Rookie standout Jason Demers

It was his first training camp with San Jose, so coach Todd McLellan’s head was spinning as he tried to watch everybody, including the prospects targeted for the American Hockey League.

Jason Demers caught his eye, but it was a quick flash. McLellan soon realized he had to focus on players like Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle and Rob Blake. Someone like Demers, a seventh-round draft pick, wasn’t going to be in San Jose.

Once the Sharks were unceremoniously knocked out of the playoffs by Anaheim last spring, McLellan took a trip to Worcester, Mass., to watch the Sharks’ top minor-league affiliate, again seeing some of those same players he saw in training camp seven months earlier.

There was Demers again.

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