Bay Area Bias
Home / Sharks / The Sharks Are Rolling

The Sharks Are Rolling

TorresThe San Jose Sharks are absolutely embarrassing the Vancouver Canucks in this first round series. This is the only series in the NHL that is three games to none, and the possible series clincher is at home tonight. The men in teal have been in this spot before in 2011 against the Detroit Red Wings but game four was in Detroit, not at home in one of the most intimidating NHL arenas. With the way Vancouver plays and has been playing in this series, I don’t see any late comebacks that will be forcing this series any longer. So where did this San Jose Sharks team come from? Is this the same Team that won their first seven games then couldn’t seem to buy a win for the months of February and March?

If we go back to the trade deadline this year, a lot of fans (me included) were thinking the Sharks were finally sellers at the deadline, about to dismantle the pieces it so carefully put together over the past decade. First off was Douglas Murray to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a few draft picks. Then Michal Handzus goes to Chicago for a few more draft picks followed by Ryane Clowe to the Rangers for yet more picks. Essentially Doug Wilson dumped the unrestricted free agents that most likely wouldn’t have signed next year and added to the team by subtracting. This opened up space on the blue line for more puck-moving defensemen (Demers, Tennyson, Braun etc.) which brought more speed out of the back. Moving Burns up as a winger gives the Sharks a very large man up front who has a tremendous amount of skill. Adding back the veteran Hannan also bolstered up the blue line depth, which adds more grit and experience to the younger blue line. The San Jose Sharks suddenly became very deep in multiple positions.

Todd McLellan must have watched closely to what the Pittsburgh Penguins had been doing for years because he has finally figured out that you don’t need elite wingers to play with your elite centermen. Spreading out the offense amongst the lines has given the Sharks three legitimate scoring lines with a fourth line that has tons of speed. With Murray, Handzus and Clowe gone, the remaining wingers all have much more speed, changing the dynamic of the forecheck and offense. This was seriously lacking the Sharks game and I think some teams are being caught by the surprise, including Vancouver. Using Pavelski on the third line means he is getting the opposing teams’ third worse defensive pairings, and you have seen on the scoresheet what that does for him and the team. The best new player this season, however, has been the addition of Raffi Torres to the boys in teal.

Raffi Torres is an interesting character that has paid the Sharks dividends already while also helping both Todd McLellan and Doug Wilson keep their jobs. Once hated by all Sharks fans for the ridiculous elbow to Milan Michalek in 2006, Raffi has since won most of them over with his hard yet clean play. And as bad as that elbow was to Michalek, it did knock him out of the playoffs, was not illegal at the time, and changed the momentum of the series in which the Sharks ended up losing. This is exactly the type of player the Sharks have been lacking since the end of the lockout in 2005. Opposing teams know when he is on the ice, forcing them to keep their heads up and making bad plays under heavy pressure. He skates hard, hits hard and yet still has the skill to chip in points on a top line with Joe Thornton. Torres is a game changer in many ways and the Sharks look better than they ever have in any postseason. This could have blown up in Doug Wilson’s face but instead, propelled him to possibly be signed to an extension.

The Sharks are rolling through the first round and look to make it into the second with some time to heal and prepare. The other three West Coast series seem to be going the distance, which should bode well for San Jose. Chicago will most likely beat Minnesota this round so we need to root for the Red Wings to beat the Ducks. If that happens, Chicago would play Detroit and the Sharks would play the winner of the St Louis vs Los Angeles series. A lot of great hockey going on right now and most of it coming out of San Jose.

Comments