Sharks takeaways: The Smiths make an impact, an elusive identity and what’s left to decide?
SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks have just one preseason game left after their 3-2 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at SAP Center.
Klim Kostin and Henry Thrun scored and goalie Vitek Vanecek finished with 40 saves in regulation time and overtime as the Sharks fell to 1-3-1 this preseason. San Jose, which did not score in the shootout, closes its exhibition schedule Saturday night in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights.
The Sharks have declared nothing, but it would appear — at the moment — that only one or two spots on the team’s 23-man roster are available.
One of those final decisions might be whether to keep a heavyweight forward like Givani Smith to help offer more protection to Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith or a prospect like Danil Gushchin or even Ethan Cardwell.
If that’s the case, the Sharks’ simple decision would be to keep the 26-year-old Givani Smith, who would need to be placed on waivers to be sent to the AHL, and assign the others, who do not need waivers, to the Barracuda.
Will it be that simple?
The Sharks also only have eight healthy defensemen in camp right now. Suppose Marc-Edouard Vlasic cannot return from his upper body injury soon. In that case, Jack Thompson or Luca Cagnoni will likely be on the NHL roster, joining Mario Ferraro, Jan Rutta, Cody Ceci, Jake Walman, Henry Thrun, and Matt Benning.
Here are some takeaways from Friday’s game.
VANECEK READY: Vitek Vanecek made just his second start of the preseason, and since February, and looked comfortable throughout as the Ducks dressed a full NHL lineup, or close to it.
Vanecek made 12 saves in the first period and 15 more in the third, giving the Sharks a chance to come back and tie the game when Thrun’s shot from inside the blue line found its way past Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal.
It’s unclear when Vanecek’s next start might come, but he probably will not have to wait much more than a week. The Sharks open the season at home next Thursday against St. Louis, then host the Ducks again on Oct. 12.
“He was solid,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Tracking pucks, kept us in the hockey game when we were probably under siege a little bit at times.”
FINDING THE IDENTITY?: Warsofsky said the biggest thing he wanted to see Friday night was his team playing closer to its desired identity: quick breakouts, speed through the neutral zone, clean entries, and numbers around the puck all game.
“That’s our biggest goal for tonight,” Warsofsky said. “We’ll let the scoreboard take care of itself, but we want to see our identity come out more consistently.
“I’d like to see us when something goes wrong — maybe it’s a goal, maybe it’s a bad call — can we respond and get back to our identity of a group a little bit quicker than we have.”
The Sharks were playing without Macklin Celebrini after he aggravated a lower-body injury in the second period of Tuesday’s game against Utah. San Jose looked flat without him as it sleepwalked through the first 20 minutes.
The Sharks were much better in the second period, starting with their power-play goal 53 seconds in. Will Smith took a pass from Walman and fired a shot near the faceoff dot that missed the net. But the puck came right to Kostin, who had an open net to shoot at for his second goal of the preseason.
Still, the Sharks were playing with almost a complete NHL lineup, which included the six defensemen they’ll probably dress in the season opener. Improvement is needed.
“If you’re going to be successful, we’ve got to work hard, we’ve got to skate, we’ve got to forecheck, and we’ve got to make it hard for the other team,” Sharks center Alexander Wennberg said. “Right now, sometimes it feels like we let our foot off the gas and didn’t really give him a hard time, give them the easy breakouts, give him the easy route. So little more tenacity, a little bit more hard in our game.
“If you want to be successful, we’ve got to stick to it.”
SOLIDIFYING A SPOT?: Givani Smith started the game on the fourth line with Nico Sturm and Ethan Cardwell and seemed to help solidify his spot on the Sharks’ 23-man roster.
Smith showed a velvety touch at times Friday when he possessed the puck, setting up both Sturm and Ferraro for scoring chances. He also made a play behind the Ducks net, bouncing the puck off the back of the net to himself before passing to Carl Grundstrom, who drew a penalty.
Smith also turned the puck over in the second period, which led to a glorious scoring chance for the Ducks.
“He was really good. I thought he was engaged,” Warsofsky said. “The one turnover, probably last couple years, he’d do that and he would go into a shell. And I liked how he responded from that, so that was a positive for sure.”
Smith is the heaviest Sharks forward and one of their most experienced fighters. Now in his sixth NHL season, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Smith has fought 19 times in 155 NHL games, including four times in 36 games with the Sharks last season.
Why does that matter? The Sharks need to do a better job of sticking up for one another this season and sending a message that their teenage stars, Celebrini and Will Smith, are not to be trifled with. Fighting has decreased in the NHL but hasn’t disappeared, and rat-like behavior certainly hasn’t gone away.
“That’s our future right there, so we’ve got to protect our assets,” Smith said Friday morning. “It’s big for him to be comfortable and to play to the best of his abilities, he’s got to feel protected on the ice. As a young kid, you really want to feel that.”
The Sharks have guys who can drop the gloves in Barclay Goodrow, Luke Kunin, and Ty Dellandrea. But the Sharks would rather have them on the ice than serving fighting majors, and the presence of Smith could take some of that responsibility off their respective plates.
“Every day, I’ve got to come here, and if I’m playing or not playing, I just want to be always ready,” Smith said.
THE OTHER SMITH: Will Smith seemed to play a bit better in his second preseason game than his first, and on Friday, seemed to play a bit better in his third game than his second.
Smith’s assist on Kostin’s goal was his first point of the preseason, and he later set up Gushchin for a one-timer with a nice cross-ice pass. He also drew a penalty on Ducks forward Robby Fabbri, and later set up William Eklund for a Grade A chance on another power play with a quick pass to the slot after he took the puck from Fabian Zetterlund.
Smith played Friday on a line with Fabian Zetterlund and Gushchin.
“I thought he was good at times,” Warsofsky said of Smith. “Another guy that’s just learning the pace and how fast the tempo is out there.
“This was (the Ducks’) lineup. They’re deep down the middle with their four centers, and matching up against (Mason) McTavish at times, he’s going to be in a learning curve of how heavy these centers are in this league and how you can’t take your foot off the gas. But some really good teaching points.”