Lot’s of to-do about the whole controversy surrounding Dave Berry’s decision to stop blogging at a very popular Oilers fan site, Covered in Oil.  The long and short of it was- Berry was issued a press pass to gather quotes for a publication other than CiO, he live-blogged the game while he was in the press box, and the Oilers organization proceeded to act like a herd of jackasses in banning him from the box for all time, despite his willingness to take down the post, and other journalists engaging in the same behavior.

Here’s my take.  The Oilers can dump a guy from the box whenever they want, for any reason.  If they didn’t like the content of the live blog (cached copy) then they can kick him out, or decree that Berry isn’t allow to blog for CiO from the box.  Fine.  There are arguments to be made, good ones, that the kind of content in that live blog shouldn’t be allowed.  But those weren’t the reasons given as to why Berry was dropped.  Consequently, the team was blasted all over the place, because that is exactly the kind of thing bloggers do, and frankly, should do.

Note to teams- bloggers aren’t a single, homogenous mass.  Some may want press passes, some not.  And some of those that want them should probably be denied.  The policy as to what is allowed and what isn’t should be clear in advance.  In short- the team might actually have to put some time and effort into deciding who should get a pass.  I have to think about who should be in the press box, WAHHH.  Suck it up, PR departments.  Bloggers ain’t going away.  And if you have a 1980’s era mentality to media coverage, you’re missing out on a lot of great stuff, and at least in my opinion, hurting your franchise.

Kaspar is now on waivers.

This one’s for grier, and all you theater nerds out there:

Image from Jon Swenson at BoC

Right again- maybe not exactly the score, but he accurately predicted the outcome of tonight’s game against the Flyers.  In the second period, the Sharks down 2-0, it was really hard not to get frustrated, and predict a fate like we saw last night- the Sharks out-shooting their opponent by a substantial margin, and not seeing any goals go in.  Christian Ehrhoff broke the seal, and we saw a different Sharks team after that.

Speaking of different, what the hell is up with Lucas Kaspar?  Everyone is entitled to a bad game now and again, but when it’s only your 8th career NHL game, loafing around will get a redeye ticket back to Worchester- coach.  He made lazy play after lazy play, but his last shift was the worst.  He watched Daniel Briere skate right past him, listlessly stuck out his stick to try and intercept the lead pass, and watched Briere skate in uncontested and score to make the game 4-3.  McLellan parked his ass on the bench after that.  This kid continues to fail to seize opportunities, and he may not get many more.

As grier said to me late in the third with the game tied at 4-4, “a good team will win this game”, and he was right.  The Thornton-Boyle chemistry finally paid off with a beautiful play and an overtime winner.  I have to admit, I was pretty down on the Sharks the way they played last night, and much of tonight, but now it’s time to check the emotion a bit, and maybe listen to grier a bit more.  As much as it pains me to say it.

A great start at 4-0, despite some injuries to some key role players, the Sharks have been a buzz saw so far, plowing through their competition by a combined score of 13-4. Some things to consider as the Sharks head into the weekend matchups against the Ducks on the road and back home to host the Flyers.

– The Sharks are 4-0…but have they played three bad teams? Is the best start in franchise history a mirage? I say, no, Columbus is a quality side, the Ducks will bounce back and….well, the Kings suck. I think that the Sharks are in no uncertain terms better than these three teams and they should beat them on a regular basis – so to me this is a great sign. Beat the middle teams, beat them badly at home and that will spell playoff success.

– On that note, the Sharks are facing a desperate Ducks team tonight who, if they lose to the Sharks, will be ten points behind the Sharks and facing an early season slide that could spell the end of their Pacific Division hopes. Defensively the Ducks have been a disaster, but I think their game of “rock ’em/sock ’em” hockey might win out tonight. The Sharks lose in Anaheim tonight 3-1 and I will blame it all on Semenov being in the line up.

– The Sharks will return home and take out their frustrations on the Flyers. Philly is a team scrambling to figure out what to do without any defense. They’ve coughed up 17 goals in four games and should cough up about five to the Sharks on Saturday night. Sharks win 5-1 at home vs. the Flyers.

So, we’ll see how it goes. I hope I’m wrong about the road game tonight. Oh..and one more thing. The firing of Savard after four games was classless by the Blackhawks, in my opinion. It’s been no secret that Savard was a dead man walking after the hiring of Quenneville as a “Scout”, but they should have made the move in the offseason. Now, the Hawks could continue to struggle while putting in a new system. I’m not a big coach Q guy anyways…and I’m sure glad he didn’t land in San Jose, right Sharks fans?

Mike and Doug talk split-screen style in this first episode after the Sharks season has begun.  They recap the Kyle McLaren and Jeff Freisen situations, and try to identify the factors that contribute to the Sharks quick start.

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So the audio from the radio show Sunday night is now available here, and the feed is here.  But this doesn’t mean the DOH podcast is going away, I’ll likely post a new episode tomorrow.

Update: New DOH podcast here.

Three games. Three wins. There is no discounting that this is a great start for the “new look” San Jose Sharks. Some might say, “But you beat the Kings twice, big deal Sharks fans”. Well…beating any team in a home and home series is no easy task, especially during their home opener. Some might say, “It’s too early to get excited”. Um…no it isn’t. I’m not saying we should print the Stanley Cup shirts tomorrow, but these first three games have told us a lot about this new team and our new coach.

– This years version of the Sharks will not play down to a lesser opponent. Good teams crush bad ones, that is how you become an elite squad. 2-0 vs. the cellar dwellers is a must.

– Dominating at home. CHECK. The Sharks outshot the Ducks/Kings 82-42, didn’t take bad penalties and won the face off battles. Good teams are dominant at home. Last year, the Sharks were not. In fact, thirteen other NHL teams had more home wins than the Sharks in 2007-08. This year should be a different story.

– Closing out games without turtling up. The Sharks have closed out three games without coughing anything up. This was a big problem last year, turning routine wins into nail biters. So far, so good here.

– I hope everyone was able to hear Mike in his season debut on Chomp Talk tonight. I have to disagree with one of the topics discussed, that the Sharks aren’t taking enough shots on the power play. Even though it hasn’t clicked, you can see the ground work for the deadliest power play in the NHL being laid. In the game vs. the Ducks, Rob Blake bombed and bombed away from the point. They have 29 shots on the power play in three games. The New York Rangers have 25 power play shots in four games. The other real good news is the Sharks lead the league in power play opportunities with thirteen. I’m not sure what else you can ask for? The goals will come…the goals will come.

So much more to talk about, and I’ll save the rest for this weeks podcast, but as you can tell McLellan’s philosophies and attitude has already had a huge impact on the Sharks. Another team has felt the impact of their offseason makeover, as Sean Avery’s Dallas Stars have laid a 0-2 turd to start the year. I know…I know, it’s early – but it still makes me laugh.

The Sharks have an interesting match up against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. This is the last day of a season starting road trip for Columbus and their minds could be on the flight to Ohio and their home opener on Friday vs. Nashville. This is another bench mark for the Sharks – can they capitalize on a team that might be napping? So far, all signs point to – YES.

The commencement of the hockey season signals a return of a valuable natural resource, sports talk radio.  The Sharks radio call in show debuts this season on KDOW 1220AM this Sunday from 9pm-10pm, with yours truly as the co-host.  Your best bet is to stream it over the web at the link above.  The number to call in is 1-800-516-1220.  I hope you’ll listen and call in with your opinions and questions about the Sharks.

Too soon?  Hard not to get jazzed by last night’s win, no?  After a listless first period, the Sharks took advantage of some sloppy Anaheim penalties in the 2nd en route to a 4-1 win.  Although it was exciting to see the Sharks absolutely dominate the Ducks for stretches, it was even more encouraging to see the first signs of the completely new system Todd McLellan has wrought.

First of all, the D is so much more active in the offensive zone.  The most obvious is the points and shots coming from the point.  Sharks averaged less than two points per game from the defense last year, and last night they had four.  They averaged less than seven shots per game, and Blake had seven all on his own.

Second, the puck possesion style has begun.  Sharks fans are used to seeing guys get a little jammed up in the neutral zone or their own blue line, and chipping it off the boards to get out of trouble.  Last night, several times, you’d see them go back to the defensemen for a D-to-D pass and regroup.  A couple of times it happened so out of character for what I’m used to seeing I turned to grier in surprise.  “That never would have happened last year,” I’d say.

Third, there was a glimmer of killer instinct.  Too many times we’d see the Sharks go into a defensive shell with a third period lead, and last night, vestiges of that mentality remained.  But after the Ducks got on the board, instead of buckling down further, the Sharks continued to push the pace.  The fourth goal, though not necessary for the win, was a very encouraging sign.

In honor of the new season, I’ll appropriate a picture for my LOLSHARX debut: