A new season of Sharks hockey, the 27th in franchise history, kicks off on Wednesday night at home against Philadelphia. Let’s dive right in to 10 intriguing questions that will get answered over the course of the next seven months …



1. Will the Sharks score enough goals?



Usually one of the NHL’s better offenses, including when they were fourth in 2015-16, the Sharks dipped to 19th in the NHL last season (and 10th out of 14 in the Western Conference) with 2.67 goals per game. Among teams that made the playoffs, only Ottawa scored fewer goals.



Nearly every forward on the Sharks failed to meet expectations, from the top guys like Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski, to the secondary scorers like Mikkel Boedker, Joel Ward and Joonas Donskoi. That can partially be blamed on the Sharks’ reliance on Brent Burns to create offense from the blue line, but not completely.



There just wasn’t nearly enough skill, creativity or toughness...