Sharks’ top-six forward group might get new look
DeBoer has had the Shark on the left wing for three consecutive practices
Just two games into the post-Patrick Marleau era, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer is reconsidering the Tomas Hertl project at center.
Hertl skated on Logan Couture’s left wing for a third consecutive practice Wednesday, occupying the spot Marleau held down for a large chunk of the past five seasons.
Although DeBoer insists he isn’t looking beyond Thursday’s games against Buffalo, the move suggests he’s already dissatisfied with his top-six forward group and willing to veer from general manager Doug Wilson’s longterm blueprint to add more firepower to the mix.
DeBoer just entered the final season of his three-year deal with the Sharks, and if he’s going to get another contract, the team will need to make the playoffs and contend in the Western Conference. An 0-3 start would not be good, especially when the Sharks are opening the schedule with a cozy fivegame homestand.
A man in Wilson’s position tends to take a longer view. The GM believes the Sharks can offset Marleau’s departure by turning to up-andcomers such as Timo Meier, Kevin Labanc and Ryan Carpenter. Wilson also is convinced that Hertl will develop into a bona fide NHL center once he gets an injuryfree season to grow into the position.
Nevertheless, Wilson insists that he stays out of dayto-day lineup decisions; DeBoer can play Hertl where he sees fit, which is what the Sharks coach intends to do.
“We’re all short-term as coaches. Doug juggles the blueprints, I’m short-term, so we’re going to do whatever (it takes),” DeBoer said. “If they (Wilson’s blueprints) can jibe together, and coincide, and they work, and they can help us win, we’ll do them at this level. But if they’re not, we’re going to change something up.
“I still think Tomas Hertl’s going to be a real, real good centerman in this league, but that doesn’t mean he can’t help us win a game, tomorrow night, somewhere else.”
Still, if DeBoer is willing to slide Hertl onto the wing in Game 3 of an 82-game schedule, it isn’t hard to see Hertl rejoining the Joe Thornton-Joe Pavelski line sooner than later. Hertl checks all the boxes DeBoer has identified as essential attributes for the third piece of the Thornton line: He’s powerful, he’s strong on the cycle and he has a knack for scoring the dirty goal around the net.
After auditioning no fewer than eight left wingers on the top line last season, why not close the revolving door by returning to the combination that drove the Sharks to the Stanley Cup Final two years ago?
Losing Marleau is proving to be a double whammy for the Sharks: they miss his offensive production on Couture’s line and his ability to play center on the third line.
After the Sharks moved Hertl up to the top line in January 2016, Marleau slid into the third-line center position, creating matchup problems for teams across the NHL. Under the center alignment of Thornton, Couture and Marleau, the Sharks finished the season with a 2614-4 record, setting the stage for their run to the Stanley Cup Final. But with Marleau gone to Toronto, Chris Tierney will need to close the third-line hole opened by Hertl’s move to the wing while Carpenter takes his place on the fourth line.
Although Tierney acquitted himself well as the team’s third-line center in the Western Conference Finals two years ago, he’s yet to display the type of consistency the Sharks need to recreate the center depth they had with Thornton, Couture and Marleau two years ago.
• Paul Martin missed practice Wednesday due to a lower-body injury, and Dylan DeMelo took his spot on the blue line, playing to the left of Brent Burns on his off side.
The Sharks’ options here also include Tim Heed and Joakim Ryan. Although DeMelo, a right-shot defenseman, has proved capable of playing on the left side of the blue line, Ryan, a lefty, could be recalled from the AHL Barracuda and slotted onto the third pairing if DeMelo or Heed stumbles Thursday night. At this point, Martin’s injury is considered to be of the day-to-day variety.
• Under normal circumstances, a coach might chafe at watching a division rival improve its record to 3-0. But that wasn’t DeBoer’s reaction Tuesday night while watching the Vegas Golden Knights’ 5-2 victory over Arizona.
The expansion Knights grabbed hold of first place in the Pacific Division by winning their first-ever regular season home game. After an emotional opening ceremony in which first responders to last week’s mass shooting at Mandalay Bay accompanied the players onto the ice, the Knights scored three goals in the first 6:15.
“You could feel the emotion almost through the TV screen,” DeBoer said. “The way they acknowledged it, and the first responders, and then the way the game started, and the result, I thought it was a great night for hockey.”