It really did seem like it was going to be the San Jose Sharks‘ year.
Just a few weeks ago, they were resting up after dispatching the favoured Los Angeles Kings in a surprisingly swift five games. When the Nashville Predators knocked off the Anaheim Ducks in seven, that set San Jose up with an unexpected home ice advantage, and they used it to jump out to a 2-0 series lead. After years of playoff disappointment, it looked like everything was falling into place for the Sharks to finally exceed expectations, and maybe even win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. Things change quickly in the post-season. After failing to close out the series in Nashville, the Sharks faced a Game 7, one that most didn’t think they’d need against the wildcard Predators.
The Sharks still headed in as favourites; they had home ice, and had won all three games played at the SAP Center in the series before that, and were by far the better team on paper. Of course they eventually would see off the difficult Predators team, which set them up with a Conference Final matchup against the St. Louis Blues. After six high scoring games, the Sharks made their first ever appearance at a Stanley Cup Finals.
It was the fourth time of asking for the team from the Bay Area to finally make the finals, following heart breaking defeats in the Western Conference Finals in 2004, 2010 & 2011.
So with plenty of reasons for optimism, let’s take a look back at the Sharks’ history of playoff disappointment over the years just to show how much this means to the.
1991 – 1999: THE EARLY YEARS
The first eight years of franchise history have been put together into one entry, since they really didn’t have anything to do with the Sharks’ current reputation. After two years of record-breaking expansion futility, the Sharks broke through with their first decent season in 1993-94, making the playoffs and then shocking the Detroit Red Wings in the opening round. They’d win another round in 1995, this time against the Calgary Flames in a Game 7 OT, before suffering through two more miserable years followed by two years of first round exits.
Any playoff loss hurts, but it would be hard to call any of these post-season performances a disappointment. The Sharks were never favoured, and in fact were never even a .500 team. And looking back, only their second round matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1994, in which they were one Johan Garpenlov crossbar away from advancing, feels like a series that got away.
Sure, the first few years of incompetence were rough. But those upsets against the Red Wings and Flames were fun, and the rest of it pretty much played out according to script.
1999-2000
The Sharks cracked the .500 mark for the first time in franchise history. That was enough to sneak them into the playoffs as an eight seed, where they drew the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Blues. Nobody gave them much of a chance, but they jumped out to a 3-1 series lead before pulling off a Game 7 upset that’s punctuated with Owen Nolan’s long-distance dagger.
Coming off the high of that win, the Sharks were slow out of the gate against the reigning champion Dallas Stars in Round 2. They were shut out in each of the first two games and lost the series in five games. Maybe it didn’t end up being a Cinderella run, but that Blues upset was one of the highlights of franchise history.
2000-2001
The Sharks recorded a franchise-best 95 points, and finished second in the Pacific Division. The team was led by Owen Nolan and a 21-year-old Patrick Marleau, supported by a cast of “Wait, that guy played for the Sharks?” veterans like Gary Suter, Mike Ricci and Vincent Damphousse. Teemu Selanne arrived later in the season from the Anaheim Sucks, while Evgeni Nabokov earned the Calder Trophy for his great from between the pipes.
In a Round 1 rematch with the Blues, the Sharks lost a six-game series that could have gone either way. The turning point came in Game 5, when the Sharks took a 2-1 lead going into the third but ended up dropping a 3-2 decision in overtime on Bryce Salvador’s winner.
Expectations were slowly but surely increasing, and simply making an appearance in the post-season no longer felt like mission accomplished. Still, if you had to lose to someone, it was kind of nice that it was the Blues. Those guys were stuck with a reputation for never winning anything in the playoffs too.
2001-2002
The Sharks recorded 99 points to lead their division for the first time. It’s a veteran group of players, even cheap shot Adam Graves made an appearance, and they leant heavily on their goaltending duo of Nabokov and rookie Miikka Kiprusoff. They made it out of the First Round, beating the then-Phoenix Coyotes in six games and setting up a Second Round meeting with the Colorado Avalanche, who were the Stanley Cup holders.
The Sharks lead the series three separate times, but couldn't close it out. They held a 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6 at home, but lose in overtime on a Peter Forsberg goal in a game marked by a third period earthquake. Then they drop a 1-0 decision in the seventh game, with Selanne missing an open net early on that could have changed the course of the game. The loss to the Avalanche may not have been an upset, but the way it played out left a mark.
2002- 2003
After what seemed like a breakout season, the Sharks unravelled in 2002-03 and missed the playoffs. They fired coach Darryl Sutter in December, and GM Dean Lombardi follows a few months later. Spoiler alert: Those two guys show up again later. The Sharks didn’t even come close to the post-season, finishing 19 points back. They do wind up with two first round picks in the ridiculously stacked 2003 draft, but can only turn them into Milan Michalek and Steve Bernier. The two players taken right after the Sharks’ picks: Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.
Disappointment? Definitely. Frustration? Sure. But this can’t really qualify as heartbreak.
2003-2004
The Sharks roared back into the playoff picture with a 104-point season. They we’re not exactly stacked, Nils Ekman was their second leading scorer, but they we’re well-balanced and tough to score on. They beat the Blues and the Avalanche in the opening two rounds to advance to the Conference Final for the first time in franchise history. (That Avs series got a little dicey, the Sharks took a 3-0 series lead, then lost back-to-back overtime games before winning game six, but otherwise it was a fairly smooth ride.)
They ended up facing the Flames, who were led by a couple of familiar faces: Sutter behind the bench and Kiprusoff in goal. The Sharks were the favorites, and a trip to the Cup final seemed in sight. But they dropped the first two games of the series at home, and ended up losing in six.
On the one hand, the franchise was headed in the right direction again. On the other, they let a golden chance at a Final appearance slip through their fingers. They probably couldn’t wait to get back out there. But then the league went and cancelled the next season.
2005-2006
Early in the year, they pulled off the biggest trade in team history by acquiring Joe Thornton from the Boston Bruins. He went on to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophy, and somehow turned Jonathan Cheechoo into a 56-goal scorer. Nobody could believe the Bruins soured on Thornton just because he had a few bad playoff years and… wait, where’s that ominous music coming from?
After knocking out the Predators in the opening round, the Sharks blew a 2-0 series lead and dropped their Second Round matchup with the Edmonton Oilers in six. In an upset-heavy Western Conference, the path to the Cup final was once again looking clear. The Sharks’ reputation wasn’t fully in bloom yet, but the seeds had been planted.
2006-2007
Thornton and Marleau form a deadly one-two punch at centre, and a young blue-line features Christian Ehrhoff, Matt Carle and a 19-year-old Marc-Edouard Vlasic. They posted a franchise-best 107 points and rolled over the Predators in the opening round for the second straight year. That set up a heavyweight matchup with the 113-point Red Wings in Round 2.
The Sharks took a 2-1 series lead and held a one-goal lead in the final minute of Game 4, but once again they couldn’t close. The Wings got the tying goal from Robert Lang with 30 seconds left and the winner from Matthieu Schneider in overtime. They didn’t look back, allowing only one Sharks goal while winning the next two games to end the series.
The Red Wings were a great team and won land the Stanley Cup the following year, but the Sharks had them on the ropes and let them escape. This was becoming a pattern.
2007-2008
Another franchise record for points, this time with 108, and another First Round win, this time over Calgary. They needed seven games for that one, though, so nerves were already frayed when they headed to their Second Round matchup against Dallas. The Stars series is a disaster from the opener, as Dallas wins each of the first three games, including two in overtime. To their credit, the Sharks push back, winning the next two and forcing overtime in Game 6. It turns out to be the longest game in Sharks history, dragging into a fourth overtime period before Brenden Morrow ends the Sharks’ season.
The “playoff underachievers” reputation had been firmly affixed at this point. But hey, at least they didn’t fold up when they were down 3-0 in the series, even though everyone knows that teams never blow that lead in the playoffs.
2008-2009
Welcome to the Todd McLellan era, as the Sharks make Ron Wilson the fall guy for all that playoff disappointment. McLellan leads them to their best regular season ever, a Presidents’ Trophy-winning 117-point campaign. Thornton and Marleau wer joined by Joe Pavelski and Devin Setoguchi by this point, and Rob Blake arrived as a free agent. The Sharks headed into the playoffs as a massive favourite over the eight-seed Ducks.
The Ducks walked into San Jose and took the first two games, and never looked back. Thornton tried to rally the troops by fighting Ryan Getz-bald off the opening draw in Game 6, but it doesn’t work, the Ducks win the game 4-1 and take the series. The Sucks would lose to the Wings in the Conference Finals.
The Sharks outshot the Ducks in every game, but managed only ten goals and were shutout twice. At this point, they we’re the go-to “choker” punchline for NHL fans. And with Wilson gone, the blame had firmly shifted to Marleau and Thornton; Marleau was stripped of the captaincy over the summer.
2009-2010
After the previous year’s disaster, the Sharks posted another strong regular season that nobody cared about because by this point it was all about the playoffs. They posted the best record in the Western Conference, setting up another battle with an eight seed, this time, the Avalanche. Things got off to a rocky start, with the Avs taking a 2-1 series lead with a Game 3 overtime win in which the Sharks scored into their own net. But San Jose fought back, winning the series in six and then knocking out the Red Wings in five to return to the Conference Final for the first time since 2004. Things were finally turning around, until they faced the Blackhawks on their way to a first of three cups in seven years, and were swept in four straight. After the debacle of 2009, this almost felt like a relief. The loss was disappointing, sure, but at least it was over quickly, and at least they won a few rounds first. So progress as such.
2010-2011
Blake and Nabokov were gone, and Thornton became the new captain. Another 100+ point season, another division title, but all focus was on the playoffs.
After eliminating the Kings in six and the Wings in seven, the Sharks faced the Canucks in the Conference Final. For once, San Jose was the underdog, Vancouver had run away with the Presidents’ Trophy, and they dropped the first two games before returning home to win Game 3. The turning point came in Game 4, which the Sharks dominated. But they take four minor penalties in less than three minutes midway through the second, and the Canucks convert those into three power-play goals to seal the win. The series would end back in Vancouver in Game 5, thanks to one of the strangest overtime goals in recent memory:
Sharks fans had to be getting just a little bit numb by this point. The stanchion goal was a nice touch, though.
2011-2012
Early in the off-season, the Sharks sent Setoguchi to the Minnesota Wild for Brent Burns, a robbery of a deal that would pay off down the line. But the early impact was minimal; with 96 points, the Sharks posted their worst regular season since cratering back in 2003, and went into the First Round as underdogs against the Blues. Maybe taking some of the pressure off would get them over the hump. After winning Game 1 in overtime, the Sharks dropped four straight. The Sharks should just mark the opening of the playoffs by replacing the national anthem with the first verse of The Sound of Silence.
2012-2013
In the lockout-shortened season, the Sharks made the playoffs as a sixth seed and drew a tough matchup with the Canucks. But they won relatively easily, sweeping the series in four straight to signal that, finally, a change had come to, oh wait, here come the Kings. By this point, Lombardi and Sutter are running the show in L.A. The two rivals go toe-to-toe in a classic seven-game series, with the home team winning each of the first six to set up a deciding Game 7 showdown in Los Angeles. A pair of Justin Williams goals gave the defending champs a 2-0 lead in the second, but the Sharks got one back early in the third. That set up a dramatic finish, one in which Joe Pavelski finds himself with an open net with five minutes left.
At least that’s the worst thing that could ever happen to us against the Kings, said Sharks fans, not even pretending to believe it.
2013-2014
You know how this one goes. A 111-point season, a First Round rematch with the Kings, two blowout wins at home, and an overtime road win to take a 3-0 series lead. And then, the collapse. Over the final four games of the series, the Sharks weren’t just swept, they were decimated, outscored by a total of 18-5 and losing each game by three or more. This was it. Rock bottom. The nadir of sports fandom. This is what it’s like to see all your worst fears played out in front of the world, for a full week, and be unable to look away even though you know exactly how it’s going to end. Nothing can hurt you anymore after this, because you’re already dead inside.
2014-2015
GM Doug Wilson promises to strip the team down and start over, but doesn’t. Thornton is stripped of the captaincy, then tells Wilson to “stop lying” and “shut his mouth.” The nadir came at Winnipeg when a 5-2 victory for the Jets saw their fans singing 'whose your captain?' The team misses the playoffs, and McLellan is fired and banished to spend the rest of his days wasting away in a penal colony.
Todd McLellan, left, and Peter Chiarelli, President of Hockey Operations and General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers, after the Oilers announced McLellan as their new head coach on Tuesday May 19, 2015.
Compared to 2014, all of that sounds pretty good.
2015-2016
That brings us to this year. With Wilson’s promised rebuild never materializing, we end up getting what could be the last shot for the Marleau/Thornton-era version of the Sharks. They put up a respectable 98 points, good for third in the Pacific, and then raise eyebrows around the hockey world by stomping the Kings in the opening round. That leaves them well-rested and with home-ice advantage against the wildcard Predators in a series that everyone agrees they should win. The home team wins each of the first six games, sending it back to San Jose for a decisive Game 7 which they clinch. With the Pens standing in their way of a first ever Stanley Cup will it be further heartache for the team in Teal? or will they finally land the biggest prize of all?
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