Sheng Peng
Timo Meier has arrived.
“When you draft a player as high as we did, liked everything about him this is what everyone expected he would be,” ex-San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer told San Jose Hockey Now on Thursday.
Meier has piled up 21 goals and 26 assists in just 41 games this season, his 47 points pacing San Jose. Meanwhile, DeBoer is reuniting with Meier in Las Vegas, as the Vegas Golden Knights’ coach is helming the Pacific Division All-Star squad, where the Swiss winger is making his first All-Star Game appearance this weekend.
“I’m proud of him,” DeBoer said. “People don’t see that Timo cares. Timo works at his game. Timo’s coachable in parts of his game to make himself better and more effective and more of a complete player. I enjoyed coaching him, really happy to see his success.”
But let’s rewind back to the 2015 draft: DeBoer had just been hired by San Jose and the Sharks selected Timo Meier with the ninth overall pick, ahead of the likes of Mikko Rantanen, Mathew Barzal, and Kyle Connor.
Meier made his NHL debut on Dec. 2016, and his first three seasons, all under DeBoer, went as expected for a top draft pick.
“His progression when I was there was from three goals to 20 to 30,” DeBoer recalled. “The 30-goal year? He was a dominant player that year for us.”
And indeed he was — SPORTLOGiQ’s portrait of Timo Meier in 2018-19 was of a puck-carrying machine who attacked the dirty scoring areas.