SAN JOSE -- When the Sharks open their season Wednesday night against the Anaheim Ducks, the youngest player on the team will likely skate alongside the two oldest.
21-year-old Timo Meier moved to the top line with 39-year-old Joe Thornton and 34-year-old Joe Pavelski last Thursday in San Jose’s penultimate preseason game, and stayed there a day before the season opener. It’s a familiar combination, as the trio has played more minutes together at even strength over the last two seasons than any other that’s still on the team.
What’s the key for a young player to have success alongside two accomplished veterans? Getting to the right spots, according to Meier.
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“I’m a shooter, so I’ve got to find those soft areas to jump in,” Meier said. “Maybe get away from my defenseman, and just pop out and be ready to shoot the puck and put [it] in the back of the net.”
Since debuting during the 2016-17 season, the Swiss winger has shot the puck a lot. His 295 shots are more than all but four Sharks during that time, despite the fact the 21-year-old has played at least 36 fewer NHL games than all four players ahead of him. Meier’s graded out well compared to the rest of the league, too.
550 players played at least 1000, five-on-five minutes over the last two years. Meier ranks in the top ten in shot-attempt rate (seventh) and shot rate (10th), according to analytics site Corsica Hockey. He’s also tenth by Corsica’s expected-goals measure, creating dangerous chances at the 10th-highest rate.
That’s despite Meier playing with a cavalcade of regular linemates. Just last year, Meier skatedon three of the Sharks’ six forward lines that played at least 100 minutes. Along with Kevin Labanc, Meier was the only winger to play with three different centers: Thornton, Pavelski after Thornton tore two knee ligaments in January, and current Ottawa Senator Chris Tierney.
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“What I liked him about him last year was I thought he really drove a line playing with Tierney and Labanc,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said. “ … I also like the fact that he can play with two really good players and create room for them, and go to the tough areas and make plays.
“And good players want to play with him, which is something that maybe a couple years ago you couldn’t say about him.”
The Sharks certainly hoped it would be when they chose Meier ninth overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, just the third time the Sharks drafted in the top 10 under general manager Doug Wilson. Two seasons ago, Meier scored three goals in 34 games as a rookie. He split time between the NHL and the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, but became a regular last year.
In his sophomore season, Meier scored 36 points (21 goals, 15 assists) in 81 games. He was just the sixth Shark under the age of 22 to score 20-plus goals in a season.
Pavelski was Meier’s most common linemate last season, also playing on the younger forward’s opposite wing before Thornton’s injury. The Sharks captain said Meier's year-over-year improvement was noticeable.
“I think last year, the big thing was that he kept getting better,” Pavelski said. “There wasn’t a time in the season where he seemed to take a step backwards."
Both Pavelski and Thornton said they’ve noticed their linemate playing with more confidence, while DeBoer added that he’s noticed more composure on the puck from the third-year pro. Meier himself thinks he’s “matured a lot.”
The Sharks will rely on Meier to continue to take strides in this Stanley Cup-or-bust season, even as the spotlight is squared primarily on others.
The trade for two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson rightfully grabbed most of the headlines, but Tierney’s inclusion in the trade meant the Sharks lost a 17-goal scorer from a year ago. Mikkel Boedker, who was traded to Ottawa in a separate deal earlier in the offseason, scored 15. That’s a third of the team’s six, 15-goal scorers from a year ago.
Karlsson will undoubtedly help alleviate that loss. So will having Evander Kane for a full season, and so will the continued development of Hertl, Labanc, and Meier. It doesn’t seem like the Sharks’ youngest forward just wants to develop, though.
With the expectations for San Jose already sky-high entering the season, it sounds like Meier wants to make the leap.
“For a young guy like me, it’s showing you can step up another level,” Meier said. “You’re gonna be better than you were last year. ... I want to be a difference-maker.”