Instead of posting the second unhinged rant in a week last night, I decided to sleep on it.  And after reading Doug’s note-perfect writeup (make sure to read it below) I figured the only thing I could lend to this discussion (instead of a proposal to bring up Petrecki, keep Ferriero, and trade the rest of the Sharks to Boston College) was a bit of levity.  I was actually so mad last night I was taking pictures of my TV to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.  But it did turn into a couple of decent LOLSHARX.

The first from our new favorite German import, now that Marcel Goc is gone:

The second, from a real bang-up coverage job on the kill by Huskins:

In a gross display, the Sharks were beaten badly on Opening Night. I thought there would be struggles with this team with all the new faces in key places, but this goes beyond what I expected. Somebody call Kirk Cameron! We’ve got Growing Pains.

The good – Benn Ferriero. He was the best Sharks on the ice and even saw top line duty after Seto struggled to do much of anything tonight. He’s going to be a gamer. Jason Demers was serviceable tonight and had some bright moments on the power play. The second line was the most dangerous and the third line looked solid at times in the first period. Marleau, Clowe and Pavs were the only plus players on the night.

The other really odd stat of the night was we murdered the Avs in the faceoff circle, winning 71% of the faceoffs – even more bizarre than outshooting them – we saw that many times last year where the Sharks outshot a team but still lost cause their goalie played out of his mind.

The bad – So much, where do we start.

Nabby made a few big saves, but not nearly enough – and not nearly as many as Avs goalie Craig Anderson who robbed the Sharks many times, especially during our power plays. Nabby gave huge rebounds and while he didn’t get much help, especially from Boyle and Murray who looked disorganized at times, he HAS to come up bigger if the Sharks are going anywhere. If the coaching staff is going to be true to their word and say that Nabby needs to earn his starts, then expect Greiss in the pipes on Saturday night – cause Nabby wasn’t good tonight – unless you dig a .761 SV%.

The Versus announcers couldn’t tell the difference between McGinn and Ferriero for much of the game, and that drove me crazy. Someone correct that moron! Versus sucks.

Heatley had a lousy Sharks debut with a minus three and he was the guy who didn’t backcheck, allowing the fourth goal. He was just standing there, gliding back toward the net – hell, Cheechoo would have atleast fallen down trying to get there. Heater also did a Selanne impression by missing a wide open net in the third period.

I was also turned off by how the Sharks appeared to have the same turtle-up nature that they did in the Marleau as Captain era. No big hits. No grit. One lame fight. When the team fell down 2-1, there should have been some response by Nichol, Shelley, Clowe, Murray, Captain Blake…well, I guess he did respond by giving away a four minute PP. My bad. Seriously though, I thought tonight was a great chance for the team to prove their identity crisis is over…they looked like the same group with different names on their backs.

Yes, yes – it’s early – but I wanted to see something and instead I got nothing but heartburn and a noise complaint. Prilosec…take me away…

Team captain named. Opening night roster determined, kinda…Game #1 is upon us.

I smell hockey.

Things I’m looking for tonight at the Sharks take the ice.

• How will the top pairing of Boyle and Murray look as a dynamic duo? Is Murray the player we saw in the preseason, ready to take the next step to a legit top four D-man, or was that a flash in the Swedish pan?
• How will Kent Huskins and Jason Demers fare against NHL competition? The effectiveness of that bottom pairing could be the key between a win on the road or a profanity filled tirade in my living room tonight.
• Malhotra/McGinn/Ortmeyer. Can they back up the hype that this line is going to provide the support on both ends of the ice to the top six that Grier/Goc/Cheechoo couldn’t last season?
• Can the Sharks take the heat of an emotional opening night in Colorado where that team will be loose and looking to play their hearts out for the best player in their franchise history?
• I’m summoning the Nabby of 2007-08 with a 2.14 GAA to show up, not the Nabby of 2008-09 with a 2.44 GAA. I also would like to see his save percentage go back up to the .916% area from the .910% of last year.

I think the Sharks are going to run into a “glass case of emotion” in the first period, but the better team will prevail in the end. It will be much harder than it should be, but late penalties will kill the Avs after they take an early lead and the Sharks PP will carry them over the finish line.

Sharks 4 Avs 2

The news is out– Blake with the C, Boyle and Joe the A’s.

I’m stunned.

Ray Ratto turned out to be right:

The team captain will be Rob Blake. Not because the Sharks announced it, which they didn’t, but because he is the painfully obvious choice. Yes, even more painfully obvious than Dan Boyle.

Now normally, in an article such as this (or really, in writing of any quality), when a question is asked (or implied, as it is here), that question is usually ANSWERED.  Nope.  Ratto prattles on, talking about how the team needs to worry about depth.

WHY THE F IS IT OBVIOUS?

Maybe it is obvious to Ratto.  Maybe it’s obvious to all the reporters that go into the locker room and talk to the players.  Or talk to the coaches and management.  But I’m not one of those, dammit.  I want to know.  The big question, now implied (and no doubt will not be answered) is, why not Boyle?  Boyle will be on this team for a long time.  Boyle has taken the heat in the press.  Boyle has expressed a desire to be in that role, and a respect and understanding for what the captaincy entails.   What did I miss?  Blake has a one year deal, at 39 years old.  The Sharks will have to go through this whole mess again next year, and the year after that if Blake returns, ad nauseaum.  Clearly there’s a compelling reason why Blake is the choice amidst all this, and Boyle wasn’t suitable.

What’s the reason??

No, really, I’m asking, that’s not a rhetorical question.

Seriously.  Tell me.

After what could only be described as a middling preseason, the final cuts are about to happen, the leadership letters will be sewn on, and the Dudes are ready with their predictions for all of it.  Mike and Doug run down the surprisingly little news there was this past week, try and forecast which players will be kept, and finish the season preview with an Eastern Conference rundown.

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Here are my five questions for you before the final cuts are made sometime on Tuesday. I’ve included my short responses in bold.

1. Who will the Sharks captain and two A’s be?
Captain Dan Boyle with A’s to Douglas Murray and Patrick Marleau. Yes, I said Douglas Murray.

2. Will Torrey Mitchell be placed on long term IR? This is critical when deciding how many players the Sharks carry on opening night.
Mitchell will be on long term IR, which from what I understand means he will be out a minimum of 10 games/24 days.

3. Frazer McLaren, Brad Staubitz and Jody Shelley – Which two make the team and why?
I think McLaren has earned the spot over Staubitz, but I believe Staubitz and Shelley get the nod. One of these guys will be scratched nightly, so the team would rather have McLaren playing 18 minutes in Worcester instead of riding pine, although I think he’s ready to play NHL minutes. He’ll be back.

4. Benn Ferriero or Jed Ortmeyer?
Both because of Mitchell on IR.

5. Mike Moore, Jason Demers, Joe Callahan and Derek Joslin. Which two make the team and why?
This is the biggest wild card. I think Callahan is going to make the team as the scratch and while the coaching staff is flirting with the unknown Demers, clearer head prevail and Joslin gets the nod. If he falters, Demers will be waiting…as will Petrecki.

Post your answers in the comment thread.

As the Sharks enter their final home preseason game tonight, there are still some unanswered questions and quite a bit of drama for your mama.

For one, the uninspiring play of Kent Huskins this preseason has many quaking in their boots, including head coach Todd McLellan. In the three games that Huskins has played (twice vs. Vancouver and at Anaheim) he was on the ice for nine of the 12 goals scored against the Sharks. WHAT? That’s terrible, like somebody check to see if Semenov is hiding under a Huskins mask. He is one to watch tonight after being called out by McLellan for poor conditioning in David Pollak’s blog – can Huskins respond to the challenge? I have to believe that he isn’t a loser, he played big minutes for the Ducks last year and was solid and was a part of their Cup run. He has to snap out of it. Huskins is paired with Mike Moore tonight, who with his 1M price tag is the biggest long shot left in camp to make the blueline. It sure is looking like Derek Joslin will be the 6th d-man – and possibly Joe Callahan gets the nod as the scratch since he won’t benefit from the AHL development like Demers would.

While the Sharks got Manny Malhotra for a song, Mattieau Dandenault must not have been willing to give much of a discount, or the coaching staff wasn’t that impressed with what they saw. I mean, the guy was healthy by all accounts last year and couldn’t get on the ice for the Canadiens. The emergence of Benn Ferriero might have cost Dandenault a roster spot because the Sharks don’t need his flexibility.

The bottom six has a few spots up for grabs and tonight Mike and I will get our first peak at Jed Ortmeyer. He’s playing with Malhotra and McGinn on the third line and the 4th line is Nichol, Shelley and Ferriero to start, so that leaves Staubitz, Frazer McLaren and Hinote in the pressbox. Hinote must still be getting strong consideration or else he would have been let go today too.

On a side note, I was caught offguard by the Flames releasing Theo Fleury today – he was the feel good story of the preseason and would have captivated the Calgary crowd and possibly propelled them to a great start. Will someone else pick him up or is he going to hang them up? Don’t bet on the Sharks acquiring Fleury for a second time – the ship has sailed in San Jose on retread veterans resurrecting their careers.

Six more days til these games actually mean something.

Preseason hockey has finally started, which means the regular season isn’t far away.  Mike and Doug talk about the recent signing of Manny Malhotra, and try and guess which players will make the opening day roster.  Too bad the new golden boy Nick Petrecki got sent down to the AHL.  Finally, the Dudes preview the Western Conference, with the East coming next week.

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We’re ready for the season to start, so listen to the latest podcast.  Although our boy Nick Petrecki got sent down to Worchester, which is a little disappointing, it’s hard not to be excited about October 1, and a very different Sharks team.  Also, for those of you still bummed about the Ducks loss (ok, that’s probably all of you), I found this take at Puck Prospectus:

For Sharks fans, it has been tough to not focus on the playoffs, but I can’t get too worked up over their first round exit against the Anaheim Ducks last year. There have been 33 similar first round series’ since 1980 where one team had a pythagorean winning percentage between 80 and 120 points higher than their opponent – and they won just 20 of them – 61%. The Ducks were significantly better than their goal differential indicated, so what was perceived as a 1st seed versus an 8th seed matchup was nearly a toss-up.

Nonetheless, the Sharks actually dominated the play: they outshot the Ducks, on average, 51-40 (Detroit outshot them by even more and still took seven games to beat them.) They got the same number of power-play opportunities, and spent more time on the man-advantage than the Ducks did. Even though the Ducks have undeniably good defensemen and defensive forwards, the Sharks’ expected shooting percentages were still better-than-average: 5.7% at even-strength (vs 5.3% for the league) and 9.5% on the power-play (vs 8.6% league-wide.) No, the problem was the unfathomably good goaltending of Jonas Hiller, who somehow managed to let in an unsustainable 3.3% of the shots the Sharks directed at the Ducks net. At the other end of the ice, Evgeni Nabokov let in 7.5% of Anaheim’s shots at net. That’s the entire story.

So if you accept that the Sharks’ playoff “choking” means very little, what moves do you make in the offseason? Well, you couldn’t do much more than the Sharks did: they kept eight of their top ten scorers, they’ll miss Milan Michalek, but not Christian Ehrhoff, who was a liability at even-strength; they picked up Dany Heatley, one of just four players to score 50 goals twice in the last decade; and they gave themselves the best face-off crew in the league by signing the undervalued Manny Malhotra. The Sharks won’t win the President’s Trophy again, but they substantially improved the team over last year.

Read the whole thing, it’s worth it.

If the Sharks were looking for someone to step up and provide a leadership role on the ice, they got that performance tonight from a player – just not the one they were probably expecting. After blowing a 3-0 lead, Patrick Marleau put the team on his back and delivered the game tying and game winning goals, giving the Sharks a 5-4 OT victory over the Phoenix Coyotes in their third meaningless-season game. Heatley looked a little tight at times and only took one shot – he’s clearly still finding his way with Seto and Jumbo, but you could see moments, especially on the powerplay, where this is going to be something pretty special. Heatley just loves to sit in the crease and wait – which was great to see cause not many of the Sharks seem to like that gig. It’s Heatley’s bag baby and when they figure it out – big things, yes sir – big things.

Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights and lowlights:

I was stoked that Nick Petrecki was paired with Dan Boyle tonight…until he got run for a game misconduct after only five minutes were played. Here’s what I saw – and feel free to weigh in if you were there cause there was a ton going on at the time, it was hard to see it all go down. Scott Nichol took a tripping minor and on his way to the box, he tried to take someone with him and started barking at Heshka on Phoenix who then went after Nichol and Staubitz stepped in. A flurry of gloves and helmets went flying and suddenly we had three fights going on – McLaren and Fritz, Staubitz and Heshka and Petrecki had his mitts on two Phoenix players and they were dragging each other around to center ice. He then scrapped with Vernan Fiddler and next thing we knew, both he and Fiddler got tossed. My best guess is he got a third man somehow? Not sure what happened but I felt robbed of seeing his potential breakout performance with Boyle.

As for the forwards, Jamie McGinn again was very strong and is going to make it really hard on McLellan to not keep him around. He buried a sweet pass from Dan Boyle on the powerplay and logged 3:26 shutout PK minutes. Pavelski and Clowe had a little redemption tonight, each notching one point and a +1. That line played a lot more effectively tonight than Friday for sure. Stats won’t back this up, but I want to say that I’m a Scott Nichol fan. He is a fireball and in the middle of everything. My favorite moment near the end of the game after he took a hit, he followed the player to the bench and cut him off while the Coyote player was trying to make a chance, jawing in his face about his mother, or something colorful. He almost got the dude to take a penalty in a tie game. He’s going to be a fun guy to watch this year and will make more of an impact than Goc. Did I mention he won 71% of his faceoffs?

Everyone else kind of faded into obscurity – Staubitz had two fights but offered little in the way of hockey skill and McLaren and Mashinter were pretty anonymous tonight. Logan Couture had two bright spots near the end, he fed a great pass to Staubitz who promptly choked and couldn’t get the shot off and then Couture was in on the tying goal after having crashed the net. The guys who sit behind me were saying Staubitz is a “lock” to make this team and I still just don’t see it. I like the guy as far as a fighter, but he can’t play the PK or the PP – so how can the Sharks carry both Staubitz and Shelley? They are duplicate parts.

Poor Douglas Murray. I think the big guy was just plain tired by the third period, but Murray was on the ice for all three Phoenix third period goals. In his defense, the dude had to play 28 minutes tonight – like 10-12 more than he ever plays and I thought he looked very good in the first two periods, even leading the break a few times and he delivered a few big hits – but the stats don’t lie.
Derek Joslin played some big minutes and had a good stat line (1 point and +2) but I noticed he likes to hit people high, which kind of turned me off. Demers got used a few times in his own end, he’s not ready for primetime yet. Callahan was okay actually, seemed steady but nothing to write home about. Dan Boyle loves goals, he was on the ice for six of them tonight – luckily four of them were Sharks goals.

I don’t blame Nabby for the meltdown in the third period and thought he looked sharp for the first 40 minutes. He was a victim of some bad and tired D that lost focus after they thought the game was over. Let’s not throw him under the bus.

I’m expecting there to be some pretty significant cuts made tomorrow since Worcester starts their training camp on Tuesday and their first preseason game on Wednesday of next week. Until then, we soldier on for more preseason action with Mighty Marleau leading the way. “Here He Comes To Save The Day…Now That The C Has Gone Away”

UPDATE:
Here are the six roster cuts. I guess maybe the biggest surprises might be that Brandon Mashinter is still in camp and McLellan chose to keep Moore, Callahan and Demers. Thought one of them might get sent down…