Takeaways: Sharks’ Simek hole is glaring as Ryan’s struggles continue

SAN JOSE — The Los Angeles Kings and the St. Louis Blues sent the Sharks in all alone on a breakaway with a stretch pass through the neutral zone. Instead of burying a golden opportunity, the Sharks fumbled the puck and let it slip away.

Despite losing five straight games heading into Monday’s clash with the Detroit Red Wings at SAP Center, the Sharks received a chance to pull to within four points of first place in the Western Conference after the Kings defeated the top-seeded Calgary Flames. They also got a chance to stretch their lead over second place in the Pacific Divison to seven points thanks to a Blues win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

All the Sharks needed to do was pick up a win against the NHL’s 30th ranked team. Instead, they tied their longest losing streak in two years by dropping a sixth straight game.

Here’s what we learned in the Sharks 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings:

1. The Sharks’ Radim Simek hole is glaring as Joakim Ryan’s struggles continue:

With six games left on the schedule, the Sharks find themselves in a similar position to where they were at this point last season, trying to find the right partner for Brent Burns.

Last year, Paul Martin served as Burns’ defensive partner down the stretch after he lost his job to Ryan earlier in the season. Martin kept his grip on the position until he got burned by William Karlsson on an overtime winner in Game 3 of the Sharks second-round series loss to the Golden Knights. Ryan then returned to his spot on Burns’ left side for Game 4, but he’s never regained the authority he held over the position before he suffered an upper-body injury in Calgary on March 16, 2017.

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The sophomore defenseman struggled throughout the first two months of the season this year before he got ousted by Simek on Dec. 2. Simek ended up being the perfect partner for Burns, displaying a sixth sense for knowing how to react to the Wookiee’s freelancing style of play.

The Sharks went 31-9-3 after Simek joined the lineup. Now, they’re back to square one in their search for a new Wookiee Whisperer, going 0-6 since Ryan rejoined the lineup.

After the Sharks morning practice on Monday, DeBoer made it clear that Ryan is auditioning for a spot in the Sharks playoff lineup as the team awaits Erik Karlsson’s eventual return. Ryan is in a race with Tim Heed for the sixth position on the Sharks blue line. Heed took a commanding lead on Monday as Ryan’s adventures on the backend continued.

The 25-year-old defenseman committed a critical mistake on the Red Wings second goal at 15:37 of the middle period. Andreas Athanasiou scored off a breakaway after Ryan committed what he called a “bad turnover” at center ice while trying to stickhandle past Taro Hirose.

“I need to be a little more consistent,” Ryan said. “Can’t really make many mistakes. Just got to be aggressive every night and ready to go. I think consistency is the biggest thing.”

Athanasiou makes it 2-0 over the #SJSharks after Ryan gets his pocket picked. pic.twitter.com/GZqNlVj2nK

— Teal Town USA (@TealTownUSA) March 26, 2019

Despite the game-changing faux pas, DeBoer stuck with Ryan, sending him out with Burns for five more shifts. The Sharks coach eventually benched Ryan for good at 6:03 of the third after he allowed Athanasiou to fly past him in the neutral zone, a mistake that led to another breakaway. The benching came after DeBoer sat Ryan for the last 15:24 of Friday’s loss in Orange County for committing a penalty that led to a go-ahead goal.

“Some guys are dropping opportunities,” DeBoer said. “We’re making decisions on who can help us in the playoffs and who can’t. There’s ice time that guys are getting now that isn’t going to be there in a week or two. Guys better take advantage of them because they don’t go on forever.”

Ryan gets burned again… Jones saves. #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/ZtWpBRTj73

— Teal Town USA (@TealTownUSA) March 26, 2019

Translate: there isn’t much sand left in Ryan’s hourglass.

2. Who will be Burns’ partner when Karlsson returns?

Barring an unforeseen shift of fate, Heed will serve as the Sharks sixth defenseman when Karlsson returns, leaving an open hole on Burns’ left side.

One solution is to bump Brenden Dillon up to skate with Burns, moving Heed over to his off-side as Justin Braun’s partner on the third pairing. But Burns and Dillon have produced mixed results together over the years, making this a risky option to exercise with everything on the line in the playoffs.

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With that in mind, the most likely scenario is that DeBoer takes the mix-and-match approach that he implemented earlier in the season. In addition to the question marks hovering over the Burns pairing, there’s still the issue of whether Karlsson can develop chemistry with Marc-Edouard Vlasic on the fly in the playoffs. Instead of going into the laboratory at the most important time of year, it makes sense to give Burns his 27-plus minutes with a rotating door of partners and Karlsson his 27-plus minutes with a mix tape on his left side, as well.

Yes, a cloud of uncertainty is hovering over the Sharks blue line heading toward the playoffs. But DeBoer has two big horses in his stable. He might as well ride them for as far as it takes him.

3. DeBoer calls out his team for lacking desperation.

The Sharks season-high six game losing streak is even worse considering that their last three losses have come against the NHL’s 30th, 29th and 25th ranked teams.

Injuries to Karlsson, Simek and Joe Pavelski tell part of the story. The team also running dry on the offensive side of the rink after scoring a franchise record 268 goals. But DeBoer didn’t hesitate to offer another explanation, using a rare word in his coaching vocabulary: “complacency.”

The Sharks coach is usually quick to defend his team’s work ethic when things are going bad, pointing out bad bounces, the team’s arduous travel schedule and the narrow margin for success in the NHL. On Monday, he blasted his team for lacking desperation with the playoffs right around the corner.

“It’s work. It’s desperation,” DeBoer said. “I don’t know if there’s a complacency about where we’re sitting in the standings or what. But we’ve got to get out of it. The only way to get out of it is to work out of it.”

We’ll see if the effort spikes when the Sharks return to action at SAP Center on Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks.