Early-season Stanley Cup Playoff sleepers

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Twenty games deep into the 2015-16 NHL season, and teams are beginning to show their true form.

The annual contenders are catching their stride, while teams that added talent and made organizational changes are seeing what they have.

For the San Jose Sharks, who saw long-time head coach Todd McLellan leave the organization and join the Edmonton Oilers, and starting goaltender Antti Niemi find a new home, it was a mystery what kind of team they'd wind up. 

Head coach Peter DeBoer took over the team as a relative unknown. 

[KURZ: Sharks' Marleau on brink of major career milestone]

But his system has worked. And with the additions of Paul Martin, Joel Ward, Martin Jones, and an impressive bounce-back season from Patrick Marleau, the Sharks are winning games and barely trail the first-place Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division.

The Sharks are 10-8-0 through their first 18 games, and new captain Joe Pavelski is among the NHL's elite in goals scored, with 10 on the year, trailing just Patrick Kane, Jamie Benn and Vladimir Tarasenko. 

They've also managed to power through without the help of Logan Couture. 

But is this team good enough to make it back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs? 

 

 

 

 

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