San Jose Sharks 2015-16 Season Primer

Looking at the San Jose Sharks heading into this season – outlook, potential lines, roster, top prospects, draft history, stats and season schedule.

2014-15 Record: 40-33-9, 89 points (5th place in Pacific Division, 12th in the West, 22nd overall)
2014-15 Outcome: Missed Playoffs

Total Cap Hit: $70,394,996
Total Salary: $72,486,666
Cap Space: $1,005,004

Source: General Fanager

In: Frazer McLaren, LW (FA – Tor), Joel Ward, RW (FA – Wsh), Mark Cundari, D (FA – Cgy), John McCarthy, LW/C (FA – StL), Paul Martin, D (FA – Pit), Martin Jones, G (T – Bos), Jeremy Langlois, RW (FA-Minors), Patrick McNally, D (T – Van), Peter DeBoer, Head Coach (Named), Joonas Donskoi, RW/LW (FA-Europe)

Out: John Scott, LW (FA – Ari), Matt Irwin, D (FA – Bos), Taylor Fedun, D (FA – Van), Sean Kuraly, C (T – Bos), Konrad Abeltshauser, D (T – StL), Antti Niemi, G (T – Dal), Todd McLellan, Head Coach (mutual parting)

Source: Sports Forecaster

The San Jose Sharks had a disastrous off-season in 2014, which pretty much amounted to nearly zero changes to an ill-fitting lineup while changing the one thing that didn’t really matter – the captaincy, which they didn’t even really change anyway.

That was mostly remedied by the 2015 off-season, though. General Manager Doug Wilson went out and addressed three major needs that the team had; reinforcements on the blue line, veteran presence to balance out the wings on offense, and goaltending.

In came Paul Martin from Pittsburgh via free agency. Out went Matt Irwin via free agency – a kind of tough loss with Irwin heading out, but good in the form of a tenured NHLer coming in to help solidify a group that looked somewhat disorganized last year. The team also got added stability on offense in the form of pure power forward Joel Ward, who’s currently in the best years of his career and was a picture of consistency for the Capitals during the 2014-2015 campaign. They rounded out the team’s biggest off-season needs by adding netminder Martin Jones, which may have the biggest risk. Antti Niemi wasn’t re-signed as he was one of the prior season’s biggest depreciating assets. If all that cost was a first round pick, the Sharks did something right.

There are still plenty of question marks heading into next year, but it’s generally agreed upon that the Sharks will be better than they were last year. It would take simultaneous regression from both the team’s top performers and the newest adds to the lineup to see things take a backslide. Even a lateral move from last year to this one could be considered a relative improvement in the wake of divisional rivals from Vancouver. Coaching may be the biggest question mark – Peter DeBoer is a controversial choice for bench boss to some – but overall, this was one of Doug Wilson’s more successful off-seasons in recent years.

Trending Up

Mirco Mueller (LD) – Mueller was probably the second most mismanaged asset held by an NHL team in the 2014-2015 season, behind only Jonathan Drouin (and maybe on par with Alex Galchenyuk in Montreal). Any improvement in his usage will almost certainly result in an improvement in his play. Already a rising star on the blue line, Mueller – who’s only 20 – had a frustrating rookie campaign. He’s likely  rebound  with better minutes and increased games played in the upcoming year.

Billed as a powerful, big-bodied defenseman with high upside, Mueller spent a lot of time as a healthy scratch instead of on the ice in San Jose’s regular season campaign last year. He has the potential to play a two-way game and does an effective job of moving the puck from in front of his own net. A lack of high offensive upside seemed to have got him benched in favor of more high-scoring talent last year. Whatever the reasoning was, the Swiss blue liner became somewhat stagnant as a result of the way he was deployed. There’s a lot of potential to shape the former first rounder into something great, and it’s possible that this is the year that will happen. Whether he becomes a Niklas Hjalmarsson, Drew Doughty, or Michael Stone, there’s plenty we can expect to love from this prospect.

Matt Nieto (LW) – The former Boston University standout struggled last year, as did a number of the Sharks in 2014-2015. The biggest issue for Nieto was his shooting accuracy. In his first full season as an NHLer, the Long Beach native had a disappointingly lateral transition from his first year on NHL ice. With the revitalized Sharks roster, he too should reap the benefits.

It’s a question, of course, of whether Nieto will be utilized in a way that best puts him a position to score, or if he’ll get to play a role where he provides more supplementary scoring through assists and zone entries. Given the added help on offense of Joel Ward, though, it’s hard to imagine that something won’t shift and see his numbers go up. He’s has the speed and on-ice vision that suggests the team won’t see him only putting up 27 points per year for long.

Trending Down

Paul Martin (LD) – It’s funny to think that Paul Martin can be both a beneficial add to the Sharks and a depreciating asset, but he’s certainly a good example of both – the 34 year old blue liner will be providing supplementary support on the defensive corps, while still looking less effective than he did last year.

Drafted in the second round of the 2000 NHL Draft by the New Jersey Devils, Martin is one of an ever-shrinking number of players from his draft year that is still in the league. He’ll start to cost more than he’s producing, and that could hurt the Sharks in the long run. For now, it’s simply going to mean that whatever potential upside Irwin may have had in the form of an improved game, it is going to head in the opposite direction with the addition of an aging Martin. It doesn’t mean he’ll be *bad*, just worse than he was in years prior.

Alex Stalock (G) Despite always being a pretty big fan of Alex Stalock, there’s a chance that he’ll be a declining value player for the Sharks next year.

It’s hard to evaluate San Jose’s goaltending depth with so little in the way of prior games to evaluate new starter Martin Jones, but it’s clear that having Stalock as a backup again could hurt the Sharks if he doesn’t find a way to play a similar style to Jones. He was an active goaltender behind Niemi, making it easy for the Sharks to play the same game in front of both of them from game to game. Jones is less aggressive than either of San Jose’s goaltenders were in 2014-2015, meaning that the team’s style of play will need to shift to support him well. That could quickly leave Stalock high and dry if he doesn’t find a way to subtly shift his game; it’s certainly possible, but that’s a risk that the Sharks will need to be aware of from day one.

Trade Deadline Outlook:

Assuming that the Sharks are a playoff team next year, they’ll want to be buyers – but like last year, they should likely be fairly quiet on the trade front. The club already sacrificed next year’s first round selection to bring Jones on board, and they’ve got very little in the way of cap space to work with. Unless a club is willing to take on one of the team’s pricier players, it may be best to leave things be.

One very key thing to consider, though, is that the Sharks only have around $1 million in cap space heading into the off-season – and very few players who are due to contract extensions at the end of the year. One of those, though, is forward Tomas Hertl; the Sharks will need to make sure he’s a player they can hold on to without going over the cap, which may mean getting creative with a few cheaper contracts. Having at least $6M AAV tied up in each Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton, and Patrick Marleau, means that if Hertl has a stellar year, they’ll have to pray for a bridge deal to suit his fancy until more cap space is cleared up. No one costs an exorbitant amount, but too many players fall in the ‘not cheap’ category as well.

If the team does need to move around some salary, a few names to consider are Tommy Wingels or Melker Karlsson on offense, and Justin Braun on defense. Remaining quiet and simply re-signing players from within the organization, though, is almost certainly the preferable option for this club yet again.

Written by Catherine Silverman, who can be found on twitter @CataCarryOn

Sharks: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule

Potential line combinations, defensive pairings, and goalies.

Melker Karlsson – Joe Pavelski – Joe Thornton
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Tomas Hertl
Matt Nieto – Chris Tierney – Joel Ward
Barclay Goodrow – Ben Smith – Tom Wingels
Mike Brown – Joonas Donskoi

Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – Mirco Mueller
Matt Tennyson

Martin Jones
Alex Stalock

Sharks: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule

Some top San Jose Sharks prospect lists heading into the season.

* Different sites have different guidelines for who is a ‘prospect.’ Dobber Prospects bases their rankings on future fantasy value.

A look at the San Jose Sharks drafting from 2010 to 2015.

Sharks: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule

San Jose Sharks 2014-15 player stats.

Sharks: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule

A look at the San Jose Sharks 2015-16 schedule.

Sharks: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule