NHL planning to go straight to playoffs, ending Sharks’ season.
League says it will go straight to the playoffs if play is able to resume
Commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday declared the NHL’s regular season to be over, officially starting a critical — and lengthy — Sharks offseason that general manager Doug Wilson hopes to use to get his team back into the playoffs next year.
In a televised announcement, Bettman said the NHL, if it is able to resume play after it paused its season more than two months ago, will go straight into the playoffs with 24 teams in two hub cities still to be determined. That leaves out the Sharks, who ended the season with a 29-36-5 record to finish 15th in the Western Conference and miss the playoffs for just the second time in the past 16 seasons.
The 2020-21 regular season may not begin until December or January, Bettman said, meaning the Sharks could go nine or 10 months before they play another meaningful game. The NHL paused its season March 12, a day after the Sharks played what turned out to be their last game of the 2019-20 season. “We actually look at it, in a way, that we can probably use this to our benefit,” Wilson said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s trying to find that balance of getting healthy, getting rested, but also realizing that this is going to be a different training cycle.”
Wilson’s lengthy to-do list includes a decision on whether he’ll make Bob Boughner the Sharks’ per
manent head coach. Wilson earlier this spring called Boughner the front-runner for the job, and it does not appear that mindset has changed.
“We’re committed to putting the best staff together, to get this team ready to come out of the gates next year,” said Wilson, who added that he does not have a timeline to finalize the decision, “and Bob certainly has the inroads on that.”
Challenged by injuries to key players such as Erik Karlsson, Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl, Boughner’s Sharks went 14-20-3 after Pete DeBoer was fired Dec. 11.
“I think he came in and did a very good job,” Wilson said of Boughner. “Our team was certainly playing the right way, then getting the injuries with Erik, Logan and Tommy going out makes it really difficult.”
Wilson also has to address an offense that averaged just 2.57 goals per game, fourth-worst in the NHL.
Officially, Timo Meier finished as the Sharks’ leader with 49 points (22 goals. 27 assists), and Evander Kane led the team with 26 goals. Couture and Hertl finished tied for third on the team in goals with 16 each, despite missing a combined 40 games.
Asked what his top priorities are for the offseason, Wilson mentioned the need to have a “great” draft this year with three picks in the first two rounds. But Wilson also said, “we need to add, if you ask me, probably forwards.
“We’ve got some young forwards that are coming. We’ve got five top-six guys that have all showed that they can score 30 goals in this league.
“The first thing this team needs is to be connected, playing the right way right from day one, and come in and have that focus right out of the gate. Do we need to add some pieces? Sure we do.”
Wilson was asked about comments goalie Martin Jones made to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman earlier this month. Jones said of the Sharks, “When it started to spiral, we went our own ways instead of coming together. It’s something that will be addressed moving forward.”
“Jonesy’s thoughts were very accurate,” Wilson said. “When you’ve got really talented players with high expectations, and then they get frustrated, that’s going to happen. I view it as a good thing. What happens is, you get caught in between, trying to do too much, caring too much, getting frustrated.
“I’d rather have that than apathy with people that didn’t care.”
For the postseason, the top four teams in each conference ranked by points percentage — Boston, Tampa Bay, Washington and Philadelphia in the East and St. Louis, Colorado, Vegas and Dallas in the West — will play separate roundrobin tournaments to determine seeding.
The remaining 16 teams will be seeded by conference, setting up best-of-five series in the East of No. 5 Pittsburgh vs. No. 12 Montreal, No. 6 Carolina vs. No. 11 New York Rangers, No. 7 New York Islanders vs. No. 10 Florida and No. 8 Toronto vs. No. 9 Columbus. In the West, it would be No. 5 Edmonton vs. No. 12 Chicago, No. 6 Nashville vs. No. 11 Arizona, No. 7 Vancouver vs. No. 10 Minnesota and No. 8 Calgary vs. No. 9 Winnipeg.
The NHL also announced that there may be potentially two draft lotteries to determine the top 15 selections. The lottery will be held June 26, with another scheduled later depending on which of the remaining eight teams qualify for the 16-team playoff. The Sharks do not own their first round selection this year, having dealt it to the Ottawa Senators in 2018 in the trade that bought Karlsson to San Jose.