San Jose Sharks begin season shorthanded, tilt with Vegas Golden Knights

A few unexpected players emerged from training camp for the San Jose Sharks as the team embarks on the 2019-20 campaign with a home-and-home against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The rivalry between the San Jose Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights grows intense by the minute. Bad blood is evident amongst the players especially after last season’s postseason display as the Sharks knocked off the Golden Knights in seven games.

Forget about the Los Angeles Kings being a rivalry. The dislike between San Jose and Vegas will be on full display with the NHL scheduling back-to-back contests between the Pacific Division combatants. Expect these two teams to be jockeying for the division title throughout the year.

Preseason is generally a chance for coaches and management to gauge players in the organization to see who could potentially be a valuable asset in the lineup down the line.

Doug Wilson did state he is allowing prospects to take open slots in the lineup but also eyeing players who can handle the grind of an 82-game schedule plus postseason.

Unfortunately, perhaps scheduling a preseason matchup with Vegas before the opener was not a great idea. As a result, an essential piece to the Sharks’ lineup will test San Jose early with an already thin group of wingers.

Evander Kane will miss the first three games after an altercation with an official in the final preseason game. Both the official and Kane are in the wrong for their actions, but Kane’s portion of the situation, unfortunately, could not go unpunished.

To the relief of the Sharks, adversity will only be three games as abusing an official could carry the maximum of 10 games.

Not having Kane in the lineup is a blow to the Sharks’ forward group after a 30-goal season and he’s expected to reach the mark again. Kane became the center of attention from last year’s first-round playoff matchup, scuffling with the low hockey IQ of Ryan Reaves.

But having Kane out of the lineup may prove beneficial for the Sharks in wanting to play their style of hockey and not getting drawn into altercations with the Golden Knights. Players like Reaves are bad for hockey and set a bad example of lackluster playing in which he does on the ice.

Regardless of those on the ice for Vegas coach, Gerard Gallant, he will likely be complaining the majority of the time with the official then actually control his players. Plenty of dirty play has come from Vegas with the incidents going unpunished.

Back to the Shark’s opening night roster as the new captain, Logan Couture looks to get his captaincy off to a flying start and set the tone early against Vegas.

Erik Karlsson appears healthy after a few successful preseason games. The defenseman looks to be a staple of the Sharks’ defense alongside Brent Burns after signing an eight-year extension.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic is one defenseman to keep an eye on early on. One of the best to shut down the top forward groups of opponents, Vlasic did not appear to be at his best on most nights last season. Vlasic must regain his confidence and get back to provide solid minutes by shutting down other teams.

For the newcomers, Mario Ferraro appears set to be on the third defensive pairing for the first game with Radim Simek still recovering from his knee injury. Ferraro will get a long look from the Sharks’ coaching staff until Simek is ready the first few weeks of the season.

A fruitful prospect tournament down in Irvine before training camp began, Ferraro was likely going, to start with the San Jose Barracuda.

Instead, making the lineup is huge for his development and growth pushing Tim Heed down as the seventh defenseman. Jacob Middleton seemed likely to grab the open spot given some NHL experience, but Ferraro stood out from the games he played.

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At the forward position, Lean Bergmann and Danil Yurtaykin are two unknowns who flew underneath the radar and found themselves making the lineup.

Bergmann follows the line of undrafted free agents out of Europe by the Sharks with the hope of making an impact. He could be the solution in having a steady fourth line, an area that got exposed by the better fourth line of St. Louis in the conference final.

At age 22, Yurtaykin signed out of Russia and could find himself getting quality scoring chances if he is on the line with Joe Thornton. His preseason play caught the eye of coach Peter DeBoer and h’s getting the opportunity to make a statement at the NHL level.

He may have to wait his turn depending on who coach DeBoer chooses for the starting lineup. Jonny Brodzinski may likely get into the first game against Vegas. Brodzinski began his career with the Kings before an injury derailed him last year.

He was a productive player during his time in Los Angeles and hopefully regained his form to become a valuable piece to the Sharks’ everyday lineup.

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Between the pipes, Martin Jones will handle the load as the undisputed starter. Aaron Dell needed only one preseason game to quash any suggestion; the backup spot was an open competition.

Jones did not look solid in the final preseason game against the Golden Knights and hopefully is ready to bounce back after inconsistent starts from last year.

San Jose opens the season with only four games at SAP Center and nine games on the road with notable matchups against Nashville, Chicago, and Boston. Kane will miss the two games against Vegas and Anaheim before being eligible to play in the game against the Predators.

San Jose Sharks hockey is back with a new captain in Couture, and the goal of a lengthy playoff run for the Stanley Cup.

Adversity comes early with a thin forward group, but the playmakers on the defense will look to dictate the pace of play and get the Sharks’ first wins on the year.