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 article will focus on Tim Heed.
Heed didn’t get into a ton of game action and was in and out of the press box, playing just 38 games this season. His production did drop, with just one goal and five points to show for by the year’s end. Part of the reason for the low production can be attributed to the fact that the Sharks had a shooting percentage of just 5.3 per cent while Heed was on the ice, which was lower for Heed than any other player on the team who played more than 15 games this season. He also had the highest corsi for percentage of any defenseman on the team at 55.2 per cent.
Despite this, Heed was used in a very limited capacity when he did play. He averaged just 13 minutes per game, though he was actually used the third-most on the power play of any Sharks defenseman. He was also likely to get quite a bit more ice time at the end of the season after Erik Karlsson’s injury.
Heed also had by far the worst PDO (‘luck factor’) of any defenseman on the team (min. 15 games played). That can explain why he finished last on the team (min. 15 GP) in goals for percentage at just 34.5 per cent, but second-best on the team (min. 15 GP) in expected goals for percentage, at a drastically higher 54.7 per cent.
While his numbers on the surface don’t look overly appealing, his underlying stats paint a better picture of his performance this year. Heed is on an expiring contract and though he’s already 29 years old, there is the possibility that he’s brought back, based on San Jose’s lack of depth on defense. Given that there’s no immediate replacement for him and he'd only command another one-year deal worth no more than $1 million, it may be worthwhile to bring him back once again if the Sharks can't find a better option.
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