2020–21 San Jose Sharks season

The 2020–21 San Jose Sharks season was the 30th season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on May 9, 1990.

On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Sharks will play this season in the West Division and will play games against only the other teams in their new division during the regular season and potentially the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Due to Santa Clara County banning all contact sports in response to a local rise of COVID-19 cases, the Sharks began the season on an extended road trip. Their first two home games on February 1 and 3 against the Vegas Golden Knights were to have been held at Gila River Arena, the home of division rival Arizona Coyotes, but ended up being postponed due to a COVID outbreak among the Golden Knights. On January 25, Santa Clara County health officials announced that they were lifting the ban, and the Sharks returned to SAP Center on February 13.

On May 3, the Sharks were eliminated from playoff contention after a 5–4 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

Draft picks

Below are the San Jose Sharks' selections at the 2020 NHL entry draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26 and 27, 2020, at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, to October 6 and 7, 2020. It was instead held virtually via video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Round # Player Pos Nationality College/Junior/Club (League)131 Ozzy Wiesblatt RW Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)2381 Thomas Bordeleau C U.S. NTDP (USHL)256 Tristen Robins RW Saskatoon Blades (WHL)4762 Danil Gushchin LW Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL)498 Brandon Coe RW North Bay Battalion (OHL)7196 Alex Young C Colgate (ECAC)7201 Adam Raska RW Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL)7206 Linus Oberg C Örebro HK (SHL)7210 Timofey Spitserov RW Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) Notes: The Buffalo Sabres traded their 38th and 100th selection in this years' draft for the 34th pick from the Sharks. The Sharks traded their 100th and 126th selection in this years' draft for the 76th pick to the Edmonton Oilers.

Standings Divisional standings

Schedule and results Regular season The schedule was announced on December 23, 2020.

2020–21 game log 21–28–7 (Home: 11–13–4; Road: 10–15–3)January: 3–5–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Road: 3–5–0) # Date Opponent Score OT Decision Arena Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 14 @ Arizona 4–3 SO Jones Gila River Arena 2,274 1–0–0 2 2 January 16 @ Arizona 3–5 Jones Gila River Arena 2,384 1–1–0 2 3 January 18 @ St. Louis 4–5 Dubnyk Enterprise Center 0 1–2–0 2 4 January 20 @ St. Louis 2–1 SO Jones Enterprise Center 0 2–2–0 4 5 January 22 @ Minnesota 1–4 Dubnyk Xcel Energy Center 0 2–3–0 4 6 January 24 @ Minnesota 5–3 Jones Xcel Energy Center 0 3–3–0 6 7 January 26 @ Colorado 3–7 Jones Ball Arena 0 3–4–0 6 8 January 28 @ Colorado 0–3 Dubnyk Ball Arena 0 3–5–0 6 February: 4–4–2 (Home: 1–3–0; Road: 3–1–2) # Date Opponent Score OT Decision Arena Attendance Record Pts Recap – February 1 Vegas Postponed. – February 3 Vegas Postponed. 9 February 5 @ Anaheim 5–4 SO Jones Honda Center 0 4–5–0 8 10 February 6 @ Anaheim 1–2 SO Dubnyk Honda Center 0 4–5–1 9 11 February 9 @ Los Angeles 4–3 SO Jones Staples Center 0 5–5–1 11 12 February 11 @ Los Angeles 2–6 Jones Staples Center 0 5–6–1 11 13 February 13 Vegas 1–3 Jones SAP Center 0 5–7–1 11 14 February 15 Anaheim 3–2 Jones SAP Center 0 6–7–1 13 15 February 18 @ St. Louis 2–3 OT Jones Enterprise Center 0 6–7–2 14 16 February 20 @ St. Louis 5–4 Dubnyk Enterprise Center 0 7–7–2 16 17 February 22 Minnesota 2–6 Jones SAP Center 0 7–8–2 16 – February 25 Vegas Postponed. 18 February 27 St. Louis 6–7 Dubnyk SAP Center 0 7–9–2 16 March: 8–7–2 (Home: 6–3–2; Road: 2–4–0) # Date Opponent Score OT Decision Arena Attendance Record Pts Recap 19 March 1 Colorado 6–2 Jones SAP Center 0 8–9–2 18 20 March 3 Colorado 0–4 Jones SAP Center 0 8–10–2 18 21 March 5 Vegas 4–5 OT Jones SAP Center 0 8–10–3 19 22 March 6 Vegas 0–4 Dubnyk SAP Center 0 8–11–3 19 23 March 8 St. Louis 3–2 OT Dubnyk SAP Center 0 9–11–3 21 24 March 12 @ Anaheim 6–0 Dubnyk Honda Center 0 10–11–3 23 25 March 13 @ Anaheim 3–1 Jones Honda Center 0 11–11–3 25 26 March 15 @ Vegas 1–2 Dubnyk T-Mobile Arena 3,473 11–12–3 25 27 March 16 @ Vegas 4–5 Dubnyk T-Mobile Arena 3,473 11–13–3 25 28 March 19 St. Louis 1–2 SO Jones SAP Center 0 11–13–4 26 29 March 20 St. Louis 2–5 Dubnyk SAP Center 0 11–14–4 26 30 March 22 Los Angeles 2–1 Jones SAP Center 0 12–14–4 28 31 March 24 Los Angeles 4–2 Jones SAP Center 0 13–14–4 30 32 March 26 @ Arizona 2–5 Jones Gila River Arena 3,007 13–15–4 30 33 March 27 @ Arizona 0–4 Dubnyk Gila River Arena 3,217 13–16–4 30 34 March 29 Minnesota 4–3 SO Jones SAP Center 0 14–16–4 32 35 March 31 Minnesota 4–2 Jones SAP Center 0 15–16–4 34 April: 5–9–1 (Home: 3–5–0; Road: 2–4–1) # Date Opponent Score OT Decision Arena Attendance Record Pts Recap 36 April 2 @ Los Angeles 3–0 Jones Staples Center 0 16–16–4 36 37 April 3 @ Los Angeles 3–2 Jones Staples Center 0 17–16–4 38 38 April 6 Anaheim 1–5 Jones SAP Center 0 17–17–4 38 39 April 9 Los Angeles 5–2 Jones SAP Center 0 18–17–4 40 40 April 10 Los Angeles 2–4 Jones SAP Center 0 18–18–4 40 41 April 12 Anaheim 0–4 Jones SAP Center 0 18–19–4 40 42 April 14 Anaheim 1–4 Korenar SAP Center 0 18–20–4 40 43 April 16 @ Minnesota 2–3 Jones Xcel Energy Center 3,000 18–21–4 40 44 April 17 @ Minnesota 2–5 Jones Xcel Energy Center 3,000 18–22–4 40 45 April 19 @ Vegas 2–3 SO Jones T-Mobile Arena 3,950 18–22–5 41 46 April 21 @ Vegas 2–5 Korenar T-Mobile Arena 3,950 18–23–5 41 – April 23 Vegas Postponed. 47 April 24 Minnesota 3–6 Korenar SAP Center 0 18–24–5 41 48 April 26 Arizona 6–4 Korenar SAP Center 520 19–24–5 43 49 April 28 Arizona 4–2 Korenar SAP Center 1,037 20–24–5 45 50 April 30 @ Colorado 0–3 Jones Ball Arena 4,045 20–25–5 45 May: 1–3–2 (Home: 1–2–2; Road: 0–1–0) # Date Opponent Score OT Decision Arena Attendance Record Pts Recap 51 May 1 @ Colorado 3–4 Korenar Ball Arena 4,037 20–26–5 45 52 May 3 Colorado 4–5 OT Jones SAP Center 1,071 20–26–6 46 53 May 5 Colorado 3–2 Korenar SAP Center 1,041 21–26–6 48 54 May 7 Arizona 2–5 Korenar SAP Center 1,145 21–27–6 48 55 May 8 Arizona 4–5 OT Melnichuk SAP Center 1,249 21–27–7 49 56 May 12 Vegas 0–6 Melnichuk SAP Center 1,654 21–28–7 49 Legend:

Player statistics Skaters Regular season Player 56 22 27 49 −1 42 50 19 24 43 +1 27 53 17 14 31 −10 25 54 12 19 31 −7 22 56 7 22 29 −12 36 55 12 16 28 −9 31 52 8 14 22 −18 18 50 6 14 20 −10 10 41 8 9 17 −6 16 56 1 16 17 −6 22 44 3 10 13 −7 2 49 5 7 12 −18 13 56 2 8 10 −10 39 56 4 5 9 −9 10 28 5 2 7 −5 4 † 9 3 4 7 0 2 30 5 1 6 −16 6 40 2 4 6 −9 15 51 1 5 6 −7 8 29 1 4 5 −5 16 7 1 1 2 −1 6 5 0 2 2 −2 2 5 1 0 1 −2 12 8 1 0 1 −3 2 7 0 1 1 +1 0 † 2 0 1 1 +1 2 7 0 1 1 +1 6 4 0 1 1 −3 0 7 0 1 1 −4 2 ‡ 4 0 0 0 +1 0 11 0 0 0 +1 55 ‡ 4 0 0 0 0 0 ‡ 5 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 0 0 −1 2 1 0 0 0 −1 4 1 0 0 0 −2 2 11 0 0 0 −7 23

Goaltenders Regular season Player 34 34 1,868 15 13 4 102 3.28 980 .896 1 0 0 0 10 7 492 3 5 0 26 3.17 258 .899 0 0 0 0 17 13 888 3 9 2 47 3.18 462 .898 1 0 0 2 3 2 131 0 1 1 11 5.05 81 .864 0 0 0 0 †Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Sharks. Stats reflect time with the Sharks only. ‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Sharks only.

Transactions The Sharks have been involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season.

Trades Date Details RefTo Buffalo Sabres2nd-round pick in 2020To San Jose Sharks2nd-round pick in 20204th-round pick in 2020To Edmonton Oilers4th-round pick in 20205th-round pick in 2020To San Jose Sharks3rd-round pick in 2020To Montreal Canadiens3rd-round pick in 2021To San Jose Sharks4th-round pick in 2020To New York Rangers5th-round pick in 2020To San Jose SharksTwo 7th-round picks in 2020To Anaheim DucksTrevor CarrickTo San Jose SharksJack KopackaTo Ottawa SenatorsJack KopackaTo San Jose SharksChristian JarosTo Colorado AvalancheDevan DubnykTo San Jose SharksGreg Pateryn5th-round pick in 2021To Columbus Blue JacketsCash considerationsTo San Jose SharksNick FolignoTo Toronto Maple LeafsStefan NoesenNick FolignoTo San Jose Sharks4th-round pick in 2021To Tampa Bay Lightning Fredrik ClaessonTo San Jose SharksMagnus Chrona To Chicago BlackhawksCash considerationsTo San Jose SharksMattias JanmarkTo Vegas Golden KnightsMattias JanmarkNick DeSimoneTo San Jose SharksBUF 5th-round pick in 2022To Toronto Maple LeafsAntti SuomelaTo San Jose SharksAlexander Barabanov

Free agents Date Player Team Contract term Ref Anthony Greco to New York Rangers 2-year Brandon Davidson to Buffalo Sabres 1-year Jonny Brodzinski to New York Rangers 1-year Patrick Marleau from Pittsburgh Penguins 1-year Matt Nieto from Colorado Avalanche 1-year Aaron Dell to Toronto Maple Leafs 1-year Joe Thornton to Toronto Maple Leafs 1-year Kurtis Gabriel from Minnesota Wild 1-year Tristen Robins from Saskatoon Blades 1-year Fredrik Claesson from New Jersey Devils 1-year

Waivers Date Player Team Ref Rudolfs Balcers from Ottawa Senators

Signings Date Player Contract term Ref Jayden Halbgewachs 2-year Nicolas Meloche 1-year Antti Suomela 1-year Stefan Noesen 1-year Kevin Labanc 4-year Scott Reedy 2-year Zach Sawchenko 2-year Alexander Barabanov 1-year Santeri Hatakka 3-year Adam Raska 3-year Daniil Gushchin 3-year Jeffrey Viel 2-year Jonathan Dahlen 1-year Nicolas Meloche 1-year Matt Nieto 2-year Josef Korenar 1-year Dylan Gambrell 1-year

Contract terminations Date Player Via Ref Danil Yurtaikin Waived

Awards Regular season Player Award Awarded Logan Couture West Star of the Month March 2, 2021 Martin Jones Second Star of the Week April 5, 2021

Notes

References