SAN JOSE — After months of dismissals and denial, Pete DeBoer finally submitted to the truth after the Sharks were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs last April: “We ran out of some gas here the last month. It’s just the reality.”
The last thing a hockey player wants is to be caught making excuses, so the Sharks spent most of last season swatting away any suggestion that their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015-16 combined with Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi’s participation in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in the fall would wear them down by the end of the season.