So grier’s prediction about Ryan Whitney didn’t come true, but Whitney did get traded today, a big trade less than a week away from the deadline.  The Ducks traded Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi (a junior prospect) to the Pens for Whitney, effectively doubling the number of defensemen they have under contract next year.  For those counting, that number now stands at two- Pronger (one year left) and Whitney (four years left).

The Ducks know better than most that you need good D to win championships, and this is a pretty good move by their new GM, Bob Murray.  Kunitz was a distant third in the Ducks trio of top forwards- Chris Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf are much better players.  With Bobby Ryan breaking out this year, I’m sure Murray had him higher than Kunitz in his internal rankings too.

So now we have to assume that Scott Niedermayer will be traded, because the Ducks’ willingness to re-sign him just went down by about 90%.  The Devils have been oft-mentioned in their interest for  SN, but the question is, what would they give in exchange for the tearful reunion?  Johnny Oduya could be on the block, but to me, that sounds like too much- Sweet Lou could run into Scotty’s reluctance to commit just like Brian Burke did.  With the Devils’ needing to re-sign Paul Martin after next year, and only Colin White and Bryce Salvador locked up long-term, they’re probably not looking for any more defensive uncertainty than the Ducks are.

In terms of the Ducks’ playoff prospects this year, I’m not sure they changed a whole lot- Sleek has talked about this over at Battle of California, and at least according to the site he uses,  the Ducks’ current chances at making the playoffs are well south of a coin flip.

The exciting soap opera continues.

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Ouch.I have a few thoughts off this disappointing loss.

– I soiled myself when I saw Joe Thornton lying on the ice. Visions of wasted playoff deposits flashed before my eyes.

– The refs were bad. They weren’t the reason why we lost, but they sure didn’t help. Ticky-tack calls on Plihal and Joe, no major boarding call on Cleary, reversing a goal that (to me) there was no DEFINITIVE evidence to overturn. What else could have happened – is a puck going to hit the net, out of play, but no one sees it and Zetterburg scores? Nah….the hockey gods don’t hate me that much, right?

– I was a little disappointed in the coaching staff tonight. Thornton gets run – and Shelley plays less than three minutes? This is the second time the Sharks have been boarded in the last week, with Gauthier taking out Marleau last week – and the Sharks did nothing to get a little payback. A little disappointed in that….

– Another coaching head scratcher. Why play Frankenstein if you’re only going to run him out there nine minutes? Luko didn’t look bad on Monday, in fact his was a +1 in nearly fourteen minutes. Can anyone explain this? If you want to rest Luko, rest him in Ottawa.

So, in the battle of the titans – the home team reigns supreme in all. It is so important that the Sharks get home ice. Tonight proved that more than ever.

The Sharks have ripped off another winning streak beginning with three at home, but the big news this week is the upcoming trade deadline.  Mike and Doug break down what they think the Sharks will do, as well as the other big movers and shakers in the Western Conference.

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The Sharks managed to escape a hungry and debilitated Stars team last night mostly due to the play of Evgeni Nabokov.  The Stars employed a good cycle in the Sharks zone for extended stretches, but the Sharks’ D does deserve some credit here in taking away open looks in close.

The fact that the Sharks, now with Lukowich, JR, and Shelley back in the lineup, barely managed to beat the Stars without Morrow, Richards, and Modano is not a good thing, especially if the *ahem* stars align to see a Dallas-San Jose first round matchup.  But I’m going to try and look at this as a ‘glass half full’ scenario, and say the Sharks beat a very motivated team without playing all that well.  I’m sure T-Mac has a lot of things to say to the group before they play Wednesday at the Joe.

In local news, it’s a sad day for the Bay Area hockey community.  Two players died in separate incidents last night at Sharks Ice, the practice facility for the Sharks, and hockey home to literally thousands of rec league players, including me.  A buddy of mine emailed me this morning and said he actually participated in the game where Kelly Calabro perished.  According to my friend, he collapsed without any apparent contact.  I’m sure I speak for many when I say our thoughts are with their families.

Great homestand. Three convincing wins over two teams scrapping for a playoff spot and one crapping their way to the #2 pick in the entry draft. BUT – the best part by far was seeing Shelley, Plihal and J.R. return to the ice on Saturday. Shelley’s fight ignited, Plihal was an improvement over any of the three AHL-ers, and J.R. was classic J.R.

Can I just say, I love the Shelley/JR/Lemieux line. Their ice time was effective, they held possession, had good scoring chances, played the body and were a general pain in the ass. I think we should vote on the next podcast of an appropriate title for this line. They deserve a title, don’t ya think?

The schedule just seems unfair. The Sharks have four tough road games in Dallas, Detroit, Montreal and Ottawa in the next week. After just returning from a trip to the East coast, here we go again. The Sharks are getting Luko back just in the nick of time – they are going to need all hands on deck to a winning record on this trip. The spotlight will be on the game in Detroit, the battleground for the #1 spot and home ice for the inevitable, a Wings/Sharks Division Series in May.

As for Dallas, I think the Sharks can dispatch them rather quickly on Monday if they aren’t looking ahead to Detroit. The Sharks have owned the Stars this season, 3-0 so far including two wins in Dallas. The Stars are totally overmatched here and unless Marty Turco ate an entire Leprechaun, they have no shot.

Sharks 4 Stars 2

Tonight is a bigger game against the LA Kings than most Sharks fans might recognize. In truth, Los Angeles is the 2nd best team rolling right now in the Pacific Division and a team that could be a thorn in the Sharks playoff side as they attempt to play the spoiler while making a run at a lower seed themselves. Dallas has been impressive but losing Richards has to be the end of their post-Avery surge, right? Anaheim is on skid row. Phoenix will start selling anything and anyone that makes over 50 cents soon. This leaves the Kings….yes, the team Mike and I mocked in the preseason, as the Sharks biggest challenger down the stretch. They have rolled 6-2-2 in their last ten and beat the Ducks last night. LA is young, physical and expectations are so low, they won’t be squeezing theirs sticks tonight. Sharks need to be on their “A” game.

Take a look at Darren Dreger’s top ten list of players who could be on the move in the coming weeks.

One name that I find interesting is Ryan Whitney. Rumor has Pittsburgh searching for a winger to play with Crosby. How about a trade of Milan Michalek for Ryan Whitney? There are several pros and cons to this deal, but getting Whitney into the Sharks fold for long term (he is signed for 4M/per year until 2013) would give San Jose the best defensive core in the NHL for the next three years…and it gets better when you Big Nick Petrecki.The Sharks could replace Michalek this year with McGinn or Cheechoo on the 2nd line.

Who’d you rather: the high flying winger on the Sharks most consistent line who has found his edge this year or a potential long term replacement for Rob Blake signed for a bargin. If you were Doug Wilson, would you consider this or hang up the phone? I think I would take the call….

The Sharks celebrate their return from their longest road trip of the season by beating the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 last night.  And grier and I are back from our own east coast trip, a very successful one.  You can hear all about our various exploits on our new podcast episode.

A lot of this podcast talks about the Sharks’ third line, which underwent an overhaul for the Oilers game- Marleau centering Cheech and Grier, with Kaspar moving up to the first line to play with Joe and Seto.  The Kaspar move didn’t seem so great save for one excellent backhand pass into the slot, but the third line was serendipity.  With three good lines that can score, and the Oilers missing two good defensement in Grebeshkov and Vishnovsky, there was going to be a very favorable matchup for one of those lines, and the newly created third line was the lucky winner.  They drew Jason Strudwick and Theo Peckham several times.

It’s a good start to a short homestand, with the Kings in town Thursday and the Thrashers Saturday.  The Sharks need at least three points in those two games to be well positioned for another tough road trip next week.  It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility for the Sharks to have another one-win road trip there- Dallas, Detroit, Ottawa, and Montreal.

The dudes recap their eventful east coast trip this week, taking in the Devils-Sharks game at the Prudential center.  And while the Sharks may have beaten the Oilers in a spirited contest, there are still a few questions about this team, mostly about the third and fourth lines.  Mike and Doug try to address these questions and some from listeners besides.

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Nice and chilly here in the Northeast, and a great story to tell about our NHL Live experience on Friday.  You’ll have to wait until next week’s podcast to get the scoop.  Because of our busy New York schedule, we weren’t able to watch the entire Buffalo game on Friday- after we got out of the Will Farrell show, we went straight to the Times Square ESPN Zone to catch as much as we could.  Being insane, of course we checked the score from our seats (4-3 Buffalo after two), but were happily surprised when we walked into the bar to find the Sharks up 5-4 with about 9 minutes left in the game.  As you know, it went downhill from there.

David Pollak reports that McLellan isn’t happy about the Sharks losing their last three shootouts, but how about this stat- The Sharks are 1-7 in their last 8 overtime games. In Buffalo and Boston, we saw a decent third period effort (minus the last 10 seconds of the Buffalo game) but when it gets to the extra session, there’s some wilting going on.  And you can’t chalk it up to the flu bug- this horrible run started on December 17.

Mike and I leave tonight for Jersey. We look forward to giving a full report as the Sharks try and get a point in all five games on this road trip. So far, three for three – while last night wasn’t pretty, I’ll take the point against a desperate Penguins team. It certainly wasn’t the type of game I was expecting – it was actually pretty boring in stretches. Either way, a point is a point at this point….that’s my point. Heh.

Here’s the new podcast. Look for us in the background on NHL Live on Friday as we try and crash the studio. We should be easy to spot. One thin and one stocky – both in Sharks jersey.

Go Sharks!