Inside The Shark Head: San Jose Sharks Must Improve At Home
By Felix Chow
As we come up on one more month until Sharks hockey is back, we look at one area the San Jose Sharks will be looking to improve in– their play on home ice. If you’re looking to read up on specific home stands throughout the 2015-16 regular season, check out this post on their most difficult ones next year.
While their struggles last season extended far beyond the confines of SAP Center, they were the most evident in front of their fans. Last season, the San Jose Sharks finished with a mediocre home record of 19-17-5.
Their biggest move of the offseason was, of course, parting ways with former head coach Todd McLellan and the rest of the coaching staff (Larry Robinson moves up to Director of Player Development), while bringing in Peter DeBoer along with Bob Boughner and Johan Hedburg as assistants.
With DeBoer in as the new head coach of the San Jose Sharks, the system changes a little bit. I talked a little bit about that here. The question now is how well will the Sharks adapt to that new system? The answer, for the time being, is only time will tell.
The Sharks’ front office has made some significant changes to the roster as well, moving Antti Niemi to the Dallas Stars and acquiring back-up goalie Martin Jones (potential starter for SJ) from the Boston Bruins, while also signing right-winger Joel Ward and defenseman Paul Martin via free agency.
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With these moves, Sharks fans at least have something to cheer about. Martin adds a little more depth to the blue line and could possibly be paired with Brent Burns, while Ward could provide more offensive production in the line-up either on the top line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski or on the third line with Tommy Wingels and Chris Tierney. Hell, he could end up being one of those clutch performers the Sharks desperately need.
The only question is in net: whether or not Jones can really replace Nemo as the starting netminder. That’ll hopefully be decided as we watch him and Alex Stalock battle for crease time throughout the season. Stalock, of course, didn’t have a great season either last year.
The general stuff on-ice remains the same as always. It’s all about the details and keeping it simple. Execution will be key, even more so when Jones is in net. He doesn’t have much of a proven track record, which is why the Sharks really have to work on being responsible defensively this upcoming season. Sure, he’s still got to make the easy saves, but keep in mind that while Niemi was inconsistent, San Jose’s defense was just as much at fault for those goals against as he was for those soft goals.
We can only hope the Sharks will have a much better season overall in 2015-16, and for that to happen, it all starts with improving their play on home ice. If the San Jose Sharks organization, along with Hasso Plattner, really wants to have a memorable 25th anniversary, they must re-establish their dominance on home ice. Protect the Sharks Tank which for many years has been one of the loudest and most difficult buildings to play in across the NHL.
If they can do that, the Sharks should be well on their way to having a successful season and achieving their goals.
Next: Top 10 Sharks Home Games In 2015-16: Part Two