I find it very odd that anyone here would want to give up Patty for Rick Nash. They all assume because he "doesn't deliver in the playoffs", DW needs to shake things up by getting rid of him. Yet Patty has 52 goals in 129 playoff games spanning a 14-year career; how exactly is that not delivering? On the other hand, Nash has a single goal in 4 playoff games spanning a 9-year career; his salary is also larger than Patty's. Heater had a higher salary than Patty but didn't produce as much (comparing their statistics in the regular season and playoffs); that's why DW let him go along with the fact that he wasn't a pure part of the team's core after playing here for only 2 seasons. It would take numerous seasons for Nash to adapt into our team structure and deliver in the playoffs; because hockey is a TEAM sport and winning isn't a matter of sheer talent. What exactly makes other people think Nash will do what they think Patty doesnt? Another thing that strikes me is how some say we need to get rid of DW. I guess they don't realize that there are many GMs out there like Howson or Snow who don't know how to effectively run a professional sports team. Guys like them are more than plentiful. But GMs who know how to build contenders are very scarce and hard to come by. They say he gives away our future but that certainly hasn't been the case with Pavelski or Couture. If the time comes a few seasons from now for the team to rebuild the roster, I would have full faith in DW; he already has some of the right pieces in place should that have to happen. But for now, we are still contenders thanks to the work of DW for keeping this team together and he knows 'you have to give to get', which is the most important concept when it comes to learning how to win.

I'll start with the coaching staff. First of all, getting rid of TMac would be perhaps the most foolish idea in DW's career. However, he needs some help, bring in another assistant coach; Yawney was an important part of the staff, it's a shame he left. Retaining Jumbo and Patty is important because they are totally clutch players; I want to see them retire in teal. I also don't want to see them leave this team then go on to win it all; imagine how Blues fans must have felt when Hull lifted Lord Stanley not once but twice after leaving their team. Keeping Logan, Havlat and Pavs is important too. I'm not so sure about Clowe because he seemed to go down a little this year although injuries might have been the main reason for that. I'm also in favor of keeping Winnik; he seemed to be our best deadline acquisition and he'd only get better with us by starting a season with us from training camp. I'm not so sure about Winchester although I don't think keeping him would be a poor choice. Handzus has lived up to my expectations based on his age and stats this year; he's certainly much better for his salary than what DW paid Huskins or Wallin. I'm in favor of keeping Braun too. I think Demers could be packaged with prospects or draft picks to get a better D-man; though I wouldn't mind keeping him. But I also have some questions. Obviously our PK hasn't been exactly stellar since losing Manny. I noticed we had elite PK even before having him on our team, who was our star PKer at that time? Who could we bring in as an assistant coach to maybe run the defense and PK? What free agents can we pursue that could upgrade the PK?

We need our main core group of players to stay intact (Thornton, Marleau, Couture, Burns, Pavelski, etc.) but DW needs to address the needs of his team with the middle of the season closing in. It also seems that with the deals he made with Chuck Fletcher this past summer, we don't have much legitimate trade bait. With the trade deadline coming up, who do you see DW adding to our roster? Who would you like to add and for what reasons, based on the needs of our Sharks for another playoff push? What would we have to give up?

Many teams in our conference are on the rise thanks to coaching changes or simple inspiration: Edmonton: looks like they have finished rebuilding Phoenix: They're showing ability to manage without Bryzgalov, just as I predicted Dallas: coaching change in the offseason St. Louis: they have been on fire since putting Hitchcock behind the bench. They are also inspired by their long history of having flashes of brillance without going all the way. I am getting a little afraid of St. Louis since they've gone much longer than us without even a Campbell trophy. Who do you guys think is going to be our toughest competition in the Western conference as the season progresses? Are you more afraid of the perceived dark horses such as St. Louis, or are the recent seasonally consistent teams such as Detroit or Chicago more dangerous?

Greetings, Wild nation. As a hardcore Sharks fan, I always know where our best players come from and the ones who make a difference. So far, Burns has been a beast, so has Havlat. I know we got a good deal from talks between Doug Wilson and Chuck Fletcher; but out of curiosity, I'd like to know your guys' perspective. Your team definitely got a great player in Setoguchi, we in Teal Town have so many great memories of him and can't wait for his return on November 10th. Seto is a force in the playoffs, having scored so many important goals for us the past couple seasons. The main thing I didn't like about the trade that gave us Burns was giving up Charlie Coyle, our first round pick from last offseason; the kid is already a star, but I'm glad we were able to get Boyle a playmate. I miss Heatley too, but we had to let him go; great player, but not what we needed right now. Anyway to sum it up, how are you guys enjoying Heater and Seto?

When the Sharks play in the NHL Winter Classic one day, where should it be and who should it be against? I say AT&T Park against the quacks or queens. Obviously it won't be snowing in San Francisco unless old man winter says otherwise, but it will still be fairly cold. Maybe the fact that it wouldn't be snowing would be able to symbolize how the sport of hockey has grown so much even in non-traditional markets.

What are your thoughts?

We have good backup goalies at the ready, that's for sure. But our starting goalie situation seems a little tough right now:

Niemi hasn't practiced since before having that minor procedure while the team has been practicing without him for the past couple weeks.

Nitty is out for 3 months after having hip surgery (I'd say he's either gonna be traded but that's not likely considering his injury history, or more likely he'll walk as an FA next summer.

It's been a while since Greiss has played here in SJ; he's not completely worthy of the starting job.

Sateri and Sexsmith don't seem to be ready for a full time position on the roster yet.

Heemskerk and Anderson are at least a couple years away from even getting their first call-up.

And of course, Stalock won't be even practicing again until past the season's halfway point (February). If only he hadn't been reassigned so soon after his debut, he would probably be on the ice right now. I hope he recovers quickly and that his injury won't impede him from getting his A-game back, because like most of us if not all, I consider him to be the future of San Jose's home-grown goaltending.

Anyone else have concerns?

This is something I just remembered from last season when I was listening to a gameday broadcast on the radio. Rusanowsky and Baker briefly discussed players gameday diet and how it is kind of tricky (it was a matinee-time game, so they brought it up). How do hockey players usually manage their diet/appetite on gamedays? I would think it's a somewhat complicated thing to do as part of their training and practice routines, especially if their game is in early afternoon or at nighttime.

What do players usually eat on gameday and how early before the game?

I would say our toughest playoff adversaries will definitely be in our own conference; if we can conquer them, we definitely have the ability to conquer whichever Eastern team we'd face in the Cup Final. I've grouped the bluelines in our conference into three groups: The elite/tough who will pose or can potentially be legitimate threat, the medium who have potential combined with some top-shelf guys, and the unproven/low who don't pose much of a threat or just have potential and may or may not show it this season.

 

Elite/tough ones:
Red Wings-We all very well know about Lidstrom, Stuart and Kronwall, while White may do in red what he did in teal. They are as always, a tough adversary.
Canucks-Bieksa and Hamhuis may very well build on the huge breakout they had last season and keep this blueline solidified. Rome is still a reasonable player but Salo’s age seemed to show during the playoffs.
Coyotes-Their blueline depth has greatly compensated for their lack of scoring depth over the past couple seasons, and is still fairly deadly. Rozsival, Aucoin, and Yandle have the stats to back themselves up, and Schlemko may be due for a breakout season. Put more scoring depth in front of them, and they are a beastly team.

Predators-Blum is a rookie and along with Klein, both show potential. Suter has definitely stood out and if Weber is given his arbitration award by the team he supposedly wants to remain with, this blueline is a definite threat.

Medium:
Blues-With all the talent this roster is composed of, I find it rather hard to believe they are rebuilding, unless it is a matter of finding team chemistry. Polak may have a breakout year, while Jackman is an on/off type player. Nikitin and Colaiacovo are not young, but not veterans either; they still have potential and by the looks of it, are just entering their prime. Pietrangelo is young, but has potential too.
Flames-Babchuk and Sarich are both proven, while Butler and Giordano have potential like many others in the Western Conference.
Blackhawks-Hjalmarsson is still solid, Montador is new and can certainly stand out again, and Seabrook is still fairly solid but seemed to take a small decline after they won the Cup. Keith has declined a little too. Not sure if they will be as tough as many other WC teams this season.
Stars-Daley and Grossman may both be due for breakout years, and many of us may know that Goligoski is definitely proven. This is a team that has had most of the right pieces in place to make the playoffs the last couple seasons but have fallen just short; this can definitely change with their new bench boss.

Yet to be proven/Questionable:
Ducks- right now they only seem to have two legit D-men: Visnovsky and Lydman. With the retirement of Niedermayer last offseason, their blueline took a blow. But they still have scoring depth like the Sharks.
Kings- their real standouts are Martinez and if he is returning to LA next season, Doughty.
Avalanche-They lost Liles last season, so their blueline went down. However, Hejda and O’Brien are both new and will definitely improve a team that was hampered by injuries last season but not quite put them into contending mode just yet.
Blue Jackets-Clitsome seems a little iffy, but Russell seems to have some potential that just might show itself soon. Not much depth here.
Oilers-Sutton is new to them but age seems to have caught up with him, unless he gets a chance to shine again with a team that is not quite finished rebuilding. Whitney is solid but may be a liability.
Wild-Lundin is new, but like Stoner, he’s got potential. Schultz may still be well in his prime and should get a chance to stand out again. Other than that, Zanon has been on and off the past couple seasons so he is questionable as to whether he provides depth to his team’s backend.

How would you rank these bluelines?

 

Have you been to any away games? If so, share your experiences. Mine are right below:

 

In January of 2010, I went to Staples Center (in LA) with my grandfather who lives in Encino. This was my first road game. I met a few fellow fans in teal around the arena and had some nice chats with them before the Sharks would end up with a 2-1 victory that night, revenge for a debacle that happened against the same team on their own ice just a week earlier.

 

One year after that, I went to the Shark Infestation game with my mom, who became hooked on hockey as much as I did after going off to school at SJSU. We had a blast before the game as we met so many Sharks fans who came in off the buses at a restaurant just in front of the quack pond. We had so much fun being surrounded in teal in the arena, we even made a “Fear the Fin” sign and had some great experiences with the fans even though the Sharks didn’t win that game.

 

A couple months after the infestation, I came home again this time for spring break, and my mom had some quick family business to attend to in Phoenix and coincidentally, the Sharks were in town at the same time, so we decided we better get to that game! The Jobing.com Arena is in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix about half an hour northwest of Downtown. The area around the place is so nice, it kind of feels like you’re out in the countryside, so peaceful; there’s also a nice food court right outside. After we parked, there were a couple of young Coyotes fans who badgered us once they saw us step out of the car with our Sharks gear and Fear the Fin sign, though I did respond with a couple words, but nothing serious. There were many teal bleeders there as well, including some who sat near us at the restaurant we had a quick bite at before the game. During the game, as the Sharks worked toward a 4-1 victory I told my mom they were making up for the goals she didn't get to see in Anaheim, including Clowe (her favorite).

 

What have your experiences at away games been like?

What reason do you guys think is the most plausible as to why fans of other teams and media critics badmouth the Sharks?

Could it be just plain ignorance where they try to pass themselves off as experts when they probably don't even know the rules of the game?

Is it against the bay area in general? Critics like to hate on bay area teams from what I understand. If so, why specifically hate on the bay area?

Is it arrogance?

Are they afraid of dominant teams of the past of losing to so-called underachievers?

Our forward lines are pretty much evenly matched up when you compare them to those of Detroit, Chicago, and Vancouver but the bluelines were very different. Our opponents' bluelines have definitely been what got us.

How exactly did our blueline matchup to teams we faced in the playoffs over the past couple seasons? I did a little research to compare some of them:

Against Detroit, their deadliest blueline weapons were Lidstrom, Stuart, Salei, and Kronwall while Ericsson and Rafalski weren't showing up for the playoffs as much. I am still not so sure on how we were able to out-blueline them since their stats were kind of different compared to our topline Boyle/Murray, though White, Vlasic and maybe Wallin were able to come in as clutch players for the defense (stats-wise). Were the two series with Detroit more of a battle of the offenses?

We know Chicago had Byfuglien, Seabrook, Keith, Hjalmarsson and Campbell. They were all pretty consistent in the regular season and playoffs during their 2010 Cup campaign (though Keith's performance took a small dive after they won it), so they answered with 4-5 well rounded defenseman against our 2 best well rounded in Boyle and Blake. But as we may know, this caused off-ice problems for them as they lost Byfuglien to free agency, almost lost Hjalmarsson, and eventually traded Campbell.

For Vancouver, Bieksa and Hamhuis were both on huge breakout years which practically came out of nowhere when you look at their previous seasons' stats. Salo's age seemed to have caught up with him, Rome was fairly decent, Edler wasn't all that great, and although Ehrhoff had his share of strikes in the offensive zone, he seemed to be on vacation in his own zone during the playoffs. So when you look closely, Vancouver only had about half the blueline power of Chicago; as evidenced by Chicago holding us to 7 goals in 4 games, while we striked Vancouver with 13 goals in 5 games.

My main question is, which teams' bluelines in our own conference (aside from Detroit) are going to be our biggest challenges this coming season?

I am sure many of us are aware about the potential change to the playoff format. Let me be one to say that I fully support such changes (but not simply adding one more wild card team per league).

I strongly believe in changing the playoff structure to be more like the NFL, NBA or NHL. Let me explain:

As has been for many years, baseball seems to be simply a game of chance. Only one team from each division makes it to the postseason and often times it is decided who will be that team when there could be as much as a quarter or third of the regular season left to play, and just blind luck which one out of the remaining 13 (NL) or 11 (AL) teams will join them. With baseball having a 162-game regular season, this adds many more “meaningless games” to the season, thus driving down attendance since at that point, the only thing you really have to watch those teams play for aside from their salary is pride, unless they have other motivations and in very rare cases, upsets.

 

This can explain why attendance is noticeably lower for many MLB teams compared to the other 3 major sports in the country (percentage wise, since different venues have different capacities). In 2010, only 3 MLB teams had regular sell outs, only 2 non sell outs were over 90% attendance, and 16 teams were at 70% or lower. As we know, many football games can sell out before the season even begins, not much stats explanation needed there. In the NBA, 16 teams were 90% attendance or better. In, the NHL, 19 of their teams better than 90%, with 12 of them being sell outs. Plus, they have more teams making the playoffs and that means more meaningful and exciting games.

I know about the complaints regarding “OK teams” or under .500 teams making the playoffs in these three leagues since it might undermine the teams that are supposed to be significantly better. But there are many times (and it is not rare or uncommon) when lower seeds (especially 8th seeded teams) upset the bigger guys which proves some very fine points about the context and character of professional sports. The complaint about making teams “work” for a playoff seed is ridiculous. Why should a top tier team or heavy favorite get a free pass through if they cannot defeat underdogs who supposedly have nothing to play for?

 

There is also the argument of the expanded postseason stretching into winter. Just shorten the regular season a little bit. Make the regular season end somewhere between 140 to 150 games so there is more time for the postseason.

I made this post to put together all jokes anyone can think about when it comes to our Sharks, and jokes used to make fun of other teams. I'll start with the few that I know, then you guys can add to the list:

Ducks are too fancy to go stick side on penalty shots and shootouts, like Gunnar Stahl.

Sharks have teeth, Ducks don't.

Jonathan Quick quickly gave up 5 goals.

The Sedins should win Oscars!

Can you guys add more?

Who do you guys think will be our greatest challenge next season as we go for another shot at the Cup. With all the talk about what we need to do to gear up the roster, that is only half of what needs to be done to win the Cup. Getting past the competition is the next part, and much tougher.

I would have to say that most teams at the bottom of the standings this season (Edmonton, Colorado, St Louis, etc) may be poised to make the playoffs again, after each of them went through a semi process of rebuilding, but not quite fit to be a contender just yet.

Over the past two seasons, we pretty much knew who our toughest opponents would be. Obviously Detroit, since they are full of playoff warriors, and give trouble to every team they face in the playoffs. Chicago and Vancouver were both teams that gave us trouble during the regular season. I looked at their records before those two seasons, and they seemed to have built up a little bit over the course of maybe 2-4 seasons before they won the conference championship. They both emerged from being close to the bottom of the playoff seeds, to going higher until they showed the energy to go further into the playoffs.

Which teams do you think will be our toughest adversaries next year?

If NYI has a vendetta against him, they might try to toll his contract, which doesn't seem very likely.

In that case, he becomes a free agent. Where do you think he will end up?
I would say the most likely are: Colorado, Toronto, Tampa Bay, or Phoenix. They all seem to have a good chance at either holding their contending spot for next year or turning into one. I would say Phoenix is actually the most likely, since they just gave up Bryzgalov and are looking for a solid replacement.

What do you think?

I am sure many of us, myself included, are excited for the emergence of Alex Stalock, who is believed to be the future of Sharks home-grown goaltending. However, recent events (aside from his injury in February) have had us wondering when he will become our starter.

Nemo got a 4-year extension. None of us will really know if he will get another extension because it will depend on the outcome of his time here.

My question is, how long do you think it will be before Stalock becomes our starter?

Under what circumstances would Nemo get another extension, and is it very likely he will get that extension?

What do you guys think about signing one of these free agent D-men?

Jonathan Ericsson

Keith Yandle

Eric Brewer

Steve Montador

If we re-sign White (which DW probably will), adding one of these guys could make for a beastly defense. They are also pretty reasonably priced, we wouldn't have to really shell out for them. The lines could be something like:

Boyle-Vlasic

Demers-Murray

White-(free agent)

Braun, or someone else from Worcester as a spare. Pairing a somewhatweaker D-man with a stronger D-man distributes time on ice better and takes a lesser toll. We can't have Boyle playing so much per game, it takes its toll especially on penalty kill situations.

We really need a shut-down type of guy to complete our defense. Huskins needs to go, he's outlived his usefulness, especially after that injury that kept him out for most of the season's second half. Wallin should go because his age seems to be catching up to him.

DW faces some numerous challenges this offseason, like all GMs. He knows who to definitely keep that is still under contract withus, who he should probably let go as UFAs, and cases that are on the fence. Setoguchi seems to be the toughest case he has this summer.

With Seto's performance during the regular season and postseason (especially against LA and Detroit), there are a few things that can happen:

1) Arbitration (very likely). Seto has rocked the house with many game winning goals these playoffs.

2) Agreement (good chance). I believe Seto wishes to remain in San Jose, but he would like some sort of raise (just like Pav got a raise last year when he signed a 4-year extension). I predict Seto's salary next season if he remains a Shark to be between 2 and 3 million. This may cause problems for DW as he tries to upgrade the blueline, especially if he resigns White then goes after a UFA D-man.

3) Let him go (very unlikely). We have great scoring power with 6 top forwards, so losing Seto won't hurt us much if it does hurt us at all. Plus, it may free up some cap space to upgrade the blueline which should be DW's biggest priority to maintain our chances next season and to even make it better.

4) Offer sheet (good chance). I would say there are a handful of teams out there which would love to add him to their forward lines (perhaps Phoenix, St Louis, Colorado, Columbus, or LA). I predict an offer sheet given to Seto would be at least 3 million. If it were that high, DW would probably let him go because of the cap space he would have left should he decide to match it, plus he would get compensation if he decided not to match it. But if it is under 2.5 million, DW would most likely match it and keep Seto.

I short, I believe Seto will remain a Shark. But if he doesn't, DW will make the best of it.

What do you think will happen?

First of all, I should say DW should let go of Huskins and Wallin. Next, re-sign White. Then, sign a big name D-man from free agency:

Give an offer sheet to one of these guys:

Andrei Sekera

Matt Gilroy

 

Or sign one of these UFAs:

Joni Pitkanen

Shane O'Brien

Steve Montador (second best choice)

Anton Babchuk (best choice in my opinion)-His size and statistics make him that kind of big name shut down guy that would make for a beastly defense.

 

With respect to forward lines, let go of Mayers and Eager. I would say Nichol is a soft option. Re-sign Wellwood and Ferriero.

 

What do you think of these options? (especially the defense options)

I am sure as we are all aware, the NHL is becoming more strict about eliminating the dangers of hits to the head. While the league is focusing its efforts solely on deterrence by handing out suspensions and fines for such misconduct, it just doesn't seem to be quite enough. The NHL needs to do something more.

I would like to compare head hits in hockey to crimes in society:

In society, we have laws that define acts of crime, such as murder, theft, robbery, corruption, etc. While society gives great effort on a deterrence strategy by handing out fines, prison time, community service, etc. In America, crime rates have been on the decline for many years, incarceration rates are actually higher. This can be attributed to higher prison sentences and defining offenses to include victimless crimes such as drug use, prostitution, etc. This shows that deterrence alone is not a good enough way to deal with crime.

Don't get me wrong, I would hate it if one of our men in teal suffered a concussion as a result of a dirty hit and the offending player got away with it unpunished. But I don't believe that suspensions and fines will not work on its own.

Chances are, many of us had good upbringings and learned many great values and norms, including deviant behavior (what is and isn't acceptable or reasonable). If we do something wrong, perhaps we were taught that it isn't nice to do it to others, perhaps thinking how we would feel if it happened to us.

If we want the sport of hockey to continue as a nice, clean sport where we can support our team knowing they are less likely to get unnecessarily hurt doing something they love, they need to learn how much better off they would be if they played fair, clean, and proud.

Instead of concentrating all effort on deterrence, the NHL should distribute some of its efforts on teaching its athletes the dangers of hits to the head. Make them feel bad about what could happen if they hurt another player or if they got hurt themself.

I am sure we all know how belittled our Friars are by bandwagoners and delusional critics who call themselves experts simply because of how much the ownership spends on the roster. Well let me tell you something:

There is no reason for us (small or large market team) to unnecessarily spend large amounts of precious money on highly overrated free agents. It is perfectly possible to field a winning team without spending as much as large market teams. Remember, quality, not quantity.

The Padres did better in the 2010 season than the year before that, and that was with a payroll of about $30 million shorter than the 2009 season. 

Don't listen to the critics, don't even look at season predictions, and don't stop believing! 

Here is what I think should happen with respect to our men we have between the pipes:

1) Extend Niemi's contract regardless of this seasons outcome.

2) If Nitty's injuries keep him out for much longer, we should let him walk once his contract is up (free agency during the summer of 2012). If he recovers sooner and is able to keep himself healthy once he is back on the active roster next season, I would see his extension as a good possibility unless Stalock is able to show his performance in San Jose more often next season. I wouldn't trade Nitty because he played very consistently in the first half of the season and the reason he wasn't well established as the starting or backup goalie was because the coaching staff had two great goaltenders with which to juggle with (making it hard to establish an official starter), and it was really only when Nitty was first injured that Niemi got the starting job and knew immediately he had to kick up his level of play and he developed his consistency. I also wouldn't risk putting Nitty on waivers because if he were to get picked up by another team, we wouldn't get any compensation which we would probably need.

3) Stalock is going to need to get reconditioned in the AHL next season before he comes back to San Jose. If Nitty goes back on injured reserve some time next season, we can call up Stalock to fill in for him and let Nitty walk once his contract is up, if need be.

4) Niemi shouldn't start every game for the rest of the season. I would say at least every third game, a backup should start to give Niemi and breather and a chance to save energy for the playoffs. Last year he played just under 40 games during the regular season with Chicago but played all 22 games during the playoffs and got to the Cup. Right now he is en route to playing much more than that and it might impact his endurance for the playoffs. Nabby had a lot of control over his starts and combined with his age, it was clearly impacting his playoff performance (over the past few years, the goalies that have taken their teams to the Cup have not had as many regular season starts as Nabby did).

I'm willing to bet that most of those haughty folks who call themselves "Yankee fans" wouldn't take on that title let alone brag about it if that overpaid, self-entitled group didn't have 27 rings. We Padres fans on the other hand go by our motto Keeping the Faith even though we have yet to go ATW.

 

Let's not play an overconfident team's game by unnecessarily throwing precious amounts of money at highly overrated free agents. Let's play our own special game of drafting, developing, establishing team chemistry, and building confidence in our team by BELIEVING in them!

 

There is a great team in that PETCO Park locker room that depends on us and all of us are a team! Let's back them up all the way, through the ups and downs, all the way to the October Classic! So what if A-Gon is no longer with us? A player doesn't win a game, let alone championships; a team wins it all!

It is all the fault of national broadcasters like ESPN for why we were labeled "chokers" last year. They laid out expectations for the Padres but also deep down saw the possibility of them not living up to their expectations (winning the division). However, the did not acknowledge it, they just made believe the Padres would win it all and as a result, labeled us as "chokers". They wanted to give us that supposedly dreadful label just to exercise their biased attitudes. Probably because they think it will diminish our fanbase and no one will support them and the other teams that bear self entitled fanbases will take over and think they are all so powerful.

However, I could care less about their fantasizing habits and will always be a fan of our beloved Friars thick and thin no matter what.

 

F**k the critics! GO PADRES!!!!!!

As many of us know, NHL games are not broadcasted on sports networks like ESPN and as a result, the sport of hockey doesn't get as much attention as other sports, at least in the states. For me, I actually see this as a good thing for the sport of hockey especially for teams like our Sharks, because of the well known media bias that is carried out by national networks not only by saying nothing but good things about big name teams like the Yankees or Red Sox or big name players like Crosby or Ovechkin even when they are performing poorly, but by passing off smaller teams as "underachievers" only because of their own personal standards.

Take our Sharks for example. As many of us know, media critics have labeled us as "postseason underachievers"  or "chokers" for many years, especially since we have big star players like Jumbo and Patty. The media are the ones who make these firm "expert predictions" and broadcast them on TV so that everyone watching get the expectations that the Sharks will win just because the national broadcasters say so. However, deep down, the broadcasters may know that somehow, the Sharks actually have just as much a chance of losing as they do of winning. Yet they don't acknowledge it for a few reasons and as a result, when the Sharks don't live up to THEIR expectations, they rant on and on about how the Sharks failed and after viewers (which consists of fans of rival teams or maybe fans of opposing teams that think "nobody cares about hockey in these non-traditional hockey markets") watch them spitting out these comments, they say the same thing about the Sharks and we get downgraded. They also probably think that if they get word out that the Sharks are nothing but "choke artists" who won't eventually triumph and win the Stanley Cup, then fan support will go down and their teams will take over the league. Another reason is because of arrogance; many fans of teams such as the Red Wings or Oilers may think that because San Jose is a non traditional hockey market since our city is not the place you can easily play hockey outdoors, then no one must care about them and because of that, their teams are entitled to championships whenever they say so. They couldn't be more wrong. I for one, have become a bigger fan not only of the Sharks but their sport as well, ever since I have been a fan of Team Teal (when I came up to college at San Jose State University). I am now more familiar with the sport of hockey and follow it much closer and appreciate the difficult skills of it more than I ever have of the sports I grew up with (football, baseball, etc).

To sum it all up, it is mostly the fault of media bias that our Sharks have been labeled as "chokers". Which is exactly why it is a good thing that hockey media is not dominated by national broadcasters whose only concern is ratings. They give out expectations for the Sharks to win and when they don't, it means the Sharks didn't live up to THEIR expectations, so they get to automatically give them bad names.

F**k those critics! GO SHARKS!!!!

I say first of all, include Niemi in the trade, he hasn't been performing up to expectations lately. Include him, plus anyone from Seto, Wallin, and prospects or draft picks for one of the following:

Kaberle

Goligarski

Z. Michalek

Liles

Byfuglien

Orpik

Grebeshkov

We all know we must hang on to the HTML line, plus Clowe, Pav, Couture, Mitchell, Nichol, Demers, Murray, and Boyle. Anyone else is trade bait to me. Nitty has been looking sharp in all his starts, but could do with some better D-men in front of him.

I say we need to keep Gonzalez, Denorfia, Eckstein and Tejada, as far as batting goes. For pitching, I say we should keep Young, Latos, Garland, and if Richard can learn to relax, we should hang on to him.

What do you guys think of acquiring any of these free agent pitchers?:

Justin Duchscherer

Jeff Francis

Freddy Garcia

Vicente Padilla

Brad Penny

If we just got one of these guys, we just might make the playoffs next year. The real problem we had this season was our pitching, in my opinion.

If you won the Stanley Cup, what would you do with it when it was your turn to take it home?

Here's what I would do:

1) take a ton of pictures with it, along with friends and family

2) use it as a fundraiser for charity money by selling tickets for fans to have their pictures taken with the Cup

3) put wine in the bowl and drink from it

4) Place it in a Shark's tank at a water amusement park such as Sea World to take a bunch of pictures of Sharks surrounding the Cup, thus guarding the Cup within "Sharks territory".

How is it that the HTML line wasn't able to do most of the damage during our 6 games against Colorado? It seemed like Clowe, Pavelski and Setoguchi were clutch players while our top line only got 1 goal and a few assists.

I think it could have involved the fact that the whole league knew how dangerous they were, so they probably knew how to get by them. Anyone have any other ideas?