Plenty of competition, few spots open at Sharks' training camp

SAN JOSE - There’s only been one word that’s been mentioned as often as “Erik” or “Karlsson” through the first few days of Sharks training camp.

“Competition’s tight,” forward Barclay Goodrow said.

“There’s a lot of competition,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said.

“The competition,” assistant GM Tim Burke said, “is tough. It’s healthy.”

Perhaps in recent years, the Sharks only had a small number of roster openings at the start of their training camps, mainly for reserve forwards or as the sixth and seventh defensemen.

That changed last week - particularly among the forward group - after the Sharks acquired Erik Karlsson from Ottawa and sent Chris Tierney, Dylan DeMelo, Rudolfs Balcers and a handful of draft picks to the Senators.

Not only is the fourth-line center job open, as was thought to be the case before camp began, but now, in Tierney’s absence, so is the third-line center position. Also vacant are one or two jobs as depth forwards and one as the seventh defenseman.

After two days of practice and two intrasquad scrimmages, that competition for those spots began in earnest Tuesday when the Sharks hosted the Anaheim Ducks in their first of six preseason games.

“You can say what you want about these scrimmages out here, but where you really see guys make hockey teams or fill those positions is what they do in the NHL preseason,” Barracuda coach Roy Sommer said. “You’ve got to do what got you there. You’ve got to do something to stand out to get another game, and then another game.

“Pretty soon, you’re playing four or five out of the six preseason games, and if you’re doing that, they’re thinking about you.”

The Sharks do not have an abundance of pure centers in camp with NHL pedigrees. But what the camp lacks in experience down the middle, it makes up for in options.

Trying to win spots as centers on the team are Antti Suomela, Dylan Gambrell, Maxim Letunov, Alexander True and Rourke Chartier.

About eight players the mix for spots as depth wingers, including Vincent Praplan, Lukas Radil and Filip Sandberg.

All of those players are waivers-exempt, and can go up and down between the NHL and AHL. Conventional wisdom suggests that if you’re going to keep around a 13th and 14th forward, and all things are equal, it might be better to select older players for those roles than younger ones, who might be better off logging big minutes in the AHL.

Still, the Sharks have been consistent in their message: if the coaches and front office executives believe you can help the big club win games now, you’ll stick around.

“We’re here to win games up here,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “If a younger guy makes us a better team or helps us on a nightly basis, then I’m not looking at a birth certificate.

“But if it’s close, there’s no doubt those conversations take place. You’ve got two guys that are even, and we’ve got one guy we can put down and play meaningful minutes, obviously that comes into play.”

The defense is a bit more cut and dried, with maybe only one spot open as the seventh defenseman, or two if the Sharks want to keep eight out of camp. In that mix are about six players, including Radim Simek and Tim Heed.

Simek, 25, had 27 points in 67 games with the Barracuda last season and Heed, 27, spent most of last season with the Sharks, quite often as a healthy scratch. He had 11 points in 29 NHL games.

“This is going to be a highly competitive training camp,” Wilson said. “Who will be on the roster, I don’t know yet. The players will dictate with how they play.

“It’s going to be exciting. I’m as excited about this training camp as any camp (since) I’ve been here as a GM.”