Coming off their first Stanley Cup finals berth, the Sharks disappointed exiting the playoffs in the first round to the Oilers. The offence no longer has the fire power it once had as Joe Thornton has slowed down while longtime Shark Patrick Marleau will play for his first team not named the Sharks; the defence and goaltening is still good though. Even in a tough division, the Sharks should still be one of the wild card teams if they don't get a top-three seed in the Pacific.
Arrivals/Departures
Arrivals: Antoine Bibeau
Departures: Patrick Marleau, David Schlemko, Mirco Mueller, Michael Haley
Forwards:
Joe Pavelski still leads this team at forward even after a season where his goal production dropped from 40, 37 and 38 in the last three years to 29 in 2017. Despite the drop off in production, Pavelski is still one of the best snipers in the league and his goal production should yet again eclipse 35 goals. Logan Couture had a disappointing season with only 52 points after having the best 2016 playoffs of any player in the entire league but part of his lack of scoring could be blamed on a nasty facial injury. Mikkel Boedker's first season with the Sharks could have went better - after signing a four-year contract he only scored 10 goals putting up 26 points - but because of the Sharks' lack of depth on left wing he may be the first-line forward. Joe Thornton is still an amazing passer but the rest of his game has taken a huge hit as he struggles to score goals not on empty nets and he has lost a step in his skating ability. Tomas Hertl was another Sharks player whose season could have went better as he missed half the year with an injury and only scored 10 goals. Joonas Donskoi also struggled after breaking out during the playoffs, matching his playoff goal total of six goals but in 37 more games. Chris Tierney has been a reliable fourth-line center for the Sharks the past two years but he will need to up his role and based on past performance he should be able to. Melker Karlsson has been a good addition to the Sharks' deep forward core and with Patrick Marleau now gone, he should get more opportunities on the power play and on higher lines. The Sharks' best rookie last year was Timo Meier and despite only producing six points, he will get a bigger role this season. Joel Ward is a perfect fourth-line winger as he knows how to win, score and do all the small things right which will help this team tremendously. Jannik Hansen is also a great fourth-line forward as he is fast and can score goals as he scored 22 two years ago. The final regular forward spot will be a competition between Kevin Labanc, Ryan Carpenter, Daniel Sorensen and Barclay Goodrow.
Defencemen:
Brent Burns has emerged as one of the NHL's top defencemen as his unique skill set combined with his offence and physicality makes him an unstoppable force. Burns has scored an incredible 29 and 27 goals over the past two seasons making him the best goal-scoring defenceman in the NHL. Marc-Edouard Vlasic is one of the premier shutdown defencemen in the the league as he and Burns combine to create half a very good top four; Vlasic does not play on the same pair as Burns as the Sharks like to split the two up. Paul Martin is Burns' partner as he plays a more defensive game and stays back for Burns when he jumps onto the rush. Justin Braun completes the top four with his defensive game; besides Burns not many of the other top four defencemen provide much offence. Brenden Dillon is another physical defender; Dillon contributes nothing on offence and sometimes struggles to shut down opponents as well. The defensive depth is terrible on the Sharks so Dylan DeMelo will be the sixth defender even though he may not be ready for a full-time NHL role. The depth spot will be a battle in training camp between Tim Heed and Radim Simek who have combined for one NHL game.
Goaltending:
The Sharks goaltending situation will be a good one for a while as they locked up starter Martin Jones long term with a six-year deal. Jones took a bit of a step back after leading San Jose all the way to the finals during his first year with the Sharks but still performed well. Aaron Dell had a good rookie season and he will be back to back up Jones again.
Projected Lineup:
Mikkel Boedker
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Logan Couture
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Joe Pavelski
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Tomas Hertl
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Joe Thornton
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Joonas Donskoi
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Timo Meier
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Chris Tierney
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Melker Karlsson
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Jannik Hansen
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Kevin Labanc
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Joel Ward
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Marcus Sorensen
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Ryan Carpenter
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Barclay Goodrow
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Paul Martin
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Brent Burns
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Marc-Edouard Vlasic
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Justin Braun
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Brenden Dillon
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Dylan DeMelo
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Radim Simek
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Tim Heed
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Martin Jones
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Aaron Dell
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Troy Grosenick
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Top 10 Players:
10. Mikkel Boedker
9. Justin Braun
8. Paul Martin
7. Tomas Hertl
6. Joe Thornton
5. Marc-Edouard Vlasic
4. Martin Jones
3. Logan Couture
2. Joe Pavelski
1. Brent Burns
Projected Finish: 93 Points (4th in Pacific)
Last Year: 99 Points (3rd in Pacific)
Photo credit for Antoine Bibeau and Joe Pavelski goes to https://www.thestar.com/. Brent Burns goes to http://calgaryherald.com/. Logan Couture goes to http://www.nhl.com/.
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