The pole position is here. Grudge match 2008 is on tonight, with the Ducks I’m sure wanting to make a major statement and the Sharks steadfastly defending their ground as Top Water Dwelling Animal in the Pacific Division. Could the reason why the Sharks have been a little slow the last two games be that they’ve been looking forward to tonight? Probably not…but it’s an interesting thought. I am hopeful that Lukowich is in the line up tonight, I think if he is physically able, he will lace them up. The trade off of Luko for Frank-N-Beans could be fatal for the Sharks. Can we keep it real for a second here. Check this out.

Sharks record with Semenov in the line up. 5-2-2
Sharks record with Frankenstein back in the laboratory 16-1-0

So Semenov has been on the ice for four of the Sharks five losses? WOW.

Other keys tonight will be the Sharks sticking to their guns and not getting caught up in the Ducks bullying and defending against their kryptonite, the low cycle. The Sharks should win, but I have no illusions that it will be easy. I smell overtime.

In other NHL news, I thought I might take a quick stab at predicting a trade here, since I’m on a roll. I watched Ottawa play Chicago last night and the Senators looked listless and the blueline is a shambles. They have no one to initiate offense and its their top line against the world. Who could solve this mess for them? Well, how about Jay Bouwmeester? They could offer Florida, who has the 2nd worst offensive in the NHL with only 67 goals, a genuine top flight center in Jason Spezza. So, here’s how I would outline this deal.

To Ottawa: Jay Bouwmeester (without extension, 1 year 4.9M) and Stephen Weiss (5 years, 3.1M)
To Florida: Jason Spezza (7 years, 7M) and Alexander Picard (two years, 800k)

The money lines up and it solves both teams problems. Is it a gamble for Ottawa? Sure, if Bouwmeester leaves – but then they have more cap room to pursue someone else. We’ll see…

New podcast here.

The dudes bust out their interview skills for the first time this week with guest Earl Sleek from Battle of California.  With Earl, they look in-depth at the upcoming Sharks-Ducks matchup, whether there’s a goalie controversy in Anaheim, and other topics.  Mike and Doug also, as always, recap the games of the past week, take listener questions, and touch on the big NHL news of the day.

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New podcast here.  I don’t know about you, but ever since the Sharks lost 4-0 to the Ducks in October, I’ve been looking forward to Thursday’s game.  Sharks-Ducks has had a real playoff feel at the Tank for a number of years now, and I expect the same tomorrow night.  And in honor of the occasion, we had Earl Sleek from Battle of California as our first guest ever on the podcast this week, so check it out.  BoC has relocated to the new Borg of hockey blogging, SBN.  The Sharks blog over there is Fear the Fin, also worth checking out when you get a chance.

To me, this was the highlight of the ChompTalk radio show this past week- the interview with Jamie Baker.  And I believe this was the highlight of the interview (all transcription errors mine):

ChompTalk: What’s going on with Jonathan Cheechoo?

Jamie Baker: With Cheech- he’s won the Rocket Richard, but he won that the first year out of the lockout.  I think the game has gotten faster every single year. And he’s not – his skating, if he’s got one weakness in his game, and I’m not saying it’s like a glaring weakness, but he’s not the best skater out there.  And you can’t afford to be a half step behind one way or the other, whether it be on the forecheck or on the backcheck.

So they started Clowe on the top line at the beginning of the year, and then they put Setoguchi there, and why is Setoguchi a better fit on the top line?  He’s faster than Clowe. Clowe is a much better fit on the second line, because that line plays a different type of style- Pavelski’s more hockey sense, you got Michalek in force, and Clowe almost plays the power forward, which is what Joe plays on the top line.

So where does Cheech fit in the top 6?  Stop looking at his numbers – Cheechoo – and creating expectations saying where is he going to provide value on this hockey team. What ingredient – and Todd McLellan talked about that a lot in the beginning of the year – what ingredient is he going to be?  And I think Cheechoo has to come back and not think about the numbers, and think about his role on this team.  Is he going to be a third line player?  Is he going to be a fourth line player? Or is he going to be a second or first line player?

If you’re not a first or second, which right now, those two lines, that’s taken.  So find out what your role’s going to be and if you chip in (on the scoresheet), great, and if you don’t, what are you doing? Are you drawing penalties? Are you creating chances?  Are you getting in the kitchen of the players on the other team? Are you playing strong defensive hockey?  Are you finishing your checks? You know there’s all these other things that you can do.  And that’s what I think is going to define how Jonathan Cheechoo plays on this hockey team.  Not getting caught up in the numbers. He’s now living with the big numbers he put up the first year or two after the lockout.  And I think the game has changed since then.

Full audio here.  If you want to go glass half-empty, you could say this means the halcyon days of Cheech are past, and now he’s just a guy with good hands.  Either way, I think the prescription is right on- Cheech just needs to shake off the mantle of the Richard, which has now become a yoke.  Play the high-intensity game that we know Cheech can play, and that will only help the squad.  If he “does the little things right” (and I hate that expression) on the 3rd line and the other team forgets about him and leaves him alone in the high slot, he could start scoring in bunches again.

If you’ve listened to our podcast or read our post about the Boyle trade, you know that we are really high on Nick Petrecki, a Sharks first round pick in 2007 and currently playing for Boston College.  Sharkspage just had a post by Max Giese on Petrecki and other Sharks prospects in Boston, and the more I read about this guy, the more excited I get.

Quotes:

Clearly ahead of his peers from a physical standpoint, as he’s that rare combination of exceptional strength, size, and mobility on the back end .. what stands out most about Nick is his intensity and unrelenting mean streak.

This from an anonymous NHL scout:

He’s a man child. He should be playing in the pro’s right now and might go straight into the NHL next year. You have to see this kid live to appreciate the power he has on the ice. He is so much stronger than everyone else and gets too many penalties because of it.

My heart is almost aflutter.  Read the whole post, it’s worth it.  I can’t wait to see how Petrecki does in Worchester, and if he continues to improve his decision making, we might very well see him at the Tank in ’09-’10.  Barring some major setbacks, I’d put money on him being in the lineup in ’10-’11 for sure.

The bad news is beyond Petrecki, there’s not a whole lot to be excited about on the defensive front in the Sharks system.  But with Boyle, Vlasic, Ehrhoff and Murray all signed for three years or more, that may not be as big of a vulnerability as it could be.  We’ve seen this year that middle-tier defensemen are available (Malik, Montador, Klee, McLaren, the list goes on), and if that trend continues, the blueline will continue to be a major strength for the Sharks.  Puck movers are now at a premium, but with Boyle, Ehrhoff, and now the emerging Vlasic showing great ability in that department, the Sharks could be able to fill out the blueline with judicious free agency pickups.

I was disappointed last night.

Not in the Sharks effort last night. Actually, I thought they played pretty good. Not their best effort, but certainly better than Thursday night against Columbus. They ran into that buzzsaw, the mighty Roloson – who has stolen his fair share of games from the Sharks in the past. The Sharks dominated play for the majority of the night, spraying 43 shots at RoLo and he made some spectacular saves.

No, I was disappointed in the fans. Yes, my beloved people in Teal last night were in poor form. Not all, mind you – but enough fans were behaving badly to turn me off. Last night, during a poor looking power play (we did go one for four with the man advantage), I was shocked to hear boos coming from the Tank. BOOS???? We are booing the best team in the NHL. The team that STILL has NOT LOST A REGULATION GAME AT HOME. A team that is the only form of redeeming professional sports entertainment in the Bay Area and they got BOOED. It really made me mad. To those fans I say, go home. Stuff it. Check out a Golden State Warriors game. This isn’t last years Sharks that struggled for long stretches and didn’t score on power play after power play. This team is a winner and certainly didn’t deserve the boos.

With the score tied 2-2, some fans behind us bemoaned all the Sharks problems, like this was a .500 team struggling to find its identity. Have we been spoiled by this amazing start? Has this turned the Sharks faithful sour? I certainly hope not. This team is going to hit a few bumps and bruises along the way and if the Sharks fan base is going to react like last night, booing and whistling a poor powerplay….it’s disappointing. Edmonton seems to bring out the worst behavior in us.

So trade them all. Blow it up. We suck….come on.

Well, they won last night, but just barely.  I almost looked like a sad genius because the BJs outright dominated the Sharks for most of the game.  The Sharks were outworked, outhustled, and frankly outplayed the entire first and second periods before Columbus got themselves into some penalty trouble, which took away a lot of their momentum.

The story of the game was Nabby.  He had three or four outright robbery saves, the most flashy on Kristian Huselius coming across the crease.  One second Huselius was trying to pull the biscuit to his backhand to flip into the wide open net, the next he was coasting to the corner because Nabby stole it off of his stick.

But Bryce had a good question in the last post’s comment thread:

Many of the teams that have been coming through were running through the Anaheim/LA gauntlet before the trek up the coast. Is this how we should expect more games to be when facing opponents on the first game of their trip to the state? Or is it the Blue Jackets just played out of their minds tonight?

I think this is how we should expect opponents to play every night.  The fact that Columbus were rested and ready, and as well prepared any anyone could be, just highlighted the simple truth: whether the Sharks like it or not, they are now the measuring stick for the league.  Every team will try to play their best game against the Sharks, like we do against Detroit.  San Jose is no longer just a tough team out west- they are the standard.  Only the pundits and bloggers care about whether the Sharks can keep it up in the playoffs and whether Joe is clutch enough and blah blah blah.  Everyone else paints a huge target on the back of those new black jerseys.  The league is coming, boys.

They are now the best starting team in NHL history (sort of).  But since we’re gunning for the ultimate prize, would we have it any other way?

I’ve only missed one home game this year- the 4-3 overtime loss to Nashville.  And I’m missing the game tonight.  But Mike, you say, the Sharks are rolling and they are playing Columbus, and they stink, right?  Right?

Well, not exactly.  Columbus is one point out of the playoff picture right now, and they are definitely on an upswing.  Their last two games they beat Washington, a division leader, and Vancouver, who was leading the division until they lost to the Jackets.  I want to call them the BJs, but I think Gary Bettman would suspend me for that.

Anyhoo, this Columbus team cooks with the same kind of recipe that has given the Sharks trouble this year.  Keep in mind ‘trouble’ is clearly a relative term for a team that has had the best NHL start since 1944.  Columbus is a well coached, aggressive team that will cycle down low, something the Panthers and Coyotes did to the Sharks with some success.  If we remember the last game versus the BJs (I’m playing with fire here), Rick Nash had two breakaways, and came up empty on both.  Nash has four points in his last two games, and 10 in his last 7.  If Nash gets those same chances tonight, he’ll bury at least one of ’em.

Is it finally time for the Sharks first regulation loss at home?  I’m a bit nervous.

I saw this quote online by Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Hartnell.

Scott Hartnell put it all in perspective of what the NHL is dealing with in terms of Avery:

“Every couple months, he comes out of the woodwork and does something off the wall,” Hartnell said. “He hasn’t been reprimanded for it. Maybe it’s time he takes a look in the mirror. He’s not doing the right things. He’s not being a role model for kids. It’s time to wake him up.”

This quote is coming from the guy who, with the game on the line last night in a 3-3 tie against Tampa Bay, decided the best way to defend Ryan Malone’s one on one breakaway was to throw his hockey glove at Malone as he shot the puck. Hartnell threw his glove at him, like side arm pitched it at Malone’s head like Dennis Eckersley to distract him. It was perhaps the most childish display of non-violent unsportsmanlike conduct I can remember.

Here’s the clip if you don’t believe me.

Way to be a role model for kids, Scott. Next time, maybe you’ll pull down your pants on the penalty kill to distract the other team?

Check out our latest podcast.

Since the Sharks won the Ron Wilson and crew homecoming game, it’s time for the Dudes to enjoy another undefeated week of Sharks hockey. Between that, the Sean Avery controversy, listener emails, and new technical toys on the show, Mike and Doug have plenty to talk about.

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