SAN JOSE – The message is a subtle one, but it couldn’t be clearer.
Despite 55 players still on the training camp roster, there are just five defenseman occupying stalls in the main, newly renovated NHL dressing room at Sharks Ice. Along the far wall, the nameplates of Paul Martin, Brenden Dillon, Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun appear over each individual space, with their gear hanging below.
Next to Braun, though, there is an unoccupied locker with no nameplate. Eventually, that will be filled by whoever plays well enough in camp to lock down that final active place among the Sharks’ defense corps.