Follow me on Twitter: @BenShelley_20 Follow HockeyBuzz Sharks Twitter: @HB_Sharks
This article will be another in my series of player profiles, where I’ll look at each player on the San Jose Sharks and assess how their season went. This article will focus on Kevin Labanc.
A few months ago, I wrote an article on what we can expect from Labanc going forward, so I’ll try to keep this player review a bit different. This was obviously a down year for Labanc, compared to expectations for him heading into the year. He dropped from 56 points in 82 games in the 2018-19 season, all the way to a pace of 39 points per 82 this year.
He certainly does need to be more consistent and there’s still uncertainty as to how productive he’ll be going forward. That said, in a poll I did with the last article on Labanc, I asked readers how many points they thought Labanc would score next season, and the most voted for answer was between 50 and 60 points. Only 15 per cent of readers voted that they thought he’d score under 40 points.
To me, I certainly don’t think he’ll be under 40 points next season, as too many things went wrong this year for him to not bounce back. That said, it’ll be a matter of whether he can produce in that 50-60 point range and solidify himself as a top-six winger, or if he’ll be in the 40-50 point range instead. Either way, next year will be an important one for Labanc.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Sharks Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Sharks for updates on articles, Sharks news, etc. We're starting right from scratch, so any followers would be appreciated!***
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Reviewing the season: Joel Kellman Reviewing the season: Melker Karlsson Reviewing this week's polls (July 19): Sharks Edition Reviewing the season: Erik Karlsson Reviewing the season: Evander Kane Reviewing the season: Martin Jones Reviewing the season: Tomas Hertl Reviewing this week's polls (July 11): Sharks Edition Reviewing the season: Tim Heed Reviewing the season: Noah Gregor Reviewing the season: Dylan Gambrell