For the last 18 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 19th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

Gone – Martin Jones, Christian Jaros, Greg Pateryn, Kurtis Gabriel

Incoming – Nick Bonino, Andrew Cogliano, Adin Hill, James Reimer, Lane Pederson

Impact of Changes – The last couple seasons have seen the Sharks be fairly quiet in the offseason. We are used to them trading for Evander Kane, or Erik Karlsson, or signing massive contracts, but none of that has happened recently. It seems the team has accepted its fate that the Cup window is closed and it's time to move to the next chapter. They haven't completely given up on the Couture/Hertl/Burns core just yet, but they filled a couple bottom-6 roles and left the rest open for some kids to take a run at them. That isn't a team that is on the precipice of a Stanley Cup. Between Aaron Dell leaving last year and Martin Jones being bought out this year, they've completely overhauled their goaltending in the last 12 months, finally. This was a team that was last in the league in team save percentage across the last three seasons. Mercifully, their Martin Jones Experiment has ended, and they're trying Literally Anything Else instead. That comes in the form of Adin Hill – formerly of Arizona – and veteran James Reimer. Not that these guys are Andrei Vasilevskiy in waiting, but they surely can't be worse than… *checks notes again* …last in the league for three years. With Bonino/Cogliano helping solidify the third line and Hill/Reimer being any sort of improvement over what they had, this was a good, cheap offseason for the Sharks. They have a weak division, so maybe if they get some rebounds on the blue line, this will be a better fantasy team than in recent seasons. That said, the third-line additions aren't fantasy relevant in shallower leagues and neither goalie will be among the top-20 goalies selected. Maybe Reimer makes a good late second or third goalie, but going much higher seems too optimistic.

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Ready for Full Time – Rudolfs Balcers didn't start the season a Sharks uniform, not getting into the lineup until February. When he got into the lineup, he averaged 11:32 in his first five games. After that, he had just four games with under 13 minutes in TOI, surpassing that mark in 33 of them. It sure seems he earned his role on the team as the season wore on and he should be a staple of the lineup this year. I personally wrote about Balcers a few weeks ago and the kind of fantasy value he'll have this year… One big rookie Sharks fans and fantasy owners alike are waiting on is Ryan Merkley. It looks as if without a strong training camp, he'll be in the AHL to start the year, so he's likely not ready for full time just yet. Even if he does make the roster, it's likely a bottom-pair role and thus not much relevance for fantasy. The last player we need to really concern ourselves with is Sasha Chmelevski. They sent Alex True to Seattle in expansion, and that seemingly opened a fourth-line centre spot for Chmelevski. But they brought in Nick Bonino, which could push Dylan Gambrell to the fourth line and Chmelevski to the AHL. He isn't likely to have much fantasy value even if he were to start in the NHL, but it would be nice to see what kind of player he can be with a real opportunity. In short, aside from Balcers, there may not be an influx of regular youth this year outside of what's always been there. (The William Eklund people need to calm down a bit.)

Fantasy Outlook – At the end of the day, the offensive success of this team comes down to the ability of their high-priced defencemen to not flatline. Both Burns and Karlsson, the latter more than the former, had tough defensive years and if the team is constantly defending in their own end, it's not likely to lead to a lot of fantasy success. I still think both Burns and Karlsson can offer something offensively, but again, they need to be able to move the puck out of the zone for that to happen. It might be asking too much for a 36-year-old defenceman and a 31-year-old defenceman with an extensive injury history. There is also the Evander Kane/gambling problem that could lead to a league suspension at some point, as well as the Tomas Hertl possible-trade situation. What the team will look like in a month's time isn't certain. For that reason, outside of rebounds from Couture and Meier, there may not be a lot to get excited about fantasy-wise this year.

Fantasy Grade – C (last year was C-)

Check out the rest of our Dobber team previews here.