The set-up: The Sharks finished with 99 points last season, one more than they had in 2015-16, en route to a loss in their first Stanley Cup finals appearance. However, a late-season fade last spring saw San Jose drop nine of its final 13 games, a downward spiral that bled into the postseason, where the Sharks lost in the first round to the Oilers. The Sharks kick off a season-opening five-game homestand to night at SAP Center in San Jose against the Philadelphia Flyers. Philly finished 39-33-10 (6th in Metropolitan Division) and missed the postseason for the third time in five years.

Philadelphia: The Fylers are a team in transition and may be looking (hoping?) for Nolan Patrick to make an immediate impact. The Flyers selected the center No. 2 overall, as a 16-year-old two seasons ago, Patrick scored 41 goals and a team-high 61 assists for Brandon of the Western Hockey League. He managed to record 20 goals and 26 assists in 33 games in an injury-shortened 2016-17 campaign and then recorded three assists in six preseason games. The Flyers need for Claude Giroux to turn things around. The center led Philadelphia with 86 points in 2013-1 but his scoring has declined in each of the next three seasons. Despite playing all 82 games, Giroux scored only 58 points last season, and his 14 goals were the fewest in a full season since 2009-10. Also a key will be goaltender Brian Elliott. The Flyers have been looking for an elite goaltender for years (the club was tied for 26th in save percentage at .901 last season) and they think Elliott is the answer. Elliott got off to a slow start by going 3-9-1 with a 3.31 goal-against average over the first two months of the campaign last season with Calgary but. he finished 26-18-3 with a 2.55 GAA and two shutouts, which was enough for the Flyers to give the 32-year-old a two-year deal. We'll see who emerges as the team's 'go-to' goaltender, as Michal Neuvirth inked a two-year, $5 million extension in March,

San Jose: The Sharks' biggest challenge could be overcoming the loss of Patrick Marleau, who signed a three-year deal with Toronto as a free agent. "Nothing will ever take away what Patrick and our team accomplished over the last nearly 20 years," Sharks general manager Doug Wilson told the San Jose Mercury News in July. Marleeau was selected No. 2 overall in the 1997 draft and is San Jose's all-time leader in virtually every offensive category, including goals (508), assists (573), points (1,081), power-play goals (160), short-handed goals (17) and game-winners (98) over 19 seasons. Letting the 38-year-old Marleau go may come back to bite the Sharks. Last season, he scored 27 goals -- good for third on a team that was 10th in the Western Conference with 2.67 goals per game. San Jose does feature the reigning Norris Trophy winner in Brent Burns, who tied a career high with 29 goals and led the club with 76 points. Joe Pavelski added 29 goals and Logan Couture had 25 goals but after that, no player scored more than 11 goals. Martin Jones won 35 games last season and will again be the team's No. 1 goaltender.

The pick: While Philadelphia continues its search for a goaltender, San Jose knows what it has in Martin Jones. He logged 65 games for the second straight campaign and has posted 72 wins, a 2.33 goals-against average and .915 save percentage in two seasons since becoming the club's starter after backing up Jonathan Quick in LA. The Sharks play four of their first five against Eastern Conference teams and San Jose was 21-7-4 against the East, including an 11-4-1 mark vs. Metropolitan Division foes in 2016-17. San Jose was a solid 26-11-4 at home last season and I expect them to open this season with a "W." Make San Jose a 10* play.