Best Moment of the Shark Season Thus Far!

At 3-3 the Sharks have been a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde team yet surprising nonetheless. With a few standout players showing up, the John Leonard's & Ryan Dontato's of the world. But first I want to present you with the best moment of the Shark young season so far:

Brent Burns dangles through Wild defense

Bruins can't score even strength goals, huh?

After a humiliating 1-0 loss at the hands of the New York Islanders, where we saw a J.G. Pageau wrist shot effectively send the Bruins to the locker room with less than 5 minutes left in the 3rd. The writing was on the wall. The Boston Bruins struggle to score 5-on-5 even strength goals. 

Up until that point the Bruins had won their opening night contest against New Jersey 3-2 in a shootout but had suffered losses of 2-1 and the aforementioned 1-0 loss, until the broad Street bullies rolled into town for a two-game set starting on Thursday January 21st. When an onslaught of even strength goals sealed the deal of a back and forth affair meeting it's ultimatum with a Jake DeBrusk shootout goal for 5-4 victory, let's hope this is a step in the right direction for the eternally streaky Debrusk. The Saturday night tilt did not bode much better for Philadelphia, when the Bruins handed them a 6-1 beat down. Glad to see Boston put their early season struggles in the rearview for the time being!

2nd Game Losses For Both Squads

The hockey gods were not in the favor of either the Bruins or the Sharks, Sunday afternoon. The Bruins saw themselves give up a turnover late in OT against the New Jeresey Devils that resulted in a devastating goal with only 1.2 seconds left in the period. The Sharks saw themselves out shoot the Arizona Coyotes 34-26 only to be on the losing end of a maintee 5-3 afair. Regroup, refocus. Both Teams get back at it Monday.

The Continued Disrespect of the San Jose Sharks

The Sharks found themselves in an opening night duel against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Stadium. Where Tomas Hertl's apparent fully healed knee was on full display, scoring the first 2 goals of the Sharks season in dominant fashion. 

The Sharks dictated the play for 3/4 of the contest before San Jose's defense started to gamble and show kinks in the armor giving up two goals in 3 minutes including a game tying goal with 3.2 seconds left in the third. After a heavily contested overtime period where we saw Jones kick away a 2-0 breakway chance, the captain Logan couture ended any dreams of a Coyotes victory when he putted one past Arizona goaltender Darcy Keumper in the 2nd round of the shootout. San Jose gets the 4-3 win!

My takeaways are that Martin Jones looked like the best player on the ice for the Sharks and that bodes to be a very good thing going forward into the season. I look forward to seeing how Dubnyk looks as well.

I dream of Lake Tahoe but it's a damn shame, the San Jose Sharks can't say the same thing. The NHL has a lackluster acknowledgment of the Sharks/Vegas rivalry to begin with and opted to go with the safe bet of Vegas/Colorado due to projected standings. San Jose doesn't often get their time in the limelight though it would make the most geographical sense since beautiful Lake Tahoe lies smackdown right on the California-Nevada border. My guess is if you're holding your breath for a Winter classic, you might as well come up for air.

Dropping the Puck on the 2021 Bruins Season

Ladies and gentlemen the moment we have finally been waiting for, the puck has officially been dropped on the 2021 season. The Bruins found themselves squaring off against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential center. Where we saw the Bruins dominate the first period, peppering Blackwood until Marchand finally broke through with the first goal of the Bruins young season. After that we saw the affair get pretty sloppy defensively, giving up the game tying goal with a little over 6 minutes left in the contest. Brad Marchand sealed the deal in the third round of the shootout where the Bruins saw themselves come away with a 3-2 victory. 

My takeaway's are the lack of response by Tuukka Rask's Bruins teammates when we saw New Jersey crash the netminders crease 3x with two of those by Miles Wood alone. Matt Gryzclyk being the lone defender to show his frustration and subsequently received 2 minutes in the box for it. The other being is the continuation of the trend of season's past where the Bruins give up big goals moments after scoreing their own. Both I expect to be addressed by Cassidy with the team before the two teams meet again on Saturday.

2020 (Arizona) Sharks Training Camp

I am as excited as anyone about the upcoming NHL season, but do you know who is even more excited than me? Ask any of the seven teams that did not qualify for the 2020 modified NHL playoffs and one of those teams is your very own San Jose Sharks.  The Sharks find themselves in Arizona for training camp sharing the Arizona Coyotes facilities due to previously discussed covid-19 restrictions currently in place in Santa Clara county.

Because they didn't qualify for the aforementioned 2020 playoffs, the Sharks found themselves the benefactors of three extra days of training camp. These guys haven't seen any form of game action in 10 months. Some may not have even been skating up until recently, so I'm sure none of the team is taking any of that extra time for granted. After 11 days of camp, the Sharks find the roster trimmed and after cuts I project the Sharks opening night roster to look something like this:

Forwards:

Meier - Couture - LeBanc

Kane - Hertl - Leonard

Donato - Gregor - Nieto

Sorensen - Kellman - Marleau

Defense:

Vlasic - Karlsson

Ferraro - Burns

Knyzov - Middleton 

Goalies:

Jones

Dubnyk

Taxi Squad:

Melnichuk, Pasichnuk, Handemark, Chmelevski, Viel, Meloche

Captain Patrice Bergeron & the 2021 Boston Bruins

When Captain Zdeno Chara left for Washington just before the start of 2021, it left a giant void, both literally and figuratively. For the first time in 14 years the Bruins found theirselves without the leadership of a captain. Enter the most obvious choice ever, Captain Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins are lucky to have a player of Bergeron's pedigree and ability to step right in and take the big man's place. He captains a stellar leadership group consisting of alternate captains in Brad Marchand and David Krecji. I was personally vying to see either one of the Charlie's wearing a letter but overall I am happy with the selections.

After close to 9 grueling days of training camp at Warriors Ice, the Bruins whittled their roster down to the league mandated 20 players, with 6 players serving as a taxi saqad which is exclusive to 2021 and will basically serve as black aces for the season. After the cuts were made the Bruins opening night roster should resemble something like this:

Forwards:

Marchand – Bergeron – Studnicka

DeBrusk – Krejci – Kase

Bjork – Coyle – Smith

Frederic – Kuraly – Wagner

Defense:

Lauzon – McAvoy

Grzelcyk – Carlo

Zboril – Miller

Moore – Clifton

Goalies:

Rask

Halak

Taxi Squad:

Kuhlman, McKegg, Senyshyn, Kampfer, Blidh, Booth

Bruins/Sharks Draft & Off-Season Recaps

Happy New Year's! As everyone probably knows by now, unless you've been hibernating under a rock, the NHL has agreed to come back and play an abbreviated 56 game shortened 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic starting on January 13th. However, things won't be back to business, as it will be with four newly realigned divisions

The Boston Bruins come into the 2021 season after coming of an extremely successful regular season, where we saw them capture the President's Trophy, as the league's top point-getter at 44-14 before the season was interrupted on March 17th, with 12 games remaining to play. At the season's resumption the Bruins, once again, had Stanley Cup aspirations. This was until they were vanquished by the Tampa Bay Lightening in the second round of this year's modified Stanley playoffs. Personally, it seems that, like the rest of us, the time off during pandemic isolation had an adverse and noticeable effect on the team.

The Bruins entered the 2020 NHL draft with four picks. They were without a pick in the first round due to this spring's deadline Kase/Backes deal. All four of the Bruins draft selections are American-born players; two defenseman (Mason Lohrei and Mason Langenbrunner) with size and two forwards (Trevor Kuntar and Riley Duran) with top-6 scoring potential.

Of the four picks, two, Langenbrunner and Duran are still currently enrolled in High School. I'm finding it extremely difficult to project if they'll ever make the NHL roster.

Come free agency, the Bruins said "goodbye" to longtime blueline stalwart and fan favorite as Torey Krug left the team for the St. Louis Blues on a six-year deal. It's presumed Krug's power-play quarterback duties will be handed off to Matt Grzelcyk. Grzelcyk was also extended to a new four-year, $14.75 million, contract with the Bruins. 

Jake Debrusk, after much deliberation and speculation was finally awarded a new two- year contract of $7.35 million on a sort of "show me" deal. We saw the addition of rugged former Nashville Predators forward Craig Smith to the roster on a three-year deal. Smith brings grit and third line swagger, with a scorers touch, to a bottom six role. 

The Bruins also gave contract extensions to Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, Zach Senyshyn and Jakob Zorbil, but waved goodbye to fourthliner Joakim Nordstrom who went to the Calgary Flames. 

Beloved long-time Bruin's Captain Zdeno Chara, announced after 14 years that he will be leaving the team for the Washington Capitals on a one-year, $795 thousand contract. Chara's departure sheds new light on the befuddling first-day-of-free-agency contract extension to Kevan Miller. The extension seems to me like an insurance policy the Bruins have taken out on themselves quietly knowing they would be moving on from Chara. I'll be diving into my thoughts on that in a separate blog post. 

With David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand projected not to be ready for the season's start, I expect several Providence prospects to be brought up to help fill the position. Players similar to Jack Studnicka, Trent Frederick, Zach Senyshyn, and Jakob ZorbiI. I expect a similar season output comparative to last year. 

I don't expect them to win the President's Trophy again. I do expect them to compete and play like the Boston Bruins but believe they will take a little bit of a step back with other teams in the Eastern Conference, as their rivals are getting younger and more skilled. I project the Bruins to be somewhere around a 75 point team.

 The San Jose Sharks come into the 2020-21 season after coming off an extremely disappointing regular season, where they were ravaged by player injuries to major core contributors, after advancing to the Western Conference Finals in the 2019-20 playoffs. They finished a floundering 29-36 and were one of only six teams to not qualify for the NHL modified Stanley Cup playoffs. The Sharks are on track to start training camp and the beginning of the regular season in Arizona due to Santa Clara county COVID-19 restrictions.

The Sharks had nine picks in the 2020 NHL draft, where they drafted four centers, six wingers, all exclusively undersized forwards, outside of 6'3 Brandon Coe. Where the Bruins went completely off the board with several of their picks. I feel the Sharks took a chance on upside and prioritized skill.

On the onset of free agency we saw the Sharks make two separate trades, with the Minnesota Wild for forward Ryan Donato and goaltender Devan Dubnyk, in an attempt to upgrade their goaltending and add a younger, but skilled, forward to the mix. The biggest story we saw come out of Shark's free agency is the departure of legend Joe Thornton to the Toronto Maple Leafs. From a leadership perspective - losing both Thornton and Pavelski in successive off-seasons was devastating to the Sharks. As we have learned through the years, when one legend departs, another will be behind him to fill their footsteps, and that was the case with Patrick Marleau on a one year, $700 thousand, deal. Doug Wilson also made good on his alleged previous handshake deal with Kevin Lebanc and signing him to a four-year $18.9 million deal. We also saw the Sharks extend Stefan Noesen to a $925 thousand deal while also welcoming Matt Nieto back to the organization on a one-year $700,000 deal. We saw goaltender Aaron Dell leave the Sharks for a role on the depth chart with Toronto. Lastly, Melker Karlsson and Lukas Radil both opted to leave the Sharks organization to test free agency. 

Personally, I do feel there will absolutely be improvements over last season, outside of their general core, but the Shark's roster will be filled out with AHL players out of necessity. However, there may be times where some of them will seem really out of place. Who's going to be the next young player to step up? The Sharks will need to find an identity early in the season to avoid getting lost in a stacked Western Conference. I project the Sharks to be somewhere around a 55 point team in the 2021 season.