San Jose Sharks 21’ Season Preview

Written By Troy Ewers (1/12/2021)

In San Jose, we’ve only had one professional sports team. For the past 30 years the only team that San Jose has known is our hockey team, the San Jose Sharks. In 1991, even though they started out at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, they still represented San Jose and from 1996 through Today, the Sharks’ presence in San Jose is still one of the most prominent aspects of the city. In 2021, for what would’ve been the team’s 30-year anniversary, the Sharks won’t even be able to play at home in the SAP Center. Just like everything else in the world the 2021 season for San Jose is affected because of the Bay Area’s high COVID concerns. Starting their 30th season in Phoenix, Arizona is a huge change in their history, but their home isn’t the only thing different about the season. The NHL has a new division alignment and new type of schedule. The new alignment is important because not only are certain teams in completely different divisions than usual, but each team only plays the other teams in their divisions. This alignment mathematically is an advantage for every team, especially for the Sharks because they play in the weaker Pacific division, San Jose now has more opportunity to enter the playoffs (which has also expanded). Coming off a season where the top players were injured, if Erik Karlson, Logan Couture, and Tomas Hertl remain healthy then on paper the Sharks have a chance to get back in the playoff picture because of an easier travel schedule and familiarity of opponents. In Sharks history, they haven’t experienced back to back losing seasons since the 1997 season and have been mainstays in playoffs going 17 seasons out of possible 22, so the long winning culture gives any fan some hope, not to mention the addition of Ryan Donato should help the high-volume offense. 

With all these advantages, what stops the Sharks from going second to last in the league to being back in the Western Conference Finals? 

3 things… First, the core talent is old with long term contracts, all the players who sell jerseys for the Sharks aren’t in their 20’s anymore and  they’ll be in San Jose until 2025. Burns, Couture, and Karlson are not spring chickens anymore and Evander Kane may not be 30 yet, but he isn’t a 50-goal scorer or 100-point getter either… no one on the San Jose Sharks is a 50-goal scorer or 100-point getter. Which leads to the second problem, there’s no sight of a future in their current roster. The old guys are solidified in the city and not one of them has the stat line that would get them in an All-Star Game, let alone lead a team to a Stanley Cup. The young guys that are there aren’t highly touted prospects, so unless the Sharks have a bunch of VVS diamonds in the rough, then grading on a curve, the Sharks are a top-heavy team that will tumble. Compared to any other top-heavy team in the league, like the Rangers, the Sharks still find themselves at the bottom of the barrel. Finally, the last problem, that even if the last 2 problems were fixed immediately, it would still hurt the Sharks immensely… Goaltending. The San Jose Sharks the past 2 years have had one of the worst goalie tandems in the NHL. This season they replaced Aaron Dell with Devyn Dubnyk. Martin Jones and Dubnyk allowed the most goals last season which makes them the worst goalie tandem in the NHL now. Remember how I said in the beginning, mathematically this season should be trending in the Sharks favor, well if your goalies can’t stop a puck then my math is useless. In sports the only math that really matters is who has more goals when the buzzer goes off(meaning more wins). So, is there a real chance the Sharks can make the playoffs this season? Yeah, because that’s the beauty of hockey, teams have had crazier bounce back stories than what the Sharks are trying to achieve, but if history says something, then the only NHL team in California that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup has way more cons than pros in 30th anniversary. My prediction for the 2021 season is simple. If they don’t win at least 4 out of their first 8 games in January, then get ready for a long – short season. If you’re a Sharks fan, make sure you have a drink next to you for every game, because you’ll need it.