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SAN JOSE – Tomas Hertl knows someone is missing when he looks to his left in the Sharks' locker room.
"It's weird to see the stand without it," said Hertl about former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski, who started training camp with the Dallas Stars. "It's safe (it stinks). He was a great friend to me in the last six years. "
A new era in San Jose officially began Friday, as the Sharks – for the first time in more than a decade – started a training camp without Pavelski who, after 963 games and 761 teal points, signed a $ 21 million three-year contract with the Stars as an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
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On Thursday, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer named Logan Couture to succeed Pavelski as team captain with Hertl, Joe Thornton, Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns as substitutes.
Still, the Sharks have questions as the camp begins. At the top of the list are ways to replace the production of Pavelski, who scored 38 goals in 2018-19 in his fourth year as captain of San Jose.
"In fact, I sent a text to (Pavelski) this morning, telling him that it would be weird to go to the rink without seeing you there," Couture said. "It will not be the same thing. The (difficult) part of professional sport is when friends leave.
"That's how things happen sometimes, unfortunately. But we will move to the group we have here. "
The Sharks scored 289 goals, a team record last season, including 58 from Pavelski, Gus Nyquist, who signed with Columbus, and Joonas Donskoi, now with Colorado.
In addition, shortly after the Sharks signed a $ 92 million deal with Karlsson in June, defenseman Justin Braun – himself a nine-year veteran in San Jose – was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers to free the place under the salary cap of the NHL.
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Their places on the list, especially the front positions, will likely be occupied by players who do not have the same kind of NHL pedigree.
The Sharks lost the cornerstone of the Patrick Marleau franchise in favor of the free agency in 2017, but Timo Meier, who was entering his second season in the NHL, was waiting to take those minutes.
This year it is not very clear who will be the best.
"Losing pavers will obviously be a big hole to fill," said Karlsson. "The way he played and how he settled in this room. Someone else will have to do his job. This will be a workload that will be shared among different actors during the year.
"We'll just have to find a way to evolve and adapt to the players we have in this room now."
General Manager Doug Wilson made the commitment earlier this summer to give prospective candidates a chance to get a job, a message he repeated to the team before the camp began. The Sharks did not involve a veteran in a professional trial and signed only two independent agents with previous NHL experience: winger Jonny Brodzinski and defenseman Dalton Prout.
"Some people may say we're losing a few strikers, but the younger guys have to show up because other teams have the same thing," said Hertl, who explained how younger players were staking the game. Stanley Cup champion, St. Louis Blues.
"The core team is there with strong defenders. At the front, we have me (Couture), Timo (Evander Kane). (Joe Thornton) is back. The team is here. We just need some young guys.
Friday's training sessions may have given a hint of who could fill these vacancies.
Kevin Labanc was on a line with Couture and Meier, and Dylan Gambrell, normally a center, was playing the wing lines of Hertl and Kane. Alex True, Barclay Goodrow and Sasha Chmelevski have also evolved.
Brodzinski, who has spent the last four seasons in the Los Angeles Kings, was on a line with Thornton and Marcus Sorensen.
"He looks fast, strong, pulls the puck," Thornton said of Brodzinski. "The first day went well."
No one knows for sure if this is how the front lines will stand when the regular season starts on October 2 against the Golden Knights in Vegas. But this is at least the first step in trying to replace Pavelski, who has been competing at the Sharks training camps since 2006.
"This team has to write their own book this season," said DeBoer. "From a coaching point of view, it's good to have a fresh start to see the potential of this group."
First cuts
The Sharks reduced their team to 57-man training camp, while forward Zach Gallant and Jake Gricius, defensemen Jake Lee, Hudson Wilson and Mitchell Brewer and goaltender Zach Emond were all sent back to their junior clubs respectively.
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