For a few seasons, San Jose Sharks forward Alexander Barabanov looked like he would be with the Sharks to stay. With 39 points in 2021-22 and 47 points in 2022-23, it looked like Barabanov had finally found his way to becoming a 40-point player and a good complementary piece. However, 2023-24 was not kind to the forward and his inability to find consistency in the games when he was healthy led to a down season and likely his last game in teal.
Barabanov’s 2023-24 production
For Barabanov, the number of games he played in 2023-24 was not equal to the number of games he was healthy enough to be at full-strength.
| Games Played | G | A | Pts | +/- | TOI/G |
| 46 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -24 | 15:52 |
While the 30-year-old forward appeared in 46 games this season, in many of those games, he appeared to be less than 100%. Some of that had to do with recovery from a fractured finger he suffered in the fall. Even after his finger healed, he didn’t seem to have the same touch as he had prior to the injury.
What’s more, he also contracted COVID partway through the season, and while he was eventually cleared to play, he suffered some lingering effects.
The two issues combined to make this season a disappointing one.
Barabanov failed to take advantage of his opportunities
When you look at Barabanov’s Evolving-Hockey regularized-adjusted plus-minus (RAPM) chart for the season, a couple of things jump out.
First, his goals per 60 minutes (GF/60) at even strength are much lower than his expected goals per 60 minutes (xGF/60), meaning that while the opportunities were there, Barabanov was not converting on them.
The other thing that jumps out is his performance on the power play. In years past, Barabanov had been an integral part of the power play. In 2022-23, he had three goals and 13 points on the man advantage. In 2021-22, Barabanov had two goals and eight points. This season, Barabanov had zero goals and just two secondary assists on the power play.
Barabanov was given every chance to succeed
Sometimes, when you look at a player’s drop in scoring, it can be explained away with the simple argument that the player’s linemates changed. One might imagine that Barabanov was playing with less talented linemates this season compared to last. Sadly, in Barabanov’s instance, that was not the case.
This season, Barabanov played 616:46 at 5-on-5. His top five lines in terms of ice time break out as follows:
| Line Combination | TOI | GF/60 | GA/60 | xGF/60 | xGA/60 |
| Barabanov – Hertl – Eklund | 90:00 | 0.67 | 4.0 | 3.21 | 2.45 |
| Barabanov – Zetterlund – Granlund | 68:54 | 0.87 | 3.48 | 2.39 | 3.39 |
| Barabanov – Kunin – Eklund | 40:48 | 2.94 | 4.41 | 2.09 | 2.57 |
| Barabanov – Duclair – Hertl | 36:42 | 1.63 | 1.63 | 2.08 | 3.11 |
| Barabanov – Duclair – Couture | 35:54 | 1.67 | 3.34 | 1.69 | 3.34 |
Clearly, Barabanov was given the best available players to play alongside. Tomas Hertl was the team’s top forward until he was injured and then traded. Mikael Granlund was the team’s leading scorer. Fabian Zetterlund scored the most goals for the Sharks this season. William Eklund had a career season.
Yet, despite these linemates, Barabanov had difficulty performing and seemed to drag down his linemates. Notice that in almost every combination, the GF/60 is lower than the xGF/60. In the instance of the Barabanov – Hertl – Eklund combination, the xGF/60 is 2.54 higher than the actual GF/60.
Barabanov’s future with the Sharks
This past season, Barabanov was expected to be part of the top six forward group. However, his inability to score despite linemates like Hertl, Eklund, Granlund and Zetterlund showed that he may not have a role in the Sharks’ top six group moving forward. The competition is only getting tougher.
Barabanov is a free agent, and his biggest problem is that he’s playing at a bottom-six level without the skill set of a bottom-six forward. He doesn’t kill penalties and he’s not a gritty player. He only delivered 22 hits this season. He’s not exceptionally fast, and while he’s responsible with the puck and disciplined about taking penalties, if he’s not scoring, there’s not much help he can give the Sharks.
Barabanov will hit free agency and hopefully, for his sake, another team thinks a change in scenery is all he needs. Unfortunately, with the addition of Will Smith, potentially Quentin Musty and the yet-to-be-named first-overall draft pick, it looks like there’s no room left in the Sharks’ lineup for Barabanov.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
