SAN JOSE SHARKS
Sharks Look to Build on Record-Breaking Season

By Tricia Alvey

San Jose Sharkes

The San Jose Sharks experienced the highest of highs followed by the lowest of lows over the course of the 2008-09 season. Entering the year with high expectations and a revamped roster, the Sharks came into training camp looking to prove they belonged among the National Hockey League's elite.

Led by rookie Head Coach Todd McLellan, the team bolted out of the starting gate, posting a 25-3-2 record through their first 30 games, which was the best start in NHL history. At the outset, the Sharks were unbeatable on home ice at HP Pavilion. They didn't lose a game in regulation at HP Pavilion until Jan. 15 vs. Calgary, extending a streak that started in 2007-08 to 31 games (28-0-3).

Over the next several months, the Sharks dominated their opposition regularly, prior to a mid-February slew of injuries that would slow the team toward the conclusion of the regular season. Nine regulars would miss time during that period leading into the playoffs.

Before the start of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Sharks could look back on a year that most NHL teams could only dream of:

• A Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's best regular-season team, with a 53-18-11 record, along with their fourth Pacific Division title

• Franchise records for points (117), wins (53) and home wins (32)

• The only team in the NHL in the top five in several key statistical categories: power play, penalty killing, shots for, fewest shots against and faceoff wins

• Joe Thornton, Dan Boyle and Patrick Marleau were Western Conference All-Stars, and McLellan was the conference's head coach

• Became only the fourth NHL team to have four defensemen with 30 or more assists

But when the second season started, the Sharks' regular-season domination, slowed by the recovery of several injured key players, ran into a buzz saw named the Anaheim Ducks.

Led by goaltender Jonas Hiller, who was nearly unbeatable, the red-hot Ducks used their end-of-the-season momentum to upset the Sharks in six games.

Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson promised to make changes on the roster. And he has followed through on that promise.

11 players who were on the Sharks roster heading into the 2009 playoffs are gone: Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek, Jeremy Roenick, Mike Grier, Christian Ehrhoff, Brad Lukowich, Travis Moen, Claude Lemieux, Marcel Goc, Tomas Plihal and Brian Boucher.

Added to the team is two-time 50-goal scorer Dany Heatley, acquired from the Ottawa Senators for Cheechoo and Michalek in early September. Heatley is in rarefied air among NHL players. The sniper finished ninth in the NHL in goals last season with 39 and has averaged more than a point-per-game pace over his NHL career (543 points in 507 games).

Also new to the team is agitator Scott Nichol, signed as a free agent from Nashville, to add grit to the Sharks lineup. In addition to his tenacity and dedicated two-way play, Nichol is one of the league's premier faceoff men, winning 58.1 percent of his draws since 2005-06. That mark would have placed him fourth in the NHL last season.

Thomas Greiss is expected to serve as Evgeni Nabokov's understudy between the pipes. Greiss, selected in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft (94th overall) by San Jose, has steadily worked his way through the Sharks' development system in a fashion similar to Nabokov many years ago. After a stellar playoff performance last season for the Worcester Sharks, the Sharks' top development affiliate in the American Hockey League, team officials feel he's ready to take the next step in his professional career.

And there will likely be more new faces to San Jose, although not necessarily new to the organization.

Wilson said there are several positions open for players in the Sharks development system to grab. That type of competition will lead to an interesting training camp that will likely have a bit of an "edge" to it.

Similar to how Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Torrey Mitchell, Joe Pavelski and Devin Setoguchi came to the Sharks lineup, players such as Jamie McGinn, Brad Staubitz, Benn Ferreiro, Derek Joslin, Mike Moore and Jason Demers will now have their chance to show they belong in the NHL.

"These players have earned the right to compete for a roster spot on merit," Wilson said. "Nothing has been given to them and nothing will be given to them. They have to come in and take it and competition is a great motivator."

And while the spotlight will be on the familiar faces of Thornton, Marleau, Boyle, Rob Blake and Nabokov, much of the burden to follow last season's record-setting run will fall on the shoulders of the team's secondary stars, like Pavelski, Vlasic, Ryane Clowe, and Douglas Murray, to name just a few.

"We've got a group of players who have been here for several years, in the mid-range age group," Wilson said. "It's time for them to step up and get to the next level, and we think they will."

The Sharks' No. 2 line of skilled forwards, Clowe (22 goals), Pavelski (25) and Michalek (23), was outstanding throughout the season. It provided the next wave of offense following the Sharks' top line of Marleau, Thornton and Setoguchi and created havoc for opposing defensemen.

However, the line was separated toward the end of the season as Clowe was out for most of March with a knee injury. As a result of other ailments, Pavelski and Michalek also spent time on different lines. The three were reunited just before the postseason, but couldn't duplicate their regular-season performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, netting only a combined two goals and four points in six games.

Despite the team's recent struggles in the postseason, it should not be overlooked that since the 2003-04 season, only the Detroit Red Wings (14) have appeared in more playoff rounds than the Sharks (10) and only Detroit has had more regular-season success over that span, winning 261 games to the Sharks' 240.

In addition, San Jose is still one of the NHL's younger teams, and the existing squad has accumulated a wealth of experience over the past few seasons that will only help it, this season and beyond. The drive the players have to win is evident, as the bulk of the team flooded back to the Bay Area well before to the start of training camp to skate and train together as a team. Collectively, the group wants to erase the memory of last season's early exit by the time the new season is underway.

"The plan is to come back very hungry and determined," McLellan said.

The building blocks for success are in place. It's now time for the players to execute.

Wilson will continue to look for ways to improve his team throughout the regular season, so be sure to crash the net at www.sjsharks.com for continuous updates.

With back-to-back Pacific Division championships and a Presidents' Trophy over the past two seasons, 2009-10 promises to be an even better year for the San Jose Sharks.