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Henry Thrun 2024 player review: Rookie season completed

Henry Thrun has officially completed his rookie season with the Sharks and the results are mixed. On the one hand, he has proven that he has the ability to play in the NHL. With 51 games and 1,020 minutes of total ice time this season, Thrun can be called upon to complete a full season in the NHL in 2024-25. That’s the good.

However, his play from game to game lacked consistency. When Thrun was good, he was defensively sound and added to the Sharks offense. When he was bad, oh boy, was he bad. Take, for example, the March 19 game against the Nashville Predators. It was a brutal beatdown in which the Sharks allowed the Predators to score seven unanswered goals en route to an 8-2 loss.

The game was especially hard on Thrun, who ended the night a minus-six. His game score impact card from Hockey Stat Cards left a lot to be desired.

But that’s just one game. Let’s take a look at his season as a whole.

Thrun’s 2023-24 production

As previously stated, Thrun played 51 games this season and 1,020 minutes of ice time. According to Evolving-Hockey, he had some limited time on the power play (41 minutes) and a bit more on the penalty kill (86 minutes).

Games PlayedGAPts+/-PIMTOI/G
513811-221619:59
Data courtesy of Evolving-Hockey.

Thrun had okay stats for a defenseman in his first year on a very bad team. 11 points isn’t anything to write home about, but considering he’s still adjusting to the NHL, we expect those numbers to go up next season.

His total ice time per game is a good stat. Thrun played in all situations this season and averaged almost 20 minutes per game.

Thrun was middle of the pack

Looking at his season overall, Thrun was in the middle of the pack for Sharks’ defensemen. That’s not saying a ton, considering that none of the Sharks’ defensemen were particularly good this season, but it does make a case for his return and a spot in the lineup next season.

As you can see from this Evolving-Hockey chart, Thrun’s defense was below what an average NHL defenseman would offer this past season, but he also offered some upside. He was strong on the penalty kill and he had a small, positive impact on the power play.

Pairing concerns for Thrun

One of the big concerns for Thrun will be who he is paired with next season. Looking at the numbers, he played more than 50 minutes of even-strength ice time with five different defensemen in 2023-24.

Defensive PartnerTOIGF/60GA/60SF/60SA/60
Jan Rutta386.31.983.1619.9334.35
Calen Addison1831.654.8822.8934.31
Kyle Burroughs113.12.713.2922.7132.81
Marc-Edouard Vlasic78.502.222.5335.71
Mario Ferraro672.721.828.6225.91
All stats courtesy of Evolving-Hockey.

While Thrun spent around a third of his even-strength ice time this season paired with Jan Rutta, the results did not make the case for pairing them together again next season. The goal differential for the duo is negative-1.18 per 60 minutes and the shots differential is negative-14.42 per 60 minutes. The pairing failed to generate much offense together and got scored on at least every third game.

Thrun might be better served being paired with someone like Mario Ferraro. While the pair had a limited sampling size at even strength—just 67 minutes this season—they did have a positive goal differential and shot differential. That’s something that couldn’t be said about every other defenseman Thrun was paired with.

It might also be worth it to see what Thrun would look like paired with a healthy Matt Benning. The point is, the Rutta-Thrun pairing, while long lasting, wasn’t the most beneficial for the Sharks or young Thrun.

Thrun’s future with the Sharks

Thrun is 23 and is wrapping up a two-year deal with the Sharks. He is a restricted free agent (RFA), which means that while the Sharks do have control, a new deal will need to be worked out. He is not arbitration-eligible.

Expect Thrun to sign an extension with the Sharks, hopefully in the two- to three-year range. He’ll earn a slight raise from the $925,000 ($912,500 AAV) he was paid this past season, but it will only rise by a few hundred thousand dollars at most.

It feels like he’s a building block for the future of the Sharks, but how much of one will depend on how the defensive prospect pool evolves in the next few drafts and via trade. At this point, it looks like Thrun’s peak might be a third-pairing role on a playoff-caliber team. That said, he’s still young and has some room to develop. Next season’s player review may offer a whole new outlook on the defenseman.

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.

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