Sharks’ 4th line a new look
Speedy, but smaller, Nieto meshing well with his teammates
SAN JOSE — Matt Nieto isn’t your traditional fourth-line bruiser.
He’s fast, elusive and he weighs about 190 pounds dripping wet.
But Nieto’s size limitations aren’t deterring Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer from skating the speedy winger on his fourth line with Tommy Wingels and Melker Karlsson, even when his squad faces heavy, punishing teams like the Los Angeles Kings, a sign of changing times in the modern NHL.
“They play heavy, though,” DeBoer said, referring to the Nieto-Wingels-Karlsson line. “They’re fast, they’re not oversized guys, but they play hard, they play heavy.”
Although the modern NHL is becoming faster and more skilled every year, DeBoer insists that the Sharks won’t be changing their identity this season to keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the Stanley Cup in June by loading their roster with team speed.
He still wants the Sharks to be a heavy-forechecking team that creates turnovers by pressuring the puck all over the ice. His team is just taking a modernized path to achieving those goals, which is why he’s comfortable playing an undersized fourth line against the Kings.
In the old NHL, a conventional fourth line looked similar to the group that the Kings sent out in the season opener on Wednesday night. Jordan Nolan is listed at 6-foot-3, 219 pounds, Kyle Clifford is 6-foot-2, 206 pounds, and Andy Andreoff, the smallest of the three, is 6-foot-1, 203 pounds.
Fourth lines traditionally play with physicality, throwing hits to separate defensemen from the puck on the forecheck, using size and strength to wear down opponents over the course of a 60-minute game.
Despite the Kings’ size advantage, DeBoer didn’t hesitate to pencil in a fourth line made up of three players who all weigh less than Andreoff’s 203 pounds. The Kings providedDeBoer with the perfect opportunity to suit up veteran bruiser Micheal Haley, who’s gotten into 26 fights in 72 career NHL games, but he went in a different direction and the decision paid off.
The fourth line spent the majority of its 15 shifts maintaining puck possession in the offensive zone, using its speed advantage to get behind the Kings’ defense, establishing a forecheck with strong stick play and good body positioning.
“To Pete, playing hard isn’t just going out there and getting big hits,” Nieto said. “Playing hard is winning stick battles, creating turnovers, getting inside their coverage. All those things we’re capable of doing, and when we do it, we can be a really effective line.”
Wingels is particularly aware of how the meaning of playing a “hard game” is changing in the modern NHL. The 28-year-old forward has led the Sharks in hits over the last four seasons, throwing his body around whenever an opposing defenseman goes below the goal line to retrieve the puck.
But Wingels is adjusting his game this season to catch up with modern times.
“The mentality has changed and it’s had to,” Wingels said. “It’s about playing fast all over the ice.”
“It’s easier to create turnovers having good body positioning, having a good stick and getting in there at the right time versus hitting.”
DeBoer said puck possession is the “name of the game” in the modern NHL.
“We want the puck,” he said. “You run around looking for hits now and they’re making plays through you. You’re chasing the game all night.”
“The whole goal of getting in on the forecheck is to get the puck.”
The Sharks are also capable of suiting up an untraditional fourth line because the team gets its heaviness from elsewhere in the lineup.
“Our heaviness comes from our big guys,” alternate captain Logan Couture said. “Burnzie (Brent Burns) is heavy, Jumbo (Joe Thornton) is heavy, our skilled guys are heavy, so we just go about it in a different way.”
The fourth line’s versatility also allows DeBoer to keep the unit on the ice in a variety of situations. DeBoer felt comfortable playing the Nieto- Wingels- Karlsson trio against the Anze Kopitar line on Wednesday, and instead of shortening his bench in the third period, he had them out on the ice in the final minutes of a onegoal game.
With a veteran core, after a deep run in the playoffs last spring, the Sharks will need this type of contribution from its fourth line throughout the year.
“It’s such a long and grueling season, once you get into June, the fresher team is usually the better team,” Nieto said. “For us, it’s just rolling those four lines, playing six (defensemen) and saving the big guys for later in the season.”