The 2014-15 NHL campaign ended in the regular season for the San Jose Sharks. It was first time in years that the club had not made a foray into the postseason and the experience was a stinging rebuke to players, coaches and front office.
Head coach Todd McLellan was relieved of his duties and former New Jersey Devils bench boss Peter DeBoer was hired to patrol the bench this season.
Sharks Bem Smith tries to score on Ducks goalie Anton Khudobin as Shea Theodore (53) defends – Photo by Jack Lima
Two additions to the lineup were made in the acquisition of forward Joel Ward and defenseman Paul Martin. Both should prove valuable assets this season.
One move that didn’t happen was the moving of Joe Thornton off the roster. Thornton has long been question mark on an otherwise solid and consistent roster even if there are no Cups to show for it. Conflicts and disagreements between the club and Thornton have been chronicled elsewhere and his advancing age will be an issue in a Pacific Division that got younger in the last two seasons.
The Sharks did bring in a new goalie with the departure of Antti Niemi; Martin Jones, will now have the crease and the issue for Jones and the Sharks is whether the young netminder can shoulder a season-long responsibility.
On defense, Martin will be linked up with Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun to give San Jose a good top two defensive pairings.
With Thornton and Patrick Marleau getting older the Sharks need to lean on the rest of the offense including the younger players Tomas Hertl, Chris Tierney, Matt Nieto, Logan Couture and Matt Tennyson. Joe Pavelski had a decent year with 70 points on 37 goals.
The Sharks are a team we believe can make noise this season but in the absence of the tough off-season decisions that should have been made, we see San Jose fading down the stretch and missing the playoffs for a second year. And that may not be catastrophic in the long-term.
The seismic shift ion thought coming from the playoff miss last season will be geometrically multiplied if they miss a second year and then all options are most likely on the table next spring and summer. A host of players may well be playing their final seasons in San Jose and the Sharks will have a front row seat to their AHL affiliate San Jose Barracudas in the same building. It will not be terribly difficult to switch sweaters for AHLers who make the grade.
Our prediction is the Sharks end the season in fifth spot in the Pacific Division and their roster is blown up next summer.
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