When the San Jose Sharks penciled out the 2023-24 season, management knew the team would be bad; it just didn’t know it would be this bad.
No one could have predicted the offseason injury that limited Logan Couture to six games; nor could they have predicted the injury to Mikael Granlund to start the season. Management likely hoped that Jacob Peterson would be ready to join the lineup full time or that either William Eklund or Thomas Bordeleau were prepared to transition into the role of NHL center.
Obviously, none of that happened, which is why on Oct. 27, the Sharks exercised the two-way contract the team signed with Ryan Carpenter and called him up to the NHL.
Carpenter’s 2023-24 production
Carpenter was signed in the offseason as insurance for the Sharks and, I would argue, as a veteran leadership voice for the San Jose Barracuda. If the injuries had not piled up, it’s likely that he would have filled that role admirably and possibly donned the “C” for the AHL team.
Instead, he played 62 games for the Sharks.
| Games Played | G | A | Pts | +/- | TOI/G |
| 62 | 5 | 7 | 12 | -16 | 11:06 |
Twelve points in 62 games is not what you ideally want from a depth forward, but Carpenter’s purpose on this roster was not scoring. His purpose was stability.
Carpenter defensively responsible and integral on the penalty kill
On a team that lacked defensive responsibility, Carpenter was a steadying force.
Looking at his expected goals against per 60 minutes (xGA/60) and his Corsi against per 60 minutes (CA/60), you can see that Carpenter was well above league average defensively.
What’s more, his stats did not receive the benefit of playing on the power play. With just 1.7 minutes of total power play time in 62 games, all of Carpenter’s points this season were earned the hard way.
Carpenter was especially helpful on the penalty kill. He was fourth among forwards on the team in penalty kill minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick.
What you see is what you get
Perhaps the biggest knock against Carpenter isn’t a knock at all. What you see is what you get from the forward. He’ll be responsible with the puck, but he won’t score you a lot of goals. As Fear the Fin reported last fall, he’s a quiet contributor and sometimes, for him, an uneventful shift is the best shift of all.
That’s great for a team that’s scrambling defensively. It’s not so great for a team that’s looking to take that next step. Carpenter will help you do the little things right, but he won’t be the player you need as you take a step forward toward becoming competitive again.
Carpenter’s future with the Sharks
This leads to the next question for the Sharks. What do you do with Carpenter?
The 33-year-old is an unrestricted free agent. He had a cap hit of $775,000 last season on a two-way deal that allowed the Sharks to move him back and forth between the AHL depending on the team’s needs.
In this instance, I would guess that what happens next is likely up to Carpenter. It’s hard to say how many teams will come calling for his services in the offseason. He offers stability as a forward but not much offensive upside, which contending teams will see as a negative.
If the offers aren’t there this offseason, re-signing Carpenter isn’t a bad plan for the Sharks, especially if the team can bring him back on another one-year, two-way contract. I still believe he would be an exceptional captain for the Barracuda, and hopefully, he can return to take on that role and also serve as depth at center if the team needs it.
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.
