2023 Offseason

It’s one thing to ice a bad hockey team. It’s another to ice a bad and boring hockey team. But to ice a bad, boring, and soft team is just cruel to your fans and I for one will not abide it.

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Have the Sharks decided to outmug Vegas?

The Columbus Blue Jackets have named Mike Babcock the club’s ninth head coach in franchise history.

An upgrade over Torts. With Fantilli, it may become entertaining and worthy.

The LA Kings have signed captain Anze Kopitar to a two-year contract extension worth an annual average value (AAV) of $7,000,000 through 2025-26.

At 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, Filip Bystedt looks like he was cast in a mold labeled for future NHL centers.

Bystedt is obviously tall, with a frame that looks capable of adding more heft as he develops. When he was in San Jose a year ago for Sharks development camp, his size helped him stand out.

He doesn't stand out nearly as much this week.

One of the most noticeable changes at rookie camp this week compared to last July is the sheer number of large humans on the ice.

"They like big guys," Bystedt said with a chuckle. "I'm kind of used to it. We had some big guys back home in Sweden. It is obviously a bit different from last year when there was a bit smaller guys, but this is fun."

General Manager Mike Grier has mentioned size, and wanted the organization to get bigger, right from the first day he was in charge. He made moves to that effect at the NHL level, but it's particularly evident here at development camp.

The next three forwards the Sharks selected in the 2023 NHL draft after Will Smith - Quentin Musty, Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda - are all listed at 6-2 or 6-3 and at least 200 pounds. Bystedt was the first selection a year ago, and the guy right after him, Cam Lund, actually grew over the past 12 months.

Lund said he's now 6-3, and like Musty looks like a modern version of a power forward in training on the ice.

"As a player, I don't think there's a lot of players like me with my size, my skill set," Musty said. "Vision, playmaking, there's a lot of tools that I can bring to this organization hopefully one day."

Focusing on size, whether it's height or weight, can be a thorny discourse among NHL fans. But there's little debate when it comes to NHL decision makers.

Skill and speed are desired, but above-average size is as well. The players who are blessed with a combination of those tools are arguably the sport's most precious resource, perhaps trailing only goaltenders who can perform at a consistently elite level.

"You need good, big guys. You can't just go get size," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "I think that's something we've done a good job of. We've gotten good, big hockey players. You can't just get big. What good does big do if you can't play?

"Just look at the playoffs. We all talk about the speed and the skill in this game and it has improved, but once playoff hockey starts, you'd better have some size - especially on the blue line."

The Sharks have added size on the blue line as well. Shakir Mukhamadullin is the club's top prospect on defense after arriving in a trade from New Jersey before the deadline last season.

Mukhamadullin is huge, if we're just judging by height. Even as he continues to try add more weight to his 6-4 frame, his length and long reach are assets when he defends plays.

Valtteri Pulli, an undrafted free agent signed after last season ended, has cut an imposing figure at 6-5 and 210 pounds. Players who arrived before Grier and the newest members of his staff like Artem Guryev (6-4, 220), Yevgeni Kashnikov (6-6, 205) and Nick Cicek (6-3, 200) now have more similarly-sized teammates.

"It's crazy. I'm rooming this week with Eli Barnett (listed at 6-6) and I said I've never felt short in the hotel room before," Cicek said. "This guy is massive. It's nice. Kids definitely seem like they're getting bigger now. The physicality is going to be out there during camp and that's always exciting for me. That's sort of part of my game. I'm excited to meet Barnett in the corner and see what 230 pounds feels like on an '03 (2003 birth date)."

The three biggest teams in the Western Conference last season, if measured by average height and weight, were Vegas, Edmonton and Dallas. That would be the Stanley Cup champions, and the teams the Golden Knights beat in the second and third rounds to get to the Final.

All three of those clubs obviously feature skilled, talented star players, and they're not all big. Jonathan Marchessault just won the Conn Smythe Trophy. Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point have been two of Tampa Bay's most important players during their championship runs.

None of them are 6 feet tall, or weigh more than 185 pounds. But they also have plenty of large bodies around them.

The Sharks have not just added players using a size requirement like rides at an amusement park. Mattias Havelid and Luca Cagnoni are on the smaller side for defensemen. Some of the most talented forwards in the pipeline like William Eklund, Thomas Bordeleau, Danil Gushchin and Tristen Robins are as well.

But it's pretty easy to envision players like Musty and Lund being great complements on the opposite wings from guys like Eklund or Gushchin. Just as Bystedt's size and potential 200-foot prowess could pair well with Smith's offensive dynamism at the top of the center depth chart someday.

"It's a physical game. Games are won and lost at the net front, in my opinion," Barracuda coach John McCarthy said. "If you're going to defend your net front hard and you're going to attack your net front hard, you need bigger, stronger bodies to clear out the front of our net and also generate those second chances at their net."