Coming into the season, everyone was pretty sure this was the last hurrah for Kevin Labanc in teal. It seemed clear that Labanc didn’t mesh well with San Jose Sharks Head Coach David Quinn and the two had reached an impasse.
By mid-season, the divide had only gotten worse. Quinn had stopped putting Labanc into the lineup every night and Labanc, for his part, had stopped trying. In the end, both sides had given up in a way that was both frustrating and angering for fans to watch.
Labanc’s 2023-24 production
Even with all of the injuries to the forward group this season, Labanc didn’t merit a consistent place in the lineup.
| Games Played | G | A | Pts | +/- | TOI/G |
| 46 | 2 | 7 | 9 | -27 | 11:37 |
He closed the season with 46 games played and just nine points to show for his efforts. It was a long way off from the 33 points in 72 games he had last season.
He played 534:37 minutes of ice time, according to Natural Stat Trick, almost half of the minutes he played for the Sharks last season. What’s more, his ice time per game went down considerably this season. Previously, his lowest average ice time per game was 13:17 per game, which he clocked in the 2021-22 season. This season, his 11:37 per game was 1:40 per game lower than his previous low.
Power play specialist
While statistics for players like Ryan Carpenter, who also played a limited number of minutes for the Sharks this season, show that he earned most of his points at even-strength, that is not the case for Labanc. Three of Labanc’s points this season came on the power play. That’s 33% of his points for the season.
In some of his best seasons, that’s where Labanc made his mark on the Sharks. In both of the seasons where he scored 40-plus points, a large portion of those points came on the power play. In 2017-18, Labanc had 40 total points and 17 of those came on the man advantage. In 2018-19, Labanc had 56 points and 20 of those points were on the power play.
Interestingly, Labanc’s performance on the power play this past season, while limited in time, was on par with some of his best seasons offensively.
Some stats show Labanc did okay
And offensively, Labanc’s numbers were not bad for a forward on a team that had trouble scoring. Natural Stat Trick lists his Corsi for percentage (CF%) this season at 50.09%. That means when you look at the sum of the shots on goal, missed shots and blocked shots with Labanc on the ice, the Sharks actually had more shots than the other team.
In many of the metrics that look at the scoring chances for the Sharks versus the ones against the team, when Labanc is on the ice, he is at or near even. There were 251 shots for the Sharks and 268 against them when Labanc was on the ice. The expected goals for (xGF) with Labanc was 22.39, while the expected goals against (xGA) was 25.62.
Offensively, he continued to drive play.
But oh, that defense
But the knock against Labanc is and always has been that he is a one-dimensional forward who does not take care of business in his own end. It proved true again this season.
When you look at Evolving-Hockey’s goals above replacement (GAR) chart for Sharks forwards this season, you see that Labanc’s defense is still bad, and he can’t outscore his problems as he has in seasons past.
When it comes to Sharks’ forwards, Labanc was among the worst defensively at even-strength. When Labanc was on the ice, the Sharks scored 9 goals to the 36 that were scored against the team. The 20.00% goals for was worse than every other forward on the team who played more than 20 games.
Labanc’s future with the Sharks
Labanc’s contract is up, and he’s an unrestricted free agent. He won’t be back. Not only has General Manager Mike Grier said as much, but it’s clear that Labanc knows that a new start is needed.
We could spend this time talking about all the reasons that Labanc doesn’t deserve a new contract in San Jose, but I’d rather take a moment to thank him for the memories. No matter how things ended or what happens in the future, Labanc will still be an integral part of one of the most memorable playoff games in Sharks’ playoff history to date.
Amusingly, that moment also happened on the power play.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
