Sharks Gameday: Guess Who's Back?

No, it's not Claude Lemieux. That dude's skating in the AHL, not the NHL, and despite some people speculating that this move might be made to intimidate the Detroit Red Wings (uh...I don't think Lemieux's intimidating anyone in the NHL at this point, but interesting theory), we won't be seeing him in San Jose unless he wants to buy Doug Wilson a pizza or something.

Of course, Darren McCarty just got sent to the AHL too, so they can sell some minor-league tickets promoting Avs-Wings circa 1997. That could be fun.

In the meantime, Evgeni Nabokov will return in net today against the Chicago Blackhawks. The crowd gave Nabby a good welcome-back chant on Saturday night when he was shown on the in-house camera. As well as Brian Boucher has played, I don't think anyone's unhappy about having Nabby back between the pipes. That is, except for this guy.

Chicago comes in on a hot streak and they're thinking sweep even though they're only halfway through their six-game road swing. Of course, if the Sharks play like they did last week at the United Center, they'll give the Hawks every opportunity to do so. I'd try and come up with some statistical crunch regarding this but it's a busy pre-holiday work day, so we'll have to save that for another time.

One more thing about tonight: it's the second night of the black jerseys. The victory over Washington pushed aside any bad memories of the old Black Thursday curses, but a second win tonight will put lingering doubts out to pasture.

San Jose Sharks vs Washington Capitals photos

Here are a few photos from the Sharks 7-2 thrashing of the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. Evgeni Nabokov returned to the lineup to backup Brian Boucher, and he is expected to start Wednesday night against Chicago. More photos and notes from the game are available here, and postgame comments from the coaches are available here. Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was kind enough to answer a lot of questions for me about technology and the NHL prior to the game here, and Offwing.com and AOL's Eric McErlain also answered a few questions for me about the Capitals here.

Naturally Jody Shelley and Donald Brashear fight when I am in the tunnel going from one side of the rink to the other, but hockeyfights.com posted a video clip of the fight here. I am the first to admit I was not as positive about Shelley when he was with Columbus, but scroll through some of his fights this season on HF. He is having an incredible season, and Todd McLellan is throwing him out on a line with Marleau and Thornton late in the game, and sometimes subbing Marleau or Thornton at center on the fourth line. Something to keep an eye on.

Thanks for hitting the highlight video.

Ducks-Sharks opening night photos

I was in the basement for most of the second and third period, but here are a couple photos of the Sharks 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on opening night. If you want to try out the new NHL Gamecenter this weekend, all of the games broadcast during the NHL's opening weekend are free.

Random Pacific Questions: Who Has the Best Goalie?

He looks like the dog at the end of those Honda Element commercials. "Hey, what's going on back there?" ...I'm not good at captions.

The Kings, right? No? Okay, someone else then.

Marty Turco- 62 GP, 32 wins, 24.9 shots/game, 2.31 GAA, .909 SV%

Ilya Bryzgalov- 64 GP, 38 wins, 28.6 shots/game, 2.44 GAA, .920 SV%

Jean-Sebastien Giguere- 58 GP, 35 wins, 26 shots/game, 2.12 GAA, .922 SV%

Evgeni Nabokov- 77 GP, 46 wins, 23.4 shots/game, 2.14 GAA, .910 SV%


I'd put it Bryzgalov-Giguere-Nabokov-Turco, but that's just me. Giguere has the best numbers but he didn't play nearly as much as the others, while Nabokov has relatively weak numbers but played a ton. I didn't realize Turco had a subpar season (by his standards) last year, but then he picked it up in the post-season while Giguere faltered. Say it with me, folks: clutch doesn't exist.

I'll be very interested to see how JS Giguere, Evgeni Nabokov and Marty Turco react to next season. All three are getting into their 30's all three have carried their teams the last few years. The Ducks are in pretty good shape if Giguere misses more time next year because Jonas Hiller is a bad man, but the other two have question marks behind their starters. I imagine Nabby will take a few more games off as Dmitri Patzold and Thomas Greiss mature and it'll work because their San Jose goaltenders, but the Stars don't really have anyone currently with the team or in the pipeline to fill Turco's shoes. Could this be the year those three start to fall off? God I hope so.

Non-live Todd McLellan press conference coverage

New San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan answered questions 1-on-1 with reporters after the press conference earlier today. He spoke about taking advantage of the depth of talent in San Jose, that he has achieved about as much assistant coaching experience as you could possibly need before moving up to the head coaching position, that a number of factors have to fall into place to win a championship at any level, that a puck possession offense may be a little overstated, that he will try to establish more of a puck pursuit and puck recovery game, and that he would like to encorporate the defense into the offense more.

His opening statment from the press conference, will work on a full transcript on Sharkspage:

"This is a special opportunity, there are only 30 of these positions available in the world. I feel very fortunate to be involved with one of if not the top organizations in the National Hockey League. I am very excited about it. There are some very good things that have happened here in the San Jose Sharks organization. You don't win close to 50 games a year by accident. There is an incredible amount of skill on this hockey team. If you combine the skill with the will, good things can happen. We look forward to doing that."

"It is my job as the coach to push this team, push them hard. Push them outside their comfort zone, and get them doing things that they may not be comforable doing but while I am doing that make sure they enjoy the process. That is the only way championship teams evolve. I look forward to that opportunity and can not wait for it to start."

If anyone has a link to the full press conference video or audio, add it in the comments section. The AP's Greg Beacham, Tony Khing of the San Jose Sharks, and a KLIV reporter asked the questions in the above 1-on-1 clip.

- Martin Brodeur was awarded the Vezina Trophy earlier today. It is hard to overly debate the selection, but it appears as if many of the NHL general managers put their eggs in the reputation and save percentage basket. If you look at wins, goals against average, and strength of conference or even strength of division, then Nabokov should have been the clear winner. There should be no debate that three of the best four NHL teams reside in the Pacific Division, and the fourth won the Stanley Cup. It was a brief aside on the blog at the time, but the start of the Sharks monster February road trip began with rocky losses to the Rangers, Islanders, and New Jersey. Dropping three games on the big east coast stage probably solidified Brodeur's dominance among a few general managers.

Glovezilla Ravages Canada, Nabokov, Kovalchuck, Ovechkin and Semin lead Russia over Canada 5-4 in OT for gold

Glovezilla Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves, Ilya Kovalchuck and Alexander Semin scored two goals apiece as Russia earned a gold medal in the 2008 World Championships with a 5-4 overtime win over the favored Team Canada. The defending champion Canadian squad wilted under sustained offensive pressure from the Capital Offense line of Ovechkin-Semenov-Federov, and Kovalchuck scored a power play goal 2:42 into extra time to ice the gold medal.

The Russian fans in attendance went beserker as Kovalchuck performed glass pullups after scoring the game tying goal late in the third period, and they did a few repetitions of their own after his game winner in overtime.

"You can never make a sick glove save on a shot not taken" - Aristotle.

[Update] Evgeni Nabokov made an acrobatic stop on Mikko Koivu's point blank shot in the semifinals, video from WCSN.

Marathong

I knew the Stars wouldn't make it through a single playoff year without at least one ridiculous game that would make Jaromir Jagr lose 8 lbs. I'm writing this during the intermission after the Third OT and it might be a while until I could get much more up, so here's a few dopey observations to warm your hockey logs (good God look at what three OTs will do to my already horrid punnery).

ANYWAY...

Evgeni Nabokov's first OT save was artful to say the least. Definite save-of-the-year material when you consider the importance and paper thin margin of error. But just as I was about to bring out the annointing oils, Marty Turco made an awesome throwback kick save. (1,000 Monopoly dollars to whoever can link me the YouTube clips on those bad boys)

Anyway, after those two saves I decided that Turco and Nabokov must be engaged in some form of Goalie H-O-R-S-E. By my unofficial count, Turco's on H-O-R-S at this point.

• Mike Ribeiro's hesitation during a tense moment definitely solidified the time-honored shooting cliche of having too much time in front of the goalie.

• If multiple scoring chances would dictate an OT GWG and the Stars win, Brad Richards would probably deserve the goal because he's had a million close calls in this game.

• Am I wrong in thinking that Jeremy Roenick bares a striking resemblance to cooky kindred spirit Willem Dafoe? I'd certainly cast him in the lead role in the JR Story.

Sharks-Flames Game 7 photos

Here are a few photos from the Sharks 5-3 win over the Calgary Flames in game 7 for Battle of California, a few more are up here.

First photo is fourth line center Marcel Goc skating out of the Sharks head pre-game. It was his first start of the series, and he played very well. 4-for-5 on faceoffs, 7:04 of ice time, head coach Ron Wilson complimented the line after the game for bringing much needed energy on several shifts. Second photo Nabokov, Flames only put 22 shots on goal in game 7. Third photo is Jeremy Roenick's power play goal. He followed his initial shot and then hammered home a rebound up high on a sharp angle. Fourth photo, not very sharp but noticed that every player was using the same stick. Fifth photo you can see Joe Thornton celebrating his first period goal. In the front row is local radio host Ralph Barbieri celebrating with his Shark-hat wearing son.

Game 2 post-game photos

A few locker room photos after the Sharks 2-0 win over the Calgary Flames to even up the WCQF series. The media coverage in San Jose has increased ten-fold with the influx of Canadian Press, and the number of local television stations sending camera crews to the tank. They came in two waves, with the local media and television crew getting their questions and footage first, followed by the Canadian press after their time in the Calgary locker room.

Evgeni Nabokov mentioned that the Sharks needed a big win because they could not head to Calgary down 2-0, it would put a serious hurdle in front of them against a very good team. In the post-game press conference, long time SJ Mercury News opinion columnist Mark Purdy asked San Jose Sharks head coach Ron Wilson if he ever has to say anything to Nabokov before a game. Wilson said no, Nabokov is the expert on goaltending. With a few minor exceptions, he self motivates and battles hard from start to finish (as seen in the skills competion and 2nd shutout period of the ASG).

Joe Thornton noted the Sharks intensity from the drop of the puck, something that did not happen in game 1. The Sharks still looked tentative with the puck at times, even with 7 second period penalties by Calgary, but overall they moved the puck well out of their own zone. The addition of Matt Carle in place of Alexei Semenov, and a hard charging Brian Campbell initiated the offense and contributed to the Sharks dominating time of possession with the puck. After the game when asked about a physical checking series, Ron Wilson said you can not hit someone when you have the puck. The more you have puck possession, the less hits a team will register.

Joe Pavelski's line, with Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe, did the bulk of the damage for San Jose. Pavelski opened the scoring with a critical second period goal, the Sharks were 38-13 in the regular season when scoring first. Pavelski also mentioned that he wanted to take full advantage of postseason opportunities given to him after he was a scratch for several playoff games last year.

Not Pretty....But Effective

Not much to say about last night's game except Nabby saved our asses. Where is our vaunted D that was in the top 5 in GAA throughout the year? It seems Calgary has guys in the slot uncovered all the time. If not for Nabby's save on Sarich early this could of been a different game. I think the D is hibernating like our PP. How can you get 10 PP chances and convert only once...and that was with :09 left. We had an extended 5 on 3 and I swear we would of not scored if it was 5 on 1 cause they would of just passed it around and then Kipper would of made a save. If not for the Mitchell goal at the end of the PP, I kinda felt the energy being let out of the arena. All those penalties by Calgary (deserved or not) only leads to Keenan pulling out his mind games again and questioning the officials. I can only assume what they are saying in Calgary right now. "The Sharks didn't beat us, the Refs did."

Sombody needs to wake up Cheech and Milan and tell them the playoffs have begun. They just don't look like themselves out there and invisible. Being at the game you can see Calgary taking late shots after the whistle to Cheech's head since they know he is probably still suffering from the Kunitz injury. No word on Ehrhoff's injury but hopefully he can make it back soon.

San Jose Sharks vs St Louis Blues photos

A few more notes and photos from the Sharks 4-1 win over the St Louis Blues are available here.

Free Chris Pronger!

Sharks-Blues photos

A non-mic'd Manny Legace.



Tomas Plihal #39 finished +1 in his second NHL game this season.



Raise your hand if you are the top Vezina candidate from the Western Conference.



Left wing #19 Dwayne King drives past #3 Douglas Murray.


Did not get a chance to post any photos from the Sharks 4-1 win over the St Louis Blues. Here they are.

Ducks win; Links are on me!

First off, a hearty congratulations goes out to the BoC All-Stars, all named today (I guess Californians were saving their votes for the presidential primaries): From the Sharks, C Joe Thornton and G Evgeni Nabokov. From the Ducks, C Ryan Getzlaf and D Chris Pronger. And from the Kings, everyone's favorite raccoon C Anze Kopitar. Pretty much all of these were fairly expected selections, but congrats nonetheless.

Secondly, Ducks fans can check out Finny @ GWAP's rundown of the annual State of the Franchise address, which has become quite the event since it incorporated Brian Burke's big mouth. He had a quote that I won't disagree with, but I'm still surprised the guy had the guts to say it publicly: "Getzlaf is better than either Perry or Penner, and maybe better than them combined -- and I'd say the same thing if Perry or Penner were standing here now." I usually tend to agree with Burkie, and this is no exception, but I wonder if this will get brought up during next summer's extension talk with Corey Perry.

And just for kicks, here's a link to today's PuckToon from AOL Fanhouse. Enjoy!

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As an aside, I found out yesterday that I will be in attendance this Sunday for the Sharks @ Ducks contest, up in the 300s wheelchair row again with my kid brother. More on that to come later!

Sharks Petition League to Play Rest of Season on the Road

How do you explain this team? An 8 game winning streak on the road and 11 games in a row with at least one point. Tonight was not a pretty win but a win is a win. I am trying to figure out what the difference is in style of play or what. The only constants are that the Power Play stinks and Nabby is standing on his head. The only reasons given are usually the players are trying to make the "pretty" play at home while on the road they keep it simple. Whatever it is, I can't explain it.

Tomorrow night would seem like an ideal spot to give Nabby a break and start Patzold. But, can you really sit Nabby after a shutout? I really don't expect that to happen as Ron Wilson always seems to keep his lineup intact after a victory.

Battle of California trilogy, Sharks-Ducks 12/18 photos

Here are a few photos from Anaheim's 2-0 win over the Sharks on Tuesday. NHL.com's recap of San Jose's 2-1 OT shootout win at Anaheim is available here.

The Sharks held a 2-hour team meeting Friday instead of its usual practice at Sharks Ice. The meeting was in part a result of poor play against Phoenix and Anaheim, in part a reaction to post-practice comments Jeremy Roenick made to Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy, as detailed in this article: These are games that matter for Sharks.

Jeremy Roenick knows exactly what must be done. And he's not afraid to say it. This is why Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson brought Roenick's veteran voice to the team. After missing five games while resting his achy knees, Roenick returned to the lineup Thursday and scored a power-play goal. But while watching those five games from the press box, he made some telling observations, which he shared after practice one day this week.

"When this team gets in trouble," Roenick said, "we wait for somebody else to do the job; instead of taking initiative to do what you can do to help, we're waiting for somebody else to do it. . . . With the exception of maybe a couple guys, we have no grit in terms of our meanness to want to compete. And when we do that, we're an easy team to play against."...

"Guys are doing their own thing, not supporting one another," Roenick said. "When you don't work away from the puck and help the guy you're playing with, you're just putting him in a bad situation. We get caught standing around, looking, more lackadaisical instead of stepping up the pace. . . . It comes down to how much you really want it. Are you here just to make the paycheck and pass the time away, or did you come here to win?"...

"I think we have to come to the realization that you're not letting yourself down, you're letting 20 other guys down by not competing," Roenick said. "A lot of people are looking to you for bringing that leadership, and when it's not brought, it's easy for the other guy to say, 'Well, he didn't do it so why should I?' And that's a disease."

I have to write up the Stockton Thunder v Bakersfield Condors game I attended last night, Bakersfield earned a 6-4 win on the road. Yutaka Fukufuji was in goal for Bakersfield and former University of Denver goaltender Glenn Fisher was in net for Stockton. 2005 NHL Entry Draft first round selection Ryan O'Marra also plays for the Stockton Thunder. Bakersfield dropped 4 unanswered goals on Stockton in the third period to squash their come-from-behind attempt. After that I will post a few quotes from Roenick after San Jose's 3-2 OT loss to Phoenix.

Earl can caption the photos above, or add your own in the comments. Note the duck hanging from a rope in the third photo. Nicely done.

[Correction] Center Ryan O'Marra was the NY Islanders first round selection in 2005, 15th overall. O'Marra, Robert Nilsson and a 2007 1st round pick were dealt to Edmonton for Ryan Smyth on February 27, 2007. O'Marra was named yesterday to the National Conference roster for the 2008 ECHL Allstar game which will be held in Stockton January 23rd. Stockton Thunder rookie left wing Jacob Micflikier and captain Brad Farynuk also were named to the Allstar roster.

Drew Remenda's Shark-Thoughts, now in Chen-Style!

(NOTE: The following post was penned by our own Mike Chen, who is battling his workplace's firewall filters and thus e-mailed me his post. Everything past here is pure Chen. --Sleek)

Drew Remenda was just on NHL Live on XM/NHL.com. A quick summary of what he said:

• Jeremy Roenick was surprised at how quiet the Sharks bench was when he first came here. He asked Tim Hunter if that was how it always was and Hunter replied with "Yes, but they play with passion." JR begged to differ and began talking with the young guys to not treat the game as a job but enjoy and relish in being a pro athlete.



• Joe Thornton is the acknowledged team leader on the ice (as the go-to guy) and off it (as the fun social dude) and no one, especially Patrick Marleau, has a problem with him being in that role.



• The Sharks win because of Evgeni Nabokov and Thornton right now. Everyone else has underachieved (duh).



• The team's play is represented by the way they've drafted -- very skilled, very quiet guys. Drew said that that's more or less the bed they made, and that it's really up to players like Mike Grier, JR, and Joe Thornton to change that. He also cited players like Curtis Brown, Marleau, Nabokov, and Kyle McLaren as the ones who have to help the quiet young guys like Marc-Edouard Vlasic become passionate players.



• The issue of Marleau's play came up and I was really surprised at how candid Drew was. He said that the rift between Marleau and Ron Wilson still hasn't healed, despite what they say to the press. Doug Wilson has acted as the intermediary, but Drew says that Doug is leaving it to Marleau and Wilson to find a workable solution. A caller suggested taking the C off Marleau, and Drew's own personal thoughts (not speaking for Doug Wilson -- let's make that clear) is that doing that is a no-win situation because (a) it devalues Marleau if it ultimately leads to a trade (and that's a big IF -- he's NOT suggesting that or advocating that at all) and (b) it loses Patty from a player/coach perspective, though if you look at Dallas, Mike Modano seems to have shaken that off (that's my own input, not Drew's).



• He doesn't anticipate a major shake-up, but if things don't appear to be trending up heading into January, that's when something may happen. However, he doesn't think it will be that way. He couldn't answer whether or not the team will show up in the playoffs, though. Apparently, the philosophy going into this is that it has to start and end with the players. I may be reading too much into this, but it sounds like that ultimately Ron Wilson has the support of his GM.

So, basically what you see is what you get is what we all suspected. And it also sounds like if the team turns it around, the signing of Jeremy Roenick may have been way more valuable off the ice than we all thought.

Will Patzold Ever Start a Game?

Tonight looked like the perfect chance for Rwilson to start Patzold with a home game tomorrow night versus Buffalo. But once again, the Sharks dominated the Coyotes (even though the score was only 1-0). No local television but the Sharks radio announcers mentioned several times how boring this game was. 4 games versus the Yotes and 4 wins. The Coyotes scored the 1st goal of the series only to see the Sharks score the next 16 with 3 straight shutouts for Nabby. Enough about the game, what is there to say about a 1-0 game.

Random thoughts:

-Mark Recchi was put on re-entry waivers by Pittsburgh. Any team that claims him only owes him 1/2 of his 1.75 million salary. Worth the risk?

-I was gonna write asking who is playing better right now than Joe Thornton?....then Zetterberg goes and gets a hat trick. Who would you rather have right now?

Thank You Kevin Lowe

This Thanksgiving weekend all Sharks and Ducks fan are thankful. Sharks fans and Ducks fans agreeing on the same thing you ask? Ever since Kevin Lowe's ultra aggressive actions during free agency, NHL general managers have had to be pro-active with their Restricted Free Agents. Ever since Lowe signed Dustin Penner away with an outrageous contract offer, both Brian Burke and Doug Wilson have been busy signing their own RFA's before another GM pulls a Lowe and offers an unmatchable offer. Burke has signed both Getzlaf and Kunitz (don't worry Perry you are next) and Wilson has done the same with Michalek and Carle. In past years, GM's would look at their UFA's knowing their RFA's would not be in danger of signing since they could match any offer and the penalty for signing anyone was costly (4 1st round picks?) This has made GM's look at the core of their team and make sure they are signed before they reach Restricted status.

[SLEEK EDIT: I added this picture because I'm drunk!]
Will the Sharks ever play another game? Once again the Sharks are on an extended break. This time an unusual 1 week break between games once again allows Ron Wilson to start Nabby in every game this year and I don't see this changing anytime soon. After the game tomorrow, the Sharks have another 3 days off so no reason to rest Nabby for at least another week.

Consistently Inconsistent

After starting the season alternating wins and losses in their first 7 games, the Sharks seemed to find their rhythm after back to back victories versus Nashville and Calgary. The Sharks dominated Calgary and headed for a team building trip to Banff, Alberta highlighted by a Curling tournament. They seemed to leave those good feelings as well as their game in Canada as they fell flat on their face versus the Red Wings. Once again the Wings skated circles around the bigger Sharks as they dominated them for the second time in 8 days. The only highlight was Alexei Semenov's late PP goal to deny Chris Osgood of a shutout. Not much time to lick their wounds as they must strap it on again in less than 24 hours as they have an afternoon affair in Columbus. I was thinking that Thomas Greiss might get his first start of the year today but with the Detroit blowout, Evgeni Nabokov got to rest most of the 3rd period.

News out of Worcester is that Sandis Ozolinsh was let out of his minor league contract and has flown back to San Jose to skate. He will probably skate with the team after they arrive back in town next week. More news on this to come.