SAN JOSE – Kevin Labanc still carries with him a message that he learned from playing with San Jose Sharks legends Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton.
“It goes by quick,” Labanc said. “It’s crazy. They played 20 years, but it goes by quick, so don’t take a day for granted.”
There are less than four weeks left in the NHL regular season and by all indications, these will be the final days of Labanc’s eight-year tenure with the Sharks organization.
Labanc, 28, is a pending unrestricted free agent with a rebuilding organization that has undergone massive roster upheaval since Mike Grier took over as general manager in the summer of 2022. Veterans like Brent Burns, Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl, and a handful of others, are on different teams. Some are out of the NHL altogether.
Labanc has 225 points in 473 career NHL games and is one of the few players left from the Sharks’ last playoff team in 2019. But it’s hard to see him fitting into the team’s long-term plans, given the organization’s overall desire to get younger, and bigger.
In the short term, Labanc’s been a healthy scratch over 20 times this season and will sit out again Tuesday when the Sharks face the Dallas Stars looking to snap a seven-game losing streak.
While his offensive skill has never been questioned, his consistency and commitment to playing a sound two-way game have been. That landed him in David Quinn’s doghouse at times this season, and on ex-coach Bob Boughner’s naughty list in seasons prior.
This season, Labanc, in the final year of a four-year, $18.9 million contract awarded to him by former Sharks general manager Doug Wilson, has just nine points in 41 games and has averaged a career-low 11:45 in ice time.
For now, Labanc, a 2014 sixth-round draft pick by the Sharks who defied the odds to get this far, is talking like this is the end of his time in San Jose.
“Playing in San Jose, it’s been a privilege,” Labanc said Thursday morning. “I didn’t take it for granted. Every practice, I came every day and came to work. I’ve made so many memories playing at SAP Center in front of that crowd, just the whole community is so supportive of all the guys, (through) bad or good.
“I really appreciated it and anytime you put on that Sharks jersey, you want to represent those people.”
Labanc said he hasn’t had much communication with Quinn about when he might get into the lineup again, adding there’s, “nothing more to elaborate on that.”
“I’m kind of past it. It is what it is,” Labanc said. “We’ve got 12 games left. Do what you can and control you can, on the ice and off the ice. Just support the boys. It’s always fun being in the locker room with these guys. So I’m just enjoying my time with them.”
Quinn said last Saturday morning he was thinking about getting Labanc into the lineup that night against the Chicago Blackhawks. But he opted not to make any lineup changes after a relatively strong performance by the forward group in the game before against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I do want to get him back in,” Quinn said of Labanc, “so it’ll be sooner than later.”
Earlier this year, Labanc and his agent, Mike Curran, began working with the Sharks to try and get the forward to another team.
Labanc did not play in eight straight games from Jan. 20 to Feb. 15, but then Quinn dressed him for six of nine games before the March 8 trade deadline. But moving Labanc was always going to be a challenge, given his $4.725 million cap hit for this season and his modest offensive output all year.
“I think (Grier) was trying,” Labanc said of a possible deal. “It’s obviously tough when I’m in the position that I’m in and I haven’t really been playing all that much, either. So, it doesn’t really help the case.
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“I’m just doing it for the guys,” Labanc said. “Just being there for them and try and be supportive as much as you can. Whatever the coaches decide, that’s on them. Just trying to help the guys get off this losing skid that we’re on and try and get a couple more wins before the season ends.”
A pending UFA, Labanc faces an uncertain future in the NHL.
But he had 33 points in 72 games last season, and 14 points in 30 career Stanley Cup playoff games. His most unforgettable moment in San Jose came when he had four points on a five-minute power play in Game 7 of San Jose’s 2019 first-round playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights.
He remains confident that he can still play in the league.
“I know I can play, I know I can contribute, I know what my skill set is, and I know what it takes to be in that playoff-type environment and compete in those regular season games where you need those points,” Labanc said. “So given the opportunity, I know I can succeed. And I’m excited.”