Saturday Faceoff: What’s next in San Jose?

It is mid-January and the Sharks are, well, treading water. We haven’t seen this from them since before the lockout as Team Teal has been an annual playoff contender for many years. Right now, though, they’re on the outside looking in in the West. Is it time to change things up in the Bay Area? Patrick and I debate…

Time to move on
By Patrick Hoffman

When things are not working out in life, many of us will take the hint and do what we can to move on. However, there is one team in the NHL that has done the same thing year in and year out to no avail: the San Jose Sharks.

It seems like every season the Sharks write the same story. It begins with a terrific regular season in which they usually find themselves at or near the top conference, and ends with playoff failure in the form of a first or second round exit.

This season, believe it not, the Sharks have struggled to find their game and currently find themselves in 12th place in the Western Conference with 47 points (yes, you read that correctly). Obviously, this is a much different story, but it has the potential to end the same way it always does: with a playoff exit (if they get that far).

With that being said, it is time for the San Jose Sharks to move on and to blow it all up.

As a whole, the organization needs some new blood that is going to produce different and better results. The question I am sure many of you are asking is ‘where do you start’? It’s tough to say, but looking at the top would not be a bad place to begin.

There is no doubt that Sharks’ general manager Doug Wilson has done a solid job of making the Sharks one of the elite teams in the league. However, a new approach may be needed so that the rebuild can officially begin.

Another place to look is behind the bench. In his first two seasons as the Sharks’ head coach, Todd McLellan produced a record of 104-38-22. Last season, McLellan took the team to the Western Conference Finals last season, where they would bow out to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.

Are the team’s playoff failures McLellan’s fault? Well, the finger should not be pointed just at him but one would certainly have to think about whether or not McLellan is the right guy for this hockey team.

Lastly, one should look at the team’s personnel. When is Captain Joe Thornton going to deliver? Are Antero Niittymaki and Antti Niemi really the goaltenders to lead this team to a championship? When are more prospects going to get the chance to really step up like Logan Couture has gotten?

It is time for the Sharks to go in a new direction because the path they are on now will end the same way that it always does.

It is time for the Sharks to move on and start over.
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'When the going gets tough, the tough get going'
By Ryan Porth

The trio of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau has four points each since ringing in the New Year. The team has lost six in a row, scoring eight goals in total. In their last two games, they fell to the lowly Leafs and Oilers on home-ice.

Life is certainly not easy for the perennial contending Sharks right now. But are wholesale changes needed at this point, as Patrick suggested? I’m not too sure. Plus, when you look at the current contracts for their core, they seem to be stuck with what they have.

That aforementioned trio of Thornton, Heatley and Marleau is locked up through the 2013-14 season with cap hits that don’t seem too desirable in this current salary cap era. Dan Boyle, Joe Pavelski and Ryan Clowe are also signed for the long-term, making it difficult for Doug Wilson to pull the trigger on a fire-sale.

With that being said, that doesn’t mean changes aren’t needed for Team Teal. The emergence of Logan Couture has made Devin Setoguchi expendable (if he wasn’t already). Setoguchi has been a disappointment, scoring just 27 goals (and 48 points) in 106 goals since his breakout 2008/09 campaign in which he netted 31 goals.

The back end is the biggest issue, though. Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymaki have played musical chairs in the crease all year; which hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing, but combined, they haven’t brought the stability that Evgeni Nabokov did for so many years.

Defensively, Wilson needs to find an upgrade in the worst way possible. Dan Boyle is logging over 27 minutes a night and not getting much help otherwise. Getting one or two defensemen that can play top-four minutes is a must at next month’s trade deadline.

Considering they are sort up against the cap, an overhaul on defense won’t be able to happen overnight; Wilson may have to wait until the off-season. But we have seen him pull off some big deadline deals in the past.

Overall, when I look at this Sharks team, I see a talented team in a funk. No, the core hasn’t proved they can win when it counts. No, the signs aren’t too positive in a tough Western Conference.

I think Wilson needs to stay the course until the All-Star break. If the team is still struggling, make a deal or two to boost the blueline.

However, if things get worse as the season wears on and the Sharks miss the postseason for the first time since 2002/03, it may be time to consider ‘blowing it up’ in the Bay Area.

Photo credit: Getty Images