offseason.
With a thin market for centers, after Elias Lindholm was traded by Calgary to Vancouver on Wednesday, TSN's Darren Dreger reported that the Philadelphia Flyers are taking calls on center Scott Laughton, who has two years left on a contract that carries a $3 million average annual value. If that's the case, will teams be calling Mike Grier about Granlund (one
more year at $5 million) or Sturm (one more year at $2 million)?
Hertl said earlier this week that he and Grier will likely talk after the season is over, possibly about whether the Czech-born center's timeline for wanting to win again matches up with what the Sharks have in mind.
If any of those centers get moved, it's nice to know you have a player like Eklund who, at 21, can grow into that type of role.
“This is one of the toughest positions to play in this game, so I think he's done a really good job as a young kid who hasn't played much as a center lately,” Couture said of Eklund. “Tough position to be in. I think he's looked good on faceoffs, he's good with the puck on his stick.”
SHAK'S FUTURE >> The Sharks reassigned defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin to the Barracuda on Thursday morning, giving him the chance to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic this weekend at Tech CU Arena in San Jose.
Now it's a matter of when he'll be back. Mukhamadullin, 22, has played three games with the Sharks and picked up his first career NHL point Wednesday assisting on Anthony Duclair's first-period powerplay goal. He's averaged 21:09 in ice time per game.
The Sharks might not have a roster spot available for Mukhamadullin right away if Ferraro, Granlund, and Thrun are ready to come off injured reserve this month. Still, as Todd Marchant, the Sharks' director of player development, said last week, if Mukhamadullin shows he's ready, the team will create room for him. That could come via trade or by placing someone on waivers.
“I'd sure love to have him here, but that's a decision that we have to make as an organization,” Quinn said of Mukhamadullin. “Regardless of whether he played well, what's best for his development is really the only thing that matters.”