"This is the year," forward Evander Kane said. "That has to be our mindset. You bring in a player like that, you look around the room, the type of players we have, our younger players getting better, bringing in a guy like Erik Karlsson, who's a (two-time) Norris Trophy winner, having another Norris Trophy winner in Brent Burns in the back end, there's really no excuses.
"It's up to us to put it all together, put it on the ice, have a good season and, like I said, having that focus on not being satisfied with making the Stanley Cup Playoffs] or going deep in the playoffs, but winning the Stanley Cup."
***[RELATED: [Erik Karlsson career timeline | Fantasy spin: Karlsson trade to Sharks]*
The Sharks acquired Karlsson and forward prospect Francis Perron in a trade with the Ottawa Senators for forwards Chris Tierney and Rudolfs Balcers, defenseman Dylan DeMelo, unsigned forward Joshua Norris, a first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft or 2020 NHL Draft, a second-round pick in the 2019 draft, and two conditional draft picks.
Karlsson had 62 points (nine goals, 53 assists) in 71 games last season. The 28-year-old defenseman led Ottawa in scoring in each of the past five seasons and has 518 points (126 goals, 392 assists) in 627 NHL games.