The Sharks were just 60 minutes away from eliminating the eventual Stanley Cup Champion L.A. Kings last spring, before their world came crashing in. Sharks GM Doug Wilson was still feeling the pain in June when he announced the franchise's intention to start rebuilding, and feeling the pain that goes with that, putting an eleventh straight season in the playoffs, in doubt. Thankfully things havent been that drastic and only three major players have moved on. Marty Havlat's contract was bought out, while Brad Stuart was traded to Colorado and Dan Boyle's to the Islanders, before later signing with the Rangers. By August Wilson had changed his stance slightly, admitting that the Sharks remain committed to rebuilding through the draft, and giving their prospects every opportunity of ice time, but did back-track on his warnings of short-term pain. He expects the Sharks will be very competitive this season and likened this team to the one in 2003-04, his first as GM. We all know what happened that eyar too, as the Sharks went on to have one of their best seasons in franchise history, making the Western Conference finals.
What is more important
than losing three key players, is keeping everybody else. Veterans
Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau were at risk of getting traded away
but the fact both remain is the best news Sharks fans could have
heard. It's hard to believe that neither has won a Stanley Cup, while
both really deserve to land one especially given the team's
skill-laden, puck-possession ways. However both have been stripped of
the captaincy and alternate captaincy respectively. Joe Pavelski is
coming off the best season of his career and if he hits anywhere near
that kind of form again this year then, the Sharks can be considered
a contender once again. Pavelski's place in the line-up is still a
mystery. He spent most of his time last season on the left wing of
the top line with Thornton and Burns, but he also centered the third
line to give the team more depth. With Burns back on defense and
Hertl likely to be on the top line, Pavelski could line up on the
right wing. The Sharks would be stonger with him at center,
especially against deep teams like the Kings, but without Burns,
there will be a lack of depth on the wings. Either way Mr Versatile
will give his all in any position he is asked to fill.
Logan Couture suffered
an injury-plagued season last time out, with him requiring hand
surgery in january. He only managed 23 goals so will be expecting a
bigger output for 2014-15. Tomas Hertl was a revelation last season.
He scored six goals in his first three NHL games, scored four times
in a single game against the New York Rangers, which included a
between-the-legs shot. Hertl (rhymes with Turtle) had amassed 17
goals and 28 points in just 39 games before injuring his right knee
on Dec. 19 after a collison with L.A. Forward Dustin Brown. The
injury was so bad he required surgery to repair two ligaments and
didnt ice again until the last two regular games of the season.
Raffi Torres, has
suffered a recurrence of his ACL injury and requires a second
operation to repair it, which will rule him out for much of the
season. That means the Sharks are down another forward, but that
could prove useful to Tyler Kennedy who was somewhat surprisingly
left out of the line-up towards the end of last season and will fancy
his chances of more involvement in the line up now. Freddie Hamilton
and Eriah Hayes made their mark on the team last season and both will
be looking to gain a more regular spot this time around. Tye McGinn,
who arrived from Philadelphia is another candidate as is 2012
second-round draft pick Chris Tierney. John Scott formerly of
Buffalo, is the only major arrival and will prove a hulking physical
presence.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic is
considered one of the top defenseman in the NHL and with Boyle and
Stuart gone from defense, will be needed to lead from the back. Brent
Burns returns to the blue-line after nearly two seasons icing as a
forward, and will help top fill the void. Burns will certainly add
some much needed skill and offense to the blue line as well as a huge
physical presence that can deal with the dirty plyers in Anaheim such
as Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Jason Demers and Justin Braun are
solid, but could do with stepping up. Scott Hannan was brought back
and could see more minutes with Stuart gone. Matt Irwin stepped in
last season, while 2013 top draft pick Mirco Mueller, Taylor Doherty
and Matt Tennyson will all be pushing to make the line-up.
Alex Stalock
out-performed Antti Niemi last season and will give the 2010 Stanley
Cup winner a run for the starting spot. Niemi got off to a great
start in 2013-14 but slowly fell away, while Stalock grew as the
season went on, gaining more playing time towards the end of the
regular season and then started game 6 of the Kings series after
Niemi had been pulled in consecutive games.
Hertl – Thornton –
Pavelski
Nieto – Couture –
Marleau
Wingels – Sheppard –
Hamilton
Brown – Desjardins –
Kennedy
Scott – McGinn
Vlasic – Demers
Braun – Burns
Hannan – Irwin
Tennyson
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