4 - San Jose Sharks

The San Jose Sharks went to the Western Conference Finals in 2010 and 2011, and in between saw a number of their top players skate in the 2010 Olympics. That's a lot of hockey in a short span, and Sharks general manager Doug Wilson believes that was one factor for the team's slide to seventh in the conference last season and loss in the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. But rather than dwell on last season's struggles, Wilson is embracing the positives. Could a longer summer actually be a good thing? "Going to the final four two years in a row and the Olympics thrown in, maybe if [players] got rest this summer and rehabbed, they come back healthy and in great shape, it may be a good thing out of a bad situation," Wilson told NHL.com. To help improve his club's situation for the 2012-13 season, Wilson chose to reshape the team's identity. "We did a pretty honest evaluation of our team," Wilson said. "Certainly penalty killing is an issue, consistency is an issue, but being able to play against top teams tells us we're capable of it, we just didn't get it done. We made some changes and we'll adjust how we play in certain areas." The numbers bear out Wilson's comments, the Sharks were 13-10-2 against the 10 teams to top 100 points last season and had winning records against seven of them. So he felt tweaks, rather than a full-scale overhaul, was the direction that made the most sense. Leading the way was a reshuffling of the coaching staff. Added to the bench alongside coach Todd McLellan was associate coach Larry Robinson and assistant coach Jim Johnson. Robinson is a six-time Stanley Cup champion as a player who added three more titles as part of the New Jersey Devils' coaching staff. "His resume speaks for itself, so I don't need to get into that," Wilson said the day Robinson was hired. "There's nobody in this business I respect more as a player, as a coach, and as a person than Larry. It's a very exciting day for our organization." The biggest area Robinson could help is on the penalty kill, where the Sharks ranked 29th in the League last season with a 79.6-percent success rate. "We like to play an aggressive style and go after people and make people try and defend against us," Wilson said of the man-down strategy. "For whatever reason, our penalty kill became a little passive and reactive." Robinson said, "I do have a few ideas and a few things that hopefully will help it move up the ranks. This League is a specialty league, so you can win and lose games with your power play and your penalty kill. There are definitely things that we can work on." To help Robinson, Wilson brought in forward Adam Burish and defenseman Brad Stuart, both of whom should log lots of minutes in shorthanded situations. Also helping will be the return of a healthy Michal Handzus. Handzus played through the loss of best friend Pavol Demitra in last summer's Lokomotiv plane crash, Handzus was the best man at Demitra's wedding, as well as a painful hip and groin injury. When fully healthy two seasons ago with the Los Angeles Kings, Handzus used his 6-foot-5, 215-pound frame to help them finish fourth in the League on the PK. Another area Wilson is hoping to improve is ice-time balance. Last season, Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau were among the top four forwards on the team in even-strength, power-play and shorthanded ice time, and Joe Thornton and Logan Couture weren't far behind. "I think it's important to be a four-line hockey team," Wilson said. "You look at the two teams in the [2012] Stanley Cup Final, they got a lot of mileage out of their fourth line. It enables other people to do certain things and coaching up all your players is a real important part of being successful in this League. We believe strongly in our staff having the ability to do that." One player the coaching staff hopefully will get a longer chance to work with is Martin Havlat, who was limited to 39 games after tearing his hamstring climbing over the boards during a game in December. How important was Havlat to the Sharks? They were 25-11-3 with him in the lineup, and 18-18-7 without him. When Havlat returned to the lineup March 17 after missing three months with the hamstring tear, San Jose went 9-4-0 to finish the season, going from a point out of a playoff spot to a more secure position. "Marty is an important player for us," Wilson said. "If you look at our record with him in the lineup it was very good. We missed him. … Having him back 100-percent healthy will make a big difference. He's trained all summer and looks tremendous. He's an important part of this team." Another important part of the team looking forward to a better second season is defenseman Brent Burns. The big blueliner arrived in San Jose after a career-best 17-goal, 46-point season with the Wild in 2010-11, but had 11 goals and 37 points last season. With the addition of Robinson, plus a year of experience in San Jose under his belt, Wilson is predicting big things for Burns. "He cares so much," Wilson said. "Sometimes your heart gets in the way of your head. He was so excited to be here and he wanted to do everything that he could. Sometimes less is more to be more efficient. I think we will get the best out of him this upcoming year. He's been in training every day and he looks tremendous. We expect big things out of him this year." More is expected from the entire group. "A lot of our players are in the primes of their careers," Wilson said, "so I think they're really excited about getting back at it."

It's not often a conversation about the top teams in the Western Conference each season doesn't include the San Jose Sharks. They certainly were in the discussion last season, with two strong forward lines, a mobile defense and a goalie with a Stanley Cup ring. However, inconsistencies and injuries plagued them and it was a scramble for the Sharks to make the playoffs as the seventh seed. They return most of that same group intact and healthy to start the 2012-13 season.

Since the Sharks acquired Joe Thornton in November 2005, they've been a serious Stanley Cup contender. But that was almost seven years ago, and their core players aren't getting any younger. Thornton turned 33 last month and will be starting his 15th season. Patrick Marleau turns 33 in September and will be playing his 15th season. Martin Havlat is 31, defenseman Dan Boyle is 36, and newcomer Brad Stuart and fellow defenseman Douglas Murray are 32. That's a lot of age in some key areas of the team. Can all those legs stay fresh for a long playoff run?

Trades during the past few years for Dany Heatley, Dan Boyle and Brent Burns cost the Sharks young forwards Milan Michalek and Devin Setoguchi, as well as top prospect Charlie Coyle and first-round picks in 2009 and 2011. In fact, since drafting Logan Couture in 2007, the Sharks have had two first-round picks, Coyle and 2012 first-rounder Tomas Hertl. Their leading rookie scorer last season was Andrew Desjardins with 17 points. Having one of their young prospects, forward Freddie Hamilton or defensemen Nick Petrecki or Taylor Doherty, win a roster spot would add some youthful enthusiasm to the team and perhaps add a missing ingredient to the locker room.

 

How important was Martin Havlat to the Sharks? They were 25-11-3 with the high-scoring forward in action, and 18-18-7 without him. So when Havlat, acquired last June to add speed and skill to the lineup, missed three months with a torn hamstring, the Sharks fell down the standings while going 17-15-7 between Dec. 15 and March 17. When healthy, Havlat knows how to create offense, he has 539 points in 660 NHL games. However, he's played more than 75 games twice in 11 seasons and more than 70 games five times. A healthy Havlat scoring at his usual pace would go a long way toward any success the Sharks have this season. "Marty is an important player for us," general manager Doug Wilson told NHL.com. "If you look at our record with him in the lineup, it was very good. We missed him. … Having him back 100-percent healthy will make a big difference. He's trained all summer and looks tremendous. He's an important part of this team."

 

Since killing off 85.0 percent of man-down situations in 2009-10, the Sharks' penalty killing has plummeted to 79.6 percent in 2010-11 to 76.9 percent last season, second-worst in the League. The Sharks were only the seventh-most penalized team last season, which eased the problem slightly. However, teams with sub-80 percent penalty-kill success rates generally don't make the playoffs, making an upgrade in this part of their game an imperative. Wilson said he wants the team to get back to being more aggressive. The addition of Adam Burish should help, as should a healthy Michal Handzus, who played through a groin/hip injury. And adding associate coach Larry Robinson could be the biggest boon. He helped oversee the Devils' League-best penalty kill last season.

 

Coach Todd McLellan rebuilt his coaching staff this summer, adding Robinson and assistant coach Jim Johnson to holdover Jay Woodcroft. Robinson, who won six Stanley Cups as a player and three more as a coach with New Jersey, should be an especially important asset for McLellan. While he'll mostly focus on the defense and the penalty kill, he'll draw a level of respect few assistant coaches in the League can match. As Wilson said in announcing the hiring, "There's nobody in this business I respect more as a player, as a coach, and as a person than Larry. It's a very exciting day for our organization." The Sharks' top two lines, which should include some combination of Thornton, Marleau, Havlat, Couture, Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski, will contribute the majority of the goals this season. But Wilson said something he hopes to see more of this season is balance, meaning someone from the group of bottom-six forwards will have to step up and supply support scoring in the range of 12-15 goals. "You take a look at the fourth line from New Jersey where you've got [Ryan] Carter, [Stephen] Gionta and [Steve] Bernier," Wilson said. "Look at Los Angeles, [Jordan] Nolan and [Dwight] King came in, [Colin] Fraser and [Trevor] Lewis. You have to believe in it, utilize all your players, understand that everybody on your team is important. We believe in that. We think that your big guys have to be top players and they have to play well, but everyone on your team is important."

Doug Wilson has been around the NHL for a long time, from his 16 years as a player to the last nine as general manager of the San Jose Sharks, and thought he'd seen just about everything. And then came the third period of the Sharks' game Dec. 17 against the Edmonton Oilers. Martin Havlat, one of the team's biggest offseason additions, tore his hamstring hopping over the boards to get on the ice. The injury sidelined Havlat three months, and put a huge crimp in the Sharks' season. "I haven't seen one like that in many years," Wilson told NHL.com. The Sharks acquired Havlat a week after sending Devin Setoguchi to the Minnesota Wild as part of the deal for Brent Burns. Wilson believed he had to upgrade his team's speed after losing Setoguchi, and traded Dany Heatley to the Wild for the two-time All-Star. Havlat is one of the better skaters in the League and had more than 50 points seven times in the previous 10 seasons. However, he also had a fairly lengthy injury history, having played more than 70 games just five times in that same decade-long span. Wilson felt that since Havlat had played 73 and 78 games the previous two seasons in Minnesota, maybe all the injury problems were behind him. After missing the first four regular-season games recovering from a shoulder injury from the 2010-11 campaign, Havlat played well, with 15 points in his first 26 games. Then disaster struck that night against Edmonton. With Havlat out for the next three months, the Sharks went 17-15-7. When Havlat rejoined the lineup, his impact was big, the Sharks went 9-4-0 after he returned March 15, and went from one point out of a playoff spot to finish seventh in the Western Conference. "Marty is an important player for us," Wilson said. "If you look at our record with him in the lineup, it was very good. We missed him." The numbers bear Wilson out, the Sharks went 25-11-3 with Havlat in the lineup, and just 18-18-7 without him. That's why Havlat's health could be a huge factor in the Sharks' success this season. "Having him back 100-percent healthy will make a big difference," Wilson said. "He's trained all summer and looks tremendous. He's an important part of this team." A healthy Havlat certainly gives the Sharks an impressive top-six forward group that likely will include Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture and Ryane Clowe. Wilson also believes a healthy Havlat will be a more productive Havlat. He had just seven goals in 39 games, which even if he played an 82-game season comes out to 15 goals, the fewest he would have had in a season in which he played more than 35 games. Because of the injury, Wilson believes Havlat never had a chance to build a relationship with the rest of the team. He expects that to change in season No. 2 with the Sharks. "He's very excited to get back at it because it's almost like he didn't really have a chance to integrate with our team," Wilson said. "He got in, got going, was playing well when he got hurt and the next thing you know he's gone for a while with this hamstring thing. "We expect him [to integrate fully] now that he's had a full summer to train and rehab. He looks tremendous."

San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson rarely has failed to be bold while trying to deliver a Stanley Cup. He built the core of a Cup contender around Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle, and has continued in recent seasons to search for the final, elusive piece to earn the Sharks a title. Wilson brought in Martin Havlat and Brent Burns last summer, but Havlat missed much of the season because of injury and the Sharks had an atypically tough time qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs before losing to the St. Louis Blues in the first round. The Sharks had 96 points, their worst regular season in eight years. This offseason Wilson traded for the rights to Brad Stuart and quickly signed him to a contract. The move bolstered what might be the League’s deepest defense corps (and subsequently weakened one of the other top contenders in the Western Conference). Adam Burish was brought in as a depth forward, but Stuart was the marquee addition. In fact, he is to this point in the offseason the biggest veteran acquisition by any of the eight teams that qualified for the playoffs in the Western Conference in 2011-12. With Stuart and better health for Havlat and Michal Handzus, the Sharks should again be near the top of the Pacific Division and the Western Conference standings. They again will be one of the top contenders for the Stanley Cup, with only their postseason record in this era (and maybe lack of faith in the goaltending) as reasons why pundits might be gun shy about being bullish on the Sharks’ chances.

Forwards

Martin Havlat - Joe Thornton - Patrick Marleau

Ryane Clowe - Logan Couture - Joe Pavelski

TJ Galiardi - Michal Handzus - Tommy Wingels

Frazer McLaren - Andrew Desjardins - Adam Burish

John McCarthy

Defenseman

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Dan Boyle

Brad Stuart - Brent Burns

Douglas Murray - Justin Braun

Jason Demers

Goaltenders

Antti Niemi

Thomas Greiss

NOTES: There aren’t many better top-six forwards in the League on paper, but San Jose's stars need to stay healthy because depth is not a strength for this club. Marleau and Clowe saw their production slip last season, and Thornton has been below a point per game for two straight seasons. The Sharks have seven defensemen who probably could log top-four minutes, and for some pretty good teams. Braun and Demers still are pretty young, so don’t expect one to sit for very long, they could be rotated when everyone is healthy. San Jose will be one of few teams that won’t be hurt significantly by an injury or two at the position. Niemi’s final totals were pretty close to his two previous seasons, and he was better in the 2012 playoffs than he was in 2011 when his team lost in the conference finals. He has also proven he can help, if not lead, a talent-rich club to the Stanley Cup. Still, there will be some pressure on him to be better, including possibly more starts for Greiss if needed.