Sheng Peng
SUNRISE, Fla. – Marc-Edouard Vlasic put it in perspective.
“There’s lots of hockey left to play,” Vlasic said, of his benching Saturday night, in the fifth game of the regular season.
Vlasic’s last shift against the Nashville Predators was at 10:57 of the second period.
“He’s gotta be better. He’s gotta be harder. He’s gotta be more thorough,” San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn said after the game.
Vlasic agreed with Quinn’s assessment on Monday, after practice at Amarant Bank Arena, but declined to elaborate further on his discussions with the coaching staff.
“It’s between me and them,” he said.
The 18-year veteran, however, was more than willing to explain the circumstances of his season.
“I played two games, basically. Vegas, one. Played three minutes in Colorado, got injured. Didn’t play Carolina because I was injured. Played Boston and then didn’t play Nashville,” he said.
For the record, Vlasic skated just 6:09 on Saturday night. And he didn’t use his lower-body injury as any excuse.
“I’m good with my injury,” he said.
“Vegas, I thought, I played very, very well. Boston, had a tough time playing the O-zone, but we almost won. So I mean, it’s on two games. Obviously, I can be better,” Vlasic said.
But he stressed again, “Basically, it’s two games. One good one, one bad one. So I’m 50-50. I’m good and bad.”
The overall message? Like Vlasic said, there’s lots of hockey left to play, lots of time to be more good than bad.
And in his defense, the 36-year-old has been counted out before, as recently as the summer of 2022, after ex-San Jose Sharks head coach Bob Boughner played him a career-low 15:13, took him off the penalty kill for essentially the first time in his career, and healthy scratched him.
Because of Vlasic’s contract, an eight-year, $56 million compact signed in Jul. 2018, he appeared to be a prime buyout candidate.
The Sharks, however, didn’t pull the trigger, and under Quinn, Vlasic rallied with 17:28 a night, and was one of three San Jose defensemen, along with Mario Ferraro and Matt Benning, to top over 200 short-handed minutes last season for the Sharks’ eighth-ranked PK.
“That’s why he was good last year for us,” Quinn said on Monday, when asked about Vlasic’s hardness and thoroughness. “Really made him a big-time player in this league for a long time.”
Can Vlasic push back against time for just a little longer? We’ll see if he gets the chance tonight against the Florida Panthers.
First indication, based on penalty kill lines at practice yesterday, he might have to wait his turn, though the Sharks could trot out seven defensemen once again.