San Jose Sharks: 3 Players Who Are Bad for Team Chemistry

It is tough to say anyone is bad for team chemistry on the San Jose Sharks, but with their recent struggles and up-and-down season virtually all year, bad chemistry may be the reason the team is under-performing so much.

The newcomers may be the problem, as team chemistry seemed to be a strong suit of the team last season. After the blockbuster trades of last offseason, the team has yet to regain full team chemistry from line to line.

The only line that stayed together, for the most part, was the Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski line, but because of the struggles throughout the rest of the lines, things needed to change and they drifted apart.

Here are players who are bad for the Sharks' team chemistry.

Colin White

Colin White was supposed to come in this season and make Jason Demers into a star.

White is a big, powerful hockey defenseman, and Demers is the finesse player with a decent offensive game. The combo was supposed to be the lesser version of Dan Boyle and Douglas Murray.

Demers has two goals and nine assists on the season, with a plus/minus of minus-7.

White, himself, has one goal and three assists, with a plus/minus of minus-6. He has been paired with an assortment of players, most recently with Justin Braun, who has developed some early chemistry with the veteran, but nothing to jump to conclusions about.

White has done relatively nothing for the Sharks this season, except provide a big body in front of the net.  He is a player San Jose will need in the playoffs, but the regular season has exposed him as a real missed acquisition by the Sharks' front office.

James Sheppard

James Sheppard was the whim of a pick-up by Sharks GM Doug Wilson last offseason. Not much is expected of him due to his injury that has sidelined him for the last two full seasons, assuming he sits out the current one.

Sheppard was the ninth overall pick by the Minnesota Wild in 2006, and expectations were high for him entering the NHL. However, after two decent seasons and a tumultuous one, he fractured his patella riding ATVs in Colorado, violating the no-ATV-riding clause in his contract. Ten months later, he finally discussed it with the media. 

With the Wild fed up with him, Wilson took the chance on him and is still waiting for a recovery.

For now, Sheppard would not be a fit with this team given the recent acquisitions of the last year. His game still needs fine tuning, and the NHL is not the place to do it—especially a team in this position in the playoff race.

T.J. Galiardi

No one is saying new acquisition T.J. Galiardi cannot become a good piece of chemistry on the Sharks, but it is the circumstances in which he has entered this team that makes him a potential bad mix.

Galiardi will be playing on the third line with Michal Handzus and Torrey Mitchell when everything gets set in stone and the Sharks re-acquire their health for the playoff push. However, that third line was as sturdy a line as this team has seen all year.

Handzus, Mitchell and McGinn were a moderately good line heading into the trade deadline, with McGinn finally showing what he could do, Mitchell using his speed to pester opponents and Handzus playing the veteran presence. It was a solid line with no sign of deteriorating.

But with McGinn now out and Galiardi in, the pressure is on Galiardi to make the chemistry evident again. He is somewhat of the same player McGinn is, but it was the personalities and style of game that meshed well together when McGinn was on the team.

The Sharks expect Galiardi to not miss a step for the playoff push.

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