Erik Karlsson’s self-belief isn’t wavering: ‘I still think I’m one of the best in the world’

SAN JOSE – The largest hockey crowd at SAP Center in over 19 months was expected to take in the Sharks’ season-opening game with the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.

In a reminder of pre-pandemic times, players inside the dimmed arena were set to be introduced one by one before the boisterous crowd — one all too eager to look ahead after two seasons of playoff-less hockey.

“Just to have the atmosphere back in here after what we all went through last year, it’s going to be exciting,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Saturday morning.

To avoid a franchise-record third straight year without a spot in the postseason, the Sharks are going to need several players to improve.

At the top of that list is defenseman Erik Karlsson, who feels he’s just as capable of dominating a game now as he was earlier in his Hall of Fame-worthy career.

“I obviously still think that I’m one of the best players in the world. That’s where I’ve been for a very long time, that’s where I want to go, that’s where I want to stay,” Karlsson said before Saturday’s game.

“I’ve claimed that time at the top and I want to stay at the top. For me, that’s always going to be my expectation, and I hope that that’s going to be the case for the rest of my career, not only this year.”

Karlsson, 31, is entering the third season of an eight-year, $92 million contract he signed in 2019, a deal that still makes him the league’s highest-paid defenseman. Since he came into the league in 2009 as a 19-year-old, his 625 points in 788 regular-season games going into Saturday led all NHL defensemen.

But he’s also coming off his least productive season in the league, as he had just 22 points in 52 games in 2020-2021, creating concern that his best days are in the rear-view mirror.

But the Sharks feel Karlsson, the 2012 and 2015 Norris Trophy winner as the league’s best defenseman, can get closer to the form he showed earlier in his career.

Even without leading scorer Evander Kane, at least for the time being, the Sharks, with an influx of younger players, feel they have a deeper forward group now than they had the last two seasons when they missed the playoffs. That should help the Sharks score goals, thereby raising Karlsson’s production.

With a new power play coordinator in John MacLean, there is also optimism the Sharks’ man-advantage unit can improve from the dismal 14.1 percent it was last season.

Most of all, though, Boughner said Karlsson has looked better in training camp now than he had the last two seasons.

“He’s a prideful guy. I think he wants to have a rebound season. He’s prepared for that,” Boughner said. “He’s got a sense of seriousness to his approach and I think great players figure it out. You can’t teach what he has.

“It’s up to our coaching staff to provide that structure and the details, but a big onus is going to be on him to perform.”

Karlsson has been plagued by slow starts throughout his NHL career, but last season was particularly tough for him and everyone on the Sharks’ roster. The Sharks had to hold their training camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, and play their first 12 games of the season away from San Jose, as they remained away from home for close to two months.

Karlsson had four assists in his first 14 games. By the time he scored his first goal of the season on March 1, 2021, the Sharks were 8-9-2 and in seventh place in the West Division. In that time, Karlsson missed four games with a lower-body injury.

Boughner said he’s talked with Karlsson about the need for him to have a better start.

“He understands his role, being one of the leaders on this team, and that how heavy we’re going to rely on him,” Boughner said. “We’ve had that discussion, especially these last couple of weeks about him not waiting to get to game 10 or 20 before he kicks it in, and being able to turn that switch on earlier as you get older.”

“I don’t think anyone felt good last January after what we went through, but that’s just the way it was,” Karlsson said. “Over the course of my (career), I’ve had some great camps where I had good, decent seasons

“I don’t really think that I’ve had any bad seasons — if you ask myself,” he added with a wry smile.

Karlsson is entering his 13th season in the NHL. For the first time since he came to San Jose, he and his family spent the entire offseason in the South Bay.

Whether that translates into more production is unclear. But, at least for now, it appears he’s in a better starting spot than he has been since he came to San Jose four years ago.

“I feel good about where I am in life and where I am in my career,” Karlsson said. “I’m excited for this year, I think you always are at this point. But it’s nice to get back to normality a little bit and you can really feel that the energy around here is a lot different than it’s been the past two years.”