NHL veteran Alexander Wennberg looked around the Sharks’ locker room and saw a problem he didn’t mind having.
“There’s so many good players. There’s just a few spots,” Wennberg said.
For a team still finding its way, that wasn’t always the case. Now, with more veterans around a young core and competition throughout the lineup, the Sharks have something they haven’t had in years, players waiting for their chance.
With injuries already testing the group before the season begins, that depth could shape what comes next.
The Sharks have a different problem heading into this season, more good players than spots, and now the coaching staff has to figure out what to do with them. The competition gives them options, gives the young players more experienced voices around them and gives the team something to lean on when things go wrong. The new additions were brought in to make the Sharks harder to play against and give the skill players more room to work. Now, with injuries already testing that depth, the Sharks are getting an early look at what this new version of the team can handle.
The Sharks are entering a different part of their rebuild. The building part. The young players are still learning, but they no longer have to carry the team without much around them. Last season, San Jose gave up 3.54 goals per game, and the team missed the playoffs by four points. Now, the depth gained over the summer gives them more ways to handle injuries, mistakes and the difficult stretches that can change a season. The question is whether it can help turn it into a team that stays in games and keeps going when things get hard.
To this roster, depth matters most because of what it means for the young players still trying to find their game. Will Smith is entering a season where he is expected to take another step, and Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky already sees more in him.
“I think he can drive offense more,” Warsofsky said. “I think he can be a real threat off the entry.”
That development doesn’t have to happen alone. The Sharks brought in players who have been through long seasons, playoff runs and difficult stretches, giving the younger group more people to learn from along the way. Macklin Celebrini pointed to that when he talked about the new veterans and the message they bring.
“I think just more voices preaching the same message will be helpful.” For a team with so many young players, having more experienced players around them means there are more people to teach them what comes next.
The veterans are a big part of that plan. Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba and Marchment all came in with different games, but they were brought here to do more than fill a spot in the lineup. Darnell Nurse said being “hard to play against” has to be the foundation of his game.
Jacob Trouba talked about getting the puck to the forwards and letting the skill players “go to work.”
Mason Marchment brings a different piece, using his size and experience to create space for the players around him.
“I’m a give-and-go kind of guy,” he said.
Together, they give the Sharks players who have already been through the long seasons, the mistakes and the pressure that their younger teammates are still learning to handle. Now, that experience has to show up when the games get harder.
Last season showed the Sharks could take a step forward. Now they have to show they can keep going when the season gets harder. The young players are older, stronger and more experienced, but the team still has to find a way to keep the puck out of its net and stay together through the long stretches of the season.
“We gave up some easy goals, and in this league you just can’t do it,” Warsofsky said.
That is where the new players come in. They weren’t brought here just to fill out the lineup. They were brought in to change how the team handles those moments. Marchment described it simply.
“Everyone’s just got to buy in and play their role.”
For a young team, that means the veterans have to do their part while the younger players continue to grow. And if that connection works, the Sharks have more than just young talent to rely on when the season starts to wear on.
For the Sharks, that is what this season will come down to. The young players still have to take their next steps, and the veterans still have to give them something to build around. The depth gives San Jose more options, but it also creates a new problem. There are only so many spots, only so much ice time and only so much money to go around.
General Manager Mike Grier knows that part is coming.
“There’s only so many pieces of the pie to go around,” he said.
For now, the Sharks have more players ready to take a piece. The season will show what they can do with it.
