This article will be another in my series of player profiles, where I’ll look at each player on the San Jose Sharks and assess how their season went. This piece will focus on Antti Suomela.
In Suomela’s second season with the organization, he once again split his year between the NHL and AHL. He spent 14 games with the San Jose Barracuda, where he scored five goals and nine points, then played 20 games with the Sharks and scored a goal and seven points in 20 NHL games.
Those numbers from a limited sample size look alright, but they’re likely unsustainable if he was to play more. The Sharks had a shooting percentage of 14.3 per cent while Suomela was on the ice, which was higher for him than any other player on the team (minimum five games played). His underlying numbers also weren’t great, and he had a goals for percentage of 39.3 per cent and an expected goals for percentage of 44.8 per cent (according to NaturalStatTrick.com).
When he did play, he averaged just 9:41 per game, which was lower than any other player who played at least 15 games with the Sharks this season. He did get some time playing center, however, and actually had a really high faceoff percentage, at 54.8 per cent.
Suomela is in need of a new contract and assuming he is brought back, it’ll be up to him to earn a spot in the bottom-six. He’s already 26 years old, so the Sharks aren’t likely to prioritize him over younger players but he did end the season in the NHL and with a good camp, he could earn an extended shot with the Sharks next season.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think Antti Suomela will earn a permanent spot with the Sharks next season?
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