Hmm…Something seems all too familiar about the start to the season for the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are coming out of an off season which left a lot of unanswered questions.
There were a lot of holes that needed filling after losing Patrick Marleau to the Toronto Maple Leafs and other left unfilled even before his departure. They’re coming off a season where players like Joonas Donskoi and Melker Karlsson regressed to the mean and free agent signing Mikkel Boedker vastly underachieved in his first season in Teal Town. Doug Wilson did not make any significant free agent moves, the only one being Enforcer Brandon Bollig who’s currently in the AHL with the Barracuda. Wilson decided to rely heavily on some of his younger players going into the 2017-2018 season rather than bring in some high priced free agents or make a blockbuster trade.
The Sharks opened the year 1-3 with a couple of disaster games against the Flyers and Kings, but played a bit better against the Islanders in a 3-1 loss. The only win coming against a bad Buffalo team (and Montreal last night, but this podcast was recorded before that game).
Sound familiar yet? Another Bay Area team with a lot of question marks and has historically overachieved, with an overrated farm system and recent free agent flops?
Thats right. That sound a lot like the San Francisco Giants to me, and if their season is any barometer to what relying on an aging, overachieving roster with unproven young guys can be. Then, well, the Sharks are in trouble. Because it seems like their off season mirrored that of the Giants, almost exactly.
I’m not ready to go to DefCon 2 just yet. It is still early, and I was encouraged by what I saw from Kevin LeBanc and Timo Meier. But, if the Sharks don’t turn it around, and turn it around soon then its panic time in San Jose.