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San Jose Sharks sit at last place in their conference

By Naftali Clinton

OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 27: Nick Paul #13 of the Ottawa Senators skates against the San Jose Sharks at Canadian Tire Centre on October 27, 2019 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - OCTOBER 27: Nick Paul #13 of the Ottawa Senators skates against the San Jose Sharks at Canadian Tire Centre on October 27, 2019 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The San Jose Sharks are currently last place in the Western Conference, this means a lot for the Senators because they own the Sharks’ first round pick this year.

When long-time Senators captain, Erik Karlsson was traded to the Sharks on September 13th, 2018, it was initially met with sadness and resentment towards Senators management.

This was because there is a history of Senators stars getting traded in the prime of their careers. Think Karlsson, Spezza, Duchene, Stone, Hoffman, the list goes on and on.

The package the Ottawa Senators received for Karlsson was, Chris Tierney, Dylan Demelo, Rudolfs Balcers, Josh Norris and a first round selection in 2020, and a second round pick in 2021.

This was seen at the time as a bad return for Pierre Dorion, the Senators general manager.

After an injury shortened season in the 2018-19 campaign, Sharks GM, Doug Wilson decided to give Karlsson an eight-year extension worth $92 million.

Now we get back to the point of this article, the Sharks were supposed to be a perennial contender. The addition of Karlsson, was to push them over the top for their first Stanley Cup victory in franchise history.

They got close last year but ultimately lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference final.

This year there was high expectations for the club, even though they lost captain Joe Pavelski in free agency. But the season derailed early for them, and they now sit at 29th in the league and dead last in their conference.

They lost a lot of offence with the departure of Pavelski, but the main problem that really derailed their season was goaltending. Martin Jones and Aaron Dell are playing worse than every other tandem in the league, except for maybe Jonathan Bernier and Jimmy Howard in Detroit.

If their going to turn around and make the playoffs its going to have to start with Martin Jones improving his play considerably.

In the meantime Ottawa has a probable top-five pick to fantasize about.

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