SAN JOSE — As soon as Doug Wilson completed the trade of the decade last month, the bar of expectations for the 2018-19 Sharks season soared through the stratosphere.
Adding Erik Karlsson to a blue line that already includes Team Canada alumni Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic made the Sharks the talk of the NHL heading into training camp. My colleague Dieter Kurtenbach described the season as “Stanley Cup or bust” for the Sharks. Even head coach Pete DeBoer jumped onboard with this idea, saying on the first day of camp, “there’s no hiding from that. That’s what we’re here to do.