San Jose Sharks
2019-20 Record: 29-36-5, 15th in the West (2-0-0 against Colorado)
A year after making it to the Conference Finals, the Sharks went to the bottom of the sea. No, the West. Both.
Grubauer and the Avs would make do of the Sharks their first meeting, which saw Cale Makar, scoring his 10th of the season, leading the charge for a 4-0 shutout and 38 shots on net. The Sharks’ second meeting would fair better, but would still see the Avs win, a game which saw MacKinnon and Landeskog each get a goal and two assists for a 4-3 win.
Elsewhere, the Sharks, sunk by signing Erik Karlsson to an eight-year, $92 million deal, a gamble which meant — aside from signing Timo Meier — losing Joe Pavelski to Dallas, and Joonas Donskoi to yours truly. With starter Martin Jones struggling, and the sight of a first round pick to save the franchise gone in exchange for Karlsson, the Sharks entered a dark, very deep abyss. While Meier and Evander Kane, as well as the always offensive Brent Burns, would put up solid seasons in scoring, the lack of a secondary crew hurt the team.
This year, other than seeing Joe Thornton on another team for the first time since 2005, and bringing back Patrick Marleau after his very brief stint on Pittsburgh, Devan Dubnyk arrives to take the brunt of the goaltending. It’s still a team that needs a lot of work, and being in a division that also includes the Anaheim Ducks, and the Los Angeles Kings, it’s going to be more of the same.