This is the mostly highly-anticipated game of the season for me. Grier and I plan on eating some steaks, having some drinks, and breaking down the Sharks (yet again) before the game tonight. I’ll be wearing my plain Sharks jersey- Carle will likely be a healthy scratch. The game tonight is the ecstasy part.

But Carle is the agony part. I’ll be honest- I’m getting a bit worried. I don’t really care about the contract extension- I’m not paying the salary. It might put a bit of a crease in the Sharks’ payroll plans if Carle doesn’t pan out, but my concerns are different. To me, in his first season, Carle showed an insane amount of promise. He was confident with the puck, a good skater, competent passer, and eager to score goals. Those kinds of skills aren’t gained once you are in the NHL. On the other hand, the defensive side of the puck often needs to be taught in the bigs. The list of players that turned from solely offensive threats into solid two-way players is long and distinguished.

So I was excited when I saw Carle’s offensive upside. Sure, he wasn’t exactly Nik Lidstrom in his own zone, but that comes (or can come) with time. Then the sophomore slump hit, and hit hard. The last month, Carle’s ice time has become miniscule, with the few minutes he does play riddled with errors and poor judgement. He seems scared to try and create a scoring chance in fear of showing defensive liability. The other times, he sits in the press box.

In one way, Carle’s signing to a multimillion dollar, multi-year extension may help him. If Carle was a 7th round draft pick 6 years ago, he would likely be in the minors or on waivers right now. The fact that the Sharks apparently believe (as I do) that Carle could turn into a top defensemen might just get him some more ice time than he rightfully deserves. For his and the Sharks’ sake, I hope he can make the best of it. If he doesn’t, he may very well become trade bait to a team that’s willing to take a flyer. The clock is ticking.

It looked like it was going to be one of those nights.

They couldn’t get it going on the powerplay. Michalek took the laziest penalty shot in recent memory. The refs F’d the Sharks on two calls, Corey Perry’s crashing of the Sharks bench and Travis Moan’s third man in.

But….

But….

This team stuck together and Joe Thornton put it past J.S.G in round six of the shootout to give the Sharks their biggest win of the season.

Kyle McLaren was so physical, dishing out hit after hit, it has been so great to see the old Kyle back. We missed you Big Mac. The Davison-Pavelski-Brown line was extremely pesky and aggressive. Torrey Mitchell could have quit on that breakaway when he got hooked, but he made an amazing play and brought the Sharks back to life in the 2nd period. The Sharks outshot the Ducks, won more facoffs and matched their physical play. As Randy Hahn said after the game, this Ducks team plays with so much arrogance against the Sharks – they play as if they don’t believe San Jose can’t beat them. Well tonight might have taken them down a peg.

I hate to see Matt Carle in the press box, but adding Rob Davison to the line up tonight was a great call by Ron Wilson and the staff. I think we can expect to see this same line up the rest of the week and poor Mikey has to put his Carle jersey back in the closet…for now. As I said this morning, this team was either going to answer the bell or turtle up. This was a gut check and the importance of this win should carry over to Tuesday night with Team Teal brimming with confidence. They got it done without Cheech, without JR, without Clowe and without Semenov…..well, I guess they didn’t miss Frankenstein out there. PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ!!!

So the question is out there if you are Doug Wilson. If these Marleau rumors are true, and Dougie has been listening to offers, what do you do? You let these guys stick it out. We’ve been waiting all year for this team to click and now, DW’s patience is paying off. Don’t make the big splash Doug. Keep the Captain. Keep the boys together for now and tinker down the road. The ship has been righted. Abort Operation Major Shake-up….if there ever was one.

Looking forward to Tuesday night. It’s going to be a live one at the Tank.

Yesterdays loss was disappointing, but I wasn’t disappointed in the Sharks overall team effort. To my eyes, the Sharks have shown more life in the last three games than they have all season. This is why I’ve found it odd that Bay Area sports reporter, Ryan Garner on hockeybuzz.com, picked today to blast the Sharks for their total team effort, lack of fire and intensity.

Here is my take Ryan.

1) The Sharks outhit Dallas 26-14

2) Rivet made a statement by roughing up Dallas agitator Steve Ott, assessing 17 penalty minutes in the process – all of them well worth it.

3) The Sharks crashed the net and scored a goal that didn’t require three passes or Joe Thornton.

4) 4-2 is a deceiving final score. The Stars scored one goal on a fluke puck rolling up the back of the net and off Nabby’s back. The other was an empty net. So really, in my eyes, this was a 2-2 matchup and a great game by both sides.

The effort was there – the result wasn’t. Now the team is walking into an emotional game in Anaheim – a showdown with the Ducks featuring their two new players – former Captain Niedermeyer and Doug Weight. The crowd will be electric. The Ducks will be fired up. How will the Sharks respond?

I think this could be a pivotal game for the Sharks season and potential roster changes. If the Sharks play hard, physical hockey like they have this week and pull out a road win or lose a close, hard fought battle – Doug Wilson will feel inclined to keep this roster intact before the trade freeze next week. If the Sharks turtle up, like they have before this year in the face of adversity, then perhaps Ryan Garner is right – and change could be in order. The rumored deal with Montreal netting the Sharks NHL iron man and poster boy for overcoming adversity, Saku Koivu, for our Patrick Marleau would certainly shake things up. At this point, I would not part with my favorite whipping boy of the early season, Steve Bernier, in any deal. This kid has finally found himself and we’re seeing what a potential physical force he could be in the NHL. Don’t trade Bernier, Dougie. If he has to be in the package, its not worth it. Use your poker face and tell Gainey to “go fish”.

Do you think the Sharks play the party pooper role tonight at the Pond?

This week on GM’S AGAINST BRIAN BURKE! Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson plots against his Western Conference rival in his underground lair. Let’s take a listen…

Doug Wilson: Alright boys, welcome to the third annual meeting of the Legion of GM’s Against Brian Burke. Let’s recap our past accomplishments, shall we? This summer, we almost convinced Scott Niedermeyer to retire, but someone wasn’t able to finish the job….Lou.

Lou Lamoriello: Sorry Doug. I let you down.

Doug Wilson: Yes you did, Sweet Lou. You let us all down here in the Legion. That’s the last time I take a salary dump off your hands….Last month, we convinced Brian that waiving Breezy was a good idea. Nice work everyone.

Wayne Gretzky: Thank you so much guys. To show my gratitude, I’ve got a great tip on the Patriots/Jets game tomorrow from my wife…

Doug Wilson: Hold it. How the #%&@ did you get in here Gretzky? You lost your GM license a long time ago. Now go fix your hair and pretend to coach that team of yours. Okay, GM’s…this week we have to find a way to completely screw over Brian Burke as he tries to dump salary to get Niedermeyer back. Any ideas?

Kevin Lowe: I’ll offer five years, 55 million for Corey Perry!

Doug Wilson: Put a sock in it Lowe. Next?

John Ferguson, Jr: Please stop booing me. I’m doing the best I can. Does anyone want Andrew Raycroft? Anyone?

Doug Wilson: Stop begging John. Have some dignity. Come on boys! Doesn’t anyone have an aging veteran, an unknown prospect and a bag of shit to offer?

John Davidson: How about Doug Weight, Michal Birner and a 7th round pick for All-Star center Andy McDonald?

Doug Wilson: Brilliant!

JFJ: Damn it! Does anyone want Mark Bell?

Doug Wilson: This meeting of the Legion of GM’s Against Brian Burke is adjourned….Good work everyone.

Yeah, the Canucks are pretty banged up. Bobby Lou, Morrison, and various other players were out last night. But a team that lost to the Kings without Cammaleri and Frolov beat the hell out of Vancouver last night. And when their grip on Vancouver’s neck loosened a bit when the lead was thinned to one goal, the Sharks squeezed harder, got quick goals by Jumbo and Bernier, and coasted to a 5-2 victory. The Sharks are 3-0 against the Northwest leader this season.

The story of the evening was clearly the blinding speed shown by Patty and Michalek en route to their mirror-image goals. Michalek turned the jets on down the right side, and Marleau the left. Both cut to the middle and beat the goalie far-side high.

I can’t imagine what ran through Drew McIntyre’s head when he saw Big Joe barreling down on him on a breakaway in the third period. He probably could have used a diaper when Joe wound up for the slap shot. Welcome to the NHL, meat.

In other news, Semenov went out of the game in the 2nd with a hand injury. I don’t pay that close attention to who is getting ice time when, so I didn’t discover that until this morning. But I admit, my first thought was, “There is a God.” Not very nice of me. I wouldn’t actually wish an injury on him, but I take favors when they come. Hopefully it will give my boy Carle an opportunity to work himself back into the lineup for good.

Someone in the Sharks organization leaked Alexei Semenov’s team picture before color correction and cosmetic surgery:

In the latest installment of “Did You Know”, did you know that last night’s +1 effort was Frankenov’s first plus game of the season? Brings him up to a glistening -6 in 12 games. On the positive side, he’s a big dude. Big. Really Big. The problem is he seems to be made of wood, and he doesn’t use his size for the forces of Good. Only for the for the forces of Slow. Yeah, he got into a fight last night, and promptly got his ass kicked by Todd Fedoruk, who’s entire face is now made of paper maché. Or as the Canadians would say, “POP-i-yay MA-shay”. Or as Semenov would say, “UNNNHHHH”.

In fact, I heard the build-up to the fight, because it was near section 124:
Semenov: BRAINS!
Fedoruk: What the fuck d’you say to me?!
<drops gloves>

But we kid because we love. Sort of. I still can’t understand why Semenov is out on the first PP unit every night. He has three points, none on the power play. I’ve been reduced to thinking that Ron Wilson has an overdeveloped sense of irony.

But as Grier said, it was an all-around great effort by the Sharks last night, and I would rank it as the Sharks’ best of the season.

I’ve decided the Sharks are like a bad case of herpes….they show up unpredictably from time to time , when in full force they are a huge pain in the ass to those they encounter and they are a part of Chris Pronger’s life eight times a year.

The Sharks played their best game in weeks tonight against Minnesota. This was not a phantom win. They finished checks. They crashed the net. Bernier and Pavelski showed up and demonstrated all that “potential” we’ve been waiting to see. Marcel Goc and Kyle McLaren finally got out of the press box and both of them had excellent games and were seemingly everywhere on the ice. Fittingly, Goc, Bernier and Pavelski were the games three stars and McLaren kicked Aaron Voros’ ass in a fight during the third period. Super Joe didn’t have to carry the load tonight. Even Semenov was a +1.

The goals weren’t pretty. They don’t always have to be, something the Sharks have a hard time getting through their Teal skulls. Minnesota, a team known for hard work, hustle and team defense looked outmatched tonight. This would be a first round match up if the playoffs began today, and I’m sure the Wild hope this won’t end up being the case. The Sharks finally looked like the biggest team in the NHL and won back the home fans tonight.

So….will the “Teal Herp” return again in full force vs. Vancouver on Thursday or will the Canucks have taken their Valtrex? If the Sharks play like they did tonight – the Canucks, without Luongo in the pipes due to injury, will be next on the homestand hit parade and remission for the rest of the NHL will be tough to come by.

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An interesting bit of news from the Ottawa Sun. Patrick Marleau’s no trade clause apparently kicks in on January 1st, 2008 – so we can expect these Marleau rumors to continue the next few weeks and then finally disappear…..or come to fruition. While I think the Sharks need some new blood and an infusion of energy, trading Patty and getting equal value is going to be difficult. I don’t see Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal offering anything that can help this team RIGHT NOW become better and take steps to defeat the Red Wings or the Ducks in a seven game series. Vermette and a pick? Kaberle for Marleau and McLaren? No thanks.

Will Patty stay or will he go?

Round and round we go, when the Sharks will win at home – nobody knows.

I count my lucky stars that I wasn’t able to attend last nights embarassment, but I was in Downtown San Jose having a late dinner with some friends at a San Jose landmark restaurant, Original Joe’s – the type of place you would expect Tony Soprano to walk into at any moment. We were surrounded by Sabres fans and right behind me was a table of Buffalo players, including Derek Roy, Brian Campbell, Maxim Afinogenov, Ales Kotalik and Tim Connolly. I was impressed by how awesome they were with their fans, signing autographs, shaking hands and posing for pictures while they were trying to eat their dinner. It only further illustrates that hockey players are the most gracious professional athletes in the United States and that they really get how important the fans are to their sport.

I texted Mike and said. “We are sitting behind a bunch of Buffalo players.”

MIKE: “Tell them to go #$&@ themselves.”

ME: “Wow. I just heard them say it was 7-1.”

MIKE “No comment”.

I can only imagine how terrible the game was. I tried saying last week that the Sharks are still not themselves, even though they went 3-0 on the recent road swing. They beat Colorado without Sakic and Svatos, they beat Dallas who really isn’t that good, let’s face it and they barely beat Phoenix in a game that was dull beyond belief. To an outside NHL fan, it appears the Sharks are still alive and well with a winning record and in playoff position, but for a team that we say over and over should be taking that next step, to lose at home to a Buffalo team that is not the powerhouse they were the last two years 7-1? Unreal.

Where is McLaren, by the way? Great to Semenov get another -2. What is going on here? Are we turning into a defensive team that will run out seven defensemen and try to hold on for 2-1 wins night after night? How will this Jekyll and Hyde team respond against a very good Minnesota club on Tuesday? What does Doug Wilson need to do to get this team on the right track?

Eklund posed the question of Marleau and McLaren for Kaberle this morning and it made me dry heave.

I am so confused by this team that, for the moment, I have to agree with Mike.

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