If the San Jose Sharks go on to win a Stanley Cup you can look at last night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens as a possible turning point in the season. All season long we’ve watched the Sharks do two things - amass the 2nd best record in the NHL yet still manage to not be able to play up to expectations (read: beat Detroit or Chicago). Last night the Sharks were once again not playing up to expectations and it looked like they wouldn’t be able to find that ‘extra gear’ required to turn the game around. Then Scott Nichol got boarded. The shot was cheap and there was no call. Back in October it took Scott Nichol about one week to become a fan favorite. It doesn’t take long to recognize his hard work. I’m pretty certain that he’s become a locker room favorite too - you can’t help but appreciate that kind of effort. What kind of heart does Nichol have? After obviously sustaining a shoulder injury, Nichol got up holding his injured arm with his good arm, all the while shouting at the officials about the hit - not a single hint of concern for his own injury but showing all the concern about how his team was being treated unfairly. That whole sequence set off the Sharks.

The Sharks then managed to turn the game completely around and literally ‘take’ the victory. I have not seen that kind of game-changing effort in a long time. For the first time this season, nay perhaps in a couple of seasons, the Sharks showed not only us but THEMSELVES that when they decide to do something as a group it can happen. And remember, the bar for team effort has recently been set and set high. The Olympics showed what can happen when a team puts everything on the line and last night’s post-Nichol injury effort was right up there with the Canada-USA medal game. Those last 8 or so minutes of the game showed for the first time, in my opinion, what the Sharks look like when everyone is playing up to potential. If it were up to me, the NHL odds should have shifted a little in the Sharks favor.

On a side note if you look at the recent history of modern professional sports it’s quite common to bring in top talent on a short contract to try to win championships. The NHL is a perfect example of signing ‘rental’ players to try to get that last piece of the puzzle to make a serious run at a title. That dynamic - the star player on a 1-year deal, was started by the 49ers during that 1994 season. This was not a common practice prior to that year, so one can only imagine what would have happened it the 49er experiment failed and they didn’t win that 5th Super Bowl.

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Now that my theory, that a Team USA victory would help the Sharks win the Stanley Cup, is out of play, we’ll fall back on Son of OT’s* theory. His theory is that a Team Canada win could motivate Dany Healtley, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Danny Boyle to join Ken Morrow, Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman** as the only hockey players to win an Olympic gold and Stanley Cup in the same year.

If anything hopefully the fact that Canada did not cruise to gold, both in the tournament and on an individual game level, provided Thornton and Marleau with the experience helpful to winning a Stanley Cup. I mention Thornton and Marleau because they’re the two that take the most heat when the Sharks get bounced from the NHL tournament.

Not only does the NHL get back to work but the trade deadline is March 3. Did Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson trade Jody Shelley to make free up a little cap space, either to add a player should something have happened to one of our boys while playing in Vancouver, or add a final role player if everyone came back healthy? The next few days should be interesting.

*Son of OT is from Canada - enough said
**Quick search of the double-winner question resulted in those three names.

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A reporter was interviewing an average citizen about some event and the reporter mentioned some proposal recently enacted by the Obama administration. The interviewee said, very modestly, that he didn’t agree with that proposal. The reporter immediately barked back “So you’re condemning the policies of the Obama administration!”

I thought wow, that’s quite a stretch - that not agreeing with a policy equals condemnation of an entire administration’s body of work. I’m not here to discuss politics, I just thought it was amusing AND frightening the leap these guys take to create a sound bite.

It is in that spirit that I created my headline.

An article posted on NBC’s Olympic website throws out the notion that the Sharks, and their “playoff cursed” players, may be the reason for Team Canada’s loss to Team USA. The article title “Olympics choke talk swarms Sharks” implies nation-wide finger pointing and rock throwing at Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle. We all know how hockey-crazed Canada is, and we all know how important this medal is to them. But even under those circumstances my cursory search revealed no articles emanating from our “Friends to the North” pointing blame on the San Jose Sharks Olympic representatives. In fact of all the changes Team Canada has made for their game against Germany, including changing goalies and shuffling lines, the ONLY thing that remains intact is the Sharks line.

Nice try (author) Jacob Amaya - but this isn’t CNN, MSNBC or Fox News.

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So what does this mean to the Sharks fan in me? It’s a win-win situation. If this loss contributes to Team Canada failing to win the gold, it should be a nice, recent reminder for the core of the Sharks that come playoff time, take nothing for granted. If Team Canada bounces back from this and does win the gold, it’ll hopefully instill in that same Sharks core just what kind of ‘life and death’ effort it takes to win a tournament such as the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Now the problem is the extra games the core has to play - injuries continue to be the main concern.

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In my opinion, the fascinating statistic of the tournament so far:
Men’s Hockey Score (combined USA & Canada): 20-4
Women’s Hockey Score (combined USA & Canada): 72-3

USA! USA! USA!

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Worry no more, I’ve figured it out. The reason why the Sharks can’t seem to break this cycle - the ‘Year’. All of the solutions that the Sharks have tried to throw at this cycle are missing the mark. The ‘mark’ isn’t that the team didn’t have veteran leadership, proven champions, top notch talent or hard hitting grit. The ‘mark’ is that it takes a ‘Year’ to get back to the playoffs.

Perhaps with the exception of loss of life, most emotionally devastating events become less painful over time. If you think about the things that can cause us emotional pain - a bad relationship break up, someone stealing your car, your team losing in the playoffs - the pain we feel when we’re going through such things usually diminishes over time. A year later the pain is most likely no where near what it was as when the event first took place. Because it takes a year before the Sharks make it back to the playoffs, it’s possible that all the emotional discomfort from the pervious year’s loss is too diminished to provide the kind of urgency that would be present if the Sharks were given another crack at the trophy just a month later.

That is why Team Sweden needs to win the gold in Olympic hockey.

The ‘core’ of the Sharks are on Team Canada. If Team Canada does not medal in the Olympics, perhaps it’ll put enough ’sting’ in the boys to give them a renewed sense of urgency when they return from Vancouver. The timing will be perfect - approximately 5 weeks later the NHL playoffs will start and barring any catastrophic failures, the Sharks could go into the playoffs with their core out to erase the failure of a month ago.

There is the other argument, that if Team Canada wins the gold it will not only give Dan Boyle, Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau the confidence and experience of what it feels like to win it all but also motivate them to try and be two-time champions - Olympic Gold and Stanley Cup. But since I’m a guy who sees the glass half empty, I’m going to go with “Team Canada Must Lose”.

Sorry aye.

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During the summer the Sharks were rumored to be in contention for Gustavsson’s services. The Swedish net minder was supposed to be the second coming of Martin Brodeur and if the Sharks could land him, they’d have the best prospect in pro hockey backing up Evgeni Nabokov. Gustavsson signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Here we are two-thirds the way into the season and Gustavsson has had two heart surgeries, has a 3.03 goals against average and a .899% save percentage. When Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke traded Vesa Toskala to the Anaheim Ducks for Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the move could be interpreted as an open admission that maybe Gustavsson isn’t quite as ready for the NHL as one would have thought.

I often get frustrated when I don’t get what I want. I was disappointed when Gustavsson signed with someone else. Here, however, is a rare opportunity to see where NOT getting what I/we wanted may have worked out for the better. If there is a down side to all this - the Anaheim Ducks signed Jonus Hiller to a 4-year extension. If Hiller really is a “Shark Killer”, this might make things difficult for the Sharks.

This might be the sign that the trade gates are about to open up. With the trade deadline just 3 days after the end of the Olympics, and with the NHL imposing a trade freeze during the Olympics, we might see more trades real soon.

Any thoughts on who you’d like to see in a Sharks sweater…or conversely who you’d like to see NOT wearing one anymore?

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One of the best marketing terms of the modern sports era is ‘parity’. Leagues sell us on the idea that ‘parity’ is great for the fans - that on any given day, any team can beat any other team - and that everyone has an equal chance at a championship. Really? I look at ‘parity’ as meaning ‘we needed to keep the players from taking all our money so we instituted a salary cap to keep what’s ours, and meanwhile preventing free spenders from buying all the talent’.

The NFL salary cap was nicknamed ‘The Eddie Debartolo Rule’. Eddie loved winning and he paid anything to acquire talent. The result was 5 Super Bowl titles and 15 years of winning - a dynasty that may never be repeated ever again in professional sports. Even Eddie himself said he lost a lot of money over those 15 years and if he had to do it all over again he might not. If you were a fan of the 49ers, you LOVED it. If you were the opposition, you hated it.

With free agency and a salary cap, players move from team to team to earn a bigger paycheck. Because so many players move around your average team is just that, average. But if all the teams are average, then the competition level rises. The execution, style, finesse and sophistication might not be there, but the competition is. This is what pro sports call ‘parity’.

Here’s the thing - while most sports leagues have about 70-80% of their teams falling into the ‘average’ category, they do have their slice of ‘elite’ teams. Elite teams are the one’s with ownership willing to do whatever it takes to win - including hiring management smart enough to ‘navigate’ the rules. The way you build an elite team is you have to prove your dedication to winning. You don’t show this dedication by ’saying’ to the fans you’re dedicated, you show it behind the scenes - where the players tell other players ‘this team is for real’. I’m pretty sure teams show their dedication to winning on much of the stuff fans don’t see. How well do they treat their players? What kind of training facilities do they have? How well do they travel? The 49ers used to give everyone their own hotel room, not just their stars - when they traveled. These are the dollars that can be spent outside of the salary cap, and it’s those dollars (I believe) that make the difference.

Once the word gets out that you’re a team dedicated to ‘the cause’ it becomes easier to attract talent, and your success snowballs - but not forever.

So what’s my point? Whenever I watch football I can literally see the ‘layers’ in the NFL. The 49ers are not in the top layer, they’re right smack in the fat, middle layer - the ‘parity’ layer. In hockey the layers are a little harder to see. In football, with only a 16 game season, you know each week the team is bringing their best effort so it becomes easier to see the competition level. In hockey some teams just have a bad night so it’s harder to judge. One thing for sure, the San Jose Sharks are in that top layer - and they’ve been there for a while. Unfortunately for them, another team in that layer is the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Sharks may have avoided another embarrassing home loss to the Blackhawks but that’s no consolation for the fact that they still lost. Throw in the loss to the (injured) Detroit Red Wings and you have a team that struggles against the elite layer. Here we sit again with the philosophical question about the Sharks - no one argues their talent, it’s their mental fortitude that’s in question. If you can’t rise up to beat the Red Wings and Blackhawks - at home no less - how can you expect to to rise up in April when the games count for real?

I’d rather have the Sharks split season series’ with the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators types if they could beat the top teams when they have to.

Apparently the Sharks haven’t figured out the Blackhawks, so if they’re going to beat them someone else is going to have to show them how. I believe teams have been more successful against the New England Patriots because the New York Giants ‘figured’ them out in the Super Bowl. Ever since then teams have mimicked what the Giants did and have had better success.

Someone has to figure out how to exploit that Blackhawk “Harlem Globetrotter-esque” High Cycle, and once they do you can bet everyone else is going to do the same thing.

But until then the question remains - do the Sharks have what it takes or are we watching our window close?

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The Sharks have an overall winning percentage of .660. However - in games where the Sharks have more than one day off in between, they’re an average .500 team. A sixteen percent difference may not seem like much, but in my football pool the difference between first place and (relatively) last place (where I sit), the difference is approximately 16%. And if you look in the conference standings, with the exception of the Detroit Red Wings, a .500 winning percentage puts you out of the playoffs.

Todd McLellan speculated that when the team is well rested they tend to over think things and make things more complicated than need be. When the team is tired they play better because they don’t think as much. Can you imagine applying that concept to your own job - that if you thought about your job less you’d do better work?! I wish that were true for me.

I hope the Sharks don’t think too much on Thursday…

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The Slump - remember that 5-game losing streak that had all of us (well, maybe it was just me) thinking all doom and gloom a month ago? I did some research around Sharks’ losing streaks and found that they are in fact, quite a rarity. The question was how the Sharks were going to respond and how that response compared to losing streaks of the past. Their last losing streak was followed by winning 18 of 20 games (.900%). Currently, the Sharks are sitting at 14 of 17 (.824%). Like I said, the Sharks are pretty consistent.

The Scoring - Two seasons ago the problem with the Sharks was a lack of secondary scoring. Opponents just had to neutralize Joe Thornton and they had a good chance of beating us. This season, although I’m very excited about the seasons Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley are having, Joe Thronton was once again the driving force behind all our scoring. That has suddenly changed. As discussed on Comcast Sports Net California’s Post Game show following last night’s Sharks-Kings game, swapping Many Malhotra (to second line) and Ryan Clowe (to third line) has resulted in VERY dramatic results - 18 goals in the last three games.

The Olympics - With the Olympic break rapidly approaching you have to wonder if the break will help or hurt the Sharks. It’s like the bye week in football, there’s never been a definitive answer as to how it affects a team, except that it affects different teams differently. After the last Olympic break in 2006 the Sharks were 9-5-2 for the month of March (plus one last game in February). NHL Home Ice speculated that right now, teams are just trying to use the break as motivation to positions themselves as best they can in the standings knowing that no one knows what’s going to happen when play resumes.

The Trade - Finally Ray Ratto speculated that, with Ryan Clowe finally coming alive (13 goals, 22 assists - now 5th on the team in points despite the very slow start), he’s now trade bait should the Sharks want to beef up their blue line. Personally I’d rather keep Clowe - I’m tired of trading players. I think the Sharks have traded enough over the years - another trade isn’t the difference between the 1st round and the Stanley Cup Championship. What do you think?

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After failing to achieve gold in a sport where everyone agrees the United States has an unfair advantage, a theory arose. That theory was that, if you wanted to come as close to a guarantee as is possible in sports, the smarter thing to do would be to instead send one NBA team to the Olympics. An NBA team would have an advantage over an All-Star team because that team would have the benefit of having played together. The players would know each other’s tendencies, understand their system and would know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It would be a true test of the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Now we turn to Olympic hockey. The big problem with sending NHL players to the Olympic games is the disruption to the NHL season. How will the 2-week Olympic break affect team cohesion? Will teams need some time to get back into a rhythm after the break, how long will that ‘resyncing’ take and will some teams recover faster than others?

Now take the San Jose Sharks. Canada has selected the top line for the Sharks, Dany Heatley-Joe Thornton-Patrick Marleau, to represent their country at this year’s games. Canada has also selected Mike Babcock, coach of the Detroit Red Wings, to coach Team Canada. The question becomes: will Babcock do right by his country or by his team?

If Babcock keep the Sharks together the advantage to Team Canada could be huge - that line has the potential to do in hockey what Dream Team II could not do in basketball. But keeping that line together could also mean that, when they return to the NHL, Thornton, Heatley and Marleau may not suffer from too much ‘rust’. No rust could give the Sharks the advantage after the season restart. If Babcock breaks up that line, Team Canada may take a slight competitive hit but could set back the Sharks when the season resumes.

Is any of this relevant, or is hockey too different from basketball?

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Top Line - Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton are producing as promised, so much so that the line will be intact for Team Canada during the 2010 Olympics.  That’s no small feat - we’re talking Team Canada…for the Olympics…IN Canada.  That’s great for Canada, but for San Jose - where silver cups are preferred over gold medals, is that line’s success a good or bad thing?  Two seasons ago, when Thornton led the team in scoring, the playoff strategy against us was neutralize Joe and the Sharks won’t score.  That strategy worked.  Here we are again with all our pucks in one basket.  The question is, do we have enough secondary scoring to keep us alive during the campaign?

Broadcast Blues - During the winter I travel to Lake Tahoe.  Through some effort I had found places hotels that carried Fox Sports Net and would patronize these fine establishments to partake of the Sharks hockey after a long day on the slopes.  Last year Fox Sports Net became Comcast Sports Net - no big deal because although the name was different, the coverage was the same.  Then this year Comcast Sports Net split into two networks - Comcast Sports Net Bay Area and Comcast Sports Net California.  The Sharks are on CSNCA (and the Golden State Warriors are on CNSBA).  The problem - those places that carried CSN now carry CNSBA.  Apparently CSNCA, and the Sharks, are absent from the basic cable packages that used to carry them just a season earlier.  Frustrated at my inability to get a Sharks game, and deterred because I just didn’t want to go through the hassle of continually finding places that carry games, I decided to break down and get NHL Gamecenter Live.  But guess what, you can’t watch Sharks games in the Lake Tahoe area on Gamecenter Live.  Why?  Because Lake Tahoe is considered part of the Sharks’ television territory so they black it out on the internet (for those of you who aren’t aware, you can ‘generally’ determine a person’s location by your internet connection address).  It seems like one hand isn’t aware of what the other hand is doing.  Does the NHL know that the cable carrier in the greater Lake Tahoe area has removed the Sharks from basic cable?  Is it better to make the fans you do have pay extra for your product, or give it away for free in the hopes of adding more fans?

Crossing Lines - During the Christmas break the NHL Network was showing Classic Games.  At one point they were showing an early 90’s Kings/Rangers game from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas - an outdoor game.  They also showed last year’s Winter Classic from Chicago.  I just passed over these games - moved on, nothing to see here.  Then one time they were running last January’s regular season game between the Sharks and Red Wings at The Tank.  I was at that game, and it was a classic.  I watched it.  I watched a rerun of sports.  I watched a rerun of a Sharks game.  I had never done that before.  And even though I knew the Sharks won that game, I found myself cheering when the Sharks scored.  I’ve crossed a line somewhere, and I don’t know when it happened.

How Things Change - The Sharks have a big test this afternoon, they’re playing the second of back-to-back games, this one on the road, and less than 24 hours since the start of their last game.  And here’s the big test - it’s against the Phoenix Coyotes.  That’s right, I said it, the Coyotes.  I’m curious - what does it say about Wayne Gretzky’s coaching ability that a team, with more distractions this year than probably any team has had to deal with in the modern era, can become just that much better just by changing coaches?

2010 is tomorrow, that put’s us some 3 months away from the playoffs….

Happy New Year - and thanks for reading penaltykill.net!

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Because I’m working on my new and improved optimist attitude I continued my research and found the following nuggets. Immediately following the Losing Streak of 2008 the Sharks embarked on their ‘other’ monumental run of recent history. After the loss to the Devils, the Sharks won 11 in a row and 18 of 20 before ending the season with two losses in games that had no meaning. The 2003-2004 season was average at best, but in the playoffs the Sharks did manage to get to the conference finals but lost Calgary Flames.

Only time will tell what effect the Streak of ‘09 will have.

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After thanking me for my email, she said she’d write about the Sharks all the time if they let her. Then she followed up with this nugget:

“Since Ratto is a columnist and I’m not, it’s a little unfair to compare us….he’s supposed to have an opionion and I’m supposed to be more objective. For what it’s worth, he is always fighting to get more hockey in the paper and he’s very well liked by all the Sharks people; he and Doug Wilson are friends, and Ratto isn’t friends with any other GM in in the Bay Area. I know Doug respects Ray’s hockey knowledge. I like the fact he’s out there all the time and trying to get at least some hockey presence into the Chron. And he’s paid to have opinions, and I’d imagine it’s impossible to have everyone agree with you when you do that.”

I then emailed her back and said I was impressed that she knew I was talking about Ray and she responded since there’s only the two of them, it wasn’t hard to figure out.

So there you have it, the voice that seems to have nothing positive about the Sharks is one of the driving forces to get more hockey in my local paper. I guess Ray has a lot more negative things to say about the Sharks than they’ll let him write!

Okay Ray, I apologize for calling you an idoit. I appreciate your attempts to get more hockey in The Cron, but I still don’t agree with your slant on things. If you read this Ray, let me know what I have to do to help!

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http://www.blogtalkradio.com/crashthecrease

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I remember two seasons ago when the Sharks went down 2 games to none to open the second round of the playoffs with the Dallas Stars, Nabby came out and said everyone had to play better himself included. Over the remainder of that series he did play better. I always appreciated that he backed up his words with actions.

I also know that quotes can be taken out of context.

I found the following video, and I like what I see. Nabby is not happy, and I think that’s exactly the kind of attitude we need. No more ‘words’ as Nabby says, just plain action. I’ll be curious to see if Nabby’s play changes after calling out a team mate.

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First I learned that the hockey pre-season isn’t like other sports’ pre-seasons. Hockey players have said that the pre-season is really where you just find out who is making the team. It’s the beginning of the real season where you actually start learning how to play together. That’s why many teams have to find their footing when the season starts. By (US) Thanksgiving, they’ve usually been playing as a team for a solid month.

The second thing I learned is that Canada has their own Thanksgiving.

So here we are at (US) Thanksgiving and I wanted to see how The .Net’s teams are doing compared to this time last year.

The San Jose Sharks are just 1 point behind their point total from this time last year, and like last year they sit atop the NHL. Although there is nothing to be derived from this when it comes to the state of the team or their playoff prospects, all I will say is it’s nice to have a winning franchise to watch every few nights. The regular season is always fun in Sharkland.

rockandrollnobody’s Detroit Red Wings are 6 points behind where they were last year. While 34 points was worth 2nd place in the West last year, this year’s 28 points are only worth 10th. Given the goals the Red Wings lost when Hossa and Hudler left, and given the number of injuries they’ve suffered, a 6 point drop doesn’t sound too bad. However the increased strength of the rest of the West has them way down in the standings.

That strength is coming from hackett’s Chicago Blackhawks, who are surprising no one with their 9 point improvement over last season. With Marion Hossa finally joining the team the Blackhawks look to be the team to watch in the NHL. The only concern about this team is what to do next year. The Blackhawks could have serious cap issues so maybe it’s got to be this year.

The strength in the West is also coming from an unlikely source. That source is puckgal’s Phoenix Coyotes who are surprisingly occupying the 8th spot in the West. Perhaps the best thing that could have happened to the Coyotes was the loss of Wayne Gretzky. It makes complete sense that the Coyotes, under an experienced head coach like Dave Tippett, would be a better team. Could the Coyotes make the playoffs? By the way, to show just how little respect this team gets, wikipedia is still reporting Gretzky as the team’s head coach.

Where the West seems to have lost ground is with duxrox’s Anaheim Ducks. Unfortunately it looks like Brian Burke left town leaving behind two things: 1) a Stanley Cup Title (yay!) and 2) a salary cap strapped team in free agency hell (boo!). My question to duxrox: is it worth it? Is it worth a title if it means enduring a ‘rebuilding’ year, possible signaling a window of a few rebuilding years? It’s always been that philosophical question - do you want to win all just at least just once, or do you want a perennial winner?

Despite all of the woes of massive injuries, pittpen’s Pittsburgh Pengiuns are tied for second in the NHL with their 36 points. The fact that they’re 5 points better than the were last season doesn’t really mean much when you consider that they made a coaching change later in the season to go from 10th in the East to Stanley Cup Champions. The Penguins seem to be skating along nicely despite having the longest hockey seasons two years in a row.

Tied with those Penguins are colonelbagpuss’ Washington Capitals. Here’s my beef - the marketing gurus at the NHL have been promoting Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin as the face of hockey. I understand that they’re both stars, but the ‘beef’ part is that they get more attention because, I think, they’re in the East. The Sharks have Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley - but the Sharks are in the West. This is one of the reasons why I started The .Net - not only does the NHL lack good nation media coverage compared to other sports (hence the idea that we’re always playing short handed), but the West gets even less coverage (hence the idea that the West is always playing short 5-on-3). Back to the topic at hand. The Capitals are being talked up as the next team to take it, giving Ovechkin center stage to sell the game. We’ll have to wait and see about that.

And last but not least, the Vancouver Canucks. Interestingly enough here at The .Net, the most blogged about team is the Canucks - I guess they just have way too many fans! Because of canucklehead, theoldtimer and hist, I know a lot more about this team than pretty much any team out there. Unfortunately I’m not sure where this team is going, they seem to be sliding sideways. Although only two points off last season’s pace, they’re sitting in 11th place in the west. I feel like of all the teams represented on The .Net, this is the one team that should be better than their record.

If they’re right and (US) Thanksgiving is truly the first benchmark of the season to come, it looks like most of the teams represented on The .Net are in a good position to make it a long, exciting season. The next typical measuring stick milestone is the month after the All-Star break, but since there is no All-Star game this year we’ll use the month after the Olympic break. It’s at that time where you start to see who has the mental fortitude to keep it up for 82 games. Teams that have been running away with things can get lazy around that time, while teams hungry to make a change usually ramp things up. But until then I’m sure there will be lots of continuing conversation so please - stay tuned!

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Most of the sports franchises in the San Francisco Bay Area have sunk, are sinking or are trying to un-sink from the basements of their respective sports. Although some of these teams have made real attempts to turn things around - taking actions such as management changes, coaching changes, player personnel changes – real change only seems to occur incrementally. While those incremental improvements are reason for hope, nothing upsets me more than another team managing to turn things around in less time than my team.

During the 2003-2004 season the San Jose Sharks compiled 104 regular season points. During the same season the Chicago Blackhawks finished with 59. Over the next 5 years the Sharks continued to sit near the top of the NHL and never made it to the finals. Every year they Sharks talk about how this is not acceptable and have made change after change to improve the team. Meanwhile the Blackhawks have put together perhaps one of the best teams in the NHL – not that I ever saw them play but everyone on XM Radio’s NHL Home Ice raved about just how talented a team they had become.

So when they Blackhawks rolled into The Tank I was excited about the opportunity to see them for myself. Well, turns out I wasn’t excited to see them at all. It felt like “here we go again”. It felt like another franchise was able to put together a championship team in less time than it took to adjust my existing team to get over that hump. Not that the Blackhawks have won anything yet, it’s just that the test for the Sharks has always been whether or not they can rise to a challenge, and the second place Blackhawks should qualify as a challenge to rise to.

Luckily for me and my paranoid sports obsession the Sharks managed to win the next game. This sits as a huge moral victory for me because it shows that the Sharks can bounce back – a character trait not exactly synonymous with the Sharks. And the win did not come easy, they had to scrape and scratch against the Edmonton Oilers only to prevail in a shootout. It was close but the effort was there, and that’s what this Sharks fans needed to see. And also helping me recover is the fact that the Blackhawks lost to the Anaheim Ducks – if they bleed they can be killed.

I know it’s just one game but if feels like the whole season. I’ve discussed this phenomenon at length with PittPen. The problem with being a football to hockey convert, something that I am, you fall into the trap where you treat every hockey game with the same importance of every football game. With only 16 football games compared to 82 hockey games, the math says each hockey game is worth only 20% of one football game. That would suggest that I shouldn’t get too upset unless the Sharks go on a 5-game losing streak, then I have to start worrying. Whatever.

We still have 57 more games to go. I don’t think I can make it….

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On September 25th I went to a preseason game and watched Douglas Murray score a hat trick. At the Sharks’ home opener I watched, again in person, Dany Heatley introduce himself to the San Jose fans by scoring a hat trick of his own.  Last night I was in the building when Heatley scored another hat trick.

Prior to September 25th I had never seen a Shark complete a hat trick.  I don’t think any Shark has had a hat trick since the lock-out (I don’t subscribe the Elias Sports Bureau so I can’t call ‘my people’ to verify my hunch).  I’ve been to 4 games this year and seen hat tricks in 3 of them.

I realized when the season started that I might suffer from some difficulty getting excited about regular season games.  I’ve seen it all - just barely making the playoffs and getting bounced.  Cruising into the playoffs and getting bounced.  President’s Trophy and getting bounced.  For most members of the Teal Nation - and really for the rest of the hockey universe who aren’t willing to commit to this team until they ‘see it’ - the regular season is almost an academic exercise.  Leading the league - again, been there done that.  Leading the Pacific Division - just glad to be ahead of the Ducks (sorry Duxrox).  I thought the only thing that would really get me emotional about the regular season is if the team were below .500 - now THAT would be new.

What could possibly separate this season for recent seasons past?  Hat tricks!  Apparently that’s what’s been missing from my life.  XM Radio was buzzing with talk when Doug Wilson pulled off the Dany Heatley trade, they all said combining a pure goal scorer (I still don’t exactly know what that means) with one of the league’s most prolific passers would be a perfect storm for some serious scoring.

Well - so far so good.  Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better during the regular season, the Sharks have found ANOTHER way to add to the spectacle that is the San Jose Sharks Regular Season.  Please let this carry over to the playoffs, just once, this year, please oh please…..

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Here we are 24 games into the season - sitting atop the NHL once again. I wanted to see just how well the Sharks have made out after all the player shuffling and I came up with the following results:

Sharks Acquisitions/Call-Ups

Sharks Losses

There were other players who have left the team but for the purposes of this experiment, we’ll consider only the most active, ‘relevant’ players. We will also consider ‘Call-Ups’ as the players from Worcester who were designated as starters at the beginning of the season (Demers - 23 games played; Ferriero - 18 games played).

All of our acquisitions:
26 goals, 36 assists, 64 points costing us $12.9M.

All of our losses:
20 goals, 18 assists, 38 points saving us $15.5M.

A completely unscientific analysis would indicate that the Sharks cut approximately $2.6M from their payroll (a 16% savings) yet acquired a 30% increase in goal production and an almost 70% increase in overall points production. I’m no accountant but that seems to me like a great ROI*. If this trend continues Doug Wilson will look like an absolute genius - not just for acquiring highly productive, lesser-known talent, but also for positioning the team with 14 players up for free agency next year allowing for some salary cap maneuvering.

I’m starting to think keeping Doug Wilson should be the Sharks top priority over keeping any one player.

*Return On Investment (Thanks Son of OT)

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Thanks for reminding me, I forgot that I said that.

So yes, I did say that and here’s my thinking. Marleau has been one of the better Sharks over the last few seasons. There’s really nothing about his play that would suggest he’s not one of the better forwards in the NHL. Nabokov, on the other hand, has been very average from time to time. His hasn’t shown any kind of consistency, especially in the playoffs (both against Dallas two years ago and Anaheim last year). Nabokov has been playing great recently, good enough to earn himself a place in the NHL’s Three Stars of the Week for the last two weeks. Is his great play because he’s finally healthy or is it because he’s in a contract year? We will never know.

Next year both will be unrestricted fee agents. The Sharks most likely cannot afford to sign both. Both have salaries in the $6M neighborhood. Who should the Sharks sign? I’ve re-thunk my thinking. Unless both are willing to take “home town” discounts, I think both will play somewhere else next year.

Hold on, that doesn’t mean I don’t want them to leave, it means I think the reality of the situation is that they’ll both be somewhere else next season. Unless either of them are willing to take ‘home town discounts’, and with the salary cap most likely shrinking next year, other teams will be more able to offer them a market rate salary than the cap-strapped Sharks. If anything, there are two reasons why the Sharks may have to let them go - Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski. Those two guys are restricted free agents next year and, from the looks of things, they’re the future of the franchise. You could probably keep both of them for around $6M ($3M each) - the same as what Marleau alone makes this year.

But then again, Setoguchi and Pavelskil are restricted free agents, which means any team willing to offer them the ‘jackpot’ salary will jam up the Sharks. And if some team is willing to do that, how and when do you make the decision on Marleau? Do you sign Marleau then trade him, making sure you get something for him? Do you do the same with Nabby? This is why Doug Wilson makes the big bucks.

But then again, what do I know, I’m just a blogger. I may not remember everything that I post but I DO remember mentioning that Ray Ratto is an idiot because he’s more focused on the results whereas I’m focus on the results AND the journey. I may not know how to juggle the salary cap, but I do know that the current Sharks roster is packed with talent and this year is shaping up to be another fun one. I’m not going to worry about the playoffs until April. I’m not going to worry about contracts until June. For now, all I know is I’m going to the game tonight and I’m excited as heck!

Technorati Tags: hockey, nhl, San Jose Sharks

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Some of us didn’t want to be here. Some of us wanted to be a normal, hard working hockey team that didn’t lead the league in anything. All we wanted was to head into the playoffs with a full head of steam and a sense of urgency never seen before in Sharkland. But here we are, back on top again (queue up the sad violins).

Okay so it’s still fun being a winner!

I don’t know about you but the mood of the team seems different this year. Last year the team was all smiles, it was all about how much the team trusted each other and it looked like a lot of fun being a San Jose Shark. In retrospect you might say the boys were a little aloof, maybe reading too many of their own press clippings. This year it’s been a much quieter ascent with more of sense of appreciation for the work involved in getting those wins. Luckily memories are not short in San Jose and everyone I talk to is acutely aware of how none of this matters in April. If we remember it, you gotta hope the players do.

A few weeks ago Drew Remenda was interviewed by a Canadian radio station and XM Radio happened to be carrying the broadcast. One of the things he said is that last year there were players on the team that dragged other guys down during the Anaheim series. I don’t know about you but I never heard him say anything close to that here in the US. If that’s true then hopefully all the guys let go this past summer will add up to addition by subtraction. So far this year I’ve really enjoy watching the third and fourth lines far more than I did in years past. Last year there were times where I felt ho-hum unless Thornton, Marleau and Devin Setoguchi were on the ice. This year the entire bench brings a different, contributing element to the game - giving the Sharks an much different team identity than last year.

The one thing I enjoy watching more than anything else is the support that Jody Shelly is gettin. Although a tough guy absolutely, Shelly isn’t the toughest guy in the NHL. Other teams did manage to get Shelly either in the box for extended periods of time or off the ice with game misconducts. That left the Sharks relatively toothless. This year teams have to deal with Shelly, Brad Staubitz and Scott Nichol. It really nice to have some nice depth in the ‘put a hurt on them’ department.

At this point I feel like the Sharks are absolutely a better team than last. The top lines are much better with the addition of Dany Heatley and the bottom lines are much grittier and much more skilled. What do you think, is this team better than last?

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The Sharks made a lot of personnel changes over the summer and the Sharks have been working on getting into sync. The Sharks were becoming notorious for making passes to empty spaces. Sometimes they’d make passes to the other team. Last night the Sharks passing seemed to take on a precision and crispness that I hadn’t seen all season. It was probably the first time that all four lines were all on the same page.

The Sharks are also sometimes known to…well…let up. I’ve seen the Sharks give up plenty of 3-goal leads. Last night, for whatever reason, the Sharks knew it was a 60-minute game.

When the Sharks were bounced from the playoffs last year, the conversation turned to the eventual change in the team’s captaincy. Danny Boyle was a name that came up a lot when discussing a new captain for the team. As this season progressed Boyle, while playing sound defense, seemed to be less of the offensive threat as we had come to know him. Last night he displayed the kind of offensive prowess and skating agility that has made him quite the fan favorite.

Evgeni Nabokov ended last season as an average goalie. I thought he must have been playing hurt for most of the season, it was the only reason I could come up with to explain such a sudden drop in performance. Nabokov started the season again very average but has managed to really get his game back, playing better than I’ve seen him in over a year. But one area of concern was his puck handling outside the crease. Nabokov has been known to pass the puck to the opposition, setting them up for nice one-timers to an open net. Last night Nabokov handled the puck like nothing I’ve ever seen him before. He made passes like Joe Thornton!

So the Pittsburgh Penguins ran into a Sharks team playing their best hockey of the year. What remains to be seen is if this was just a blip on the radar or a sign of things to come.

And for those Sharks fans not paying attention – since Rob Blake is out with injury, did you see who was designated as an alternate captain? Patrick Marleau.

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Having played 17 games this season the Sharks are 11-4-2 with 24 points. We’ve scored 56 goals and given up 42. After 17 games last season, the Sharks were 13-3-1 with 27 points. We had scored 57 goals and given up 42.

All season long it has felt like the offense still hasn’t hit its stride and the defense is prone to miscommunication, however the numbers say otherwise. Last night I did notice that it never seemed to matter who was on the ice, that the Sharks pressure was consistent up and down the lines.

What does it all mean? It means that this team might be better than last year’s offering. One of the things I worry about is that a lot of the younger player will probably hit that wall next spring – so it’s up to Todd McClellan to manage that properly. The team may not look as “fluid” as last season but it does get the job done. And that’s all we really care about – getting “The Job” done.

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By this time next week the Sharks will have run into the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. While both teams have their injuries (who doesn’t), those two games (at Detroit Thursday, hosting Pittsuburgh on Saturday) will be the first stretch against proven commodities. This exact same scenario occurred last year, when we faced the Penguins on Tuesday, October 28 and the Red Wings on Thursday, October 30. The Sharks won both of those contests so here’s to hoping history repeats itself…

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Then came the playoff thing. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Over the summer the discussion turned to Marleau and whether or not he had what it takes to lead the Sharks. His whole status as a Shark was based not on his ablity as a hockey player but on his ability to lead. All those trade rumors were based on the idea that you couldn’t keep a guy on the team if you demoted him from team captain. Apparently you can. So far this season it appears that once again, Patrick Marleau is the best Shark on the ice. More impressive is that his performance is still stallar GIVEN all the antics of this past summer.

Let’s imagine that Marleau was never the captain of the Sharks. Given his performance last season the conversation this past summer could have been vastly different. Instead of trade talks, there would probably have been talks of extending Marleau’s contract, ensuring that Marleau ends his career as a Shark. In fact, the conversation may have been that Marleau SHOULD be the captain instead of the other way around. Considering how he’s playing now, despite it all, tells me a lot about his character and ability. I would like to officially start the conversation now that Doug Wilson should start working something out with Marleau’s agent before the end of the season.

Putting my money where my mouth is - we have 6 out of the possible 10 points on this road trip - my over/under was 6 - so the Philadelphia game is just for extra credit.

Technorati Tags: hockey, nhl, patrick marleau, San Jose Sharks

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But let’s say that theory is correct, that it takes 6 real games for a quarterback to get back into sync. Combine that theory with comments made this morning by Ryan Getzlaf on NHL Home Ice, that - and I paraphrase - the preseason really isn’t playing with your team, that you don’t really start playing together until Game 1 of the season.

When the San Jose Sharks ran over the entire NHL the first half of last season, national commentators observed that no one, at that time, could roll four lines like the Sharks. I think it’s safe to say that, so far this season, the Sharks weren’t really “rolling” at all. They’re not a bad team, but it was obvious that we had some work to do.

When the Sharks headed out on the road I had a lot of fear about an extended east coast swing. Beating the New York Islanders was a nice two points but then again, the Islanders hadn’t beaten anybody. The New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden - now THAT’S a test.

After a slow start, I saw the Sharks of season’s past. The attack was relentless and the pressure was impressive. I was very surprised, I really expected it might be a long night for the Sharks.

But now I’m hopeful. Up until now I feared that the Sharks may have made too many changes and that, while they’re still a good team, they may not have the time to come together and dominate like early last year. Well, it’s been 9 games and maybe, just maybe - we’re seeing a sign of things to come. Maybe it took almost 10 games for the team to finally hit it’s stride.

Am I the only one really starting to like Scott Nichol?

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Here we are two weeks into the new season. The Sharks are 3-2-1 (7 points) and 7th in the Western Conference. 7th!?! My mind says ‘it doesn’t look good, we’re not the team we used to be - our window of opportunity has passed’. Now granted, there are only two points separating us from the conference leaders, but it still LOOKS bad to see my team in the middle of the standings instead of at the top. What did I just say about last season’s lessons?

Like I said, it’s tough being me.

I tell myself that when you lose a dozen players over the summer it’s going to take a while for the team to find it’s rhythm. I remind myself that the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins were in 10th place with 2 months left in that season.

But then I look at those same Penguins and their 6-1 record and say ‘how can they do that after only a few months off, aren’t they tired?’. I look at the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche and say ‘how did they manage to get off to such a good start?’.

See what I’m talking about, I can go back and forth like this all day.

* * * * *

The Sharks start their season playing 9 of their first 12 games on the road. Today they start a 6 game road trip that starts in Washington and lasts 10 days. Last season, given the new NHL schedule, in order for all the teams to play each other at least once, I remember many of the East Coast teams made West Coast trips. I remember the Sharks doing quite well against the likes of the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins when they visited The Tank. Payback may be coming during this road trip. Although the Sharks have traditionally been a great road team, I think it’s going to be tough to get points on this trip. Perhaps the fact that they stay in the Eastern time zone the entire time might help, but who knows.

At this point I’d be happy if the Sharks come home with 6 of the 12 possible points, but I know that if they come home with 7 I’ll probably have seen something that indicates to my highly untrained eye that the Sharks are doomed for this season. That’s why I’m putting it down on (virtual) paper, to remind myself of myself.

God help me.

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But then came the second period. That second period was one of the best periods of hockey I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. When it was over I thought, how can the 3rd period top that? Well, how about a penalty shot and a hat trick - both firsts for me (and my nephew) to witness live, in the tank. It was quite an evening, I’m still pretty tired right now.

I’ve come to know a lot of NHL players’ names and their reputations, but because the NHL doesn’t get the coverage of other sports I haven’t actually seen a lot of players in action. When the Dany Heatley trade was being bounced around all I had to go on was his repuatation as a goal scorer (a positive), his repuation of asking for trades (a negative) and the reputation of Doug Wilson of not making fear-based moves (a faith). Having seen Heatley in action I can say he’s definitely one of the top skaters in the game, but whether or not he’s worth the price we paid in salary, players and picks remains to be seen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he’s here, but he’s just one guy - we really need to get all 4 lines rolling if we want the success we’re all after. And yes he has 4 goals in 4 games, but so does Devin Setoguchi!

The 3rd and 4th lines definitely need more time together to get their chemistry working, however it seems like Scott Nicol, Benn Ferriero and (of course) Dany Heatley are starting to fit in nicely. On the other hand, at the expense of our defense, it looks like Kent Huskins and Jason Demers still need some work. It looks like Demers needs some more incubation time down in Worcester, he’s not quite ready yet (where is Derek Joslin?)

Some of the things missing from last night’s home opener was the free ice cream truck and the magnetic schedules. Considering how low my expectations were going into the game, I got myself excited about the few things you can normally count on at the home opener - ice cream and magnets work just fine for me. I found out that the magnetic schedules are actually being given out at Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild - I’m not happy about that.

Some of the new things were the rafter banners - they added 3:

Pacific Division Champions 2008-2009
President’s Trophy 2008-2009
Western Conference Regular Season Champions 2008-2009

That last one really has to go, I think it’s stretching it a bit. You don’t win your conference unless you get the the finals, and the President’s Trophy banner implies you led the West after 82 games.

Which reminds me, we still have 78 more to go…

PS - FC Sharks Fan, a regular here at The ‘Net, left the game after the 2nd period because he had to get up early for work today. I’m sure Heatley’s hat trick was just as exciting on the radio as it was at The Tank.

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I’ve watched the two Sharks losses and it’s clear that defense is going to be an issue. I didn’t see the win against the Anaheim Ducks, but the review of the game on NHL Home Ice focused completely on the lack of effort by the Ducks and not on any effort put forth by the Sharks. I felt it kind of strange that we acquired Travis Moen and Kent Huskins at the end of last season (from the Ducks), but let Moen go and kept Huskins. When you consider Huskins never played for us becuase of his injury, one had to wonder what kind of gamble it was to keep him. How well would he bounce back from his injury and would he fit in with the rest of the team? Did we keep him simply because we needed defensemen more than another forward? And what happened to Derek Joslin? Last year, when called up from Worcester, I though he played well enough - didn’t do anything too outstanding other than just play solid, vanilla defense. Weren’t there reports that he was slated to make the team this year?

All in all there’s really a lack of coordination on the team - and it’s obvious. When you turn over as many guys as the Sharks did over the summer you have to figure it’s going to take a while to get everyone on the same page. As an outside observer I never really knew how much credit to give the concepts of ‘familiarity with teammates’ and ‘team chemistry’, and how those concepts relate to performance on the ice. If you compare last year to this year I think the credit is obvious - it counts for A LOT. The question is, is this team capable of good chemistry? After all, they’ve only been skating together for just over a month - will they all get along or will some of the new guys just never fit in? If they can’t how doomed are we? And if they can, how long will it take before things start coming together? From what I’ve heard, it better come together by (US) Thanksgiving, because that’s sort of the key date for knowing if your team can go for it or not.

Thanksgiving is a while away, so for now a whole herd of us are going to the home opener Thrusday night. There is a frightening statistic that, with the exception of Colorado (of which we were the victims), almost all the other teams lost their home openers. One of the theories - too much fanfare. Some teams put on such a huge, hollywood-type production - introducing everyone from the assistant equipment manager on up, doing features on each and every player, that it fatigued the home team before the game even started. Last year the Sharks were outstanding at home. If anything that’s the one thing they HAVE to hold on to, especially while they’re working out the kinks. I look at the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets as the early season ‘canary in the coal mine’ - if they can’t get it done at home….

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The Sharks played exactly the same way last night. There were so many new names that it was hard to tell when they were shifting lines – I needed a program to keep track of everyone. It also makes sense that Patrick Marleau would score the team’s only two goals since his line is the only one that skated together before last night’s game. Marleau, Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski made up the only complete line of Sharks from last season.

The Sharks did manage to out-shoot the Avalanche 41 to 20, but it was the breakdowns in defense that hurt the Sharks. At least 3 of the Avalanche goals were easy rebound put-backs where an Avalanche skater was wide open. This comes on the heels of some discussion on NHL Home Ice about the troubling state of the Sharks defense, that after Dan Boyle there’s a significant drop off in blue line talent.

Coming out of the gate flying didn’t serve us very well last year, so maybe having to really work at it will serve us better this year.

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You can read the entire announcement here at sjsharks.com

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Also from ESPN, EJ Hradek and Matthew Barnaby preview the Pacific Division, expressing much excitement about the possibility for Dany Heatley to score 50-60 goals when being lined up with Joe Thronton. Finally, Barry Melrose and Matthew Barnaby break down the Western Conference, discussing why they think the Detroit Red Wings may be on the downside of their “run” with the Chicago Blackhawks and Sharks being the top teams to represent The West for the Stanley Cup.

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That all changed when they dropped the puck. Once the game got started and the elbows started flying, it was almost therapeutic to finally be watching hockey instead of just talking about it. I’m sure the players must be feeling the same way - just shut up and play.

Some things I noticed at the game - there were three alternate captains: Dan Boyle, Rob Blake and Doug Murray. I was wondering if that was just a symbolic gesture since you have to have some captains on the ice in order to play the game, or if those three guys were leading the way towards earning the team’s captaincy. And if the later is true, I found it interesting that Murray was in that group.

Speaking of Murray, he started the game on the top defensive line with Boyle. I love the way Murray plays. Nothing brings me greater pleasure than watching his reverse-check move (passing the puck then checking the player trying to check him - turning the ‘checker’ into the ‘checkee’). Murray also scored a hat trick last night, scoring from the blue line, the half-boards and outside the crease. Maybe being exposed to Boyle has done something to Murray’s game, and maybe we’ll see more of him in the upcoming season.

Another thing I noticed was the play of Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov looked great. His legwork was snappy and quick, his flexibility and agility looking better than ever. Then I realized that Nabokov ALWAYS looks like that at the beginning of the season, but seems to get really worn down by the end. Maybe Ron Wilson was onto something when he alternated Nabokov and Vesa Toskala a few seasons back. Whatever the reason, if Nabokov can stay rested and healthy come next April I have no doubt he’s a goalie good enough to get us there.

The question again is, as always, just where is ‘there’ for the Sharks this year.

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Speaking of line-ups, when discussing the Dany Heatley trade (which they think is a GREAT trade for San Jose), one of the guys on NHL Home Ice suggested that the problem with the Joe Thronton-Heatley-Devin Setoguchi line is that Heatley and Setoguchi are two shooters, and that Thronton and Heatley would be better served if the other wing was a guy willing to get in front of the net - someone like Ryane Clowe. Imagine Sharks fans, Thronton (6′4″, 235lbs), Heatley (6′4″, 221lbs) and Clowe (6′2″, 225lbs) comprising one beast of a line totalling 681lbs of humanity (or 309 Kilos for our Canadian readers!), hammering away at opponents’ top lines. Our second line would be a faster, more agile line of Patrick Marleau-Joe Pavelski-Setoguchi, running circles around the competition. Throw in Dan Boyle cheating from the blue line….*whew* - drop the d#@! puck already!

FC Sharks Fan is also reporting that Direct TV has dropped Versus from their line-up, which means you’ll miss the Sharks first game! Call customer support and complain NOW!

Technorati Tags: dany heatley, devin setoguchi, hockey, joe pavelski, joe thornton, Manny Malhotra, nhl, patrick marleau, ryane clowe, San Jose Sharks

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*****

XM Radio’s NHL Home Ice reported that Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray, when questioned about the REAL reasons for Dany Heatley’s trade request, said that Heatley not only had issues with head coach Cory Clouston but also with other Senator players. At the same time, Doug Wilson said in a separate interview that his vetting of Heatley revealed that he’s not only a great teammate but also a good person. After suffering through Terrel Owens and Barry Bonds, I’m REALLY not looking forward to any locker room distractions - let’s hope Doug Wilson’s due diligence (and cap planning) wasn’t compromised by the pressures to make a big change for the sake of a (desperate) big change.

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From the Sharks’ web site: “San Jose Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson announced Saturday that the team has acquired left wing Dany Heatley and a fifth round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for right wing Jonathan Cheechoo, left wing Milan Michalek and San Jose’s second round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.”

I have mixed feelings about all this. On the up side I’m glad we managed to keep Marleau, his numbers last year were right up there with the best of them, and keeping him around for another try at The Cup seems like the right thing to do. Although a fan favorite, clearing the books of Cheechoo’s $3M year is a blessing - his 12 goals last year did not justify his salary, and the rumor that he showed up overweight and out of shape doesn’t help his cause. On the down side, Heatley is now the highest paid Shark and over the next three seasons, you have a tremendous amount of cap money tied up in Heatley, Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle. Sharks fans, you’re looking at the core of our team for the foreseeable future. After this season, Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski will need new new contracts, and Marleau and Evgeni Nabokov will become unrestricted free agents. How Doug Wilson navigates that remains to be seen. Maybe Wilson has decided to stop thinking about making several runs at The Cup and focus on just winning that first one - the future of the franchise be damned.

Interestingly enough, after FC Sharks Fan reported people getting their season tickets and noticing that Marleau was mysteriously missing from the design - I just checked my meager 10-pack and noticed that yes, Marleau is missing, but so is Cheechoo and Michalek…

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He also reports that Heatley’s $7.5M salary would count against the Sharks cap this year. If this trade goes through, Doug Wilson will have tied up $14.5M of a $50+M salary cap between Dan Boyle and Heatley for the next 3 years. Throw in Joe Thornton and $22M, or approximately 44%, of our cap will be tied up in 3 guys for the next 2 season. Quite a commitment.

The rumored deal sends the Los Angeles Kings’ Alexander Frolov and Jarret Stoll to the Senators.

Torturedkingsfan hates the deal, he thinks Frolov and Stoll are a better value to the team than just one player, even if that player is Patrick Marleau.

Stay tuned….

Technorati Tags: hockey, Los Angeles Kings, nhl, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks

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To recap, the big news this summer was the lack of news. Gone from the team are more than a handful of players with only one addition of note - Scott Nicols to (apparently) center our fourth line. Many expected, nay wanted, big changes. I agree with comments made on NHL Home Ice - a team that can amass 117 points during the regular season doesn’t need a lot of personnel changes. All I’m waiting for between now and the official puck drop on October 1st is the announcement of the team captain.

This is a pivotal season for the Sharks. With the salary cap expected to drop after this season, and with 4 key players up for new contracts at the end of this campaign (Evgeni Nabokov, Patrick Marleau, Devin Setoguchi, Joe Pavelski), the Sharks could be a dramatically different team two seasons from now. General Manager Doug Wilson says the fact that a lot of players will be up for new contracts in 2010-2011 is exactly how the team will deal with a declining salary cap. For some players, winning The Cup as a Shark means it has to be this year – period.

23 days…..

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Now we have the captain vacancy and, based on what we saw in the playoffs, a lot of people are speculating (read ‘hoping’) Dan Boyle wears the ‘C’ come October 1st. Interestingly enough Doug Wilson was recently on KNBR and, when asked the question if there are any guys currently on the roster capable of “hold(ing) the other players accountable” who can “get on the team when things aren’t going the way they should be” - Wilson’s response was an absolutely confident ‘YES’.

He said Dan Boyle and Rob Blake are two guys who are absolutely capable of doing just that, but he felt that last year, since they were new to the team, they were a little more respectful of the players who have been there longer. Come this season Wilson feels either of those guys can now step out of the shadows and press guys when appropriate.

We all kind of knew Boyle could be that person but the Blake comment kind of surprised me. During free agency the deal that I did take notice of but not enough to raise any eyebrows was the resigning of Blake. I thought it was interesting that he not only was resigned for one year but that Blake agreed to take less money. Maybe now we know why Wilson went after him and why Blake agreed to stay, not necessarily because Blake’s going to be the captain but that Wilson assured him that positive change was coming.

The interview also included Wilson’s recollection of a heated discussion with Evgeni Nabokov and his willingness to be traded. The entire interview is available here

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43 days and counting….

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Let’s fantasize for a moment and say we did get Heatley. Out of a $55M (or so) salary cap, you’d have $34M (or 62%) of your cap tied to 5 guys (Heatley, Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Boyle and Evgeni Nabokov). Throw in Milan Michalek, Ryane Clowe and Jonathan Cheechoo and you have $45M (or 81%) of your cap tied up in 8 players.

The Sharks are actually a little thin at forward right now but we do have our top 2+ lines already in place. How much more top line offense do the Sharks need? If we had $8M to spend we could build the best 3rd and 4th lines in hockey, definitely worth more in the playoffs than one more top line forward.

I think, and the guys on NHL Home Ice were also commenting, that Sharks GM Doug Wilson has actually been pretty smart about the team. Sure, just like all of us, the initial disappointment and anger over our playoff failure sparked some pretty drastic comments about change, but in retrospect this team did put up 117 points last year so we know the talent is there. Let’s face it, the team had a LOT of injuries, more so than ever in the last 4 years, and trying to bring 8 guys back in the last week of the season is no easy task.

Sadly the Sharks in stuck in salary cap hell, and with Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski up for new contracts next year, I think it’s in the best interest of the Sharks to stand pat and think about the future. I’ve gone through team collapses (marketed as ‘rebuilding years’) in both football and baseball, so I’m really not in the mood to go through it again, especially with my hockey team.

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The one topic that never goes away is the idea of Patrick Marleau and his ability to lead the team as captain. mercurynews.com is reporting that Doug Wilson has approached Marleau about giving up his captaincy, and that Marleau is willing to do anything to help the team.

I don’t know how captains are picked, but I do think it’s obvious that the only way the captaincy can change is if Marleau gives it up on his own. If management forced the change I think the players would feel like they have no ownership in the team. I think the Sharks are a smart enough organization to not tamper where they shouldn’t.

And the consensus on who should replace Marleau as captain - Dan Boyle.

The article also talks about Evgeni Nabokov waiving his no-trade clause - essentially that he hasn’t been approached to waive it but he would if he were asked.

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The object is to field a team without going over the salary cap and assemble team chemistry that will also sooth the most infuriated hockey fan. Since the play-off loss Shark Fans have been demanding either blowing up the team or the head of current Shark GM, Doug Wilson. We already have a new head coach, so that’s not an option this year.

So if you were Doug Wilson, what would you do? Remember, it’s all up to you so anything goes.

It’s no mystery the Sharks are strapped for salary cap room and someone needs to go just for us to field a team. The 2009-10 salary cap is $56,800,000 and you need to have 22 players signed. Currently the Sharks have 17 players signed and only $600K of cap space.

My scenario involves a lot of what if’s and estimates, but below is what I would do if I’m the Sharks GM.

So who is missing? Jonathan Cheechoo and Brad Lukowick. Cheechoo is scheduled to make $3,500,000 next year. Wilson has a tendency to overvalue his players and has done so with Cheechoo and Ehroff. Cheechoo has never been the same after his groin injury and rumor has it, it comes to camp out of shape. It all depends on who you want to keep, either Cheechoo or Michalek. Michalek has more upside to him, so I’m letting Chechoo go, hopefully for a decent draft pick. In a trade, Michalek would be worth more.

Lukowick counts $1,800,000 next year. Why we signed Huskins to $1,700,000 when he has never set his broken foot on the ice, I’ll never know. One of the D has to go. I keep hearing rumors of Ehroff being moved, but I don’t think anyone is willing to pay him $3,150,000. Again, overvalued by Wilson. I do think he will be a good defenseman some day, but man, does he need to hit the net with his shots from the point.

The players in bold and italic are not signed and are estimates only. Torrey Mitchell needs to give us a home town discount for being injured so much. I do think he will be resigned along with Brad Staubitz and Thomas Greiss as all three were sent qualifying offers. Staubitz gets a raise from last year and makes what the other 4th line players make. Thomas Greiss makes slightly more than Tyson Sexsmith, who will be the starting goalie in Woosta. Yes, I do want Roenick back, but less than the $1mil he made last year. Rob Blake took discount to play for us again and I think Roenick should do the same. I really do like the veteran leadership he brings and I think he is in good enough shape to play on the third line. One of his intangibles is when he goes out and hits someone and come back to the bench and chirps at the other team and pump fists his players. Keep it going old man.

So in my scenario, I’m not blowing up the team. Marleau stays, but looses his Captaincy. (We can leave that for another discussion) Marleau and others have been rumored to be packaged and sent to Ottawa for Dan Heatley. Heatley makes $7,500,000 and is not a team player. Also I don’t see Marleau waving his no trade clause to play in Ottawa. He married a local girl from San Jose and something tells me, she wears the pants in the family and is not trading warm sunny San Jose weather for winters in Ottawa.

Obviously there are weaknesses in the roster. No experienced depth and one injury away from calling it a season. But given the cap restraints, overvalue of players and character, this is what I’ve come up with.

Now it’s your turn GM.

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Although the article on the Sharks website does not state a reason why Lemieux retired, I think we can all agree that although it was entertaining to see him back, he probably couldn’t really compete for a whole season.

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