San Jose Sharks

As the American Hockey League playoffs continue on and many more teams join the Worcester Sharks in having the summer off it’s time to grade the WorSharks players. We’ve set the arbitrary limit at 30 games, and then made an exception for enforcer Jimmy Bonneau. The players are listed by position, with forwards going first, followed by the defense and goaltenders. The last section is off ice personnel. Players have been graded on how well they’ve done against the expectations that have been set for them and how well they’ve done compared to the other players on the roster. When looking at the grades remember that a “C” is average, meaning the player has done what was expected of them or that their play based on the other players on the roster has been average in nature. The contract status listed is what they will be as July 1st at the time of this posting, and NHL salary listed is their potential amount against the NHL salary cap. Forwards Bracken Kearns (66 games, 21-25-46, -2, 73PIM) Contract status: NHL UFA Statistically Kearns had an average season for him, but those numbers were good enough to be the WorSharks leader in goals, assists, points, shots, and was second only to Tim Kennedy in points per game. He was the WorSharks lone representative at this season’s AHL All-Star Classic, replacing the injured Kennedy. Simply put, Kearns was Worcester’s best all around player. He’s a player Worcester fans would love to have back next season. Grade: A Tim Kennedy (37 games, 13-24-37, +8, 19PIM) Contract status: NHL UFA When he was recalled to San Jose Kennedy was the team leader in every offensive stat you can think of. Despite playing in far less games that most of the top scorers Kennedy still ended up tied for fourth in goals, and second in assist and points. His +8 was second on the team, and he was one of only three regular players to be plus on the season. Kennedy was the only WorSharks player to average a point per game. Without him in the line-up Worcester’s anemic offense sputtered even more. Grade: B Jon Matsumoto (60 games, 14-18-32, -17, 30PIM) Contract status: NHL UFA Matsumoto was the biggest disappointment on Worcester’s roster this season. Entering this campaign on a five season 20 goal streak Matsumoto sleepwalked through most of the year netting just 14 goals and had a team worst (-17) on the season. His three game winning goals all came in a seven game span over the Christmas holidays, but other than that he was basically invisible. And for the highest paid player on the team, that is simply unacceptable. Grade: F Danill Tarasov (43 games, 14-14-28, E, 20PIM) Contract status: 1st of 2 year NHL ELC ($800K/$60K) After spending the first half of the season on the AHL roster but only playing in a single game (the WorSharks have never officially commented as to why that was) Tarasov was sent off to San Francisco. After posting 14 points in 17 ECHL games Tarasov was recalled to Worcester and never looked back, averaging a point per game over his next 12 AHL contests and ending up fourth on the team in scoring. Toward the end of the season it looked like many teams were shadowing Tarasov. High praise for a rookie. Grade: B Freddie Hamilton (76 games, 13-13-26, -9, 16PIM) Contract status: 2nd of 3 year NHL ELC ($878,333/$67,500) The scouting report on Hamilton was a shutdown defensive forward, but the rookie showed lots of offensive skills notching a team leading four game winning goals and two shorthanded tallies. It took Hamilton a little while to catch on to many of the pro “tricks” on taking face-offs, but by season’s end he was Worcester’s top centerman on draws in their defensive end. The WorSharks don’t have a “best prospect” award, but if they did Hamilton would be an easy winner. Grade: A John McCarthy (65 games, 9-16-25, -12, 12PIM) Contract status: 2nd of 2 year NHL contract ($612,500) It would take only a handful of seconds

Sharks, Kings looking for matchup help With a pivotal Game 4 on tap Tuesday at HP Pavilion, the Kings-Sharks playoff series has turned into something of a chess match. The rivals are contemplating lineup changes for a Western Conference semifinal that has seen San Jose and Los Angeles get reduced to basically two lines each thanks to injuries and a suspension. The Sharks, desperate for a win to knot the series at two wins each, had defenseman Jason Demers skating on a forward line Monday and welcomed grinding winger Adam Burish back to full practice as well. When Raffi Torres hit and injured Jarret Stoll midway through Game 1, it triggered a sequence of events that has both coaches searching for more production up front. Stoll, a defensive specialist who anchors Los Angeles' third line, is expected to miss the series with possible head and shoulder injuries. Clifford has missed the past four playoff games with an undisclosed injury and is expected to join Fraser and Brad Richardson on Los Angeles' reconfigured checking line.

SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks began scrambling to adjust their forward lines early in the first period of Game 1 of their Western Conference Quarterfinals series against the Vancouver Canucks when Martin Havlat suffered an injury. The Sharks ...

San Jose Sharks forward Logan Couture skipped practice Monday after sustaining an injury in Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Kings. Couture was hurt in the second period when he slammed into the boards awkward...

The Sharks helped teammate Logan Couture by improving their play when he got injured Saturday night. Couture then returned the favor by coming back and winning the game. Couture missed most of the second period, but was able to return and score...

Sharks Power Play continues to sizzle at HP Pavilion Logan Couture scored a power play goal early in overtime to send the HP Pavilion into a frenzy as the Sharks took a 2-1 win in Game 3 and now trail the best of seven series 2-1 vs. the Los An...

San Jose Sharks forward Martin Havlat will not play in Game 4 against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, coach Todd McLellan said Sunday. Havlat returned for Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Saturday after missing all but the first...

Even-strength statistics Player TOI Corsi For Corsi Against Corsi +/- Chances For Chances Against Chances +/- Brad Stuart 17.3 26 18 +8 1 2 -1 Joe Pavelski 16.5 21 17 +4 5 2 +3 Martin Havlat 4.0 1 7 -6 1 0 +1 Andrew Desjardins 10.8 10 10 +0 3 2 +1 Patrick Marleau 15.0 19 18 +1 5 2 +3 James Sheppard 10.8 6 9 -3 1 4 -3 Joe Thornton 15.7 37 12 +25 6 0 +6 T.J. Galiardi 14.7 32 15 +17 4 0 +4 Dan Boyle 16.1 17 21 -4 5 0 +5 Scott Gomez 15.2 11 22 -11 1 3 -2 Scott Hannan 13.9 23 14 +9 1 2 -1 Bracken Kearns 9.5 6 7 -1 1 1 +0 Logan Couture 13.1 14 14 +0 3 1 +2 Marc-Edouard Vlasic 18.9 23 22 +1 6 4 +2 Matt Irwin 16.2 20 15 +5 5 0 +5 Tommy Wingels 12.2 12 20 -8 1 3 -2 Justin Braun 20.2 25 21 +4 6 4 +2 Brent Burns 14.3 30 12 +18 4 0 +4 Team 51.2 67 55 +12 13 6 +7 Logan Couture will receive a lion's share of the glory for last night's win, and rightfully so after returning from injury to score the overtime winner. But that was a performance for the ages by Joe Thornton. While his line didn't register on the scoreboard (although he did record an assist on Couture's goal), they ravaged the Kings territorially every single time they were on the ice. L.A. simply didn't have an answer for Jumbo. After a productive Game 2, Scott Gomez and Tommy Wingels struggled while going up exclusively against the Kings' bottom six. That probably had more than a little to do with Martin Havlat's injury forcing the coaching staff to shuffle the deck at left wing on that line but the Sharks need a stronger effort from Gomez in particular if he's going to be playing sheltered minutes as the team's third-line center. Speaking of Havlat's injury, he appeared visibly hobbled even in the few minutes he did play. I'd be surprised if he returns to this series but I'm also not really convinced Bracken Kearns and Tim Kennedy should both draw into the lineup. I wonder if rolling the dice on Freddie Hamilton or Sebastian Stalberg wouldn't be the worst idea. They still trail in the series but the Sharks have been the better team in every game. This just isn't the same Kings team we saw a year ago, who I'm pretty confident would have just about dusted the Sharks off by now. San Jose really doesn't have to change anything in order to have a very good shot at completing the comeback here with Jonathan Quick the only thing standing in their way. Head-to-head scoring chances(Click to enlarge) Mike Richards has historically struggled against Joe Thornton but last night's matchup was as one-sided as it gets. Not only does the Thornton line dominating Richards have the obvious effect of generating scoring opportunities for the Sharks, it also renders Richards and Jeff Carter complete non-factors offensively as they were at evens last night. Marleau and Pavelski were able to hold Kopitar in check by both the scoring chance and possession data (as well as, of course, on the scoreboard). If this is repeatable, it's a similar formula to what the Sharks used to beat Vancouver; have the Marleau line saw off possession with the opposition's big guns and have Thornton run roughshod over their second line. For more information on what these numbers mean, head here for an in-depth explanation of Corsi and here for more details on scoring chances.

If the plot lines of the Sharks playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings weren't already intriguing enough, Game 3 threw in a few more twists and turns to spice things up. Fresh off the travesty that was the officiating blunder in Los Angeles on Thursday night, the officiating played a major role in the outcome of Saturday night's contest, which marked the first game at HP Pavilion in the series. This time it was the Sharks who had the luxury of a two-man advantage to end the game.

Sharks top Kings 2-1 in OT of Game 3 Logan Couture's power-play goal at 1:29 of overtime gave the Sharks a 2-1 win over Los Angeles in Game 3 on Saturday night at HP Pavilion. The victory cut the Kings' lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series to 2-1. The teams played a high-energy third period that was scoreless, but the Kings committed two penalties late in regulation that set up a 5-on-3 power play for the Sharks. First Los Angeles defenseman Robyn Regehr hooked Tommy Wingels at 19:18 as the San Jose forward was cutting in front of the net with the puck. Defenseman Scott Hannan spun and hit his head on the end boards after diving in anticipation of a shot during the late stages of a Kings power play that carried over from the first period. Martin Havlat, appearing for the first time since getting injured in Game 1 of San Jose's sweep of Vancouver, didn't return for the second period after skating six shifts and 4:52 of the opening period. The Sharks converted an early power play, but went into the first intermission knotted 1-1 after a giveaway at mid-period led to the tying goal.