Sharks’ playoff hopes continue to fade with trade deadline now one month away

SAN JOSE – The three times in the last seven years that they’ve been out of a playoff spot by the time the NHL trade deadline rolled around, the Sharks have been sellers, trading players on expiring contracts to contending teams for draft picks.

Barring a major turnaround, the Sharks will be heading down that same path again this season.

The Sharks allowed two even-strength goals in the first period and another one in the second in a 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, as San Jose completed a critical three-game homestand with a 0-2-1 record.

Keegan Kolesar, Jack Eichel, Max Pacioretty and Chandler Stephenson all scored for Vegas, which has now beaten the Sharks in 12 of 13 meetings over the last two-plus seasons. Nick Bonino scored a third-period goal for the Sharks, but Vegas rookie goalie Logan Thompson finished with 35 saves.

“We’ve got to find a way to score first in games,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said, “and score more than one, or zero.”

The Sharks, who entered Sunday 10 points out of a playoff spot, are now 1-5-3 since Jan. 20, when they held a playoff spot and were still just four points out of first place in the Pacific Division.

The Sharks are now 15 points behind division-leading Calgary and sit 13th in the Western Conference.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Bonino said. “It feels almost like it’s out of your grasp and you’re trying everything you can to get it back on track. But we obviously have to get some points pretty soon here.”

The Sharks still have 33 games left this season to try and re-enter the race. But coach Bob Boughner and his players know, with a month left before the March 21 trade deadline, there will be change if things don’t turn around.

“My message to the players is we need to stick in this fight, we need to try and grab as many points as possible and get to a point where we may be in a position where we can try and add a piece here and there,” Boughner said before Sunday’s game. “And if not, then they understand the business and know what the business is all about.”

The Sharks have four pending unrestricted free agents – forwards Tomas Hertl, Alexander Barabanov, and Andrew Cogliano, and defenseman Jaycob Megna.

While Hertl, who had 40 points in 48 games before Sunday, commands the most attention, Barabanov and Cogliano could also be attractive depth pieces to contending teams, particularly those facing salary cap constraints.

Both Barabanov, 27, and Cogliano, 34, are on one-year, $1 million contracts. Barabanov had 26 points in 40 games before Sunday, averaging over 17 minutes of ice time per game. Cogliano had 12 points in 44 games, but has been one of the Sharks’ best penalty killers and has played in 100 playoff games over a 15-year NHL career.

“I think every team goes through it,” Cogliano said. “It’s kind of a time during the year where everyone’s watching to see what happens, watching moves here and there. Guys on your team are thinking they might get traded. It’s just reality in the NHL. It’s something that you have to deal with and there are players in that scenario that have to deal with more than others.

“But if you keep winning and putting yourself in a spot where you’re close to the playoffs or in the playoffs, then you don’t have to deal with that. You deal with players that you might bring in.”

In 2015, the Sharks, just outside of a playoff spot at that point, traded James Sheppard, Andrew Desjardins and Tyler Kennedy for three draft picks, including a 2016 fourth-rounder that turned into Noah Gregor.

Before the 2020 deadline, the Sharks traded Brenden Dillon, Patrick Marleau, and Barclay Goodrow for picks that turned into Tristen Robins and Ozzy Wiesblatt, and Ryan Donato, who was with San Jose last season,

Last year, the Sharks used its ample cap space to be a third party to two trades, retaining salary to get 2021 fourth and fifth-round draft picks and a 2022 fifth-round pick last year. Goalie Devan Dubnyk was traded to Colorado and in a hockey trade, Antti Suomela was traded to Toronto for Barabanov.

Sunday’s game was the last of a three-game homestand for the Sharks, who lost 3-0 to the Edmonton Oilers on Monday and 5-4 in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

”They’ve been pretty focused,” Boughner said of the Sharks. “Beside (Monday’s game) when we weren’t very good after two weeks off, these guys have been playing hard, and they’ve been playing hard for each other. So hopefully that will continue, and I’m sure it will.”

BOUGHNER ON DEBOER: Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer entered Sunday with 498 career wins as an NHL coach, 198 of which came with the Sharks from 2015 to 2019.

DeBoer, 53, also coached Florida (2008-2011), New Jersey (2011-2014) and is in his second full season with the Golden Knights after he was hired by the team in Jan. 2020, a month after he was fired by San Jose. DeBoer had a 198-129-34 record in four-plus seasons with the Sharks, making him the third-winningest coach in team history behind Todd McLellan (311) and Ron Wilson (206).

Boughner and DeBoer have known each other for over 30 years. Boughner was on DeBoer’s Sharks staff from 2015 to 2017 before he became the Florida Panthers’ coach, and came back to work with DeBoer again for the start of the 2019-2020 season.

“I’ve learned a lot from Pete. He’s been a great mentor and also a good friend and we still bounce things back and forth off each other,” Boughner said. “He’s in a great situation with a good team and he deserves all the success he’s had.”