Around the NHL in 30 Days: San Jose Sharks
The Fansided NHL Network, that SenShot is proud to be a member of, is embarking on its NHL preview. Each day in September, one of its members will be posting a preview for their club. SenShot will look at their preview, and let you have a look. After that, we will provide our own perspective. Jared will handle the Western Conference teams while Tony will look at the East.
Today, its the Western Conference’s San Jose Sharks
The Sharks have been the club on the cusp of greatness for longer than any team that hasn’t found legitimate playoff success. With that in mind, GM Doug Wilson made some big changes and brought in some new faces, while giving existing players different roles. Will it make a difference?
Alex Schirru from Blades of Teal gave his view on the upcoming season in San Jose:
"New SharksBrent Burns, Defense: big puck moving defenseman, already making a name for himself in San Jose thanks to his tweets, will be looked upon to share the offensive defenseman role with Dan Boyle.Michal Handzus, Center: veteran player, excellent defensively, should help improve the penalty kill.Martin Havlat, RW: offensive minded sniper, is an upgrade over Dany Heatley in the speed department, has 28 points in his last 26 playoff games.Jim Vandermeer and Colin White, Defense: big and nasty D-men who will make life hard for opposing forwards, D.W. realized that this team needed more grit if they are going to raise the Stanley Cup.Andrew Murray, LW; Ben Guite, Center: not making headlines this offseason but these players will contribute to the Sharks’ most important season.DeparturesYou can read the rest of Alex’ preview HERE"
SENSHOT’S TAKE ON THE SHARKS
Well, it was probably a good first step to get rid of Dany Heatley. Obviously he needs to be in an ideal situation to succeed, and the ideal situation for him is when he is the center of attention. Bringing in the cheaper Martin Havlat is a good move, as he is more capable of blending in and also creating his own chances, while Heatley requires a set up man to be successful.
Bringing in Handzus could be one of the more under-rated moves in the off-season, as his presence allows Joe Pavelski to move to the wing on one of the top 2 lines, making them very potent. A top 6 of Thornton- Marleau-Pavelski, following that with Clowe-Couture-Havlat is very menacing.
Adding skill and toughness on the blue line was a goal accomplished, but it took 3 players to do it. Burns will be effective if his injury problems are behind him, and should combine with Boyle to form a great power play duo.
In net, they have one of the very few active goalies who have won a Stanley Cup, although it can be argued that he wasn’t the major factor in Chicago’s 2010 win. However, Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymaki form a solid duo.
While I do not share Alex Schirru’s optimism that a Stanley Cup is in the offing, the Sharks have to be considered among the elite Western Conference teams and will have as good a chance as any to advance to the final showdown. But we have heard that almost every October for 5 or 6 years now, and Sharks fans are still waiting.
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