Video of every single one of Jonathan Cheechoo's NHL leading, Rocket Richard winning, 56 goals in 2005-06. Tape delayed play-by-play of the Sharks 3-0 win over Tampa Bay is up here. The Sharks recalled forward Jamie McGinn earlier today, head coach Todd McLellan is scheduled for a conference call today at 3:15PM.
It's kind of weird being a Kings' fan these days because we don't really have a rival right now. I guess the Kings' biggest rival is either AEG or one another. Still, that doesn't mean I don't hate other teams in the Pacific: there's the Ducks and Corey Perry, the Stars and their triple axis of tools (Morrow, Ott, Avery), and the Coyotes and Olli Jokinen's baby head. But I was watching the Sharks-Ducks game last night and I came away thinking 2 things: one, the Sharks looked pretty good, and two, I hate them more than I hate the Ducks. As someone who has hated the Ducks most since they came into the league, this shocked me.
I... don't like you?
Raise your hand if you're a douche bag.Anaheim Ducks (t-1st in west) at San Jose Sharks (t-1st in west)
Winner of tonight’s game is on top of the west!
Ah, the beauty of a new NHL season afoot, and what better way to kick it off than with a good ol’ Battle of California (competitive version)? Yeah, I know there were some "counting" games already played in Europe, and Ducks/Sharks is the only game on tonight's schedule without some version of national coverage, but I can’t care. Because tonight is Ducks-Sharks, one of my favorite matchups since the lockout. It's a measuring-stick game, a pride game, and an awesome way to start the NHL season (assuming the Sharks have paid their electricity bill this year).
To open this set of Gamedays and this NHL season, Mike Chen and I devised a little cross-state exercise. You know Mike, of course, from Battle of California, though I heard he has some side gig too. Anyways, instead of rehashing our own previews again, we instead decided to write about the opposition this time with three answers to: "What Scares Me About Your Team", a nice outsider's perspective to start the new year.
What Scares Sleek about this year's Sharks:
1. Joe Thornton plus offensive defensemen means troubleAnd now, heeeere's Mike Chen!
The last three seasons, the highest scoring San Jose blueliners have been Craig Rivet 07/08 (74 gp, 35 pts), Matt Carle 06/07 (77 gp, 42 pts), and Tom Preissing 05/06 (74 gp, 43 pts). In each case, it's a career scoring high—none of them have demonstrated tremendous scoring ability away from Jumbo Joe. The lack of a true offensive talent on the blueline has been the Sharks' Achilles Heel, their missing ingredient in a sense. Finally at the end of last year the Sharks inserted an actual offensive defenseman – Brian Campbell – and the results were stellar. In 20 gp, Campbell recorded 19 points, and while that 78-point-season pace might not have been sustainable for a full year, it still showed the potential of using a creative talent behind San Jose’s glut of forwards.Bring in Dan Boyle, and to a lesser extent Rob Blake. Boyle is a guy who’s already registered a 63-point season and two 53-point years, so he’s shown the ability to play well with top talent in Tampa. I haven’t watched a ton of Lightning games, so I can’t say for sure, but if Jumbo Joe is able to bring out a career year out of the Sharks’ new blueline threat, San Jose threatens to be a Pacific monster this year.
2. Red Wing motivational tactics
I’ve been reading some of new coach Todd McLellan’s motivational quotes over at the Seagate Broadcaster’s Blog, and his overall message has me worried. Not so much the “I don’t just want a hockey player, I want an ingredient” bit; other than some cannibalistic overtones that message is pretty routine. But how about this McLellan gem? “At this point in the season, the words ‘Stanley Cup’ aren’t part of the vocabulary.” First off, McLellan, I don’t think that’s very fair to Marcel Goc, who doesn’t have a very wide vocabulary to begin with. You’re going to take away two of his possibly twenty cohesive words?
But all kidding aside, I think McLellan seems to be doing the right things as a new coach for what’s been a tremendously successful team. He’s making the players better understand their roles for the team’s success, and is making sure that the short-term details that contribute to winning don’t get lost in the long-term goal. Of course, media quotes and on-ice performance can often be two different things, so I’ll reserve judgment, but I have to imagine the Sharks will be well-prepared for opening night.
3. Jonathan Goddamn Cheechoo
Yes, I know that Cheechoo is coming off his worst offensive campaign since his rookie year, and his preseason performance still has some Sharks fans worried, but that doesn’t make things less scary on my end. Cheechoo is the very definition of streaky – even in his good seasons he got hot and cold very fast. I wrote a post in the latter part of the 06-07 season that pointed that out: “4 goals in 2 games against the Ducks, which was preceded by a seven game goalless streak, that followed a 5 goals in 7 game stretch, that followed a 1 goal in 9 games slump, and well, you get the picture.” Also revealed in that post was the trend that Cheechoo scored at a much higher rate against the Ducks and Kings than against any other opponent.
The Sharks figure to have a very good team this season even if Cheechoo has another off year. However, if he gets anywhere near his pre-injury form, the Sharks will be awfully tough to keep up with in the standings this season. I guess my main hope is that Coach McLellan finds Cheechoo to be a very tasty ingredient and eats him, but that probably violates the CBA.
1. The Complete Mighty DucksSo that's our takes, looking trepidly at some of the new aspects of the opposing team. How about you, readers? What in particular this year scares you about facing either of these teams? Feel free to leave your own answers (even if you aren't a Ducks or Sharks fan) in the comments.
Picture this. You sit down and you really want to have a kick-ass marathon of the Mighty Ducks movie trilogy. You've got your shiny Mighty Ducks DVD and your old VHS copy of D3: The Mighty Ducks, but you don't own the second movie and you can't afford the gas to drive to Best Buy and pick it up. But halfway through your viewing of D3, a buddy calls and says that D2 is on the Disney channel RIGHT NOW so turn the channel immediately. That convoluted movie-viewing experience is kinda like what happened to the Ducks last season without Scott "My Captain C, Damn It!" Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne to start the season.
You take those guys out of the mix, add in some bad broadcast-on-cable-TV replacements like Todd Bertuzzi and Doug Weight and it's just a chemistry experiment gone awry. And while Scotty N played well upon his return, you could sense that something wasn't quite right with last season's Ducks, even from all the way up in the Bay Area. So now Brian Burke's guys have no off-ice distractions, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf are a year older, and the Norris Twins get a full 82 games together. Yeah, that's not good.
2. Brendan Morrison
Oh, stop laughing. I'm not talking Brendan Morrison by himself, I'm looking at what Brendan Morrison could possibly do for the rest of the team. Morrison's a playmaker. Teemu Selanne's a goal scorer. Goal scorers need playmakers to make them even better (see: Cheechoo, Jonathan). If Morrison clicks with Selanne in an Andy McDonald-minus-the-freakish-neck-muscles kind of way, that gives the Ducks two pretty strong forward lines. We know Perry and Getzlaf will get their points but what about secondary scoring?Last season, I don't think I was the only person who laughed when Burke signed on Todd Bertuzzi's diminished scoring abilities. We know that Selanne still has it but if Teemu's got a partner that can actually dish him the puck, he becomes that much more of a threat. Teams with one scoring line don't usually accomplish much (hello Vancouver), but when you start spreading that around, that's when the proverbial shiznit hits the fan.
3. Pronger/Niedermayer
You could say that this point is an extension of the first one, but that one was really more about off-ice distractions and general roster discombobulation. This is about having two Norris-quality defensemen who can handle 30+ minutes a night, play special teams, send out a great outlet pass, and shut down the opposition's top scorer. With all due respect to the Detroit blueline, there's simply no team that can match what Anaheim can do -- that is, have one Norris-candidate on the ice at all times.
Put it this way -- the old adage of line matching doesn't work if you have either a healthy Pronger or Niedermayer on the ice. You can't try to avoid the shutdown defenseman because they're both capable of it. Hell, stick me out there with my limited beer-league skills and I'd still probably be a +30 for the year (Burkie, I'm a free agent and I'll sign for the league minimum). This combination scared me when Pronger first came to Anaheim and it still scares me today. And it's just not fair.
Gee, that subject is kinda grand in a Star Wars: Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back kind of way.
I'm taking RudyKelly's challenge of coming up with a "Best Of" team (plus, there's not much to talk about right now and my own blog and business are waiting for server repair). I'm doing something slightly different, mostly because so many Sharks players have had up-and-down seasons, so I'm going to pick a single season to represent each player.
Also, you'll notice that the centers and right wings far outweigh the left wings. There really haven't been too many spectacular left wings in Sharks history (Ray Whitney became a great player after the Sharks dumped him). Perhaps Milan Michalek can change that some day.
1st Line:
C-Joe Thornton 05-06
MVP, league's leading scorer, and catalyst for turning a stuck-in-neutral San Jose Sharks into a league powerhouse, Joe Thornton will probably go down in history as one of, if not the most talented forward in Sharks history. From day one, Thornton was an absolute monster, and his first season in teal provided so many memorable "holy crap" moments -- from his booming slapshot off the post in his first shift in Buffalo to his total undressing of Washington's defense and Olaf Kolzig -- that the memory of Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart, and Wayne Primeau faded pretty darn fast.
RW-Jonathan Cheechoo 05-06
In 2005-06, you couldn't tab Thornton without mentioning Cheechoo. As Thornton's triggerman, a fully healthy Cheechoo (something that hasn't happened much over the past two seasons) fired off so many spot-on one-timers fed from Thornton that an early goal had you thinking, "Maybe he'll get another hat trick." But Cheechoo wasn't a one-trick pony that year; while groin issues have prevented Cheechoo from being able to be as scrappy as he could be, a good chunk of his goals in 05-06 came from being persistent all around the net for rebounds, second chances, and "hit it till the damn thing goes in" goals.
LW-Jeff Friesen 97-98
Ten years ago, Friesen was the projected franchise and future captain; seemingly on the upswing, Friesen broke 30 goals for the only time in his career. In that season, Friesen used his speed, hands, and wrist shot to become the Sharks' most dangerous weapon. He'll never recapture that, but we'll always have our memories of #39 speeding down the wing past opposing defenders.
By the way, did you hear Freeze is back in San Jose on a tryout?
2nd Line:
C-Patrick Marleau 05-06
While Marleau became captain and the go-to guy in 03-04, it wasn't until after the lockout when Marleau put it all together. Before the Thornton trade, Marleau was seemingly the only Sharks player that was effective that season; after the Thornton trade, Marleau became even more deadly with defensive pressure split between the two centers. while Thornton had Cheechoo on his wing, Marleau wound up with rookies Milan Michalek and Steve Bernier -- and even then, he propelled them to one of the best lines in the Western Conference that season.
RW-Owen Nolan 99-00
By the time 2000 rolled around, Owen Nolan was a legitimate Hart Trophy candidate. While ultimately potting 44 goals, Nolan was a force in all aspects -- special teams, hitting hard along the boards, and scoring goals through sheer force of will. That year, Nolan finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting and solidified Darryl Sutter's hunch in making him the captain.
LW-Milan Michalek 06-07
Michalek's sophomore campaign had him working up to star-player status, notching 26 goals and 40 assists, mostly on a line with Joe Thornton. This, much more so than in his rookie year, showed Sharks fans how devastating Michalek's speed could be. In fact, even on a team with Patrick Marleau, Michalek's bursts up the wing made him appear to be the fastest player on the team.
To be continued... (though PJ and Cheechew are welcome to make up their own list).
Here are a few photos from the Kings 3-2 OT shootout win over the Sharks last night at HP Pavilion. There was a lot of negative comments made after the shootout loss, but the Sharks did come back late in recent games against Anaheim and LA, they just can't get it done in the shootout.
San Jose is 1-4 this season in shootouts, and 4-13 all time (worst in the NHL). Evgeni Nabokov has to get over the poke check strategy in a shootout, it rarely works, and head coach Ron Wilson needs to get creative with who he selects to take shots. If the big guns are not firing, ice Rob Davison, Sandis Ozolinsh and Curtis Brown. Try anything, because what they are trying now is not working.
There were reporters from ESPN, the Canadian Press, the Globe and Mail, and a few other national sources, and Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr. was in the press box. After this type of loss, with this amount of media and the Board of Governors meeting today and tomorrow in Pebble Beach, expect the Sharks rumor mill to hit the fan.
A few more notes from the game are up here. War Rudy Kelly's blog posts without f-bombs.
Due to Warriors and College Football, tonight's game was not on TV here in the Bay Area. So fans were left to listening to the radio or following the game on the internet. As he likes to do after losses, Ron Wilson decided to shake up the lineup. Healthy scratches included Ehrhoff and Rissmiller with Goc and Semenov taking their places. It looked like it worked for this night as the Sharks came back from their disappointing loss on Friday to win 3-1. This lineup juggling could be a continuing trend unless the Sharks get on an extended winning streak. Call it superstition or just looking for the right combination. It seems Ron Wilson is trying anything he can to get Cheechoo back on track. Cheech was put on the 4th line for the last few games but tonight had 1 goal and 1 assist.
Once again the Sharks are looking at a 3 day break. They are in a stretch of 16 days where they will play only 6 games. Yes it gives Nabby a chance to start every game, but this might explain the inconsistency of play.
It was reported on the telecast last night that Clowe was scheduled for knee surgery and would be out 4 months. Later in the game they updated the situation and said he was still being examined. Are the Sharks trying to hide the real extent of the injury? Either way it will be a big loss but the depth of the team will help as it will give a chance for youngsters Setoguchi and Kaspar to get regular time. If they fail, there are still Brown, Goc and Rissmiller.
Dallas comes to the tank on Wednesday.
I'm guessing rookie Devin Setoguchi is enjoying a nice flight back to California with the rest of his Shark teammates. His day began preparing for his 1st ever NHL game. He started on a 3rd line but by the 3rd period he found himself on a line with Joe Thornton and Milan Michalek. To top off his night, he scored two 3rd period goals within 3 mins of each other including the game winner in San Jose's 4-2 win in Dallas. He was smart and did what any Thornton linemate should do when Joe has the puck, go to the net and have your stick on the ice. Both of his goals were carbon copies with Joe camping behind the net and looking out front for a streaking Seto who one-timed it both times past Marty Turco. Seto looked like a young...well shall I say... Jonathan Cheechoo. Speaking of which, what has happened to the guy who scored 56 goals just 2 years ago. Tonight we started on the 4th line and played only 9:48. He did have one assist and cancelled out an icing late in the game with his hustle, but he just doesn't look like the same player. Could it be he is still not over his injury he suffered in the 1st round of the playoffs last year? He does have 2 goals and 3 assists this season which is decent, but he is not getting his normal scoring chances even when playing with Thornton.
3 days off and a home and home series with the LA Kings this weekend.
Well, I’m a day late on this, but top line winger Chris Kunitz, who is already under contract for $1.15 M this coming season, signed a UFA-avoiding extension yesterday: 4 years, $14.9 M (with a cap value of $3.725 M per year).
I’m fairly happy with this signing, though I will note that it is a bit difficult to peg a value on Kunitz’s contributions. After all, Kunitz is rarely the opponent’s focal point on any of his line combinations. But whereas some players are purely "passengers" on scoring lines, Kunitz is more of an "enabler"—he noticeably improves scoring results around him.
To demonstrate this, I stole some numbers from an even-strength teammate evaluation site created by HockeyAnalysis.com’s David Johnson. Basically, this site looks at last season’s even-strength ice time and determines scoring rates (GF and GA) when certain players play together and when they play apart. Below are the top 4 forwards and the top 4 defensemen that Chris Kunitz played with at even-strength last year. Note how all 8 players had improved results playing with Kunitz compared to their even-strength ice time without him.
Teammate | With Kunitz | Without Kunitz | Kunitz Factor |
|---|---|---|---|
Andy McDonald | +1.25 -0.61 +0.64 | +0.91 -1.26 -0.35 | +0.99 |
Teemu Selanne | +1.27 -0.62 +0.65 | +1.13 -0.92 +0.21 | +0.44 |
Ryan Getzlaf | +1.31 -0.60 +0.72 | +0.91 -0.57 +0.35 | +0.37 |
Corey Perry | +1.12 -0.56 +0.56 | +0.93 -0.58 +0.35 | +0.21 |
Francois Beauchemin | +0.89 -0.61 +0.28 | +0.83 -0.81 +0.02 | +0.26 |
Scott Niedermayer | +1.18 -0.90 +0.28 | +0.87 -0.81 +0.06 | +0.22 |
Sean O’Donnell | +1.31 -0.50 +0.81 | +0.71 -0.82 -0.11 | +0.92 |
Chris Pronger | +1.41 -0.45 +0.96 | +0.90 -0.60 +0.30 | +0.66 |
4-year contracts that Burke has negotiated:
Scott Niedermayer
Rob Niedermayer
J.S. Giguere
Chris Kunitz
4-year-remaining contracts that Burke has acquired:
Todd Marchant
Chris Pronger
Update 11:40: Cheechoo participates in morning skate.
Some random thoughts going into game 2 tonight...
Before I get into Stars-Canucks talk, let me say, if Jon Cheechoo really is only "day-to-day," then the NHL needs to set up some kind of Player Who Had the Best Playoff Series While Horribly Injured Trophy.
A few ideas on such an award:
Even though the injury actually kept him out of the playoffs, they could hand out Peter Forsberg's ruptured spleen, which I assume is currently preserved in a jar somewhere in Sweden. Just imagine the "Stanley Cup at the bottom of Mario Lemieux's pool" type stories that could come from that one.
Since even the most astute hockey fans cannot fondly remember superstars of yore such as Mr. Vezina, the NHL could also go the Kirk Gibson Trophy route, since he famously hit a home run in the 1988 World Series against a Hall of Fame closer who had a Hall of Fame moustache even though he could barely run around the bases.
If all else fails, they could always hand out a crutch made of solid gold.
All joking aside, that was a sickening collision. I cannot say if it was dirty or not, but I can say for sure that I'm glad I'm not Scott Hartnell for the next, oh, two weeks or so. Either way, Cheechoo will deserve oodles of respect if he returns during this year's playoffs and a spleen in a jar if he makes it back to play another shift against the Predators. Forsberg could even be on hand to pass it to Cheech, which I guess would be Hannibal Lecter's answer to the green jacket ceremony at the Master's.
OK, that went on too long. Let's move along now...
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Due to my work schedule, I was only able to see about "half" of the Stars-Canucks game. This, of course, means that I watched three periods of play. After watching those periods alone [since I had to drive home after the third OT, I didn't witness a single goal during real time] I took away a few things:
1. The Stars greatly outclassed the offensively stunted Canucks, as anyone who watched the game could see.
2. Though he might be sloppy every now and then, Roberto Luongo is the real deal.
3. Maybe Marty Turco really can't catch a break.
4. The Stars might somehow win the series after that monumental kick to the groin, but I know this much: fighting back in this series will take so much out of them that winning the Cup might already be a pipe dream.
5. People in the sports media love to complain about big-OT games, as if to say: "Yes, we actually hate our jobs. So what?"
Still, I have to give kudos to the local, quite heralded Ralph Strangis-Darryl Reaugh broadcast team for waiting at least 3 OTs for the "there's sure a lot of overtime" jokes to creep in. Then again, it's not like those guys haven't announced marathon games before (some might remember an 80-minute game against the Ducks and a Cup-clinching marathon against the Sabres).6. Stu Barnes has to be the Claude Lemieux of playoff OT. He hit a post and just seems to have a knack for scoring those gigantic goals. I'm sure he would have gotten a goal by the 6th OT.
I saw a neat little Sports Illustrated info graphic where they listed 5 star players who usually improve their goal outputs significantly during the playoffs.
In fact, it made me think up a seemingly impossible job for a stat nut. I challenge a hockey stat savant to dig up compelling numbers on players who score an absurdly disproportionate amount of playoff OT points compared to their normal output. (Steve Ott would probably have an unfair advantage since he scored that OT GWG against Colorado in the Stars' last pre-lockout playoff W)
At first I thought the Stars might be screwed, since coming back from a road multi-OT loss is about as deflating as it gets. Still, the silver lining is that the Stars should have won that game. So there's hope. But like Cheechoo's knee, you can't say it doesn't hurt.
Nine minutes into the second period of the Sharks 5-4 double OT win over the Nashville Predators, right wing Scott Hartnell took out San Jose's leading scorer with a knee-on-knee hit, and an elbow to the head, on the same play.
Intentional? Of course not, just a hard working effort to skate through an opposing player, even after he no longer had the puck. Just like hitting a tennis ball. Intent to injure? Bleep no. His knee and face just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The fact that no one in the NHL has been able to stop the Thornton-Cheechoo tandem the last month also has nothing to do with it.
The injury did shine a spotlight on a major question mark for the Sharks. San Jose has the depth to bring in quality players, with center Joe Pavelski and agitator Mark Smith in reserve, but the hit on Cheechoo seemed to shake off a lot of the confidence the Sharks spent the last month and a half building. They need Rivet and Guerin, and Brown/Grier to step in and provide leadership when they feel the momentum start to swing. That momentum carried San Jose out of the playoffs in 4 games against Edmonton last year.
More on the Cheechoo hit here.
The NHL held a media conference call with San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton today after he was named the NHL's second star of the month for March.
DAVID KEON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm David Keon of the National Hockey League's public relations department, and I'd like to welcome you to today's call. Today's guest is San Jose Sharks' center Joe Thornton. Thanks to Joe for taking the time today to answer your questions, and thanks to Scott Emmert of the Sharks' public relations department for arranging the call.
Yesterday Joe was named "Second Star" for the month of March after leading all players in scoring with 24 points in 14 games. His season total of 109 points leads the Sharks and ranks him second in the National Hockey League behind Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, who has 117.
Joe needs two assists to become only the third player in NHL history to post consecutive 90-assist seasons, the other two being Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
With 102 points the Sharks are tied with Dallas and trail Anaheim by four points in the race for top spot in the Pacific Division. They visit Anaheim tomorrow, host Calgary Thursday and finish the regular season at home against Vancouver Saturday.
Thanks to Joe for joining us today. We'll open it up for questions now.
[Q] Could you just address the impact that the acquisition of Bill Guerin and Craig Rivet have had on the team?
[JOE THORNTON] Well, obviously, we're pretty young in the back, so Rivet just brings us some more toughness back there. He's pretty rugged. He plays the power plays, the right-handed shot, which we needed, as well. So he fills so many voids that we didn't have before. He's a guy that's been there, done that, and he's going to be great going to the playoffs.
Obviously Billy winning the Cup I think in '95 or '96, he's a good, veteran guy that works really well with Patty Marleau, and he’s another right-handed shot. He's physical, he's big, he's strong and just two very, very valuable pickups that we definitely needed coming down the stretch here.
[Q] I'd like to ask another question. I've got to ask you, last season late you just went on an amazing rampage, and you've done it again this season. How do you explain the late season surges that you have?
[JOE THORNTON] I don't know, it's just -- obviously especially this year, playing with Milan Michalek, he's been playing great lately, and Cheech has been putting the puck in the back of the net. But I don't really know the rhyme or reason that it happens. But like you said, it happened last year and again this year, but I don't know the reason why.
[Q] Just wondering, if what way do you think you're a better player right now than you were last season at this time of the season in which you won the Hart Trophy?
[JOE THORNTON] Well, I think -- I'm having pretty much similar years. Individually I'd like to think I've gotten better each and every year. You know, that's a tough question to answer. I just feel good, I feel confident, and I feel good with my surroundings out here now. Just whoever I play with, I feel very comfortable with who I'm playing with.
[Q] Just one more question. In the last month or so Jonathan has also been a quite a tear. Do you feel like you got him going or he got you going, or do you think it was a bit of a combination?
[JOE THORNTON] It could have been a combination of both things, an also you can throw in Milan Michalek. He's playing great hockey, as well. He's brings so much speed to our line that is so valuable to us. I think we kind of miss Nils Ekman because we had so much speed with him.
But yeah, Cheech has been putting the puck in the back of the net for me, and it just makes my job a lot easier, that's for sure.
[Q] You got to play with Bill Guerin. I want to follow up on that. You got to play with him in Boston, and I wanted to know what influence he had on you maturing as a player and also a person off the ice, too.
[JOE THORNTON] Billy is just a great guy. Obviously I played with him a couple years there in Boston. He's a bubbly guy, a good guy to have in the locker room. He's a veteran guy. We never really played the same position.
I think you can just learn -- he plays that rugged style, but he's got -- he's such a nice goal scorer. But I think I definitely learned a lot as a player from him and as a person. It's good to have him here because we definitely have a young team and he can definitely look at some young guys and point out some pointers that he's seen in the past and help these young guys to become better players.
[Q] And just a follow-up question, what do you want to do to shut down the naysayers of you in the Playoffs and people saying you'll lose again in the Playoffs? What do you want to do? Is that motivating you this year?
[JOE THORNTON] I don't know, I don't really listen to any of that stuff. I think we definitely have a good team, that we can really go for the Stanley Cup this year, and I feel comfortable with this team and I have a lot of confidence in this team. Hockey is a team sport and it always will be, and I think it's a good shot. If we win the Cup, then I don't know if there will be any more of that.
[Q] What did you learn from last year's experience having that two game lead over Edmonton and seeing it disappear and then you guys disappear? What did you take from that and take into this upcoming post-season?
[JOE THORNTON] Well, the team is not done until they're done, until they've lost that fourth game. I think as a young team last year, we all learned together, and I think it just makes us better as a team as a whole.
But you can't take a team too lightly even though they're down 2-0 because the momentum can switch just like that in that triple overtime game that they beat us. Just never take your opponent too lightly, and we won't this year.
[Q] This is playing off a previous question, but do you feel a pressure just to have that like big bust-out Playoff run, both individually and as a team? Does that weigh on you at all?
[JOE THORNTON] Not at all, no, not at all.
[Q] And how do you then carry your -- and another question was the late season surge, so you're on one right now, you're enjoying one. How do you carry that into the post-season?
[JOE THORNTON] Just keep doing the same things, keep doing the same things in practice, and eventually it will spill over into games. Just play consistent. I think as a team we've been playing consistent, as for myself, individually just being consistent each and every night and working hard each and every night. So just keep on doing the little things that I've been doing and hopefully carry it over and hopefully it works in the Playoffs.
Well, I spell it like this:
That guy only knows two kinds of streaks, Cold or Hot, and not much in between. 4 goals in 2 games against the Ducks, which was preceded by a seven game goalless streak, that followed a 5 goals in 7 game stretch, that followed a 1 goal in 9 game slump, and well, you get the picture.
Well, I got curious about one thing, and here's what I found out:
Fuckin' Cheechoo has been murdering his BoC brothers since the lockout.
A summary of my thoughts during the first two periods:
Stupid fast Ducks.
Stupid crappy Sharks defense.
Stupid Cheechoo not scoring on an empty net.
Stupid slumping Sharks power play.
Stupid really crappy Sharks defense.
Stupid awful passing.
Stupid awesome Chris Pronger.
Stupid freakin' Dustin Penner always working the Sharks.
Stupid really freakin' crappy Sharks defense.
Well...there's always tomorrow night. Tomorrow, Ron Wilson should dress Ville "Vile" Niemenen just so he can run Pronger and Giguere and MacDonald and Selanne and Penner and both of those god damn brothers. Then they can suspend Vile for the rest of the season but Anaheim will be crippled and things will be good.
Not that I'm, you know, a bitter Sharks fan or anything. God I hate Chris Pronger.
Post-game update: Well, maybe Ron Wilson read the team this post in the 2nd intermission. The 3rd period Sharks squad is what I hope to see tomorrow night. Finally, Cheechoo scores on a good shot from the high slot. It's about freakin' time. Now, about that defense...
Note: The title of this post is completely sarcastic
Jeez, some fans just have to find something wrong with everything, don't they? It doesn't matter that the Sharks are winning or that Milan Michalek is looking like a stud or that the goalie platoon thing is working. Around the Shark Tank and on message boards, there's this underlying buzz of "What's happened to Jonathon Cheechoo and how do we get rid of him?"
Please, people. Calm the fuck down. Seriously.
Yes, Cheechoo only has five goals. Yes, Cheechoo has been pretty darn ineffective this season. Yes, Cheechoo is off the Thornton line, and boy, doesn't Mike Grier look good right now?
Look, when you win the Rocket Richard with 56 goals, people expect you to come back and score, like, 231 goals the next season when in fact, most goal leaders have a bit of a slump the next season. This usually means a drop of about 10-15 goals.
Does this mean the players have become crappy over the offseason? No, but it means that defenses are keying in on them a hell of a lot more.
I've always thought that Cheechoo is a pretty good, but not great player, and that's not a knock on him. He's got a dynamic shot and is scrappy, but he can't create offense by himself the way a Jaromir Jagr or Eric Staal do, and that's fine. Put him with a playmaker and he becomes a gold mine. With an average center, he's probably a 25-35 goal guy and there's nothing wrong with that. But because he can't generate offense purely by himself a la Jagr, when defenses key in on him and his centerman more, he loses a little bit of his spark. Cheech is scrappy enough and hard working enough that he'll get it back after he adjusts a little bit (I like Ron Wilson's idea of putting him on a line that cycles a little more with Marcel Goc just to try and get him skating a little bit more).
So don't jump off the Cheechoo bandwagon yet. He's still shooting the puck even though it's not going in as much. He's still fighting through checks. And he's got the drive to get back in the groove, he's just got to adjust to the newfound attention defenses are giving him.
Before the madness of the WCF tonight (stupid stupid freakin' Oilers), it's time to hand out the grades for the Sharks' players, coaches, and management. Today's installment -- the top two lines:
Forwards
Joe Thornton: It's hard to argue with winning the Art Ross, being one of your team's top penalty killers, and sparking the Richard winner. Even though Joe didn't put up the points in the playoffs, he had a great first round by drawing a ton of penalties and creating a lot of plays. His point totals against Edmonton were roughly the same, but his play had been diminished as Chris Pronger did what the Predators couldn't. Regular Season: A+. Playoffs: B-.
Jonathon Cheechoo: We knew Cheech was good, but Rocket Richard good? Cheech turned into a combination of Brett Hull and John LeClair -- disappearing into shooting positions and firing away one-timers like Hull and mucking around the crease for goals like LeClair. However, passing lanes were taken away from him in the playoffs, and if you can't get the puck to him, he can't shoot. Regular Season: A-. Playoffs: C-.
Nils Ekman: Is there another NHL player that goes offsides as much as Ekman? From the doghouse (4th line/scratched) to the penthouse (Thornton/Cheechoo) and back, Ekman's lack of intensity has been frustrating since he has so much talent. If someone could do a heart transplant on Ekman, he may be a 40-goal scorer. Regular Season: C-. Playoffs: D.
Patrick Marleau: Before the Thornton trade, Marleau was the only consistent player on the Sharks. Sandwiched between rookies and journeymen (hello and goodbye Niko Dimitrakos and Grant Stevenson) for the entire season, Marleau started finding some chemistry with Milan Michalek in January and the pair really clicked when Steve Bernier returned. Against Edmonton, their line was smoking until Michalek's injury knocked things out of whack. Regular Season: A. Playoffs: B.
Milan Michalek: After an atrociously slow start, Michalek finally found his groove with Patrick Marleau and Steve Bernier. The biggest success of this season was the fact that Michalek's knee held up as he rounded into form. Next season, look for his confidence and strength to go up; as he does that, 30 goals/60 points should be a reasonable expectation. Regular Season: B-. Playoffs: B.
Steve Bernier: Bernier's first half of the season was actually worse than Michalek's simply because he didn't even make the big squad back in September. After being called back up, Bernier found a home with Patrick Marleau and Milan Michalek. For once, a Sharks rookie was actually being noticed by the Canadian media. Like his linemates, Bernier had a great series against Nashville and was going strong until the Michalek injury derailed things. Regular Season: B. Playoffs: B.
