Projecting 25-26 Point Totals for the San Jose Sharks Newest Players

Projecting 25-26 Point Totals for the San Jose Sharks Newest Players

class is now in session. I’m Professor Hockey and today I’ll be discussing my projected point totals for the San Jose Sharks newest players. Either the ones signed through free agency or in the case of the final player on this list picked up off of waiverss. Now, I tried to be more so cautiously optimistic with these players. I didn’t want to come in and say that they would all be complete failures and just not put up many points at all. But at the same time, I didn’t want to overestimate them and say that they’d be able to perform at their absolute peak that they are capable of. So instead, right down the middle here. But it should be noted that many of the players on this list are pretty hit or miss, I would say, which means that they have a wide range of point totals that I would say they are capable of. And so it is quite difficult to nail down a perfect guess. But it’s my best educated one here based on what I expect their ice time, their deployment, and in particular the quality of teammates that they will end up playing with. And we start off at the top of this list with Philip Kuresev, who is definitely one of the more difficult players to predict here, just because his career has been very, very inconsistent. He’s had now five seasons in the NHL, all five with a pretty bad Chicago Blackhawks team. The first three years, it was not great. It was okay as a young player, fourth round pick, career-high of 25 points. But his fourth year was a breakout season for himself. He got to play the majority of the season with Connor Baddard, which is obviously a huge benefit and it was reflected in his point totals as he put up 54. Chicago Blackhawks fans got excited, the organization got excited that this could be a new normal for him moving forward. But instead, this past season, Kersep took a significant step back as the Blackhawks added a little bit more talent to their roster. In the case of Terravinan and Bertusi and McKayv and Hall, suddenly there was a little bit more competition for that topline role with Conor Bard and Kersev could not really handle that. He quickly fell down the lineup and ended up even being a healthy scratch for a decent chunk of games. And so by the end of the season, the Blackhawks were kind of at their wits end and decided to not even give him a qualifying offer, which made him an unrestricted free agent. That is where the San Jose Sharks swooped in and signed him to this one-year deal. We have seen through Mike Fear’s entire tenure as San Jose Sharks general manager that he absolutely loves these types of redemption projects. Take a player who has some potential or who has had success previously in their career, pick them up and then hope that you’ll be able to turn them around to be able to get some pretty good value later on. In the case of Male Granland, it showed a tremendous amount of success as he was basically a salary cap dump from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eric Carlson trade, but he performed very well for the Sharks and they ended up getting a first round pick in a trade with the Dallas Stars. But then on the other side of the coin, you have a player like Philip Zadena who never really found any sort of groove here with San Jose and then just kind of unceremoniously left the following off season. Kurichev is another one of these types of redemption projects. We’ll see how he ends up working out. Now, because of these inconsistencies, it is difficult to see where exactly he’s going to end up in the lineup because the good news is that in his one very good year, he played with Baddard and that’s kind of a similar experience of what could happen if he plays in a top six role for the Sharks going with a guy like Will Smith or with Mlin Celibbrini. He is capable of complimenting these types of players rather well. But the problem with Kurichev is that if he’s not actually producing any offense or putting up points, he doesn’t actually provide much else to the game. He’s not particularly good defensively. There isn’t much of a physical aspect there. And so it is very possible that if he goes a few games in a row, zero points, he’s going to end up going into that bottom six. It kind of, I would say, reminds me a little bit of Nikolai Kovaleeno from this past season. He was acquired in the Mackenzie Blackwood trade. He was originally trialled in a top pry or a topline role with a guy like Celabbrini. And there were some points that were being put up in those first few games, but as that dried up, Morovski believed that he just didn’t really have much else that he provided to be that solid top six guy. And so he would get pushed out of that group. And then at the same time, because he also doesn’t have those physical aspects, he wasn’t really viewed as a primary bottom six player either, which caused Kovalenko to be a relatively consistent, healthy scratch throughout the season. We know there was a ton of friction there between Worski and Kovaleeno, and so by the end of the season, Kovaleeno headed back to the KHL as we know now. Not to say that it things are going to play out exactly like that in the case of Kurichev, but I absolutely see a world where he just doesn’t quite fit in the top six, isn’t providing enough, and then might Ryan Worovski finds it difficult to find him a proper spot in that bottom six. Now, there is some good news here, which is the case that in the previous season, the Sharks maybe seemed a little bit more willing to trial certain players like Dandri or Grundstrom in that third line role. Plus, they also had a guy like Clem Cen who was capable of playing there. maybe Luke Cunnan as well. This time around, things are not as uh uh replaceable, I guess you could say. The Sharks currently have a set top nine. This is assuming that Michael Misa ends up starting next year in college. If of course, if he does play with the Sharks, this changes things completely, but otherwise, the Sharks have a pretty set top nine in Kurishv is a part of that. And then the four other players who will round out their likely 13 group of forwards considering I imagine they will carry eight defensemen are Deandria Reeves Goodro Stapuk probably and then Carl Grundstrom might uh sub in at some point. It’s quite likely that one of these players will end up having to be put onto waiverss because I don’t think the Sharks will carry 14 forwards but that’s not the point of this video. The idea here is that none of these five players that I’ve mentioned would you even feel comfortable with having on the third line on any sort of consistent basis. And so unless Misa does play or the Sharks are willing to call up a young player like Chernos or or someone like that to play in this spot, Kersev will probably be able to maintain a third line spot at the very least for the majority of this season. But I do expect there to be some healthy scratches here throughout the year. And as such, his point totals, since he probably won’t be able to nail down a consistent lineup spot with Celabbrini or Smith and will be a frequent flyer on that third line, I suspect we’ll see above what he has usually done throughout his career, but below his breakout season from a couple of years ago with around 35 points, maybe in the realm of 10 to 15 goals. Next, we have Jeff Skinner. Now, Skinner, I had had a lot of hopes for, I mean, not really because I’m a San Jose Sharks fan, of course, but I had thought that his time with the Edmonton Oilers this past season would have ended up being a lot better than it was. He has been a really solid scorer throughout his career, and so being able to play with a guy like Conor McDavid, who could set him up exceptionally well, seemed like it would be the perfect spot for him. However, he was triled occasionally in those positions, it didn’t really work out. He ended up being more of a bottom six guy for Edmonton. And as we know, he was a frequent healthy scratch throughout the playoffs. And that has put him once again in this type of redemption project type of position. He was not a immediate signing on July 1st. And so Mike Greer was able to pick him up a few days later in this type of one-year deal to see if they can turn him around and maybe flip him at the trade deadline. Now, I do suspect that Skinner will hopefully, you know, maybe this is me putting my hope into a incorrect place yet again, but I do suspect Skinner will be able to turn things around here. It was only a couple of seasons ago that he actually had a career-high 82 points, including 35 goals with the Buffalo Sabres. So, this is a player who is capable of putting the puck in the net and racking up point totals, even if it was not able to be done with the Edmonton Oilers. But I suspect that the Sharks will be able to put him into a much greater position to succeed on a more consistent basis. Plus, the expectations will be a lot lower playing with Edmonton. You know, the Oilers weren’t the best team during the regular season. They turned it on in the playoffs, but during the regular season, not the greatest, but they were still a playoff squad. And you can’t just have like someone who is weak defensively as Skinner is constantly playing in your top six and costing you games. But for the San Jose Sharks, who might not be as worried about that type of notion, will likely keep him up in that top six for a consistent period of time. The difference between him and Kurishv, even though they’re both kind of onedimensional players, is that Skinner being the more veteran guy, I suspect will end up with a longer leash. And so he’ll likely remain more often in that top six. Not to say he’ll never drop into a third line role. I do suspect that will happen at some point, but probably not for a long time. Skinner will usually be either with Smith or with Celebrini, I would guess. On top of that, he’ll be playing on the second power play unit. He might even get some trials on the first power play unit, depending on how things go. And unlike last season where he had only 13 minutes of ice time with the Oilers, I suspect he’ll probably get closer to around 15 or so. It depends how well he is doing. Even on a second line, I could see like a 14 and a half, 15 minutes. But if he actually does well, it could climb to 16 or even 17 minutes with some good even strength play. And so all in all here for Jeff Skinner, I’ll put my faith in him that he’ll be able to actually be a relevant top six score for the San Jose Sharks. I would guess somewhere around the numbers of what Tyler Defoley got. Slightly less cuz I think Tofoley being a little bit bigger, a little bit more physically strong, is able to get to the net more and put the puck in the net like that. So Skinner will probably be closer to around 20 to 25 goals, but I think he could hit that 50 point mark. However, it does need to be said that this is a projection over a full 82 games, and I don’t think Skinner will actually be with the Sharks for a full 82 games. In fact, his contract is pretty much designed to be traded. He has a no trade clause up until the end of the month of January, and then it is modified for him to have a list of teams he doesn’t want to get traded to. And so I suspect that as long as he actually does pretty well, the Sharks will be able to find some sort of trade partner for him. And so he might not finish the year with the Sharks. But again, this is a point total that is projected over a full 82 games. Not exactly what I think he’ll be able to get by the time his time with with the Sharks is done. Next, we move on to Adam Goddet. Another forward here, but unlike Kersev and Skinner, there isn’t a significant offensive ceiling to this particular player. He did put up 19 goals last season with the Ottawa Senators, but as I mention every single time that I bring up this player, it is a pretty misleading stat. Not only did he get to spend a decent amount of time with both Brady Kachchuck and Tim Stutzler, the two best forwards on the Ottawa Senators arguably, but he also had an incredibly inflated shooting percentage over 20% which even the best shooters in the league aren’t really able to keep up on a consistent basis. So, it is expected that those goal numbers numbers will come crashing down. However, the good news here for Adam Goddard is, as I mentioned with Kurichev, he more or less has a spot locked down here in the top nine. If the Sharks aren’t inserting a player like Misa or other young talent into this group, is really not much of a way he finds himself getting leapfrogged by a guy like the Landria or Goodro and ending up on that fourth line. And in fact, I would say there’s a pretty decent chance he even ends up playing games in the top six. probably not on a consistent basis, but judging by how Ryan Worovski did things last year, it’s certainly not out of the question if Kurishv or Skinner have some bad defensive performances that Godette ends up playing on a second line with like Tofoi and Smith or something crazy like that, which will help out the point totals as well. But I don’t expect big goddy numbers here, pun absolutely intended. Instead, I suspect he’ll come around the 20 maybe 25 point mark around 10 goals, which would be pretty good for a third liner in general. Now, I am a little bit worried that I am going to once again get burned. If you recall past this last off season when the Sharks brought in Carl Grundrom and Ty Dandria, there were some decent hopes for both of those players. Grund had shown a good amount of potential with the Los Angeles Kings as a decent bottom six forward. Tai Deandria had put up some decent performances as well with the Dallas Stars. and then when they came to San Jose, they completely fell off a cliff and did absolutely nothing this past year. So, it is certainly possible that the same thing will happen here with Autumn Adam Goddet, but I’ll hold out hope that that won’t be the case and he’ll actually be a serviceable third liner for them. Next, we move now to the defensive side of things on the blue line here with John Clingberg. And just like Kurishv, definitely one of the more difficult players to predict cuz he was at one point a really solid offensive defenseman back when he started his career with the Dallas Stars. But these last couple of seasons have gone really quite poorly for him. It really started with that one-year contract that he signed with the Anaheim Ducks. Didn’t play particularly well there. And in particular, these past couple of regular seasons, he just hasn’t played a lot of games due to some very significant injuries. This last year he played just 11 regular season games with the Edmonton Oilers. But what has put him into this position where the Sharks are willing to take a chance and go for yet another one of these redemption plays is the fact that he did get to participate in the most of the playoff games that the Edmonton Oilers played and actually looked pretty solid. A good series against the Kings and the Golden Knights, pretty good against the Dallas Stars. He struggled a good amount against the Florida Panthers in that Stanley Cup final series, but so did pretty much everybody. So I won’t hold that against him. But what was good to see from Clingberg’s perspective is a player who had struggled as much with injuries as he had in the past being able to, you know, stand up and hold his own in that Florida Panther series and just not get injured against such a heavy hard-hitting team like Florida is. That is a good sign moving forward to this regular season that maybe Clingberg will actually be able to play a full season or at least relatively close to one. Now, the production that he had with the Edmonton Oilers, it was in a very small sample size. Four points in 11 regular season games, another four points in 19 playoff games. Those aren’t numbers that really jump off the page, but there are a few important asterisks to mention about that. The first of which is that Clingberg is not the go-to offensive defenseman on the Edmonton Oilers. He’s getting zero first power play unitized time because that is obviously going to be going to Evan Buchard. And that also means that in certain situations where the Oilers are chasing the game, they need a goal to tie things up, they’re in a strong offensive uh situation because of, let’s say, an icing taken by the other team, it is always Evan Buchard who is looked towards to provide the offense from the blue line. Even on the second power play unit, they were probably more so going with guys like Darnell Nurse or once they picked him up off of trade from the Sharks, Jake Walman. Clingberg was usually more of a even strength type of player, not quite looked out for the offensive capabilities and so that is going to hold back his point totals. Here with the San Jose Sharks, it is basically the exact opposite situation. He’s going to find himself in the spot that Jake Walman was this past season, which is he’s going to be looked towards to provide much of the offense from the Sharks blue line. I suspect even from just game one of the regular season that he will be running that top power play unit. I could absolutely see a fiveman group of let’s say Cabbrrini Smith to Foley Ecklland and Clingberg. And so that’s going to be a huge benefit for him benefit for him if he’s actually able to play well in that spot. I also think he’ll likely be the go-to defenseman for these offensive situations, especially since he’s not the best defensively. In fact, he’s pretty bad. And so the Sharks will also kind of try to shield him a little bit away from those types of more tough matchups and get him into some of the easier situations where he can actually put up offense. So I do suspect Clingberg will be able to get some point totals. It’s a question of whether or not, you know, the the player is actually able to hold up over the grueling grind of a full NHL regular season. But if he is able to do that, I think 40 points is very reasonable for him. If you remember back at the beginning of last season with Jake Wman, I wouldn’t really view Wman as some sort of elite offensive defenseman. And yet, he was able to actually be one of the higher scoring defenseman over the first couple of months of the season just by nature of playing with some good players in these big uh opportunity situations. Now, just like with Jeff Skinner, Clingberg’s contract is essentially designed to be traded. He also has that same makeup where he has the no trade clause until the end of January and then it opens up a little bit in February. So, he as well might not actually finish the season with the San Jose Sharks. In fact, I would say there’s an even higher chance that he gets traded compared to someone like Jeff Skinner as long as he’s able to actually play this full year with the Sharks. So, he probably won’t be on this team in a year’s time, but again, it’s projected over a full 82 games. Then we get to Dmitri Orof. Now, he hasn’t really been much of a point producer and puck mover throughout his career thus far. His, I believe, careerhigh in terms of points is just 35. So, you wouldn’t really expect, especially at 34 years of age, for him to be able to eclipse that total. But that doesn’t mean that he is just a full-on defensive defenseman who can’t move the puck at all. He is still relatively decent in this area. And with playing with the San Jose Sharks being their number one defenseman most likely, as long as he actually performs well, he will be put into much uh many positions where point totals are going to be possible. I’m not saying that he’s getting the prime positions cuz I do think Clingberg will get them. But just by nature of playing, you know, 21, 22, 23 minutes in ice time, whatever he does end up getting, you will eventually find yourself in the offensive zone, you will eventually find yourself picking up some secondary assists here or there. So, the point totals won’t be extremely exciting. They won’t be absolutely amazing, but I suspect he’ll be okay. and it would have actually led the Sharks in terms of points from the blue line this past season if you don’t count WMAN with around 25ish. And then the final player on this list is Nick Ley. Also a relatively difficult player to predict because I just don’t know the type of deployment that Lety is going to end up getting. I suspect while he might not play the full 82 game seasons, he’ll probably play a good amount of it. But at the same time, it is very easy for Nick Ley to just be a healthy scratch, especially being a lefty. It is a very possible that the Sharks will end up looking towards Liiligrin or even Vincent Darn to get that third pairing spot and Letty could end up riding the bench and that would obviously lead to his point totals dropping a bit lower. But if the Sharks do want to get him into the action more often than not, he is still a decent enough puck mover. There is even the slight possibility he gets some power play time on the second unit. I wouldn’t count that out completely if the Sharks are really a fan of Nick Ley as a player. So there will be some okay point totals, but I don’t expect anything exciting or or anything like that. It is likely King Clingberg who will be the guy who leads the way on the blue line. And so I have Lety at around 15 or so points. So when it comes to all of these additions that the Sharks made in this off season, none of them are breaking the bank. None of them are massive swings that are going to be extremely exciting to watch on the year. But there were some good ones. There are some players who could end up exceeding expectations here and who could bring back some pretty good value as many of these players are on these short-term contracts that the Sharks are likely expecting to trade within the next few months. Class dismissed.

Discussing my projections for the point totals I think the San Jose Sharks newcomers (Jeff Skinner, John Klingberg, etc.) are capable of putting up in the 25-26 season.