Here’s a quick recap of the first third of the Sharks’ season, in case you’ve been a little preoccupied with the Warriors historic run: Four straight wins. Losses in eight of 11. Six more wins in a row, all on the road. Losses in six of their last seven.
It all adds up to a 14-13-1 record. In official NHL terms that’s one game over .500, but in reality, the Sharks have won just as many games as they’ve lost.
It begs the question – are they really a better team than they were last season, when they finished 12th out of 14th in the Western Conference?
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It’s a vitally important season for the Sharks’ front office, as it’s hard to envision the current regime lasting a second straight playoff-less campaign as more and more empty seats appear at SAP Center. Make no mistake, unlike 2014-15, which was labeled as a transitional, “step backwards” season by general manager Doug Wilson, the Sharks fully expect to make the postseason and compete for a Stanley Cup right now. The coaching staff was replaced and veteran players were added in the offseason.
Some aspects of the Sharks’ game are better, some are not, and some the jury is still out.
Let’s break it down.
What’s better?
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The starting goaltender. Martin Jones has secured the number one position with a 12-9-1 record, 2.35 goals-against average and .916 save percentage. Although he’s cooled off a bit recently, Jones is still in his first season as an undisputed starter, so some ups and downs are natural. Still, he makes most of the saves he’s expected to make, and seems to have the calm, even-tempered demeanor on and off the ice that elite goalies tend to possess. He’s given the team a confidence that it didn’t have from that position last season.
Forward depth. Like Jones, Joel Ward has proven to be a solid acquisition with 10 goals and 22 points to put him tied for third on the team in scoring. He’s also added some depth on the power play with three goals, and it’s easy to see why he was so highly regarded as a teammate on and off the ice during his time in Washington. Joonas Donskoi has also impressed as a 23-year-old rookie, and although the consistent offensive production isn’t quite there, Tomas Hertl looks like he’s back on the right path in his career.
Are there still some concerns here? Absolutely. Tommy Wingels, Chris Tierney and Matt Nieto in particular are all having disappointing seasons. But when you consider last year it was players like Adam Burish, John Scott, Tye McGinn, James Sheppard and Barclay Goodrow regularly helping to make up the bottom two lines, it’s a stronger group this season.
Leadership. One of the more glaring mistakes that Wilson and Todd McLellan made last year was the ridiculous four-player rotating alternate captaincy. Pete DeBoer rightfully chose Joe Pavelski as the captain this season, and although he may have alienated Patrick Marleau somewhat by taking away an ‘A’ from the franchise’s all-team leading scorer, there’s no question now that Pavelski is this team’s leader in the dressing room and the new public face of the franchise.
What’s not better?
Defensive depth. Even with the addition of Paul Martin, the Sharks have been exposed as having arguably no NHL-ready players past their first five defensemen. Their 1-6-1 record when down a top four blueliner speaks for itself, and they are likely to encounter more injuries throughout the year. Wilson simply needs to find a way to address this weakness soon. At least last season, the Sharks had serviceable players like Matt Irwin, Scott Hannan and Taylor Fedun around. Even if none of those players is exactly All-Star caliber, it’s a better group than what the Sharks have now.
The power play. Lately this unit has been improving, with at least one goal in six of the last eight games. Still, the Sharks are just 17th in the NHL with a man advantage at 18.1 percent, and that’s down from last season when they were sixth in the NHL at 20.9 percent.
Joe Thornton. Not to single out one specific player, but the guy who is still arguably their most important offensive force is simply not producing at the rate he has in the past. The 36-year-old has just four goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 28 games, putting him on pace for 47 points. That’s well behind last year's production, when Thornton had 65 points in 78 games, his lowest output since 1999-00.
Jury is still out…
Five-on-five play. As soon as he was introduced, DeBoer immediately said that the Sharks would have to be better five-on-five than they were last season when they finished 24th at 46.9 percent. Right now they are 17th in the NHL at 49.4 percent, but prior to last night’s game in Edmonton, the Sharks had just one even strength goal over the previous four games. They still need more consistency and production from up and down the lineup.
Brent Burns the defenseman. Burns continues to shoot the puck from all over the ice, leading the league in shot attempts with 156. He’s second on the Sharks in scoring, too, with 23 points (10g, 13a).
But are the Sharks a better team with him on the ice at even strength? It’s debatable. Despite all those shot attempts, Burns’ percentage in that category is just 51.7 percent, so the opposition is getting plenty of shot attempts with him on the ice, too. Even more concerning is that Burns, who has a team-worst -13 rating, is just 15th on his own team in goals-for percentage at 38.2 percent. That could suggest that the Sharks’ opponents are getting better scoring chances when Burns is out there compared to the chances Burns provides his own club with his uncanny ability to put the puck towards the net.
Young players. Part of the reason the Sharks management wasn’t all that Cup-focused last season was to allow the Sharks’ younger players to get acclimated to the league in order to take that proverbial next step this season. So far, the results are mixed, leaning towards the negative.
Hertl is stronger on his skates and adjusting to playing center, and the guess here is his offense starts to come around. The others, though, could go either way. Nieto is a former second round pick with good speed, but still has trouble finishing. He was rushed into the league. Tierney greatly benefited from his time in the minors last season, yet he remains on the NHL roster despite not doing much of note. Mirco Mueller has been up and down between the AHL and NHL clubs, and simply doesn’t look like a full-time NHL player yet. Still, there are plenty of games yet to play, so it’s too early to say that the organization's plan was misguided.