SAN JOSE — Joonas Donskoi and Melker Karlsson both reached a point in their respective professional hockey careers where they felt that they were ready to take their shot at playing in North America.
After spending time scouting Donskoi and Karlsson in their native countries, the Sharks reached the same conclusion.
“Sometimes you take a shot at them and you don’t know,” said Sharks’ director of scouting Tim Burke, adding that European scouts Niklas Sundstrom and Shin Larsson “kept watching them and they felt good about it, and that’s why we went after them.”
The Swedish-born Karlsson signed a one-year deal with the Sharks in May 2014 and a two-year extension last summer after a solid rookie season. Donskoi, from Finland, was inked to a two-year deal in May 2015 and after he had 36 points in 76 games in his first full NHL season, looks like he’ll be a fixture in the Sharks’ group of top nine forwards for years to come.
The Scandinavian imports have helped to provide the kind of forward depth that’s just about a prerequisite for NHL playoff success, as the Sharks get set to start the second round of the NHL playoffs Friday against Nashville, which knocked off Anaheim 2-1 Wednesday in Game 7.
“This organization has been picking late in the draft for a decade for the most part,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “The ones that stay on top that can do that and survive are the ones that go out and find people like that.”
Karlsson signed with the Sharks as a 23-year-old after a season with Skelleftea of the Swedish Hockey League in which he had 25 points in 48 regular season games. He has 12 points in 14 playoff games as Skelleftea won its second straight league championship.
Undrafted, Karlsson used the time between ages 18 and 23 to form an identity for himself as a player and develop the kind of confidence he needed to succeed at the highest level.
He possesses skill, but has shown to be a worker in all three zones. He doesn’t have as thick an upper body as Donskoi, but can bounce back from a hit, as was evident in the Sharks’ first round series against the Los Angeles Kings.
“If you’re a big talent, then maybe you can make it at 18,” Karlsson said. “For me, I had to grow into my game and how I play. Now I know what kind of player I am and what I can do out there.”
“He’s one of those guys that did a lot of things well,” Burke said of Karlsson. “He was a solid, steady player, didn’t wow you. Just got it done.”
Donskoi took a similar path. He was drafted in 2010 by Florida, but didn’t sign with the Panthers, saying he wanted to make sure he was ready to play in North America before he made the jump.
After five more seasons with Karpat of the Finnish League, Donskoi, like Karlsson, signed with the Sharks when he was 23.
“Some players that are young, they have a hard time accepting other roles,” Burke said. “These guys were coachable and did a lot of things to help the team. Didn’t always translate into numbers, but it was effective.”
Donskoi seemed ticketed for the AHL when he first signed with the Sharks. But he blew everyone’s doors off at rookie camp, and beat out other young players at the main camp to earn a spot on the roster. Opening night, he found himself on the top line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski.
“I didn’t think I was better than any of the other players at the rookie camp,” Donskoi said. “It was a tough road to get to the real training camp. But seeing players like (Thornton and Brent Burns) it was great to be in the same camp as them.”
Donskoi is hardly the loudest guy in the Sharks’ room, but he’s a lot more comfortable in his surroundings.
“Most Finns are really hardworking, gritty, highly skilled guys, and he’s got all that,” Burns said of Donskoi, who has been given the nickname of “Dusty Crophopper” by the All-Star defenseman. “But he’s a pretty funny guy, too, pretty good personality.”
Most of all, Donskoi and Karlsson have shown the Sharks that they were ready to make the leap.
“There’s a lot of guys out there, Europe, Sweden, Russia, that are great players,” Karlsson said. “They can come over and maybe not be a star, but do the job well.”
For more on the Sharks, see the Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks. Follow Curtis Pashelka on Twitter at twitter.com/CurtisPashelka.
