Miller’s Thoughts: Sharks October Ends With Scary Realization

The San Jose Sharks finish the first month of the NHL season with a 7-7-1 record and 15 points, the same total they had through 15 last season.

Before I get into anything, I need to remind my readers that this is my opinion. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Sharks front office, coaching staff, players, and everything else. Please remember that what you post online is seen by all I just mentioned, just like this story will be. They are humans like us, with feelings, emotions, and families, and they deserve respect. This is a pressure-filled business with criticism all around, so remember they are humans like all of us. I’m not going to publicly call for someone’s job or anything close to that.

Team buy-in shouldn’t be a question, and it is

After an ugly 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators Saturday afternoon, head coach Ryan Warsofsky was blunt about where the team stands.

“It’s not good enough, right? We’ve got to go back and look at everything. Look at it all, and start getting to work on tomorrow,” Warsofsky said.

One major issue stands out to me, and Warsofsky recognized it too: the lack of buy-in. After 15 games, with a new core of players besides the young stars, the team shouldn’t have a buy-in issue.

Sure, there are on-ice issues that I’ll get into in a second, but the team can only go as far as they bring it. A lack of buy-in is a fault of both the players and coaches. Somehow there is a disconnect between the two. The guys in the room have to fix it, and fix it fast.

Kiefer Sherwood was blunt about what needs to happen to change the San Jose Sharks’ fortunes.

“We got to check ourselves in the mirror here because we got to get things going,” Sherwood said postgame. “Can’t just keep going back and forth and expect to go on a run later on. We gotta have some urgency now. We gotta really focus on our identity and how we want to play each and every night.”

The team’s identity showed up against the Florida Panthers on opening night. There have been flashes of that team identity in the 14 games since, but not enough.

“That’s probably the most frustrating thing, right? We’re 15 games into it, and we probably still haven’t played a complete game. Maybe Florida, but it was so long ago,” Warsofsky said. “We’re still off in our game. We’ve got to find it quickly.”

Warsofsky and the rest of the Sharks staff have to find what works.

Defensive system needs a revamp

I intend to do a film deep dive of the San Jose Sharks’ systems soon. I am waiting for Saturday’s game to be cut together on InStat. That’ll allow me to find specific plays much more easily.

For now, I’ll do my best to explain with words. The Sharks’ systems, especially defensively, need a change. In most games, it’s nearly impossible for me to figure out what the Sharks are trying to do defensively. Mix in a horrific habit of puck watching and a lack of clear structure, and the players seem easily confused or overthink.

Take a look at this play against the Boston Bruins. After the team can’t get the puck out of the zone, a shot comes in from the point. Everyone is watching the puck and isn’t sure where to go. Tyler Toffoli is in the corner watching; Ty Dellandrea and Mason Marchment collapse and search for something. And at the very end, Nolan Allan left a man behind him unmarked because he was watching the puck, and got lucky the puck didn’t bounce his way.

Before Saturday, you could argue the San Jose Sharks’ worst defensive performance came in this game against the Bruins. Here’s another clip of the confusion over what to do once an attacking team has consistent possession.

The defensive positioning looks great at the start of the clip, but quickly falls apart. Darnell Nurse loses his man in front, Michael Kesselring gets pulled out of position (more on that in a second), and the forwards crash too low in the zone, leaving the points open.

Kesselring’s route through the zone hints at what the Sharks are trying to do: play a man-on-man system. That can work, but given how they’ve struggled to exit their zone and enter the offensive zone, it is bound for mistakes. The problem is, when teams get extended offensive zone time on the Sharks, they quickly move the puck around, constantly crossing up defenders with awkward handoffs. Then everyone watches the puck and collapses, leaving more time and space for the opposing team.

The players are smart, but they seem to overthink it. With a young forward core, a simplified system with a clear structure could help the Sharks generate rush chances and win puck possession. Man-to-man can provide that, but not when it is this easily exploited.

So while the coaches can be criticized for their defense system being exposed, the players are at fault for their lack of buy-in. This system can work, but if the players on the ice don’t want to do it the way it needs to, that’s a big problem.

Offensive system appears to be limiting high-octane talent

Before Saturday’s game, the San Jose Sharks had given up the most high-danger chances against and ranked 29th in high-danger chances for.

While defense comes first, a team with Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa, Ivar Stenberg, Igor Chernyshov, and more shouldn’t have a problem generating offense.

I take what the Sharks staff has preached to many of the young players: you’ve got to learn defense first before playing offense. Yes, that’s true, but limiting players to that and not letting them build confidence in what got them to the NHL won’t work either.

Sam Dickinson has finally started to look like an impactful NHL defenseman over the past few weeks, but what got him drafted 11th overall? His offense. Yes, the Sharks need defensemen to defend first, but the former offensive leader of his junior team has seen next to no power-play time in his NHL career. He’s focused on defense and defense only.

Celebrini is a rare breed, so take him out of this equation, but even now, he appears so worried about doing everything on the ice that his offense has suffered. Still, on Saturday, with the team needing offense, Ty Dellandrea played more 5v5 minutes than Celebrini.

The team looks afraid to get pulled out of position on a backcheck because of a potential offensive misplay. The Carolina Hurricanes, the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, play a system that requires pucks on net. They create chaos around the crease, and defend hard with swarms and rush chances in return.

Let the young players play

The San Jose Sharks can’t replicate that style exactly, but they need to take the keys. Simplify the offense, let more skill come out, and let the young players learn through their own mistakes. Lane Hutson, Cole Caufield, and Beckett Sennecke are three examples of raw talent allowed to play their game offensively and work on defense as they got older. Hutson was and still is allowed to make SOME mistakes defensively, but he’s a generational offensive talent.

A player like Luca Cagnoni could use a similar development path. A similar case can be made for Misa, just from a forwards perspective. When looking at what Warsofsky said about his demotion, he wants the same. He wants Cagnoni to regain that confidence with the puck back and play with some swagger. Sure, the deployment in the NHL this season needed to be better for him to do that before he got sent down, but when he comes back, and he likely will, he’ll have renewed confidence.

The Sharks are gripping their sticks too tight, and so are the coaches. Everyone wants to fix what’s wrong, but they need to simplify and make changes that let confidence come from their top talents, not a system that lacks defensive structure and has too much offensive structure.

At the end of the day, we are 15 games into an 84-game season. There’s a lot of hockey left to be played, but the turnaround in system changes or better play within this current system needs to begin on Monday against the Calgary Flames.