The San Jose Sharks are done for the season but there is no reason to believe they won’t be primed to make another run next season. Making the final four two consecutive years is an accomplishment and I fully expect them to contend again next fall.

Looking at their roster, they have plenty of young players, most notably Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, and Annti Niemi who have become a huge part of the core of this team. Their veteran players are relatively young with Dan Boyle coming in as the old guy at just 34 years old.

Although Joe Thornton’s point production dipped in the regular season he seems to getting better with age. He’s more of a complete player today than he’s ever been. This was certainly his best playoff showing of his career.

Thornton wears #19 because of Steve Yzerman who won his first Stanley Cup at 32 years of age. Thornton will be 32 next season.

One player who really stood out was Douglas Murray who looks like a Viking on skates. This guy would give you the same effort in quadruple overtime as he would on his first shift. He’s a guy you can win with and comes at a pretty nice value at $2.5 million for two more seasons. I often have to remind myself Murray is Swedish.

Heatley Hurting?

Sources tell me Dany Heatley was dealing with an undisclosed injury. It certainly showed as he didn’t appear to be himself throughout the series. He finally got it going in the final game against Vancouver as he started getting his shot off in scoring areas. Unfortunately for San Jose fans Heatley couldn’t hit the net as he was an inch off from putting the Canucks away on multiple occasions.

Heatley’s numbers have declined in recent years as it appears his days of being a 50 goal scorer are in the rearview mirror.  Can he still score 35-40?

San Jose also has a coach that the players respect in Todd McLellan who deserves some recognition for helping Thornton elevate his game to another level.

Look for San Jose to once again shop for a D-man this summer. With guys like Ryan Clowe in addition to the above mentioned players, the window has yet to close on San Jose.

Hockey Can Work in Non-Traditional Markets…

I love how quick we are to dismiss the NHL in non-traditional hockey cities. It’s funny how we don’t hear this when discussing the Tampa Bay Lightning. Maybe the focus needs to be on the people running these franchises, not the city they’re located in.

Sure there are larger challenges in markets like Atlanta, Columbus, and Miami, but the Ownership and front offices for each of these particular teams deserve some accountability. You’re telling me Columbus wouldn’t be in a better situation if they had a better product on the ice? This is what happens when you’ve only made the playoffs once in your existence.

Same goes with Atlanta. If the owners cared about the NHL as much as they do the NBA then maybe the team would have greater support. The team generated dollars and fan support back when Ted Turner owned the team. Why do the Thrashers have the lowest payroll in the NHL but the Hawks have one of the highest payrolls in the NBA?  Hard to convince me the people running the ship aren’t largely responsible for their own demise.

Why can it work in Dallas and not Atlanta, Phoenix, or Columbus?  Back in 2006 Dallas was one of the highest revenue generating teams in the league. Put people in charge that can put a winning product on the ice.  That would be a good place to start.

OT Officiating Has Been a Struggle….

I can understand not wanting to call ticky-tacky penalties in playoff overtime, but the obvious high sticking or tripping calls need to be made.  NHL Director of Officiating, Terry Gregson, wants obvious penalties to be called in OT and fans didn’t see that in Vancouver two nights ago.

Believe it or not the idea of having NHL referees officiate the game off the ice has been discussed by Brendan Shanahan. Basically the refs would watch from high above sitting in a chair while only the linesman would work on the ice. I’m not sure will ever see this, nonetheless it has been brought up with NHL Execs.

Blues Contracts Update….

As previously reported the Blues have officially announced one-year extensions to assistant coaches Brad Shaw, Ray Bennett, goaltending cocah Corey Hirsch, and video coach Scott Masters.

Expect an announcement soon on an extension with Patrik Berglund. As I previously wrote, you can expect Berglund to agree to a two year deal paying him in the $2.1 million dollar range. $2.1 million in the first year would be a hefty raise off of his $805,000 QO number.

Don’t be surprised if guys like Matt D’Agostini and B.J. Crombeen are offered one year deals. Some of this has to do with wanting a guy like D’Agostini to fully define who he is as a player. Can he score 20 goals in back to back seasons? I think he can. 

I’m sure the uncertainty of a new CBA factors into shorter deals as well.

More to come,
Andy Strickland
Strickland.andy@gmail.com