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Karlsson and Sharks struggling to find chemistry

November 1, 2018, 8:09 PM ET [16 Comments]
Guest Writer
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By Gilles Moncour

The San Jose Sharks are the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NHL: they are a model of consistency. The have only had three coaches in the past 17 years and Doug Wilson has been the GM since 2002. They have only missed the playoffs twice in the the past two decades and their veteran core (Thornton-Pavelski-Couture-Burns-Vlasic-Braun) is starting their eighth season together.

Enter Erik

Now, into this homogenous black-white-and-teal world skates elite defenseman Erik Karlsson after the blockbuster trade with the Ottawa Senators. The Sharks have had a decent start, going 6-3-3 despite two long eastern road trips, but the Sharks’ current record is much more in spite of Karlsson’s contributions than because of them.

Behind the strong play of veteran Logan Couture, a fully healthy Tomas Hertl, and blossoming Timo Meier, San Jose has scored 41 goals through a dozen games, a rate that has them in the top five in the NHL. Brent Burns is also picking up where he left off — 15 points to pace all NHL defensemen. But Erik Karlsson has not added much to the attack: no goals and just seven assists through 12 games despite getting the most ice time on the team. More alarming is his play on the defensive side of the red line: he is minus seven and has been on the ice for more 5 v 5 goals against than anyone in the league (except Ryan Murray of Columbus) despite playing most of his shifts with defensive stalwart Marc-Edouard Vlasic on his left.

Senators’ hangover?

But let's go beyond the raw numbers… Karlsson has spent his entire career with the Ottawa Senators, a team that in the past few seasons has had one of the most restrictive approaches to offense in the league. Within that system, Karlsson had pretty much a free reign and was able to jump up and create chances by leading the rush or quickly filling the gaps, surprising defenses and leading to scoring chances while players covered back for him.

The Sharks, however, are a different animal. While Pete DeBoer certainly maintains a defensive approach, the San Jose forwards are much quicker to the attack than the Senators ever were, and leading a fast break up-ice is much less of a surprise factor with his new team. Furthermore, while the Sharks have had many quality defenders over the years, they have not had a true puck-rusher since Sandis Ozolinsh way back in the 90s. Much of the 5 v 5 offense Burns generates is from streaming outlet passes to streaking forwards, resulting in breakaways and 2-on-1s. Karlsson has had less of an impact in carrying the puck through the neutral zone than he had with the Sens.


The Power Play

In today’s NHL, with each team’s penalty killers schooled on the opposition with hours of video — and a nearly masochistic willingness to block shots — the most valuable commodity for a power play unit is the ability to get shots on net from the point. No one in the league does this better than Brent Burns. In the past five years he has led all NHL defensemen with 359 power play shots on target. To go along with this shooting machine, the Sharks have Joe Pavelski, a player acknowledged to be the best deflector of pucks in the game.

Given this, how can Pete DeBoer put out a first PP unit consisting of four forwards, Erik Karlsson, and no Burns? It boggles the mind…. And this is borne out in the numbers: Erik Karlsson has spent 17 minutes on the PP this year without Burns, with only one goal scored; Burns has spent 42 minutes on the PP, with eight goals scored (four with, and four without Karlsson). Now, I’m not saying that Karlsson has done an awful job, or that there isn’t some puck luck in a small sample size, but the Sharks power play is just designed to work best with Burns firing from the point.

Drama in Silicon Valley

Pete DeBoer is in a tough situation of having to either mold a superstar’s pattern of play or adjust the style of a team that has been successful doing what it does for almost a decade. An obvious correction would be to get Burns out on the top power play and keep him in the prime shooting position. This, of course, means Karlsson must play somewhere else on the PP, and some thinking outside the box may be necessary.

As for the defensive work, that situation may take even longer to correct. Recently, DeBoer has switched Karlsson steady partner from Marc Vlasic to Brendan Dillon, with mixed results. After a very strong game against Anaheim on Sunday in which it was hoped that a corner was turned, Karlsson had a very rough go of it against the Rangers Tuesday, looking lost in the defensive zone and having difficulty generating breakouts.

As the other Western Conference teams form themselves into more cohesive units, the Sharks and Karlsson will feel the pressure to assimilate quickly or start losing ground. Certainly the Sharks have so far not parlayed the dynamic start of some key performers into maximum points. Is Dillon the answer as Karlsson’s partner or should they go back to Vlasic? Maybe Justin Braun? How can the dynamic skating and vision of Karlsson best meld with the shot of Burns? How will this affect Karlsson’s long-term future in San Jose? He and the Sharks have 70 games to work it out.
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