Which San Jose Sharks Are Heading Towards Breakout Years

Dylan Gambrell, Center

The 22-year-old center, signed out of the University of Denver is another player the Sharks believe can fill the hole left by Chris Tierney. Gambrell spent the past six seasons under new Dallas Stars head coach Jim Montgomery, and shined for the Pioneers on the 2017 Frozen Four championship team. He accumulated 133 points during his 3 year collegiate career, with 43 goals and 89 assists,  per collegehockeynews.

Dylan Gambrell appeared in 3 Sharks games last season and averaged 10 and half minutes of ice time per game. It was an extremely short sample size and it was with a Sharks team who had already clinched a playoff berth.

There isn’t much to critique as far as what he was able to do during his brief stint with the team last year. That makes his time at DU probably the best way to judge what to expect from Gambrell this upcoming season.

Gambrell is strong on his skates with above average speed. He has some finishing ability around the net and is a playmaker when he is given space to do so. He developed in former UD and current Dallas Stars Head Coach Jim Montgomery’s system during his collegiate career.  Now the Sharks are looking for him to flourish under the direction of Pete DeBoer this upcoming season.

Kevin Labanc, Right Wing

The Staten Island kid heads into the season coming off a capricious 2017 – 2018 campaign. At various points of last season Labanc played very well. Over the course of the year he scored 40 points, with 11 goals. Labanc’s ice time was maximized while he was inside the opposing teams zone. He used his skate speed and positioning to create shooting lanes, while using his quick wrist shot to create rebounds and deflections.

With Kevin Labanc on the ice the Sharks controlled much of the play, they sustained a 55.5 Corsi rate at even strength during the 2017 – 2018 season. Labanc’s presence in the offensive zone was needed on a team that lacked scoring depth after the departure of Patrick Marleau last season.

Overall, Labanc’s offense was most potent on the Power Play. His right handed shot was extremely useful on a Sharks roster littered with powerful left handed shooters. He racked up 17 points on special teams, while spending time with both the first and second unit.

During the 2016 – 2017 campaign the Sharks only had 4 players with more than 1 goal on Special Teams. Labanc definitely stepped up and contributed offensively, something that the Sharks desperately needed him to do going into last season.

Labanc, however, has had his struggles. He is known for missing defensive assignments and gets bullied off the puck by bigger stronger players. Head Coach Pete DeBoer shelters Labanc by giving him mostly offensive zone starts. He started in the offensive zone 55.5% of the time, which is pretty drastic considering that the Sharks like to cycle all four of their forward lines. By using Micah Blake McCurdys (@IneffectiveMath) zone usage Hockeyviz tool one can see that DeBoer usage of Labanc over the course of the season.

Another important stat that really highlights Labanc’s defensive inefficiencies is that the teams on ice save percentage dips nearly 2 points while Labanc was playing. The Banker will need to tighten up defensively in order for him to earn more favorable ice time from Pete DeBoer.

The 22-year-old might be a liability at times, but he has earned his spot in this Sharks lineup who lacks impact right handed shots. This season Kevin Labanc is looking to elevate his game, especially coming into a contract year with his entry level expiring this summer.

Antti Suomela, Center

The San Jose Sharks are banking on Antti Suomela to make an impact on this team sooner rather than later. The Sharks haven’t had the best of luck with drafting future NHL players, but have supplemented those draft pick misses with hitting on free agents from outside of the NHL.

Suomela is coming off a monster year in the Finnish Elite League and are hoping he can fill this teams is lack of center depth left by Chris Tierney’s departure to Ottawa.

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It is always difficult to tell how an international player’s skill set will transfer onto the smaller ice surface of the NHL. There’s a lot of mystery behind these players who spent their entire professional career in Europe.

Interestingly, the Sharks have found recent success with players like Joonas Donskoi, Marcus Sorenson and Melker Karlsson, from the international market. The bottom six is the biggest question mark going into next season, but there is reason to believe that Suomela could be the answer.

Antti Suomela, signed this offseason to a one year contract, led the entire Finnish Elite League in points with 60, 21 of which were goals. Over the past two seasons Suomela amassed a total of 105 points, stats per Liiga.

Suomela also was proficient in the face-off circle. He took over 1,700 of them in his Finnish Elite League Career, while maintaining over a 50% clip during that time. The San Jose Sharks are hoping his consistency on the dot can translate over to the NHL.

Suomela is unlikely to get significant offensive zone time during next season, but with the talent on the Sharks roster he will still likely be able maximize his ice time. The Finnish forward spends very little time with the puck on his stick. He quickly reads the defense and either fires a wrist shot at the net, or dumps the puck off to a nearby teammate.

This type of quick decision making is extremely helpful in a much faster paced NHL. The Sharks definitely have confidence in his game and want to see him play more so look for him to play quite a bit during the short preseason.

Timo Meier, Right Wing

The 21-year-old is coming off an impressive first full season in San Jose. Meier was able to compile 36 points,  21 of which were goals. Timo Time provided grit and tenacity to a less physically dominant Sharks team. His ability to use his size and strength to carry the puck was impressive to watch for a young skater and put his play making ability on display, while being penciled in all over the San Jose lineup.

Meier put together a spectacular offensive season, and seems to blossoming into the top 6 power forward that the San Jose Sharks pictured when they drafted him in 2016. Meier’s powerful shot created 16 rebounds at 5v5 last year. Creating deflections and rebounds are extremely important for this Sharks team that thrives off goals scored right in front of the crease.

The Swiss forward’s presence in the offensive zone gives opposing teams headaches. Meier drew an astonishing 34 penalties last season. He uses his power, skate speed, and wide frame to shield the puck from frustrated defenders. These drawn penalties are going to be even more important this season with the Sharks revamped Power Play.

Meier’s defensive abilities were impressive over the course of last season. Meier had 48 takeaways in all situations last season, along with delivering 105 hits during that time, stats per naturalstattrick. Hits are an overrated stat, but they are a good illustration of the kind of defensive tenacity Meier brings to the Sharks.

Meier also wasn’t afraid to put his body on the line by blocking 48 shots, that’s a high mark for a Forward who averaged only around 15 minutes of ice time per game last season. The San Jose Sharks are going to need Meier to step up and replace some of the defensive responsibility that was left by the departure of Chris Tierney. Look for him to get lots of opportunities to kill penalties this year.

Timo Meier will likely start on the second line with Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl. But don’t be surprised if you see Meier anchoring the third line to help balance out the Sharks offensive attack. No matter where Meier gets put into the lineup look for him to improve on last season.

Joakim Ryan, Defenseman

The San Jose Sharks were pleasantly surprised by the play of Joakim Ryan last season. He was iced for 62 games, most of them being partnered with Brent Burns. He seems like an excellent complement to Burns’ brilliant but often risky playing style. Ryan is new to the NHL, but his maturity seems beyond his years.

The 25-year-old is part of this new wave of smaller more mobile defensemen that have started to creep into the league. He is an extremely disciplined skater as he was only in the penalty box 4 times last season, along with only coughing up the puck 16 times, per naturalstattrick. Compare that total to his defensive partner Burns who had 124 giveaways over the course of last season, which placed second in the entire league.

Over the past few seasons it was Paul Martin partnered with Burns. Martin’s disciplined skating served as the perfect counterpart to Burns volatile style of play. But after coming back from injury last season, it was clear to the coaches that Martin was missing a step.

The coaching staff then decided to pair Burns with Brendan Dillon. On paper this combo seemed like a perfect fit. But realistically Dillon lacks the skate speed and positional awareness to make up for Burn’s questionable defensive plays, and it showed at times with those two on the ice together.

Using another fun visual tool provided by Micah Blake McCurdy’s (@IneffectiveMath) Hockeyviz site is his defender deployment groupings. This helps one get a sense of how defensive pairings are deployed throughout the course of the season by a coach.

Peter DeBoer got more and more comfortable pairing Burns and Ryan together over the course of the year. They were deployed mostly inside the offensive zone for maximum on ice effectiveness. Ryan started in the offensive zone at a 55.5% rate with almost zero time on the power play. Although he was given a bulk of zone starts inside the opponent’s zone, he is mostly tasked with staying home and roving the blue line to keep the puck in play.

Even with the bulk of defensive responsibility the New Jersey native was able to produce some points by feeding off of the play of his partner. Ryan compiled 12 points last year, with 3 goals in 62 games.

This was a nice little chunk of production considering that the offense completely flows through Burns’ shot when he is on the ice. Look for Joakim Ryan to improve on that total with the benefit of easier matchups created by the ridiculous depth on the San Jose Sharks blue line and better chemistry with Burns.

Ivan Chekhovich, Left Wing

This one is a bit of a wildcard and was thrown in after his spectacular showing in the Sharks first preseason game. Ivan Chekhovich started the game on the fourth line, but ended up anchoring the first. He put up 2 goals and 1 assist on Tuesday’s nights 4 – 1 victory over the Ducks. His 6 SOG were a Sharks team high. If he didn’t have the coaching staffs attention during the first few days of training camp he sure does now.

The native of Russia has spent the last two seasons in the QMJHL with Baie-Comeau Drakkar. He put together two quality seasons and accumulated 119 points with 45 of which lit the lamp. Last season he placed second on his team with 12 power play goals and led the team in High Danger Scoring Chances with 108, per theqmjhl.

Chekhovich has shown impressive finishing ability during his Junior career. He uses his quick hands to score off of zone rushes, shoot in cross ice one timers, or dump in rebounds in front of the crease. He finished off the end of his spectacular season last year with the Sharks AHL affiliate the Barracuda and helped propel them to a Calder Cup playoff appearance.

There really isn’t much to be known about the young winger. Not much has been said about Chekhovich, unless you follow the QMJHL. Perhaps those days are over now with his impressive showing in his preseason debut.

Sharks fans should be hearing a lot more about the 19-year-old in the near future. He is unable to play for the Barracuda because he has one more year left in Juniors, but the Sharks do have the option of burning a year of his eligibility on his entry level contract if they want to keep Chekhovic on their roster. He is definitely making them think long and hard about this decision.

Look for these skaters, and possibly even others not mentioned, to have big years for the San Jose Sharks. Head Coach Peter DeBoer is going to be forced to rely on a lot of his younger skaters, something out of the norm for him.