San Jose Sharks forward grades for midway point of season

Dec 21, 2013; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center

(19) congratulated by San Jose Sharks bench after he scored the winning goal during the overtime shootout against the Dallas Stars at SAP Center at San Jose. Sharks won 3-2 in the overtime shootout. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

In the first half of the 2013-2014 season the San Jose Sharks forwards never failed to impress us with scoring. As a team, the Sharks have accumulated a total of 119 goals in 38 games which is good for 5th in the league so far. The most amazing part of this lofty number is that for a majority of the first half of this season, the Sharks have been without the services of a top-six, even top-line forward on any given night. Since the Western Conference and Pacific Division standings are so tight, the importance of every goal cannot be expressed enough. Every point in the standings is crucial.

There is a little bit of concern in the offensive department, though. The top-line composed of Tomas Hertl, Joe Thornton, and Brent Burns and sometimes Joe Pavelski has accounted for the majority of the Sharks’ scoring. When compared to the other three lines, mostly the bottom two, it isn’t even a close race. The Sharks are top-heavy, which can greatly detriment a team’s goals to win the cup. If the top-lines stop producing, the bottom six forwards need to do their part. Forward depth is key, and the Sharks need to address that problem. Here are the offensive numbers for each line so far (so you can see the difference):

Line 1: Burns-Hertl-Thornton Line 2: Marleau-Couture-Pavelski Line 3: Kennedy-Wingels-Havlat Line 4:Brown-Desjardins-McCarthy

But now, let’s look at how each individual forward does on the report card for their respective performances through the 1st half of the NHL season. Go to the next page to begin the San Jose Sharks grades.

All statistics courtesy of extraskater.com, nhl.com, and the San Jose Sharks official website unless otherwise noted.