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Who Will Be the Next Barracuda Called Up by the San Jose Sharks?

By Lucas Burrell

SAN JOSE, CA - JANUARY 08: Aaron Dell #30, Brenden Dillon #4 and Lukas Radil #52 of the San Jose Sharks battle for the puck against Leon Draisaitl #29 of the Edmonton Oilers at SAP Center on January 8, 2018 in San Jose, California (Photo by Brandon Magnus/NHLI via Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, CA - JANUARY 08: Aaron Dell #30, Brenden Dillon #4 and Lukas Radil #52 of the San Jose Sharks battle for the puck against Leon Draisaitl #29 of the Edmonton Oilers at SAP Center on January 8, 2018 in San Jose, California (Photo by Brandon Magnus/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The San Jose Sharks have been relying heavily on the depth of their organization over the course of the first half of the season. They’ve dealt with tons of adversity which ranged from lack of production, injury, or suspensions. No matter the circumstances Team Teal continually turned to the San Jose Barracuda for reinforcements.

The San Jose Sharks have had success when it comes to recalling talent from their AHL affiliate. They’ve brought up names like Dylan Gambrell, Rourke Chartier, and Jacob Middleton for brief stints; were able to find the proper defensive band aid for Brent Burns with Radim Simek; and swapped out Antti Suomela with Lukas Radil. This shuffling of the deck helped propel Team Teal to their best hockey of the season during the past few weeks.

So it shouldn’t be long before the San Jose Sharks return to the well again. With back up net minder Aaron Dell really struggling of late, it’s making it difficult for Coach Pete DeBoer to give starter Martin Jones a day off. After a decent start to the year Dell has fallen flat, since the beginning of December he’s posted the 2nd worst SV% in the NHL at 0.869% through at least 7 games started.

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When digging deeper into the numbers surrounding Dell’s recent skid they illustrate that things might be far worse than we thought. The San Jose Sharks have given up 43 high danger scoring chances with him registering the leagues worst HDSV% with 0.651% since December 1st. He’s even sporting a ridiculously awful -6.13 GSAA.

If Team Teal ever wants to feel comfortable resting Jones again it might be time to make some decisions regarding Aaron Dell’s future with the organization.

So what are the San Jose Sharks to do? They could ride it out until the end of the season with Dell and hope for a comeback. Or perhaps the front office could go searching for an upgrade at that position via the trade market.

However the smartest route to take would be recalling 20 year old Barracuda standout Josef Korenar. He’s had a spectacular start to his rookie season maintaining a .919 SV%  2.22 GAA through 17 starts.

Josef Korenar splits starts with Antoine Bibeau but has started to edge out the older net minder when it comes to coaches trust. He’s shown pose and confidence in net which should help him face off against the pressure’s he might face during a heated Stanley Cup Playoff race.

This move is more economical than anything and isn’t the complete solution to the San Jose Sharks goalie situation. Korenar is on his entry level contract and is waiver exempt. This means that Team Teal can recall and send down the player between their organizations.

Overall it’s more of a band aid than a suture. The San Jose Sharks need to be cautious with the young net minder. They don’t want to burn any unnecessary years off his entry level contract. But if Korenar catches fire it would be a tough decision to send him back down especially with the San Jose Sharks being Stanley Cup or bust this season.

This might also be the end of Aaron Dell in a Teal sweater. It wouldn’t be logical for the San Jose Sharks to have 3 goalies on their roster so with this move it could be the end of Dell in the Bay Area. He could end up on the trade block or worse case scenario the waiver wire. I highly doubt he makes it through every team and onto the Barracuda roster.  So the Sharks need to be certain that this is a realistic direction to go in.

This is disappointing news considering Dell is a fan favorite and has been serviceable for most of his NHL career. But they desperately need a breath of fresh air in between the pipes. The San Jose Sharks as a team have a bottom 3 worst SV% in the league. This move is cost effective and doesn’t risk any of their limited resources. The only risk is losing Aaron Dell for nothing, but that’s a small price to pay for enhancing Team Teal’s Stanley Cup possibilities.

Next. 3 Reasons Why The San Jose Sharks Extended Sorensen. dark

All statistics in this post were provided by naturalstattrick.com unless stated otherwise

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