Goodrow Winning This Locker Room Competition + Feels the Love From Sharks Fans

It’s no surprise that the San Jose Sharks’ season opener last Thursday was all about Macklin Celebrini’s stellar NHL debut. San Jose’s first-ever No. 1 draft pick scored a goal and an assist and stole the show, despite the Sharks’ heartbreaking 5-4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues.

But there was another storyline you might have missed.

Barclay Goodrow’s return to the Tank was intriguing on many levels.

When the 31-year-old winger was claimed off waivers from the New York Rangers back in June, there were reports that he was “not happy about how this went down”.

A few months later, when Barclay Goodrow joined the Sharks’ camp, he chose not to elaborate on that situation: “Whatever happened in the summer will kind of stay in the summer.”

The tension around all this opened room for speculation for how the San Jose Sharks fans would react to Goodrow’s return on the opening night.

It’s safe to say that it wasn’t a warm welcome.

It was more than that.

The sold-out arena really popped as soon as they heard Goodrow’s name during the pre-game introduction.

Goodrow, who played six seasons for the Sharks from 2014 to 2020, told San Jose Hockey Now that he felt this energy: “It’s obviously special.”

While Goodrow is here to bring his leadership and experience to accelerate the Sharks’ rebuild, he also brings a lot of great memories to the San Jose fans.

Back in 2019, his overtime goal helped the Sharks win the seventh game of the first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights and advance to the next round.

During a meet-and-greet event with the fans on Oct. 8, Goodrow noticed that many fans still cherish that moment.

“You could see how many people still remember that goal from 2019,” Goodrow said, “Still means a lot to people. It was nice to see that sort of reception.”

Two-time Stanley Cup champion Goodrow is here to help bring that winning spirit back.

It starts with getting the most out of every moment. Last Thursday, he demonstrated that with a shorthanded goal to give the Sharks a three-goal lead.

He admitted that he had no idea how the puck went in: “A pretty fortunate one.”

You don’t luck out when you don’t put in some extra effort, though. It was Goodrow’s aggressive penalty killing on Robert Thomas that gave him the short-handed breakaway in the first place.

The lack of effort and aggressiveness, according to Goodrow, was the very reason the Sharks blew their lead in the third period of the game against the Blues.

“You just need to keep playing the same way that got you that lead,” the Sharks forward said. “You have to stay aggressive instead of worrying about protecting a lead.”

“I think this season is all about learning different ways to win games,” Goodrow added. “And it may not be perfect on night one, but it’s something we’ll work towards.”

Goodrow’s role is to bridge that gap between the last time the San Jose Sharks were the Stanley Cup contender and the current up-and-coming squad.

He’s been on both sides of the Sharks. So has good friend Logan Couture, who’s been struggling with injuries for over a year.

Couture gets a huge cheer pic.twitter.com/2lE7FjCoH9

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 11, 2024

“It’s tough,” Goodrow said of Couture. “I feel bad for him, and hopefully [he] will turn the corner sometime.”

While Logan Couture is dealing with a deep groin issue, Barclay Goodrow is leading the way on his own.

For the Sharks’ alternate captain, it means winning in everything he competes in. Even in locker room ping pong tournaments.

Goodrow confirmed that he’s currently the San Jose Sharks’ ping pong champion.

“I don’t need to be very good or excellent,” He smiled. “I just need to be better than everyone else.”