Sink or Swim? San Jose Sharks 2021 Season Preview

So, as it turns out, the San Jose Sharks did not qualify for the bubble this year. They finished 8th in the pacific division. They haven’t missed the playoffs since 1998. A lot of these players have hit a bit of a mid-career slump, so the question for this season is, can they fix it? 

Key Additions: Devon Dubnyk (Minnesota Wild) 

Devon had a bit of a rough season in Minnesota but he really has a big opportunity here in San Jose to grow with the team and make them stronger. 

Losses: Joe Thornton (Toronto Maple Leafs) 

I don’t know if I know a single thing about Joe Thornton other than that he’s been playing professional hockey since before I was born. Thornton was drafted first overall in 1997 by Boston. He has played the second-most games in the NHL without winning a cup. With over 1,500 games under his belt, San Jose is losing quite a hockey legend. 

Forward Line Predictions: 

LW	C	RW
Evander Kane	Logan Couture	Timo Meier
Ryan Donato	Tomas Hertl	Kevin Labanc
Patrick Marleau	Dylan Gambrell	Marcus Sorensen
Matthew Nieto	Joel Kellman	Stefan Noesen

Defensive Pairing Predictions: 

Radim Simek	Brent Burns
Marc-Eduard Vlasic	Erik Karlsson
Mario Ferraro	Jacob Middleton

Goalies: 

The Sharks acquired Devon Dubnyk from Minnesota because goaltending…has not been a strong suit for them. Hopefully, he’ll be able to work with Martin Jones who is already with San Jose, and make goaltending a little bit more consistent for the Sharks moving forward. 

Overall, I think there is a lot of potential on this San Jose Sharks team but I’m not sure if this 56 game season playing the same seven teams eight times is really going to bode well for them. I don’t see their season going the way Sharks fans would like it to. 

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