Detroit Red Wings Villains: 2015 San Jose Sharks

Over the next 30 days, Octopus Thrower profiles every Detroit Red Wings “villain” in the NHL. Today we take a closer look at the San Jose Sharks.

Team Name:

San Jose Sharks.

Division:

Pacific

FanSided Foe:

Blades of Teal

Games Against Them:

Home

: November 13;

Away

: January 7

Last Year’s Results:

Detroit and San Jose tied the regular season series 1-1. Results: 2/26 – Red Wings 3, Sharks 2; 3/26 – Sharks 6, Red Wings 4

Head Coach:

Peter DeBoer

Watch out for these guys:

C Joe Pavelski, C Logan Couture, C Joe Thornton, D Bret Burns, LW Patrick Marleau

Farmhands worth Noting:

RW Nikolay Goldobin, D Mirco Mueller, RW Timo Meier

Goaltender:

Martin Jones

Sieve or Savior?

Sieve

8 Quick Thoughts about the Sharks

4 Things We Respect About You:

Tomas Hertl. It seems the guy always has a smile on his face out on the ice.
Coach Peter Deboer has spent some time in Detroit, graduating from University of Detroit and formerly coaching the Plymouth Whalers.
Teal. Not every team can rock it as well as the Sharks do. Say what you want about the jerseys they wear, but the color combination itself is beautiful.
Joe Thornton. Probably one of the most underappreciated players of the last 10-15 years.

4 Things We Hate About You:

San Jose’s 2015 season is a textbook example of how not to run a professional sports team. Essentially closed their own window for a Stanley Cup
Beating us in the 1994 playoffs. How dare you do that to a young Chris Osgood.
The way they have treated Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau recently. The faces of the franchise for a handful of years have been simply embarrassed by their own organization.
Skating out of a shark’s mouth during player introductions. What, is the shark throwing you up or something? Although I guess that’s better than coming out of the other end…

Playoff Threat Level (1-10, 1 being minimal)

4. Eight out of 14 teams make the playoffs in the Western Conference, so you have to be downright bad to not sneak into the postseason. But that’s exactly what happened when the Sharks torpedoed their own season last year. If they play up to their potential, they should have a markedly better record in 2016, however you could say the same about most of their divisional foes as well. LA, Calgary, and Edmonton are all expected to improve, so the standings in the Pacific might get a little crowded in April, thus sending San Jose to the golf courses early again this year.

Final Thoughts

San Jose has been a power in the Western Conference for the better part of the last 15 years, so the fact that they blew it up last year is beyond me. Granted they blow a 3-0 series lead to the Kings back in 2014, but the last I checked, no other team LA played in the post season that year beat them either. Still, management considered that to be the last straw and decided to undergo a self-imposed “rebuild” or “reload” or whatever term they wanted to use without sounding like they were intentionally tanking. If they had let the 2015 season run its course, it is very likely the Sharks would have made the post season yet again, and maybe even won a series or two.

I’ll never understand what the team was thinking last year, but I am grateful for the comedy in all of it. Sounds like this summer San Jose has had enough of their one-year rebuild and will be gunning for it again this year. The team added forward Joel Ward and goalie Martin Jones, and didn’t lose anyone of significance. As I mentioned above, many other teams in the Pacific also made positive moves, so it might be too late for San Jose. Still, keep an eye on San Jose in 2016 to see how their season plays out, although it likely won’t be nearly as entertaining as 2015 turned out to be.

Next: Want to know what has been going on at training camp so far?