2011-2012 San Jose Sharks Season Review: Jim Vandermeer

Jim Vandermeer probably didn’t have the season he’d like to have had with the San Jose Sharks.

It’s not really his fault, either.

Playing on a blueline that was congested with seven players to start the season, and eventually eight guys with the recall of Justin Braun in late October, Vandermeer struggled to find any consistent playing time throughout the entirety of his 2011-2012 season.

Vandermeer missed 20 games throughout December and January with a hand injury. His most active month of game action was February when he played 8 games, the catalyst for that spike in ice time being Douglas Murray’s adam’s apple injury.

All in all he played a total of 25 games this season, averaged 9:59 in ice time, and didn’t really make much of an impact on the team. In fact, he played a good amount of those games as a fourth line forward, a position that isn’t really suited to his skill set.

Vandermeer kind of reminds me of Alexei Semenov now that I think about it.

He’s a player who is fine in a depth defenseman role but isn’t going to swing the pendulum too much in either direction, a guy who the coaching staff used as a forward despite he hasn’t really played there at the NHL level, a guy who brings that defensive defenseman skill set to the table and can provide acceptable minutes for a team when injuries hit.

Vandermeer does a helluva lot in the community, is a good guy to be around, and wore the “A” in Edmonton. He has leadership qualities that his teammates and organization undoubtedly appreciate and will drop the gloves every now and then to settle the tempo and give his team a boost.

But on the wrong end of 30, coupled with a disappointing season from the Sharks as a whole, it’s hard to expect that Vandermeer will return to San Jose next season.

Changes are coming. It’s a long shot Vandermeer survives those changes.

Defensive defenseman are a commodity that becomes especially important towards the deadline when teams are fighting the injury bug and looking for guys to come in and patch some holes. Vandermeer still has value in this League for a team looking to round out their defensive core, even if that team isn’t San Jose, and even if he’ll be one of the many players of this ilk that will probably still be looking for a home in early August.

Contract Status: Vandermeer is currently a UFA. He signed a one-year contract worth $1.0 MM last offseason.

The Vote: Rate Vandermeer below on a scale of 1-10 based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season.

If he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.

How do you rate Jim Vandermeer’s 2011-2012 season with the San Jose Sharks?