3 Potential Breakout Candidates on the San Jose Sharks
Three San Jose Sharks players looking to take the next step in their development and help propel Team Teal towards another Stanley Cup Playoff birth.
The San Jose Sharks chose to let their captain and leading goal scorer Joe Pavelski walk during this summers free agency period in order retain Erik Karlsson and extend Timo Meier.
To make matters worse they weren’t able to extend either of their two dynamic forwards in Gus Nyquist or Joonas Donskoi. Now for the first time in a while the Sharks are entering a NHL season with more questions than answers when it comes to their roster.
In spite of this San Jose’s management and their coaching staff feel that they have the components necessary internally to off-set the losses of these pivotal pieces of the offense. And they are probably not wrong considering the talent Team Teal brings to the ice.
Next season’s San Jose Sharks have the potential of repeating last years success when it comes to their offensive production. All it’s going to take is a breakout performance or two from a few of the skaters already in the Bay Area.
Kevin Labanc
After his monster performance during Game 4 of Round 1 versus the Vegas Golden Knights, Kevin Labanc made a bet on himself that he would play a huge role in the San Jose Sharks success in the upcoming season.
In his 3rd season suiting up for Team Teal the 23-year-old elevated his game to new heights riding shotgun alongside journeymen Joe Thornton at 5v5, and at times on the first power play unit.
In 2018 – 2019 Labanc potted 17 goals compiling 56 total points along the way. The Staten island native’s lethal shot got put on display all season long using it to not only score goals, but filter pucks through net front screens in order to create high danger chances for his teammates.
Kevin Labanc likely has the most to gain in regards to ice-time with the departure of Joe Pavelski. Labanc logged 14:01 of average ice time per contest last season and will definitely see a significant bump in usage with the skater being the best option at right-wing coming into camp.
It’s still undecided which San Jose Sharks skater will be taking Pavelski’s spot on the top power-play unit, but Labanc has a good a shot as any to get the coaching staffs attention. With the extra exposure on special times and overall ice time don’t be shocked if we see Labanc reaching 70 point territory.
Radim Simek
During Radim Simek’s stint on the San Jose Sharks roster they were playing some of the best hockey of their 2018 – 2029 campaign. Riding shotgun on the left side of Brent Burns the Czech forward served as a steady presence on the ice while his partner often jumped up into the play leaving the first year pro often all alone defending the blueline.
In 41 games at the NHL level for Team Teal, Simek put up a modest 9 points, but his impact on the ice can’t really be accurately measured by overall point totals. A better illustration of the 26-year-old’s effectiveness is his expected +/- (3.5), this exhibits that even with added defensive responsibilities and the burden of having a goalie with a below average save percentage Simek’s presence on the ice had a drastic net positive on the Sharks overall production.
Not only does he compliment Team Teal’s possession heavy style of play additionally he brings a physical presence that is necessary for a Sharks team often battling against Western Conference opponents. He does all of this while remaining a very disciplined skater only committing 4 penalties during his time on the big club.
An injured ACL and MCL that required surgery to repair ended Simek’s season in mid-march. Nevertheless the left-handed blueliner appears ready for the start of training camp and the regular season. If he remains on the ice, Sharks fans shouldn’t get surprised if Simek’s ice-time jump’s significantly, especially if management feels the need to shift around any more contracts in order to improve other parts of the roster.
Timo Meier
This choice is a bit of an obvious one however the excitement around Timo Meier’s potential is hard to ignore. The 22-year-old power-forward had a bit of breakout season in 2018 – 2019 scoring 30 goals in his 78 games played last season.
Meier clocked big minutes at 5v5 playing with Logan Couture for a major chunk of the campaign. Regardless of who was on the right side of the duo they remained extremely effective at even strength, often times lining up against an opposing teams best forward group.
The reason Timo Meier is due for a breakout season is because we simply haven’t seen him be able to play to play at his full potential in all situations. Now with the loss of Joe Pavelski, Meier has a chance to get a significant bump in ice-time on special teams.
The Swiss born winger put up a career high 66 points with a (0.85) PPG pace in 2018 – 2019 scoring 55 of his total points at even strength. Adding this to the fact that Timo ranked 6th on Team Teal among all forwards in overall ice-time on the power-play, it’s not hard to imagine a dynamic goal scorer like Meier finding a way to help supplement the loss of Pavelski’s production on the 1st unit.
All this being said Timo in 2019 – 2020 definitely has point per game potential and is going to get relied on heavily for offensive production next season. Especially considering the Sharks didn’t really add any help up front via free agency. It’ll be interesting to see if Meier can make that next step and by years end be considered one of the elite goal scorers in the NHL.
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Sharks fans have every right to worry and question whether this team can somehow replace the departure of one of the most iconic players in team history. Be that as it may San Jose has game-breaking talent and is only a few breakout seasons away from maintaining the historic level of production that they put up just one season ago.