Earlier this month I looked at the weak defensive group of the San Jose Sharks and the problems that could occur on their blue line this season. While the Front Office and coaching staff have a lot of work to build the defense, they are confronted with the opposite problem with their attackers. They may have more attackers who are worth NHL playing time than they have NHL roster spots, and they have to find out how they can manage it. The team must use this season to juggle the players in question and to prepare a plan for their forward lines in future seasons.
Sharks have too many attackers, have to balance on the line
According to my count, the sharks currently have 19 or 20 attackers who may earn NHL’s performances this season, some that has not even reduced By trading Danil Gushchin. Compare that with the maximum of 15, they may be able to continue their active selection and 12 that can adapt to a certain game, and they will have a number of difficult decisions.
As a reconstruction team, the sharks want their line -up consists of a mix of young players and veterans, and they certainly have a lot of both. The challenge with which they are confronted is to determine which of those skaters should take the ice from game to game. Many of those young players are looking for a breakthrough and an opportunity to prove that they belong. Others such as Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith hope to make a leap now that they have settled. Moreover, many of the veterans of Bottom-Six Grinders, the sharks that players also need, have at least partly to insulate those young boys. With so many capable players who earn NHL playing time, it will not be easy to find the right balance in their rotation.
The sharks have ways to reduce these concerns. Some veterans will at least rotate in and out of healthy scratches, and a few of them can be traded, although probably not until the season is already going. A handful of young players will spend a considerable part of the season in the small competitions, and in at least one caseMaximum not at the sharks at all. Of course they cannot all be scratched healthily or be sent at the same time. And with so many of them new or for the Sharks organization or the NHL as a whole, the coaching staff must use some experiments to combine and match the best possible line combinations.
Related: Sharks still have to solve their right-shot defender problem
The sharks are at something of a bending point in their rebuilding and have to use this season to determine their schedule forecasts for future seasons. They benefit from having many different options and players to watch, but the care is that they may have too many choices.
Sharks don’t have the best solution
All in all, this is a relatively good problem for the sharks. It is certainly true in the past seasons, when they had to stretch to achieve a full NHL-Kaliber selection. But it is also not a common problem, which means that they do not have much precedent to find out who belongs at what level. As such, both the coaching staff and the Front Office have to try out a few different methods.
The coaches will use many different line -ups and line combinations and perhaps give the younger players days off for development such as last season with Smith. In the meantime, the Front Office was able to move the younger players back and forth of the minors and can ultimately exchange a bit ahead to make room for others. The team as a whole will learn a lot about which attackers fit best as the season progresses, but with play -off statement not great concern, they can afford to do this.
The sharks may not yet match most NHL teams, but for the first time in a few seasons they seem to solidify one of their position groups. In the course of the following year they have the opportunity to evaluate and filter specific players of a group that is now too great. From where they were not so long ago, it is not a bad position to be in.
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