San Jose Sharks after 20 games: surprises — and issues — near the one-quarter mark

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CHICAGO — The Sharks are not terribly disappointed with where they stand one-quarter of the way through the 82-game season. They’re not all that thrilled, either.

“After the amount of hockey we’ve played,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said, “I think we’re probably where we deserve to be.”

The Sharks enter Sunday’s game with the Chicago Blackhawks with a modest 10-9-1 record. That’s better than their mark of 6-7-1 at the quarter-pole of the 56-game 2020-2021 season, but, as of Saturday morning, they were still four points back of third place in the Pacific Division and one point back of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The top three teams in each division, plus the next two highest-placed finishers in each conference, regardless of division, make the playoffs.

The Sharks have dealt with a COVID-19 outbreak, a road-heavy first month of the schedule, and the off-ice drama involving forward Evander Kane, who, as of Monday, is eligible to practice and play again.

“It feels like it’s a lot more than 20 games, honestly,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “But I like the position we put ourselves in. Obviously, we’d like to be in a playoff spot. There are a few points already we let slip away. But almost every night this year, we’ve given ourselves a chance.”

The Sharks have given no public indication of how they plan to deal with Kane, who was suspended for the first 21 games of the season for a known violation of the NHL/NHLPA COVID Protocol. But it doesn’t appear that he’ll dress for Tuesday’s game with the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center after he hasn’t practiced with the team since the end of last season.

The record may not be exactly what the Sharks were hoping for, but they do have some impressive wins this season over Carolina, Toronto, Calgary, and Minnesota, four of the top nine teams in the NHL. They’ve also scored one goal or less in losses to Nashville, Montreal, Winnipeg, St. Louis, Washington, and Toronto on nights when they strayed from the blue-collar identity they’re trying to solidify.

“That’s what our goal was into the season is to try and outwork the other team every single night,” Couture said. “It’s all we can control. For the most part, I liked our efforts almost every day.”

Here’s a snapshot of each facet of the Sharks’ game at the quarter mark of the season.

OFFENSE — Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that without their leading point producer from last season in Kane, scoring is the Sharks’ biggest area of concern. Before Saturday’s games, the Sharks ranked 24th in the NHL with an average of 2.65 goals per game.

The top line of Couture, Timo Meier and Jonathan Dahlen has driven the bus from an offensive standpoint. Meier’s start has been especially impressive. After he had just 12 goals and 31 points in 54 games last season, he’s already up to seven goals and 18 points in 20 games this year. Boughner has credited Meier for the work he’s doing in the defensive zone, for using his body and holding onto pucks. All of that has helped him play at an all-star caliber level so far.

The Sharks, though, are likely going to need more consistency from their other lines to climb into a playoff position. They have several solid two-way forwards in their bottom nine group, but other than Tomas Hertl and perhaps Alexander Barabanov, not a ton of elite skill. The Sharks, overall, are getting more offense from Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns and Mario Ferraro right now than they were in the early stages of last season.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 22: San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) is congratulated by San Jose Sharks goaltender Adin Hill (33) after the Sharks 2-1 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

DEFENSE – The Sharks have a firmly established shutdown pair with Burns and Ferraro, who play the most and are usually tasked with the most difficult assignments each game. But, per Natural Stat Trick, they’ve been on the ice during 5-on-5 play for about the same amount of high danger chances for (53) as against (57). Boughner will take that.

Nikolai Knyzhov’s injury raised the question about who would play alongside Karlsson to start the season. But Jake Middleton has filled in admirably and has also been the Sharks’ top enforcer. He and Karlsson have an expected goals-for percentage of 58.7, one of the top marks for any defense pair in the Western Conference.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Radim Simek were put on notice earlier this month by Boughner, who wanted to see more urgency from both veterans. The pair, particularly Vlasic, has responded in recent games, although he and Simek probably need to take more of the workloads off Burns and Ferraro’s shoulders.

GOALTENDING – James Reimer, who is expected to start Sunday, has been everything the Sharks have hoped he would be and then some. Even after Friday’s 4-1 loss to Toronto, Reimer still held a .927 save percentage, 10th best among the 33 goalies who have played at least 10 games. He’s become the Sharks’ No. 1 goalie for now.

Adin Hill got off to a 3-0-0 start and made 37 saves in a Nov. 9 Sharks win over Calgary but has a .897 save percentage and needs to become a bit more consistent. Still, the Sharks team goals-against average of 2.77 and save percentage of .907 are miles ahead of last season’s totals of 3.45 and .891, which ranked near the bottom of the NHL. The Sharks’ overhaul of the position has so far paid off.

SPECIAL TEAMS – The Sharks’ penalty kill, under the direction of assistant coach John Madden, has been among the league’s best for most of the season. The Sharks’ PK entered Saturday ranked fourth in the NHL at 87.5 percent. The power play, though, has been much less consistent. They have gotten away from the direct approach they started the season with, and have converted just two of their last 20 chances with the man advantage.

INTANGIBLES – The Sharks’ culture appears to be vastly improved from where it was the couple of seasons. Bringing in respected veterans like Nick Bonino, Andrew Cogliano and Reimer has helped, but mostly, the Sharks finally have an identity again. They know what they need to do to win games and everyone appears to be buying in. This is a team that has also not hesitated to stick up for one another – something that had been lacking at times the last two seasons.

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