SAN JOSE – Kevin Labanc began last season in the San Jose Sharks’ top-six forward group, playing alongside captain Logan Couture.
This year, Labanc will have to watch the Sharks’ season opener from the press box, or elsewhere inside SAP Center.
“It’s tough,” Labanc said. “You play because you want to play in those games, and you’ve just got to make sure that you’re ready to go for the next game, or whatever the case may be.”
Sharks coach David Quinn said Labanc is still getting his conditioning all the way back after he missed more than a week of training camp with an upper-body injury. But even when Labanc is fully ready to play again – and the forward said he probably could go right now if need be – it might be a challenge for him to get back to regularly being in a top-six or top-nine role again, considering some of the skilled forwards the Sharks added in the offseason.
For the Sharks’ season-opener against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, Hertl was projected to have Mike Hoffman and Filip Zadina on his wings. Anthony Duclair and Alexander Barabanov were slated to play with center Thomas Bordeleau, and Mikael Granlund was to play in the middle on a line with William Eklund and Luke Kunin.
Of those players, only Hertl, Kunin, and Barabanov were in the Sharks’ lineup for last season’s opening games in Prague against the Nashville Predators. The Sharks added five forwards via trade or free agency this offseason, and right now also have Eklund as a top-six winger.
“It’s great depth for the season,” Labanc said. “That’s what all coaches want, is a lot of depth and a lot of forwards. That’s what helps you win games.”
Labanc, listed at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds and in a contract year, practiced this week on the fourth line and joined Nico Sturm, Givani Smith, and Fabian Zetterlund, three players who combine to average about 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds.
Labanc will certainly get his opportunities to play this season, perhaps as soon as later in this homestand when the Sharks face Colorado, Carolina, and Boston on Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday, respectively. But where he might fit on a regular basis, especially in this changing Sharks landscape, remains to be seen.
“I think he’s got the ability to solidify himself in our group and do what he does best,” Quinn said of Labanc. “But he’s just a little bit behind right now.”
Asked if he looks at it as a competition, Labanc, said, “It’s always competition. From day one of my first year and my first game first preseason game, it’s always competition. That’s the game and that’s why you love to play.”
Labanc spoke with Quinn before Thursday’s morning skate, and again with assistant Brian Wiseman after he and fellow scratches Nikolai Knyzhov and Ty Emberson were put through the paces in a lengthy bag skate at Sharks Ice.
Both coaches had a similar message for Labanc in terms of the work ethic they wanted to see. Labanc had 33 points in 72 games last season, sixth-most on the team, but also struggled to be consistent, and was scratched on 10 occasions.
“So he knows what he needs to do,” Quinn said of Labanc. “Just continue to play with a little bit higher pace, a little bit more edge, a little bit more of a well-rounded game.”