- Editor's Note: Sheng Peng will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.
The Sharks could be much deeper up front during the 2023-24 NHL season.
And in a perhaps surprising way -- considering they traded reigning Norris Trophy Award winner Erik Karlsson -- maybe the Sharks are deeper on defense.
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The Sharks released their 23-man opening night roster on Monday, and they’re starting the season with 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies.
Let’s go position-by-position.
Forwards
Alexander Barabanov, Thomas Bordeleau, Anthony Duclair, William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Tomas Hertl, Mike Hoffman, Luke Kunin, Kevin Labanc, Givani Smith, Nico Sturm, Filip Zadina, Fabian Zetterlund
San Jose Sharks
This is how head coach David Quinn ran lines on Monday, the Sharks’ second practice with this exact roster:
Hoffman-Hertl-Zadina
Eklund-Granlund-Kunin
Barabanov-Bordeleau-Duclair
Smith-Sturm-Labanc-Zetterlund
Sturm solidly is entrenched as the fourth-line center, while Smith, Labanc, and Zetterlund rotated on his wings.
This is a much different look than last season’s opening night lines in Prague.
Timo Meier-Hertl-Luke Kunin
Oskar Lindblom-Logan Couture-Labanc
Noah Gregor-Nick Bonino-Matt Nieto
Steven Lorentz-Sturm-Jonah Gadjovich
What stands out with this season’s roster?
Between 40-goal scorer Meier and a healthy Couture and Hertl – the Sharks' opening night roster last year had more star power, for sure.
But up and down, there could be a lot more depth.
Barabanov, who put up 47 points in 68 games last year, and Duclair, who scored 31 goals two years ago, form a potentially far more potent third line than last season’s group. Gregor wasn’t given a qualifying offer and no longer is in San Jose, while Nieto and Bonino are ticketed to be fourth-liners on their new teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, respectively.
Notably, Labanc is starting on the fourth line, instead of the second. On one hand, the winger has an up-and-down campaign last year. On the other hand, not every team has a fourth-liner that’s scored at a half-a-point per game rate over his career.
That’s depth, at least if reclamation projects like Hoffman, Zadina, Granlund, and Duclair come through.
On top of that, whenever the injured Couture returns -- and it sounds like soon -- the Sharks could use Couture, Hertl, Granlund and Sturm up the middle. If Granlund, who led the Nashville Predators in ice-time and posted 64 points two years ago, is your third-line center, that might actually be a playoff-caliber center group.
Between Eklund, Bordeleau and Zadina, there’s also some intriguing youth starting the season with the Sharks.
Defensemen
Matt Benning, Kyle Burroughs, Ty Emberson, Mario Ferraro, Nikolai Knyzhov, Jan Rutta, Henry Thrun, Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Radim Simek, Nikita Okhotiuk and Jacob MacDonald won’t be available for opening night because of injuries. They all project as bottom-pairing blueliners.
This is how the Sharks lined up last year in Prague:
Scott Harrington-Karlsson
Vlasic-Ferraro
Simek-Benning
And this is how they lined up Monday at practice:
Ferraro-Burroughs
Knyzhov-Benning
Thrun-Rutta
Vlasic-Emberson
While the current defensive group sorely needs a difference-making puck-mover like Karlsson, the team is full of NHL-caliber skaters.
The question is, who will emerge as the top-four defenders? Who will Quinn put out there when the game is on the line, be it protecting the lead or playing catch up?
Ferraro and Benning soaked up bigger minutes last season, but with mixed results. In his day, the 36-year-old Vlasic was perhaps the NHL's top shutdown defenseman, but that was years ago. Burroughs, Knyzhov and Rutta have been solid in lesser roles, but none have ever been bona fide top-four defenders. Thrun, 22, and Emberson, 23, have just eight games of NHL experience between them, all Thrun’s.
There’s opportunity here, but will anybody seize it?
Another big question: How will the Sharks move the puck out of the zone?
There are some pretty solid defensive defensemen in this group, but they were pretty dependent on Karlsson to carry the puck.
Sharks forwards might need to make transporting the puck out of the zone more of a five-man thing.
“We're gonna have to help our D out," Sturm said. "Erik's an elite skater that can beat guys one-on-one. You might have to chip a couple more pucks. It's gonna mean that our centers are gonna have to come lower and help out our D. It's gonna be collective effort replacing Karl.”
Goalies
Mackenzie Blackwood, Kaapo Kahkonen
Quinn noted that both Blackwood and Kahkonen have enjoyed strong training camps. So we’re likely going to have to wait until Thursday to find out the Sharks’ opening night starter.
Blackwood appears to be healthy and Kahkonen looks like a different goalie than last year, but it’s just preseason. Both have No. 1 potential, but again, it’s just preseason.
Hope abounds and everybody’s undefeated. We’ll see if this opening night roster can buck the odds, beginning Oct. 12 – prognosticators, to a person, have the Sharks far from the playoffs, and some predict them to be the NHL's worst team.
“Our players are well aware of what the hockey world thinks of us and where we're going to finish," Quinn. "What I will tell you is they kind of scoff at that and think, okay, we'll see. Our players look around and think we can be pretty good.”