The future face of the San Jose Sharks forward group is lining himself up for a big season in 2014-2015.
Logan Couture posted a career high 0.83 PPG last year while shooting a career low 9.9%. If you take Couture’s career average of 12.1% shooting and expand his shot total from 2013-14 over an 82 game season he becomes a 35 goal scorer.
By all accounts Couture will be healthy, after off-season hand surgery, and head to training camp with an opportunity to seize some of the leadership on the San Jose Sharks. In the three seasons prior to last Couture missed a total of 5 regular season games and never saw his shooting percentage dip below 12.6%, holding an average of 12.9% over the three campaigns.
There is nothing that suggests Couture’s minutes will go down this year and with Thornton continuing to age you could see his minutes increase closer to 20/game. Ever since he was drafted by the Sharks he has been the future face of the team and the stars are aligning in 2014-2015 for Couture to take his big leap into the spotlight by grabbing a piece of the leadership letters and getting in on more of the offensive action.
It’s not unrealistic to think that Couture could hit 35 goals and 75-80 points this year if he stays healthy and finds his way around the net again. The Sharks staff is forcing change upon the locker room and, whether he wants it or not, Couture is going to be front and center for the team moving forward, giving him the biggest opportunity to succeed that he's ever had.
On the blue-line, Jason Demers should expect to benefit from the departure of Dan Boyle. The 26 year old defender enjoyed career highs in goals, assists and points last year for the Sharks and will be taking on a bigger role with the power play now that Boyle is out of the picture.
Boyle scored half of his 2013-2014 point totals on the power play while Demers notched 1/3 of his point total with the man advantage. The extra time that he will gain with the PP unit should give his offensive numbers the boost that the Sharks will need if they are to return to a top power play team.
On the defensive side, Demers is one of the top Sharks in blocked shots and takeaways as he provides a steady game in his own end to compliment his offensive upside. It’s the quiet success of players like Demers that keep the Sharks as one of the top defensive groups in the NHL and continue to make life easy for Sharks netminders.
Jason Demers isn’t a household name but he plays a solid game on both sides of the puck that should only gain more attention as he moves into a bigger role with the organization for the 2014-2015 season. Brent Burns will be expected to shoulder most of the offense from the back end as he moves back from a stint with the forward group but for Demers a 40+ point season shouldn’t be out of the question.
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