San Jose Sharks grades after turbulent first quarter: Is the worst behind them?
SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks coach David Quinn looked up at the massive scoreboard at SAP Center recently and watched a montage of the franchise’s most memorable goals, several of which came during the team’s numerous playoff appearances over a 25-year period.
“We’re going to get there,” Quinn said, remembering the scenes of jubilation. “It’s going to take a little time, it’s going to be a process, but it’ll be well worth it.”
More than a quarter of the way through the 2023-24 season, no one within the Sharks organization is thinking about the playoffs. With a .273 points percentage after 22 games, the Sharks (5-15-2) are off to their slowest start since the 1995-96 team was 2-16-4 just past the quarter-pole.
The Sharks are last in the NHL in both goals scored and goals allowed and going into Thursday’s game with the Boston Bruins to start a six-game road trip, have yet to win away from home.
Still, the Sharks appear to have turned a corner to some degree in the last three-plus weeks and are hopeful they can more closely resemble the team that has a 5-5-1 record in their most recent 11 games than the one that had a 0-10-1 mark in its first 11.
“We understood it was going to be a tough year,” Quinn said last weekend before the Sharks beat Vancouver and Washington. “I was anticipating more wins, as we all were, but that’s why they don’t stop the season after 20 games. It’s a marathon.”
Here are San Jose Sharks’ positional grades for the first quarter of the season, relative to expectations.
TOP SIX FORWARDS
The group would normally include Logan Couture (lower body) and Alexander Barabanov (broken finger), but they’ve missed a combined 38 games and counting, and Mikael Granlund (lower body) was out for seven games in October. Tomas Hertl (undisclosed) is now considered day-to-day.
The Sharks offense was abysmal to start the year but has made small strides. While San Jose has scored one goal or less 13 times so far, it has averaged about 2.6 goals per game in their last seven outings. Not poor, but still substandard.
Before his injury, Hertl, having to take on Couture’s responsibilities, led the Sharks with 16 points, tying him for 99th in the NHL in scoring as of Wednesday morning. Mike Hoffman didn’t score in his first 15 games, but with six goals in his last seven games, is tied for the team lead in that category.
Anthony Duclair has averaged more than half a point per game in his NHL career but has yet to find a groove with five points in 18 games. William Eklund has had bouts of inconsistency but is playing on the top line and is third among all Sharks forwards in ice time (18:04).
Fabian Zetterlund has been a bright spot for San Jose as he’s tied with Hoffman for the team lead with six goals.
GRADE: D+
BOTTOM SIX FORWARDS
Nico Sturm has been the Sharks’ third-line center almost all season, is one of the team’s top penalty-killing forwards, and is among the NHL’s leaders in faceoff percentage. Luke Kunin has been what the Sharks expected him to be when they acquired him from Nashville before last season. Ryan Carpenter and Givani Smith, two free-agent signings, have provided some stability to the fourth line.
Still, the Sharks need more production from their third and fourth lines, just to take some pressure off the top six. Kevin Labanc, Jacob MacDonald, Sturm, Filip Zadina, Carpenter, and Smith have combined for 17 points.
GRADE: C-
DEFENSE
The Sharks, through 22 games, have allowed 58 goals during 5-on-5 play, tied for the most in the NHL before Wednesday. The goalies and forwards own some of that, but turnovers have haunted the Sharks from day one.
The Sharks’ defense corps has been in flux almost all season, with the only mainstays being Mario Ferraro, Kyle Burroughs, and up until recently, Jan Rutta. Matt Benning’s absence was felt when he missed 10 games with an injury, and now Rutta has been on IR. The group finally has an offensive-minded defenseman in Calen Addison, who has four assists in 10 games since he arrived from Minnesota.
Nikita Okhotiuk and Ty Emberson, who, like Addison, are 23 years old, are experiencing some growing pains. Okhotiuk has five points and Emberson has been paired with Ferraro.
All in all, Sharks defensemen are doing a better job of ending plays now than at the start of the season, but there remains room for improvement.
Nikolai Knyzhov and Marc-Edouard Vlasic have both been scratched multiple times this month. While Knyzhov is signed for one more year at a $1.25 million cap hit, Vlasic has two more seasons to go after this one, with a cap hit of $7 million. Not ideal.
GRADE: D+
GOALTENDING
Despite facing a barrage of shots, Mackenzie Blackwood and Kaapo Kahkonen have been bright spots for the Sharks. A team save percentage that was a league-low .881 last season has improved to .891, which ranked 23rd in the NHL as of Wednesday.
With a .902 save percentage, Blackwood has been everything the Sharks hoped he would be when they acquired him from New Jersey, even as he’s faced 519 shots in 16 games. Kahkonen has also made strides. In his first nine starts, he has a .889 save percentage, compared to the .871 mark he had in his first nine starts a year ago.
Goals saved above expected numbers for Blackwood and Kahkonen, per moneypuck.com, are around the middle of the pack, compared to being near-last in the NHL last season.
GRADE: B-
SPECIAL TEAMS
The power play has shown signs of life in recent games but still ranks 19th in the NHL. The penalty kill, a source of pride for the Sharks in recent years, has fallen to 30th in the league.
GRADE: D.
COACHING
Quinn and his staff were not given a Cup-contending roster and have had challenges with injuries and a tough schedule. But no one escapes when a team goes 0-10-1 to start, allowing 55 goals in the process. That said, Quinn’s message appears to be resonating more now than before, and his group, after a feeling-out process, seems to be gelling and playing hard.
GRADE: C-
MANAGEMENT
General manager Mike Grier met with players on Nov. 6 to let everyone know there was a standard that needed to be adhered to, and it gave the Sharks a shot in the arm. The additions of Emberson and Addison have fortified the defense corps and two parts of the Timo Meier trade, Zetterlund and Okhotiuk, are now regulars in the lineup. Grier has remained true to his plan, as any and all moves made need to make sense for the long term.
GRADE: C+