It will be the 30th year anniversary of the San Jose Sharks, who arrived in 1990. Last season was un-Shark like, as things started very badly and escalated to a nightmare season. This after the season before, when the Sharks made the conference finals. Then fall to 29th in the league last season. A Sharks franchise who has made it to the playoffs 21 times in 28 seasons played. The 2019-20 season started off badly, but the team changed coaches. Head coach Pete DeBoer was out. DeBoer would resurface in Vegas. Bob Boughner was awarded with the Interim coach tag and he dealt with multiple injuries. The Sharks did not have replacements for free agents that left in the off-season after getting to the finals. Then Covid invaded and that officially ended the Sharks year. When Hockey returned into the bubble, 8 teams were not invited. The worst 8 teams in the league would battle it out for the number one draft pick in a lottery. Sharks were not the team in the bubble, or the team that was trying to secure the first overall pick in the draft. They traded that pick away. Finishing 29th should get you a top player but it did not. The Humanity!!!

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Joe Thornton was kind of mad at the Sharks front office. They were unable to trade him to a contending playoff team by the deadline last season. Thornton finished the nightmare season in San Jose, took his Beard to Canada, and joined the Toronto Maple Leafs in the off-season. Thornton will always be remembered wearing the Shark head on the teal uniform.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

With the Covid virus still showing off its strength in parts of California, the Sharks have no guarantee they will play at their own stadium for home games this season. The Sharks’ first home game is scheduled in February, as they will go on the road for the first 8 games of their schedule. Due to the Virus, the NHL realigned all the divisions to have less traveling, like what the MLB did this past season. If Sharks can not play in San Jose, Arizona might be where they play their home games this season. Even though right now no fans are in the seats, it would kill a team with no comforts of home. Sharks could be like the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL, making the cactus tree a regular sight in their lives.

San Jose Sharks welcome back some old friends by bringing back Matt Nieto, who had a stint with the Avalanche. Then back from only playing in 12 games with the Penguins, a fan favorite and one of the Sharks’ all-time greats, Patrick Marleau.

THE NEW GUYS

Forward Ryan Donato and goaltender Devan Dubnyk.

GOALIE SITUATION

Bringing Devan Dubnyk, a 12 year veteran with 247 wins under his belt, who the Sharks are hoping will improve their goalie situation from last season. Sharks still have Martin Jones who had the second worst save percentage last season in the entire NHL. Sharks hope bringing in Dubnyk will push Jones to be better or make him the permanent back up.

DEFENSE

Jacob Middleton, Mario Ferraro, Marc-Edouard Vlastic, Radim-Simek. Nikolai Knyzhov, Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson

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Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson are two of the top scoring defensemen in the league. Brent Burns’ numbers did dip last season. Burns has led all defensemen in scoring since the 2014-15 season. Erik Karlsson, when healthy, can score and play great defense when he’s on the ice. Karlsson has a big contract and the Sharks need him on ice to make plays to help this team win games, especially with bad goal tending.

REST OF THE ROSTER

Dylan Gambrell, Evander Kane, Stefan Noesen, Patrick Marleau, Ryan Donato, Marcus Sorensen, Timo Meier, Logan Couture, Joel Kellman, Thomas Hertl, Kevin Labanc, and Matt Nieto

Timo Meier led the Sharks in scoring last season. Can Meier be the top scorer on this Shark team with everyone staying healthy?

Off the ice, problems have Evander Kane filing for bankruptcy. The 29 year old Kane, lost 1.5 Million to gambling. This is the same guy who signed a 7 year at 49 Million dollar extension in 2018.

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Can Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture stay on the ice this season? Injuries were part of the story of the bad year the Sharks had as a team. Sharks need Hertl and Couture to light the lamp and stay healthy. If these two can stay on the ice, Sharks could find themselves back in the playoffs. Makes the offense overall better and each line stronger.

CONCLUSION

Staying healthy, better goal tending and having home ice, will be three keys of the San Jose Sharks rebounding from last season. The less Martin Jones, the better this team will be. If Devan Dubnyk could solidify the net, the defense of the Sharks could make more plays on offense. Which could lead to more goals. I like Patrick Marleau returning. It can get you some big goals in critical points of the games that were missing last season. Can Evander Kane fight for racial justice, deal with his money problems, and be productive on the ice? I think the Sharks need to get off to a strong start as they lost a bunch of close games early on in that first month of the season and could not recover.