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Why The San Jose Sharks Won't Make The Playoffs |
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In the last post I laid out five “if’s” that, if they all happened, would give the San Jose Sharks a chance to contend. Today, here are five “if’s” that the San Jose Sharks won’t even make the post-season.
1. If The New Coaching Staff Doesn’t Sync With The Roster
It’s the players responsibility to buy in to a coaches system, but it’s the coaches responsibility to implement a system that their current roster can effectively execute. If Peter DeBoer comes in and tries to turn San Jose into a completely defensive team then he’s likely going to struggle to find success. Outside of the Joe Thornton/Joe Pavelski line up front, the Sharks weren’t that fantastic at dominating the possession game.
On defense they’ve upgraded by adding Paul Martin, but there has to still be free range of motion given to Brent Burns moving the puck forward. A strictly defensive system won't have success with this roster. DeBoer and his staff’s ability to come in and start an effective system is going to be a major part of San Jose’s success, or lack thereof.
2. If They Suffer Injuries To Top Players
This goes for a lot of teams and it’s no different for San Jose. A significant injury to Thornton, Pavelski or Vlasic that causes them to miss a lengthy period of time would be devastating for a team like San Jose where their depth is borderline acceptable when everyone is healthy. Yes, Vlasic was injured last year, but it was only 12 games he missed. A team can fumble through 10-12 games and, with some luck, come out alright on the other end when they lose a star player.
The Sharks roster as it stands now is a playoff berth capable team, but a major injury changes the entire landscape of that assumption.
3. If Martin Jones Is Not The Real Deal
If Martin Jones comes in and struggles in his new role as a number one goalie in the NHL then the Sharks are doomed. They were already scraping by in the crease with Antti “average” Niemi, so there’s a lot riding on Martin Jones – aside from the first round pick it took to acquire him.
Jones, in the worst case scenario, has to equal Niemi’s statistics over the course of a full season.
That’s not setting the bar too high, but Jones is still an unknown as long as he hasn’t played a full season with full cage duties. I’d like to believe he’ll come in and match Niemi while continuing to grow as a goaltender, but until that actually happens I’m going to remain cautiously optimistic.
4. If Joe Thornton Regresses
We saw it with Patrick Marleau last year. The San Jose Sharks can handle a lower output, like last season, by Patrick Marleau and still might be able to scrape into the playoffs if the team in general is better. That’s not the case if Joe Thornton regresses in a big way.
Thornton is still one of the top centers in the NHL, regardless if you hate him for unicorn reasons or not. He’s still a great hockey player. If that changes, and he fails to produce offensively then San Jose is going to struggle to score enough to win the games required to make the post-season.
This team is still dependant on Joe Thornton’s game.
5. If Logan Couture Doesn’t Turn His Game Around
There’s no denying that Couture can put up points, but that alone isn’t going to get the job done. Couture has to polish the rest of his game for the Sharks, and his line in particular, to be successful.
I give Couture a hard time on these posts but that doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s of great value to this team. The fact is that he can’t continue his downward trend of role performance as his responsibilities increase. He has to play better possession hockey, there’s no two ways about it.
The Sharks need to be able to deploy Couture’s line in a shutdown role with confidence and last year they just couldn’t. If that continues this season then it’s going to make securing a playoff spot very hard.
Thanks for reading.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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