A new coach, a new starting goalie and a couple of quality veteran acquisitions up front and on the blueline.
Apparently Doug Wilson really didn’t like missing the post-season for the first time in his tenure as San Jose Sharks general manager.
Peter DeBoer was brought in, replacing the franchise’s winningest coach ever, Todd McLellan. It’s unclear just what kind of an impact DeBoer will have on San Jose, but a new voice in the dressing room after seven seasons with McLellan can’t hurt.
The more significant changes Wilson made came on the Sharks’ actual roster, with additions of goaltender Martin Jones, right winger Joel Ward and defenceman Paul Martin. Each make sense as an add-on to the existing core of Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns, but is it enough to ensure the Sharks don’t miss the playoffs again, given how strong the Western Conference is?
Head coach: Peter DeBoer
GM: Doug Wilson
Team Payroll: $70.7 million cap hit against $71.4 million salary cap
Last season’s record: 40-33-9 (89 points)
2014-15 Key Stats
Goals for: 224 (15th in NHL)
Goals against: 226 (24th in NHL)
Power Play percentage: 21.6 (6th in NHL)
Penalty Kill percentage: 78.5 (25th in NHL)
Corsi for per 60: 59.4 (4th in NHL) (via stats.hockeyanalysis.com)
Key Acquisitions: Martin Jones, Joel Ward, Paul Martin
Key departures: Antti Niemi
Rookies to Watch:
Nikolay Goldobin: Blessed with a naturally heavy and quick wrist shot, Nikolay Goldobin is a forward prospect bursting at the seams with offensive talent. He’ll just have turned 20 when the season starts and he has a ways to go as far as defensive responsibility goes, meaning he’s more likely to start the season in the AHL, but should an injury happen to any of San Jose’s wingers, he should get the call to showcase what he can do.
Dylan DeMelo: After spending two full seasons in the AHL it’s time for Dylan DeMelo to realistically compete for a spot in the Sharks’ defence corps, even just as the team’s seventh defenceman. His game isn’t flashy, but he also won’t do anything that will out-right hurt his team as he smartly picks and chooses when to join the rush and make use of his booming, howitzer of a shot.
Highlight of 2014-15: Can Pavelski kick it? Yes, he can.
Pre-season positional grades
Forwards: Up front, the Sharks are quintessentially built to compete in the modern NHL with three threatening lines and a fourth checking line that can notch a few points here and there. The addition of Ward makes San Jose’s top six one of the most dangerous in all of hockey with an excellent mixture of both pure skill and power. And while Marleau’s regression last season is a cause for concern, he still showed enough to make you think his decline won’t be too steep. GRADE: A-
Defence: The addition of Martin should go a long way to help shore up the Sharks’ defence and will be a perfect complement to the more offensively minded Burns, who he is projected to be paired up with. While with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Martin was paired with free-wheeling Kris Letang to great effect. As for Burns, expect more of the same offensive fireworks from the blueline this season. Last year he finished tied for second among all defencemen with 60 points. Other than those two, Vlasic should remain as consistently excellent as always, while the remaining players are all solid, but nothing special to write home about. GRADE: B+
Goaltending: San Jose went all-in to try to improve their goaltending situation, trading away a 2016 first-round pick and prospect Sean Kuraly in order to acquire Jones. Jones had been Jonathan Quick’s backup with the Los Angeles Kings and put together an impressive .923 save percentage and 1.99 goals-against average in 34 games played. He’s also the owner of the longest win streak to start a career with eight. The Sharks dealt long-time starter Antti Niemi to the Dallas Stars for essentially nothing (a 2015 seventh-rounder), so there’s a lot of faith being put into Jones to translate an impressive, but short sample size into prolonged NHL results. If he doesn’t pan out Alex Stalock will be thrust into the limelight and although he’s shown flashes, a knee injury that he had surgery for in 2014 has held him back. GRADE: B+
The Sharks will have a successful season if… Ward is able to pick up some of the scoring slack from the declining Marleau, Tomas Hertl can find the game that electrified the league during his rookie season before his injury and if the gamble on Jones works out. For all intents and purposes the Sharks have the talent and experience to be a lock for the playoffs this season, but that’s what we said last season as well and they missed out. As such, a lot of changes were made in order to help prolong their championship window with Marleau and Thornton, but at their age they need help and getting it from the new faces and the younger players is where to find it.
The Sharks will have a disappointing season if… both Marleau and Thornton significantly decline at the same time. It’s inevitable that these two superstars’ skills will begin to dissipate, but right now the Sharks still need at least one of them to put up the kind of production we’ve been used to seeing for the past 17 seasons.