San Jose Sharks young forwards beginning to provide much-needed depth

The San Jose Sharks are finally getting the production they wanted out of their young forwards at a time where they really needed some additional depth.

When the San Jose Sharks opted to move on from players such as Joe Pavelski, Gustav Nyquist, and Joonas Donskoi in the offseason, the hope was that some of the younger forwards on their roster would step up and fill the holes left by the departed veterans.

Unfortunately, the Sharks didn’t really see that mass influx of young talent that they liked had hoped for.

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As a result, their roster was thin and they didn’t have too many reliable contributors outside of their top-six forwards. Which is why when second-line centerman Tomas Hertl went down, it could have spelled disaster for the team.

Head coach Peter DeBoer even went as far as to dress seven defensemen and only 11 forwards due to his lack of trust in the team’s bottom-six forwards. Somehow, the Sharks still managed to win three of four games in Hertl’s absence.

But the extra minutes required of the team’s top-six forwards clearly took its toll — and that was made evident in the Sharks’ sluggish 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.

The return of Hertl on Friday allowed DeBoer to dress 12 forwards again and the result was a dominant 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in a game that was never really in doubt.

Hertl’s return certainly helped, but what was especially promising was the performance of the team’s fourth-line — a line that had been a liability for most of the season. DeBoer crafted a fourth line of veteran Melker Karlsson and youngsters Noah Gregor and Antti Suomela.

And that trio produced perhaps the best game out of any Sharks fourth line this season.

The highlight of their night was Gregor scoring his first NHL goal early in the second period after catching up to a beautiful lob pass from defenseman Brenden Dillon. Gregor fired a wrist shot over goalie Jonathan Quick‘s left shoulder for his career score.

Meanwhile, Suomela showcased his speed and skating ability as he was on the ice for eight shot attempts and only five against — the best percentage on the team.