Joe Pavelski’s Long-Term Impact On The Sharks

After scoring a career high 41 goals last season, one can only expect that Joe Pavelski will be looking to further improve in his game and continue to prove to be an offensive threat come the 2014-15 season.

Ever since the San Jose Sharks blew their 3-0 series lead against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the playoffs, the Sharks have been looking for new faces in leadership. I think the major consensus is that Pavelski is one of those faces. Whether or not he’ll get the C or the A doesn’t matter. What will matter is how well he’ll show his commitment to lead the Sharks toward their best again. I think there’s absolutely no doubt he can, and he definitely will.

For starters, as former Sharks color analyst Drew Remenda once said, Joe Pavelski is a work horse. He works at his shots. He works hard on the drills at the team practices. He’s shown he has the hockey smarts to make great plays offensively. Each and every game he improves on playing his game defensively and he makes his team mates around him better. At a very critical time when the Sharks’ reputation among the fan base is shaky and their ‘elite’ status stripped away, he’s still definitely one of the brighter spots in the Sharks’ failures.

So, if there’s anyone besides the Tomas Hertl’s and Matt Nieto’s of the team who’ve got their contract and their roster spot in tact, it’s the Big Pavelski. Watch him continue to make a huge impact as a San Jose Shark.