Sharks veteran says he lacked opportunity last season: ‘I never had it, not even from the start’

David Quinn went to Montreal this summer to meet with Marc-Edouard Vlasic, part of the first-year Sharks coach’s mini-tour of Eastern Canada to personally introduce himself to some of the team’s veteran players.

Quinn’s message for Vlasic was clear: The Sharks still need you.

“I said, ‘Listen, you’re part of the solution here,’” Quinn said last week. “I don’t know what’s gone on before I got here, but you’re a guy we’re going to lean on. You’re going to play against up lines, you’re going to kill penalties.”

While Quinn is still waiting for some of his top players to make an impact in what’s been an 0-4-0 start, Vlasic, 35, has provided what Quinn has needed — a steadying presence on a defense corps that underwent some major changes since last season.

Vlasic, in a second-pairing role, has been on the ice for only one of the 11 even-strength goals the Sharks have allowed so far this season. A year after he was seventh among all Sharks defensemen in shorthanded time on ice, Vlasic, after four games, is now second behind only Mario Ferraro, helping the team kill all 12 penalties they’ve taken so far.

With Vlasic’s increased role, he already eclipsed 20 minutes in ice time two times in his first four games, something that happened only three times in 75 games last season.

The Sharks, who have never lost five straight games to start a season, begin a four-game road trip Tuesday against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.

“He basically said, ‘what do you see yourself doing?’ and I told him what I saw myself doing,” Vlasic said last week of Quinn. “Just give me the opportunity. I never had it last year.

“I never had it, not even from the start. If you give me that opportunity, I’ll take it. But if you never give it to me I can never take it.”

Vlasic said he had a “great relationship” with members of the Sharks’ former coaching staff, including Bob Boughner, although they clearly disagreed on usage.

Vlasic was a third-pair defenseman throughout much of last season, and his ice time dipped to an average of 13:39 per game last December. Then, for one of the few times in his NHL career, Vlasic was a healthy scratch, sitting for a Jan. 4 game in Detroit against the Red Wings.

Vlasic felt he had a better season than his ice time — a career-low 15:23 per game — would indicate.

“Considering I had limited minutes, third on the back end in points (14), more physical this year,” Vlasic said after the season, “so imagine if I played more?”

Boughner said in May that he thought Vlasic’s game got better in the second half, and that like any coach, he was willing to give players more prominent roles if he felt it was warranted.

“You get what you earn,” Boughner said in May, “and you get what you deserve.”

The Sharks this summer elected not to buy out the remaining four years of Vlasic’s eight-year, $56 million contract. Now in his 17th NHL season with the Sharks, Vlasic has clearly benefitted – at least early on – from a fresh start under Quinn.

“This is not an indictment on anybody. It’s just everybody does things differently,” Quinn said. “For a guy like (Vlasic), I wanted to make him feel like he was part of the solution and give him every opportunity to prove to me that he couldn’t do it, as opposed to proving that he could.

“He’s got a long track record in this league of being a really good player, and I want to give him every opportunity to be the player that he’s capable of being still. I think he’s got a lot of good hockey ahead of him.”

Vlasic said he’s still about 210 pounds but that he’s leaner than last season, and that he worked on his skating in the summer. He looks faster, anyway, and has been willing to join the rush whenever it’s prudent.

“When (Vlasic) is at his best, he’s such a fluid skater with a great stick defensively,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “This year, more so than in the last couple of years, he’s joined the rush a little bit.

“He’s up in plays and when you get up in plays, especially for a defenseman, your gap is tighter and it takes time and space away from the offensive players.”

Finding steady defense pairs has been a work in progress for Quinn and assistant Ryan Warsofsky, who works with the defensemen. But per Natural Stat Trick, Vlasic and Matt Benning have played together more often during 5-on-5 than any other Sharks pair.

“My job is to go out there and no matter how much I play, just shut down and play penalty kill. That’s my specialty,” said Vlasic, the 2014 Olympic gold medalist. “But if you never give me that opportunity. I can never help.”

“I think he’s in a good place in every aspect of his life right now,” Quinn said. “He’s been a hard worker, he’s brought energy and I’m really happy for him, and I’m happy for us because we’re going to need him.”