SAN JOSE – Another season in which the San Jose Sharks have finished at the bottom of the NHL standings has, perhaps mercifully, come to a conclusion.
The Sharks hoped to finish the year on a positive note. But with their 3-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night at SAP Center, they ended with just 20 wins and 51 points, only marginally better than their totals from a season ago.
Ty Emberson and Max Jones scored for the Oilers, who handed the Sharks their 11th straight loss (0-8-3) to end the season. The Sharks finished with a record of 20-50-12.
Also only marginally better for the Sharks? The goals against total, as San Jose allowed a league-worst 312 goals over 82 games, a slightly smaller figure than the 331 they allowed last season during 19-54-9 campaign.
If the Sharks hope to make strides next year and have this be the last season they have the best chance to win the NHL Draft Lottery, it’ll start with how they defend.
A portion of that will come from internal growth from their large cadre of younger players. But help from the Sharks’ front office in that respect would not hurt, as part of the team’s ample salary cap space needs to be used on players – forwards, defensemen, and goalies – who can help San Jose cut down on the number of goals it allows.
No team in the top 16 in the NHL’s overall standings has allowed more than 240 goals this season.
Naturally, changes are coming, with a handful of players in the Sharks’ lineup Wednesday likely playing their last game for the team. That group could include goalie Alexandar Georgiev, defenseman Jan Rutta, and forward Noah Gregor, although those three should only bear so much responsibility.
This was a team effort through and through.
But, the hope amongst the Sharks is that the worst is behind them, and that the organization can start to build back up.
“We’re definitely on the right path. We are,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Wednesday morning. “I know our win-loss record doesn’t look like that, but we’re on the right path.”
Sharks captain Logan Couture, who officially announced on Tuesday that his playing days are over, was in attendance Wednesday. The Sharks showed a video tribute for Couture, and the sold-out crowd at SAP Center gave him a deserved standing ovation after a 15-year playing career in the NHL.
Couture, arguably the most clutch playoff performer in Sharks history, led San Jose’s playoff team in 2019 with 20 points in 20 games.
Couture said his two favorite memories as a player were in 2016, when he scored an empty-net goal in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final against the St. Louis Blues, sealing the Sharks’ first-ever trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
In Game 7 of the Sharks’ first-round playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019, Couture scored twice in the third period to lead an epic comeback after San Jose fell behind by three goals. The Sharks won the game 5-4 in overtime on a goal by Barclay Goodrow.
“I went back and watched those games, and you get goosebumps watching the building, the atmosphere, what those teams were all about, the competitiveness,” Warsofsky said.
“Obviously (Couture) scores that goal, he jumps into the bench in the biggest game. So I want to experience that. I want our players to experience that. I want our players to go through a playoff run. It’s the funnest time in your career, and those are the best moments.
“I hope we can get to there very, very soon. But I do think we’re on the right path.”
