San Jose Sharks Season Preview

Okay let's talk about the San Jose Sharks 2014-2015 season and how I believe it will turn out.  The Sharks once again made the playoffs last season after being one of the top teams in the conference.  The Sharks also had another thing happen to them that happens literally every year, they blew their chance at winning a Stanley cup in devastating fashion.  The eventual champs came back from being dominated and being down 3 games to none to the Sharks and defeated San Jose in 7 games.  This summer the organization sent shockwaves by stripping each alternate captaincy and even the main captaincy from Joe Thornton.  This team is a mess when it comes to the big games and chokes each and every year, which is great because they are the Ducks' rivals.  That all being said, The Sharks have depth, good overall leadership, and up and coming stars in Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl.  This season I believe the Sharks will once again be at the top of the conference and expectations will as always, be sky high.

Keys to success:  The Sharks have one of the best playmakers in the league who has been making players around him better for the past 17+ years and a top leader in Jumbo Joe Thornton, I do not like the Sharks, but Joe is a standup guy and one with a sense of humor, once mentioning his genitalia when referring to Hertl's 4 goal outburst and if it had been him who had done it.  Joe got the captaincy taken away but it is more of the organization wanting to see who will step up and take the reins, Joe could get the C back in no time.

Logan Couture is only 25 years old and has been getting better each and every year since he came onto the scene in 2010.  I would not be surprised if Logan snatches a letter for his jersey and keeps that letter for the next 10 plus years, though that letter may be upgraded in a few years.  Look for Logan's numbers to climb again and sit in the 80+ range.

Tomas Hertl's season was shortened due to a knee injury but he impressed in his 37 games scoring a total of 25 points.  Hertl's most obvious highlight was his 4 goal performance against the eventual Eastern Conference Champs, the New York Rangers, the last of which he scored at top speed between his legs.  Hertl is a highlight reel and if healthy, can improve upon his 13-14 statistics.  check out his goals here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U000xbZA0zQ 

Coach Tod McClellan's Sharks teams have been among the top 5 teams in the conference and sometimes whole league each year that he has been at the helm and have made the playoffs every year, he is a great leader but needs to get over the playoff woes if he wants to keep his job, because winning when it matter is good business.

Problem Areas: Antti Niemi is regularly a top goaltender in the league, he racks up wins and keeps his team in games year after year.  However, this past season Niemi has showed signs of struggle, many times giving up the crease to his much less known (but probably not for long) back up, Alex Stalock, who has shown that he wants the job.  Niemi is a Stanley Cup champ, he has tons of wins and has proven at the top stage that he's a solid goaltender, but those days are in the past and for the Sharks to move on in the extra season, they will need stability in net, whether it is Niemi or Stalock.

Patrick Marleau does not show up in big spots, overall he has had an illustrious career, a former number 2 overall pick, he has consistently put up 50+ points a season in well over a decade of work.  I read an autobiography that Jeremy Roenick wrote, and he had nothing good to say about Marleau, from what it said, Marleau is arrogant and careless, he gives up and is a terrible leader.  These traits are not hard to see when you consider that like Thornton, Marleau had his Captaincy stripped a few years back.

Bottom line, these guys need to be rough and tough, they need to go balls to the wall and win the important games, they're regularly near the top of the president's trophy race, but that Cup is much prettier, ey?