San Jose Sharks - Preview

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.

"The only player we really added in '03-04 was Scotty Parker to bring that sheriff, that physicality and deterrent, so the young players could play, and we went to the third round and had 104 points. You can have a very good young team, be going through this phase and still compete in this League, and that's our belief."

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