from Paul Gackle of the Mercury News,

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.

Now, after a four-and-a-half month break from hockey, the benefits of a prolonged summer are glaringly obvious to a team that came into training camp relatively healthy, in shape and mentally refreshed.

“A lot of energy, a lot of excitement, that’s all good stuff,” DeBoer said. “But that doesn’t translate to points. You’ve still got to get the job done once they drop the puck.”

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