The San Jose Sharks put together a great season finishing second in the Pacific Division and sixth overall but the real excitement came in the playoffs where the Sharks came back from a 3-1 series deficit to win a wild Game 7 in round 1. Then in round 2 they knocked off the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 after a controversial call turned the tides. The Sharks eventually fell to the St. Louis Blues in 6 games but their playoff run was one for the ages. 

Additions: Trevor Carrick, Jonny Brodzinski

Subtractions: Zack Stortini, Joakim Ryan, Joe Pavelski, Gustav Nyquist, Joonas Donskoi, Justin Braun

Forwards: 

Losing depth player Joonas Donskoi, and Trade Deadline addition Gustav Nyquist, will certainly hurt this roster but it’s the loss of Joe Pavelski that will have the greatest impact. Pavelski was their captain and top goal-scorer last season. He’s one of the best net-front players in the league and their 6th place powerplay could take a dip without him.

Defense:

Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic form one of the best top-3 units in the league. After that it gets pretty thin, especially on their bottom pair. Burns and Karlsson can and will play massive amounts of minutes though so whoever plays on that bottom pair won’t be seeing much ice-time.

Goalies:

Martin Jones had a below .900 save percentage for the first time in his career and Aaron Dell was no better in relief. With 60 qualified goalies, Jones’ -0.10 ranked 50th in expected to actual goals against per game ranked 50th while Dell’s -0.33 ranked 58th. The Sharks need way more out of this tandem.

The Point Prediction:

Without Joe Pavelski, it takes the Sharks some time to get going but they just squeak into the top-3 of the Pacific. Their 23rd overall finish leaves them with a lot to prove going into playoffs.

 

(Photo by Brandon Magnus/NHLI via Getty Images)