If the Sharks were looking for someone to step up and provide a leadership role on the ice, they got that performance tonight from a player – just not the one they were probably expecting. After blowing a 3-0 lead, Patrick Marleau put the team on his back and delivered the game tying and game winning goals, giving the Sharks a 5-4 OT victory over the Phoenix Coyotes in their third meaningless-season game. Heatley looked a little tight at times and only took one shot – he’s clearly still finding his way with Seto and Jumbo, but you could see moments, especially on the powerplay, where this is going to be something pretty special. Heatley just loves to sit in the crease and wait – which was great to see cause not many of the Sharks seem to like that gig. It’s Heatley’s bag baby and when they figure it out – big things, yes sir – big things.

Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights and lowlights:

I was stoked that Nick Petrecki was paired with Dan Boyle tonight…until he got run for a game misconduct after only five minutes were played. Here’s what I saw – and feel free to weigh in if you were there cause there was a ton going on at the time, it was hard to see it all go down. Scott Nichol took a tripping minor and on his way to the box, he tried to take someone with him and started barking at Heshka on Phoenix who then went after Nichol and Staubitz stepped in. A flurry of gloves and helmets went flying and suddenly we had three fights going on – McLaren and Fritz, Staubitz and Heshka and Petrecki had his mitts on two Phoenix players and they were dragging each other around to center ice. He then scrapped with Vernan Fiddler and next thing we knew, both he and Fiddler got tossed. My best guess is he got a third man somehow? Not sure what happened but I felt robbed of seeing his potential breakout performance with Boyle.

As for the forwards, Jamie McGinn again was very strong and is going to make it really hard on McLellan to not keep him around. He buried a sweet pass from Dan Boyle on the powerplay and logged 3:26 shutout PK minutes. Pavelski and Clowe had a little redemption tonight, each notching one point and a +1. That line played a lot more effectively tonight than Friday for sure. Stats won’t back this up, but I want to say that I’m a Scott Nichol fan. He is a fireball and in the middle of everything. My favorite moment near the end of the game after he took a hit, he followed the player to the bench and cut him off while the Coyote player was trying to make a chance, jawing in his face about his mother, or something colorful. He almost got the dude to take a penalty in a tie game. He’s going to be a fun guy to watch this year and will make more of an impact than Goc. Did I mention he won 71% of his faceoffs?

Everyone else kind of faded into obscurity – Staubitz had two fights but offered little in the way of hockey skill and McLaren and Mashinter were pretty anonymous tonight. Logan Couture had two bright spots near the end, he fed a great pass to Staubitz who promptly choked and couldn’t get the shot off and then Couture was in on the tying goal after having crashed the net. The guys who sit behind me were saying Staubitz is a “lock” to make this team and I still just don’t see it. I like the guy as far as a fighter, but he can’t play the PK or the PP – so how can the Sharks carry both Staubitz and Shelley? They are duplicate parts.

Poor Douglas Murray. I think the big guy was just plain tired by the third period, but Murray was on the ice for all three Phoenix third period goals. In his defense, the dude had to play 28 minutes tonight – like 10-12 more than he ever plays and I thought he looked very good in the first two periods, even leading the break a few times and he delivered a few big hits – but the stats don’t lie.
Derek Joslin played some big minutes and had a good stat line (1 point and +2) but I noticed he likes to hit people high, which kind of turned me off. Demers got used a few times in his own end, he’s not ready for primetime yet. Callahan was okay actually, seemed steady but nothing to write home about. Dan Boyle loves goals, he was on the ice for six of them tonight – luckily four of them were Sharks goals.

I don’t blame Nabby for the meltdown in the third period and thought he looked sharp for the first 40 minutes. He was a victim of some bad and tired D that lost focus after they thought the game was over. Let’s not throw him under the bus.

I’m expecting there to be some pretty significant cuts made tomorrow since Worcester starts their training camp on Tuesday and their first preseason game on Wednesday of next week. Until then, we soldier on for more preseason action with Mighty Marleau leading the way. “Here He Comes To Save The Day…Now That The C Has Gone Away”

UPDATE:
Here are the six roster cuts. I guess maybe the biggest surprises might be that Brandon Mashinter is still in camp and McLellan chose to keep Moore, Callahan and Demers. Thought one of them might get sent down…

The night started great.

My wife was invited back to sing the national anthem and she also did “O’ Canada” for the first time and even though I’d completely biased, she nailed them both. When she sings, I get to sit in the penalty box during warm ups and watch the anthems from down on the ice – great stuff. I was pretty fired up about the game – a chance to see Petrecki in action versus some NHL caliber talent, a up close look at tryout players Hinote and Dandenault, another opportunity for Greiss to prove he could be a reliable NHL back-up to Nabby.

Long story short, the Sharks got hammered 6-2 and it was mostly brutal until the third period, when the outcome had been decided, but the Sharks finally got their act together offensively. It’s a little troubling when you can’t score on Andrew “Look My Legs Are Open” Raycroft, who has been maybe one of the worst NHL goalies the last two seasons in Colorado and Toronto. We really didn’t challenge him much all night, most of the shots he stopped were fairly routine.

Not many guys get a good grade tonight. It pains me to say that I didn’t even notice Petrecki enough to mention him in the blog, or Couture either for that matter. Both were fairly anonymous – we’ll see how Petrecki does in his second game after the butterflies are gone.

REGULARS WHO BOMBED
Kent Huskins – F+: Yikes, dude. You were on the ice for five of the six Vancouver goals. Holy cow, sir – you looked terrible in your own end. I hope this isn’t a trend for all former Ducks going in the toilet when they strap on Teal. Now, I’m being overdramatic cause it’s fun – and Huskins is better than this – but he sucked last night.

Not so fast Rob Blake, you sucked too my friend. Shake off those rusty skates, you were out there for four Vancouver goals. You looked decent on the powerplay, bombing away from the point for five shots – but not much physical play from Rob tonight – and you were Huskins partner for most of the night making an ugly couple. Not sure we’ll see that pair again. Needs work.

Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe also get a D+ last night. As McLellan alluded to in his postgame comments, how about a little leadership boys? The top line seemed all but willing to take it on the chin tonight cause the game “didn’t mean anything”. Not a great way to show the coach, the GM and us fans that the players Doug Wilson kept are ready to turn over a new one.

REGULARS WHO SHOWED UP
Vlasic: Do you know that he played 22 minutes last night and wasn’t out there for a single Canucks goal? How did he avoid it – well, he actually didn’t play poorly I guess. Hard to notice good play in a snowstorm, but Pickles gets out unscathed tonight for me.

FIGHTING FOR A ROSTER SPOT
McGinn: Our best offensive player of the night, he was out there for both Sharks goals. Looked full of energy and created some solid chances. With Malhotra around and his roster spot maybe not a lock, he was the main highlight of the night.

Stalock: Hard to give a solid evaluation because he came in after the game was well in hand in the second period, but he made some big saves that Greiss didn’t come close to making tonight and stopped 11 of 12 shots. The kid continues to impress.

Greiss: Doing his best Nabby in the playoffs impression, German Greiss loved to leave his five-hole open. He was brutal last night, giving up five goals on 14 shots. No excuses, big boys have to play back to back nights sometimes. Not good.

F. McLaren: He had a major league scrap with Desbiens who played for Manitoba last year – I bet these two have fought before. He might be the best fighter on the team out of the “goon” category and also he’s clearly the best overall player of the goons.

Dan Hinote: He got worked in a fight, but he did his “job” in trying to inspire the team at that time. He knows what he’s supposed to do. He scored a garbage goal and the guys who killed penalties tonight certainly didn’t do as well as he and Nichol did on Thursday. Does that help his cause?

Mattieu Dandenault: Meh. Didn’t show much of anything. He’s a #6 d-man who saw zero PK time.

WHO THE HECK IS THIS GUY, GUY?
Joe Loprieno: Am I the only person who likes Joe Loprieno? He seems cut from the classic #6 d-man mold, big, responsible in his own zone. It should be noted that he also wasn’t on the ice for any Vancouver goals and he saw almost 3 minutes of PK time. Not going to make the team, but I’m curious to watch his development in Worcester. He was better than Mike Moore tonight, that’s for sure.

On Saturday I’m hoping for some Jumbo Joe/Heatley/Seto action and maybe an appearance by Manny Malhotra in Teal. I’m expecting to see Sexsmith or Nabby in net – if Nabby is going to play this early in preseason, it might be tonight so he doesn’t have to travel with the team on the road next week.

And here’s a random question that only us uber-Sharks nerds would ever notice. Where is Daniel Rahimi, the prospect that the Sharks got in the Ehrhoff/Luko trade. I know he is signed and I know he played in the AHL last year. I’m just wondering why he isn’t even on the training camp roster. Anyone got the skinny?

Teal and White is never that exciting, and I’ve finally resigned myself to that fact.  It’s fun to see some hockey again, and especially this year, it’s good to see the prospects and young guys.  One thing I will say about this Teal and White though, it was more competitive.  Twenty seconds in Frazier McLaren crashes the net, and the puck pinballs in off him, bodies going every which way.  Most of the game was pretty light checking, but there were a few hits.  Certainly there seemed to be a sense of guys trying to make the team.  Several penalties more than I remembered last year, I think Nichol took a couple.  You can already tell that he’s a pain in the ass, and will get under players’ skin.  I like that.

Nick Petrecki again impressed, with some good positional maneuvers, decent decision making, and a nice goal, this time wrist shot top shelf.  Doug and I were very excited when he was picked to participate in the shootout part, which also seemed more spirited than last year.  Petrecki did two separate fakes, a slap shot fake high between the circles and then a wrist shot fake before burying it stick side.  Impressive display.  The guy plays very composed, I can’t imagine trying a bunch of moves your first real time out in a Sharks uni.  If he muffed either of those fakes, he never would have heard the end of it.

In other news, Doug and I have been talking recently about the fairly long list of players that are still unsigned, and near the top of that list is a guy we like for the third line, Manny Malhotra.  Doug Wilson is clearly listening to our podcasts, because Pollak is reporting that Malhotra will be here soon (h/t evilducks).  Doug and I have a new bet, each of us trying to guess Malhotra’s contract amount.  If he doesn’t sign, it’s a push.  I picked $975k, Doug $850k.  Malhotra made $1.2M last year.

One thing that occurred to us quickly, however, is that this could mean that Torrey Mitchell is more hurt than we thought.  I’d hate to think Mitchell will miss extended time, but if he would be out for a couple of months or more, the Sharks can put him on Long Term Injured Reserve, and get some cap relief from Mitchell’s $1.247M salary.  That might be what caused DW to look at Malhotra.  With McLaren looking good, Nichol pesticulating (that’s a word, right?), and now Malhotra, the third line is shaping up nicely.

The biggest trade in the NHL happened this past week, with the Sharks getting the best player in the deal.  The Dudes break down the whole Heatley thing (again) and get Jon Swenson from Sharkspage on the line to weigh in.  Jon has also been to training camp, and reports on all the goings-on there.  Mike and Doug wrap it up by highlighting the questions still out there for this Sharks team and the players.

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• We break down the Heatley trade and talk to Jon Swenson from Sharkspage in our latest podcast.  Thanks to everyone for listening, and don’t forget to fan us on Facebook if you’re into such things.
• Due to popular demand, we started another Yahoo fantasy hockey league (called “Dudes 2 Revenge of the Cheech”), here are the details-  league number 162684, password “jumbojoe“.  We tried to email the people that missed out before with this new info, and we apologize if we forgot you.  Sign up now!  Also, if you feel like going against us directly in both leagues, bring it on, but please wait a few days so all the poor bastards that want a piece of us get the chance.
• Teal and White tonight, and I have to say, it’ll be anticlimactic without Heatley.  Haven’t seen anything conclusive about whether he’ll be there or not.

After all the excitement of the day, Doug and I go out to a pre-planned dinner tonight with the wives, and in the bar area of the restaurant, we look over 10 feet away, and there’s Nabby.  We go over, quickly shake his hand, say good luck, that sort of thing, and he was very gracious.  Without thinking, I asked him if he was excited about Heatley coming aboard and he said yes.  So we get to our table, and a few minutes later, a little ways away we notice a big long table set up, and to our surprise, all the Sharks slowly trickle in.  Looks to be a veterans’ dinner before the season starts.  Nabby, Marleau, Joe (in a sweet polo with a popped collar), Boyle, Clowe, Seto, Blake, Huskins, Pavs, Murray, Vlasic, Shelley, Dandenault, Nichol (we think), and one more guy, I think Vesce.  We were trying not to stare at them and make them lose their appetites.  I have to say, San Jose has to be a pretty cool place to play- I think they only got bothered once.  It happened to be during dinner, which I think is pretty cheesy. Let the guys eat.

Oh yeah, one more- Torrey Mitchell.  On crutches.  My wife noticed that he was bearing weight on his leg, so it could just be a precaution for his tendonitis, as David Pollak said on his blog.  Either way, it was a bit disconcerting to see him with a leg injury again.  It was funny though, because he was the last one to arrive, and all the other guys did a slow clap when he showed up.

As I said in the comment thread of the last post, I like the Heatley deal a lot.  Although he’s thoroughly painted with the pain-in-the-ass brush, Heatley has something to prove, and no one can deny he’s an all-world talent.  Now that Michalek is gone, Heatley might get his wish and play in more situations, like the PK.

It’s a bummer we had to see Cheech and Michalek go, but you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.  Cheech showed again he’s a class act with the comments he made today, and I wish the both of them the best of luck in Canada’s capital.

There will be plenty of time to say that DW has staked his job on Heatley, and how there’s still some uncertainly with this team, but right now, I’m just excited.  Whether it’s Joe-Marleau-Heatley or Joe-Seto-Heatley, the Sharks’ top line will be one of the best in the league. On par with Getzlaf-Ryan-Perry and Datsyuk-Holmstrom-Hank.  Glad to see the guys carbo-loading, not drinking, and taking off early.  Glad to see a great left wing come on board.  Glad to see another DW pillage job.  Glad to see that camp starts tomorrow.

Go Sharks.

After today, I would like to suggest that Sharks GM Doug Wilson consider entering the 2010 World Series of Poker, because he just played the Ottawa Senators Brian Murray for a fool. DW told Murray to “Go Fish” knowing full well that if Ottawa had allowed Heatley to go to training camp, it could only spell total disaster for the Senators season. We’ll never know the many permutations of this deal that have been traded back and forth over the past two months, but this much we can be sure of – the Sharks didn’t give up any young inexpensive talent, didn’t have to give up the valued first round pick and also got the Senators to take the San Jose’s two worst contracts in the process.

Royal Flush. Sharks win.

In all fairness, Milan Michalek has been a good player for the San Jose Sharks, but it was clear that his play had hit the hockey wall, so to say. After a breakout year in 2006-07 with 66 points, he has regressed back to the mid 50’s with 20-something goals and I don’t think he’s ever going to be a guy who say, can score 50 goals…like Dany Heatley. The fact that he was signed until 2014 for over 4M for a guy who offers 55-58 points makes him not a bargain, but a bad contract. He isn’t going to turn into Gaborik – as DW might have hoped. Not only did he move Michalek and his deal, he also moved Cheechoo, who hasn’t demonstrated anything to show he’s capable of returning to his Rocket Richard Trophy winning form. Is it injuries? Is it the speed of the game? Not too sure what the cause was, but the Sharks tried Cheechoo in a third line role last year and he sucked eggs. Will he get a chance to play that role with Ottawa? I wish him the best – but I think he’s a 40 point guy at this point in his career and certainly not worth 3M.

A man of his word, DW delivered on overhauling this Sharks roster of three of the main faces of failure behind San Jose’s ups and downs and current leveling off as a franchise in Ehrhoff, Michalek and Cheechoo. Does Heatley carry risk? Absolutely – yes – sure. But for this price, it is a risk worth taking – you moved two guys you knew couldn’t get you to the next level in exchange for a guy with amazing talent and the salivating notion of 50 goals along side Thunder Joe. The other factor is that the Sharks could never get a player like Heatley on the open free agent market, so if San Jose goes belly up again, they can start over with Heatley in the core instead of dialing for dollars with subpar free agents, only to get turned down…again.

According to CapGeek, the Sharks could carry this roster into the opening night and be approx. .5M under the cap.

Heatley/Thornton/Marleau
Seto/Pavs/Clowe
McGinn/Mitchell/Staubitz
Shelley/Nichol/Hinote

Huskins, Boyle, Blake, Vlasic, Murray, Petrecki

Nabby/Greiss

Extras: Ortmeyer, Dandenault

I included Petrecki as a pipe dream scenario to show that IF he is the best guy in camp, it is possible for him to take the spot from Joslin. The other big IF is that if Frazer McLaren is better than Staubitz, that is basically an even swap.

When do we start?

Thanks to sharkspage for posting a link to the recent interview with Dan Boyle on Chronicle Live.  The first question was about the C&A controversy, and immediately I was struck by the exchange (emphasis mine).

Greg Papa (talking about the captaincy): Is that a job you would like to have?

Boyle (immediately): Of course.  It’s an honor.  You look back as a young kid, a captain is an important thing you look up to.  It’d be an honor.  I certainly want to lead this team.  I’m ready for it, but it’s in the coaches hands, and management’s hands, and whoever gets those roles, I’m sure they’ll do a great job.

Now let’s compare that to Joe Thornton’s answer about his leadership role that happened at the State of the Sharks, it was the first question of the night.  Keep in mind Marleau was still captain at the time, so it wouldn’t have been appropriate for Joe to say he wanted the captaincy, but let’s go to the tape:

Guy: how will I know when you own this team so I know when you can bring it for us?

(applause)

Thornton: Thank you.  i think this team is just… I said (what I said) the last day I was a little irritated about the questions I was getting and I said it’s patty’s team, but ultimately, I think there’s key guys on the team- I’m a big part of that- yes in some ways it’s my team, in some way’s it’s pattys’ patty’s the captain and i think he’s done a great job. (light applause) Now I think with all this disappointment, we’ve been kicked down and I think we didn’t expect to be here, I think it will be a long summer. … I’m ready for this team to go to the next step, and eventually it’ll be my team, yes.

Kind of a difference in tone there, doncha think?  It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but I’ve heard a lot of Jumbo inteviews. I doubt he would have said the same thing Boyle did above.  Would Joe say “I want to lead“?

After hearing that, I’m more convinced than ever that Dan Boyle should be the captain.  Does anyone doubt that he’s going to come into camp and earn the C now?

THE SHARKS SWEEP THE DUCKS! THE SHARKS SWEEP THE DUCKS.

I know we all wished this was the headline back in April, but I still took some minor personal satisfaction watching our rookies beat the feathers out of the Ducks rookies last night, completing total domination of the three day rookie tournament where the Sharks kids outscored the Ducklings 13-4. Perhaps the Ducks young players needed Papa Carlyle to sit on their eggs a little bit longer because there wasn’t much to look at on their side. As for the Sharks, the main attractions (Sexsmith, Stalock, Couture and Petrecki) were not on the ice, so we got a good look at some recent draft picks and guys looking to earn a free agent contract. As we talk about on this weeks podcast, guys who caught my eye included tryout player Daniel Erlich, who is a 5’6 ball of speed that had four points last night, earning the crowds chants of “RUDY, RUDY”. I also was impressed by Frazer McLaren, who is certain to be getting a cup of coffee in the NHL at some point this year, if not at the beginning of the season if he outperforms Staubitz and Shelley at camp. If I were them, I’d be looking over my shoulder. The biggest puzzler of the night was why the Sharks didn’t let Sexsmith see any action – instead he sat and watched the entire game as the back-up. I was looking forward to seeing him answer Stalock’s shutout performance from the night before since they will be sharing duties for Worcester this season.

So what did I get out of last night besides slight heartburn from a hotdog and griddle marks on my ass from the metal benches? I felt encouraged that it appears the San Jose Sharks are moving in a new direction in terms of their farm club, relying on college kids and prospects to develop instead of stocking the roster with AHL retreads who have no shot at sniffing any NHL action. While there a few in this category (Danny Groulx and Joe Callahan come to mind on the blueline) the rest will likely be college prospects and young talent – a nice change of direction for a team last year that had seven players over the age of 27. This year, it would appear there would be only four guys in that category (Ortmeyer, Groulx, Callahan and Vesce) and Ortmeyer might stick as the scratch in San Jose.

Bruce Garrioch is babbling about a new rumor that will still send Dany Heatley to San Jose, Patrick Marleau to the LA King and Frolov and Stoll to the Sens. I still think any deal involving Patrick Marleau has limited to no chance of being pulled off because he refuses to leave the Bay Area this season. What do you think, trade clause be damned – would you make this deal? Who gets the better end?

Thanks to our friends at Fear the Fin, the Sharks have invited former Red Wing and Canadiens defensemen Mattieau Dandenault to camp for a tryout. Sort of like auditioning to sit in the press box, but hell – it’s a cheaper option that would allow someone like Joslin to play every night in Worcester instead of eat Combos and drink Molson with Ryan Garner. So I say, sure – why not.

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, then maybe you might want to join our Dudes on Hockey fantasy hockey league? It’s not for the faint of heart and only people who are obsessed enough with hockey to maintain a current roster need apply. For more info

League ID: 106993

League Name : Dudes On Hockey

Password: danboyle

If you want to join but the league is full, either comment here or email us at questions@dudesonhockey.com – if we get enough overflow we will start another league.

Running a fantasy league again, for yahoo:

League ID: 106993

League Name : Dudes On Hockey

Password: danboyle

If you want to join but the league is full, either comment here or email us- if we get enough overflow we will start another league.