It’s not like me to use a lot of puns in post titles, but it’s early in the morning, and I’m at San Jose airport waiting for a flight.  Instead of paying $8 for a cup of water, I decided to use the free wifi and do something productive.

The Sharks, through 44 games, are 21-18-5, with 47 points.  Last year at this point, they were 28-9-7 (63).  That’s quite the dropoff.  Instead of going into the myriad reasons why this is so (Mark Purdy’s got a pretty decent theory) I want to compare with some other teams in recent history to see where they might end up at the end of the year.

One is the Philadelphia Flyers.  At this time last year, the veteran Flyers were 22-19-3 (47 points).  They had changed their coach a month before, in early December 2009, and promptly went on a 2-8 tear.  They righted the ship a bit after that, going 6-2 before getting to the 44-game mark.  Of course, we know how the season ends up.  They won on the last day of the season against the Rangers to squeak into the playoffs, and had a historic series against Boston en route to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Hawks in six games.

The other is the 2010 St. Louis Blues.  This team of young upstarts that made the playoffs in 09-10 skid the first half of 2010, going 18-19-7 (44) in their first 44 games.  Despite decent years from youngsters Perron, Oshie, and Backes, their best player the year before, Brad Boyes, fell off the table, going from 33 goals to 14.  They stayed inconsistent the rest of the year, and finished five points out of the postseason.

So will the Sharks turn it around a la Flyers (perhaps with a new coach, as some fans are already calling for), or struggle with mediocrity the rest of the year, as the Blues did?  I certainly think the Sharks have much more in common with last years’ Flyers than the Blues.  This isn’t a young team trying to find its footing- it’s a veteran team, like Philly, that just couldn’t find a clear path the first half of the year.  That’s not much consolation for Sharks fans at this point, nor is it any sort of guarantee San Jose will get their heads out of their asses and get this thing going the right direction.  But it’s interesting to know the full gambit of options is still available to the Sharks, using only last year as a guide- postseason success is still attainable, but so is crushing disappointment.

The Sharks are down in the dumps, and the Dudes are reflective about it.  They address what possible remedies are even available, and more importantly, likely.  Is it a situation where the Sharks have to stand pat?  Or are the trade remedies available, or even coaching changes?

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Mike and Doug are back from their NYC vacation, and there’s much news to talk about.  The Sharks have been up and down, per usual, but put in a good effort against the best team in the West, the Canucks.  It wasn’t enough to win, but the Dudes try and figure out what the main difference is between them and us.  Hint:  the same thing that’s been talked about all year.

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Since I just got back from NYC and I haven’t had time to watch all the games yet, I won’t go into a long discussion about them.  But it certainly seems like the lessons supposedly learned in the 4-game winning streak before Christmas were quickly forgotten.  Here’s a quick snapshot of the stuff Doug and I were up to while we were out:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXkRMYJFGxE[/youtube]

Have a great New Year, and don’t forget to watch the Winter Classic tomorrow.  I hope you all have been watching the HBO series, it’s the best hockey show I’ve ever seen.  I had to say ‘show’ because if I said ‘thing’, I would have to stack it up against “The Love Guru”.

It’s the yearly holiday special, and there’s lots to talk about.  The Dude recap the last Sharks games, and they are on a 3 game winning streak, with Logan Couture 3rd in the NHL in goals.  There are some fun listener emails to get to, and Mike and Doug wrap it up with their Christmas hockey wishes.

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This week there are four games to discuss, and while the Sharks could be on a slight upswing, the Dudes’ individual takes on it differ.  In addition to the ups and downs of the Sharks week, there’s lots of other news to discuss, including the return of Evgeny Nabokov to stateside.  Mike and Doug try and guess where he’ll end up, and take some other questions from listeners.

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Sharks well on their way to another disappointing loss, and they wake up again.  I think I need a mood stabilizer.  I shut off the TV a couple of times in anger during the game, then the Sharks roar back, get a couple of decent calls, have the clock expire literally hundredths of a second before the puck goes in, and then show up Bobrovsky in overtime.  Two fantastic moves by Clowe and Couture, both going to their “bread and butter”- deke to the backhand.  Clowe goes for the roof, Couture the five hole.

Again I’m impressed by the Sharks mettle.  And again I’m disappointed they have to get their butts kicked for a while before they figure out what to do.  On a road trip, against a Stanley Cup finalist, I’ll give them a little more latitude.  But I still feel the same way about tomorrow as I did about tonight- the Sharks could get murdered, we just have to wait and see.

Don’t forget to listen to the podcast.

The Dudes may be better than ever, but you can’t say that about the Sharks- they lose bad in Montreal, and have a horrible first period against the Wings.  Mike and Doug weigh that against their very good play against the Sens and the same Wings, and pick apart their lineup, looking for bright spots.  A few rookies and a goalie are in that category.

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I wasn”t aware the Sharks’ new goal was not to reduce the inconsistency, but to decrease its period.  The Sharks went from their worst performance of the year to their best during an intermission.  What I would give to have been a fly on the wall for that ‘Rudy’ speech.  Whatever was said, it worked.  I imagine it was this:

T-Mac : Hey guys, just a thought.  TRY PLAYING HARD.

Joe Thornton : <takes shirt off> hmm yeah.

Patrick Marleau : Oh yes.  Absolutely.  Try hard.  Uh huh.

Dan Boyle : Jeez, we suck.  We can play better than this.

Ryane Clowe : Dude, I gotta shave this mustache off.  It’s getting ridiculous.

Niclas Wallin :  Hamburgers.

Trent Yawney : THAT’S IT!  YOU WIN, YOU ALL GET HAMBURGERS!

Sharks : YEAAAAHHHHHH!

Podcast tomorrow.

The win-loss-win-loss train rolls on, this time the Sharks posting their first shutout of the season on Dany Heatley Princess Night in Ottawa.  Best game of the season for several players, Antti Niemi and Justin Braun among them.  I know I’ve been critical of T-Mac for his choices of when to play Niemi in the past, but last night was the right time.  Ottawa has had a bad stretch lately, and you probably want Niitty to play against Montreal on Saturday.  One thing that did amuse me last night was the ‘storyline’ that Niemi has just gotten ‘better and better this season’ (according to Drew Remenda).  I’m a Drew fan, but he got this one way wrong.  Here’s the string of Niemi’s save percentages in his last five games: .903, .878, .938, .813, 1.000.  That’s not ‘better and better’.  That’s up and down, just like the Sharks have been.

The Sharks were utterly dominant at times last night, which is encouraging for Sharks fans, but also frustrating in a way.  It’s the same or less stacked lineup than we’ve seen against recent losses against Columbus, Dallas, and Colorado, yet it was night and day the way they played.  I know I thought the Sharks might reel off some good wins after the performance at home against Chicago- I’m not nearly as confident this time.  Maybe we can get Joe Pavelski or somebody to bash Montreal as a hick town or say that poutine tastes like barf.  Then the fans will boo that player every time he takes the ice, throw flaming jerseys in effigy, and the Sharks roll to another win on the backs of the charged atmosphere.  Maybe the Sharks should plan a 30-city Disparagement Tour, finding a systematic way to infuriate the fans in every arena in order to light the fire they apparently need.

One down, 29 to go.  Although if they keep going hot and cold this way, San Jose may be added to that list without even trying.