San Jose Sharks Need More From Youngsters
The San Jose Sharks have blended a veteran-laden group with an infusion of youth to hopefully help the younger players take on bigger roles. However, to this point in the season, San Jose has relied way too heavily on their veteran players.
If the Sharks are going to have the kind of success they want to experience this year, San Jose needs much improved play from their younger players.
Currently, the Sharks are being led by their core of Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Joel Ward, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton as they are the only San Jose players with double-digit points.
Heading into this season, general manager Doug Wilson and Peter DeBoer were counting on big seasons from some of the younger players in the organization, but things haven’t quite materialized as expected.
As it stands right now, Tomas Hertl leads the younger players with nine points (two goals and seven assists) in 22 games. After starting the season strong, Hertl has trailed off, failing to register a point in the past five games, and more astounding, failing to record a goal in the previous 19 contests.
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After scoring 15 goals in 37 games during his rookie campaign, Hertl took a step back last year with 13 goals and 18 assists. San Jose needs Hertl to provide more offense from the third-line center role to help off-set the scoring from the top two lines.
Another player who broke into the league with Hertl who has struggled over the past year-and-a-half is Matt Nieto. Nieto has the speed to thrive at the NHL level, but he hasn’t been able to match the finishing ability to go with his jets. Nieto has never scored more than 10 goals in any season, and this year, he only has three goals and three assists.
The Sharks have waited for Nieto to have a breakout season, but it just hasn’t happened to this point. A surprising player who hasn’t built off his performance at the end of last year is Chris Tierney. While Tierney has seen a reduction in his role as a fourth-line center, he hasn’t had the impact on the game that he did last season.
Tierney led the Sharks in points per 60 at 1.89 in 2014-15, but this season, Tierney’s points per 60 stands at 0.77 while his Corsi For percentage is just 42.1 percent. Tierney has the talents to provide an offensive presence from the bottom-six, but he’s right alongside Hertl and Nieto as forwards who haven’t taken the next step this season.
On the back end, it’s clear the Sharks can’t suffer any injuries on their blue line as they can’t rely on Matt Tennyson and Mirco Mueller to play consistent minutes night-in and night-out at this point in time. It’s clear Mueller needs more development time in the AHL, but it’s Tennyson’s play that is more troubling.
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At this point in his career, it’s now or never for Tennyson to make an impact in his first season of seeing regular action in San Jose. Unfortunately, it’s been inconsistent play from Tennyson who has only two assists, a Corsi For percentage of 44.8, and he’s averaging just 11:28 of ice time.
He made a critical mistake by pinching down at the wrong time which allowed Jonathan Toews to skate in and score on a 2-on-1 in San Jose’s 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks last time out.
While the Sharks are sitting in a solid position with all the injuries they’ve battled, San Jose needs some of their younger players to step their games up and start contributing on a regular basis if the Sharks are going to really challenge in the Western Conference.