San Jose Sharks: 3 Keys to Success in 2017-18

The San Jose Sharks enter the 2017-18 season trying to keep pace in an ever-improving Pacific Division

The San Jose Sharks had their challenges last season. A lack of offense with their woeful power play largely contributing. The team saw plenty of trips to the injured reserve. They also had a second half of the season to forget.

Despite all of this the Sharks found themselves in the playoffs benefiting from a weaker Pacific Division. This season the Pacific Division looks to be more challenging so these three keys will be vital to their success in 2017-18

Joe Thornton

If there has been one constant through the last 12 seasons in San Jose it’s that the offense goes through Joe Thornton. The Future Hall of Fame player is still one of the best players in the Sharks lineup for better or worse.

Thornton was injured in a game against the Vancouver Canucks at the end of the regular season. The play was not malicious in any way just an unfortunate play.

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After missing some games, Thornton would return to play on his injured leg in their first-round series against Edmonton. After eliminated it was announced he was playing on a major injury that would require surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL. Thornton to this point has been fortunate enough to have a very injury-free career. Many though, wonder how Thornton will be able to perform after suffering this significant of an injury at this point in his career.

Thornton was never the fastest skater on the ice so losing a step is not something that he can afford. Also, cause for concern is that Thornton is not scheduled to play in the Sharks first three pre-season games. Normally this would not cause for alarm as older vets generally do not suit up for early pre-season games. However, given the injury, this has caused unease among Sharks faithful.

Currently, on a one-year $8 million deal with the Sharks, Thornton has the year to prove that he can be the player he was before the injury. For the Sharks if Thornton can’t be that player anymore it could spell disaster.

Special Teams

The Sharks had a very uncharacteristic year on special teams. Usually finishing top five in the league in both categories, the Sharks found their results in 2016-17 underwhelming. The Sharks finished 25th in power play effectiveness with a meager 16.7 percent.

Their penalty kill was not much better, finishing 18th in the league at 80.7%. With the improvements in the Pacific Division, the Sharks will need to be able to capitalize on these opportunities to compete.

The power play will be especially important as the NHL is calling certain penalties more strictly sp far this year. This could see a team like the Sharks get a lot of power play opportunities early on, capitalizing on these opportunities will be key. The Sharks going into a somewhat youth movement will also need to give some of their younger players a chance to play on the power play especially if it falters early.

A major criticism of coaching last season was their stubbornness not only in the system but personnel. The Sharks penalty kill should benefit from a healthy Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Logan Couture and a resurgence by Justin Braun who also had an off year. The personnel is there for this team to be successful it just needs to remain healthy.

Team Health

The Sharks struggled with injuries throughout the season but during the playoff’s they could not have been hit any harder. This isn’t to say that a healthy Sharks team would have beaten the Oilers.

To their credit, the Sharks played well to start but clearly ran out of gas by its game-six conclusion. Players like Logan Couture, Joonas Donskoi, Marc-Edouard Vlasic missed games in the regular season, some of which carried those injuries into the playoffs. Among the playoff wounded in addition was Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Chris Tierney and Melkar Karlsson.

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There is a combination of bad luck here although, with an aging roster of key players, one definitely subjects themselves to these cruel twists of fate. In order for the Sharks to succeed they will need  3 players to remain healthy above all else, Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Tomas Hertl. If the Sharks can keep these players healthy and not lose others the playoffs are a very realistic possibility.