2009-2010 San Jose Sharks Season Preview - The Last Chance

It seems like an odd time to look one year ahead.

We're less than 24 hours from the start of the 09/10 season; a season that holds as much promise as any for the San Jose Sharks. Your Sharks have the most talented roster in club history and are among a select few true Stanley Cup contenders.

And yet, I can't help but think about one year from today.

The best analogy I can give is that of a high school senior. As a senior, you are on the cusp of embarking on one of the most fun and memorable times of your life. You will spend more time with your friends than ever, taking advantage of 4+ years of tough times, running jokes, and everything in between.

But in the back of your mind, you know that you only have one year left before it all changes. Everything you do is tinged with nostalgia, as if it is the last chance you'll ever have to experience these moments with these people.

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I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the 2009-2010 Sharks. Let's talk about trades.

You'll recall in May, I gave my thoughts on the roster heading into this year (I, II, and III). In my opinion, there was something inherently corrupted with the Sharks, and the only solution was to trade away one of the Big 3 - Marleau, Thornton, or Nabokov. San Jose needed a Big Change.

We got that Big Change in the form of one Dany Heatley, and we got it without giving up one of the Big 3. Hooray! Hooray?

Doug Wilson absolutely fleeced Bryan Murray, no doubt about it. Nice use of leverage, Dougie.

I'm still worried, though. The albatross, the 800-lb. gorilla, and the Ghost of Playoffs Past still live at HP Pavilion. As long as Marleau, Thornton, and Nabokov wear teal, this will still be considered the same playoff team that has choked every year since the lockout. This squad is running out of chances.

More accurately, this squad is on its last chance.

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Patrick Marleau, Evgeni Nabokov, and Rob Blake consume nearly 30% of San Jose's salary cap this year, and, as it stands currently, 0% of the cap next year. San Jose's all-time points, goals, assists, goalie wins, saves, shut outs, and the current captain - they will all be off the San Jose payroll at the end of this season as unrestricted free agents.

Enjoy the time with your friends while it lasts, kids, because next year you're all going to different colleges.

That may be premature. Of course, any or all of those players could sign an extension tomorrow, the next day, or after the season concludes. But without a Stanely Cup engraved with their names as champions, what would be the point? The goal of a hockey club is to win the Cup, and Nabby and Patty have been given plenty of opportunities to do that here in San Jose. This is may be their best chance. It's probably their last chance.

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We're a long way off from that, though. We have Todd McLellan's sophomore campaign, plenty of hungry kids from Worcester, and a Rob Blake captaincy to anticipate and enjoy.

Fellow Sharks fans, I wish you a fantastic time with what will be one of the most turbulent, thrilling, and, hopefully, successful years in San Jose Sharks history. I can't wait to celebrate with you at the graduation party, drinking out of a big, beautiful, silver Cup.

Now and always, Go Sharks.

Yeah It's The Douggernaut, Bitch!!!

Goddamnit if Douglas Murray doesn't love him the preseason.

Your Newest Shark - Manny Malhotra

Read all about it.

I don't know much about Malhotra other than this:

• A quick look at his stats make him look like Mike Grier - defense + face-offs.
• He was one of those guys on Columbus whose name kept popping up during games with the Sharks.
  
• He apparently signed for well below his market value, $700,000.

All of these things make me happy.

You know what else makes me happy? October 1st is ONE FUCKING WEEK AWAY!!! Holy shit this season snuck up on me.

Furious Rosterbation:

Heatley - Thornton - Setoguchi
Clowe - Marleau - Pavelski
McGinn - Malhotra - Mitchell
Shelley - Nichol - Staubitz

These lines are really starting to come together and not looking like 2 superstar lines + 2 lines of yesterday's garbage.

Rotten

David Pollak wrote an article for the Merc today about Todd McLellan's 2nd year as head coach, and supplements it as usual with this WTC post.

This quote from the WTC post had me laughing:

On the team’s overall performance against the Ducks: “Were we terrible? Absolutely not. In watching the games now, when it doesn’t matter any more – there’s nothing on the line because it’s in the past – when you watch it, we weren’t as bad as some made us out to be. Now Game 4 is completely different. We were rotten that night.

I was trying to remember what I wrote about Game 4 so I took a look at my post from that game.

Ah, good good times. Boy I sure am ready for another season of Sharks hockey.

Let's Make A Deal

The deal is done:

Cheechoo, Michalek, and 2010's 2nd round pick for Dany Heatley and a 5th round pick.

Knee jerk reaction - I'm stoked. We moved 2 of our albatross contracts and got back one of the best goal scorers in the league... who may or may not have character issues that I'll pretend don't exist.

This move makes way more sense than yesterday's madness, and is practically the same deal from a few weeks ago (Cheech, Ehrhoff, and a 1st rounder for Heatley).

Rosterbation:

Marleau - Thornton - Heatley
Clowe - Pavelski - Setoguchi
? - Mitchell - McGinn
Shelley - Nichol - ?

I've got Hinote, Ortmeyer, and Vesce as possibles for those last 2 question marks, but who knows how training camp will shake out.

This season just got way more interesting.

What The Fuck Is Going On Around Here?

I'll believe it when I see it.

NEIN

Found on Sharks Hockey Analysis.

So we traded Ehrhoff & Luko for 3 Ritz crackers and a length of string. And goddamnit, anyone that says that was a bad trade should wiped off the earth in a final solution.

OK probably not, but they should reconsider their position based on my well-reasoned argument:

• This trade had to happen. Maybe not this trade, but Michalek & Luko to St. Louis did. Or Cheechoo & Ehrhoff to Florida did. The details aren't important. The fact of the matter is San Jose could not assemble a 2o-man roster with Ehrhoff, Luko, Michalek, and Cheechoo on the payroll. The Sharks had to dump at least some of those contracts for nothing.
• Now that we've singled out the 4 men on the chopping block, which of those 2 would you prefer to see gone? Michalek has way too much potential and scoring touch to deal. I'm still a fan of Cheechoo, and I'd expect a little more than absolutely nothing in return for him. Which leaves us with...
• Lukowich. Luko always seemed like a good guy and his initial tandem in San Jose with Dan Boyle gave us a really solid pairing that played off each others strengths. Unfortunately injuries derailed his season and his contract derailed his tenure. Sorry dude. And then, there's...
• Ehrhoff. Let's not beat around the bush: Good Fucking Riddance. If you come here often you know I'm not a fan of Ehrhoff. Offensive potential? More like the potential to rip a shot 5 feet wide of the net. Oh, and when that shot whips around the board back into the neutral zone, don't look for Christian, because he'll be out of position, as always. Sorry, opposing forwards in San Jose's end, looks like you'll need someone else to pass to you from now on.

The cap space generated let Doug Wilson immediately sign Torrey Mitchell and Brad Staubitz, with about 4 million left over. Maybe I'll consider that the trade - Ehrhoff & Luko for Mitchell & Staubitz. Works for me.