The Sharks recent minor skid can be attributed to a number of things. Facing tougher competition? Check. A barrage of injuries to key components? Check. A rapid decline in effectiveness of your fourth defenseman who sees over 20 minutes of ice time per game…..Apparently, Check.

Christian Ehrhoff has lost his mojo, baby. Here are his numbers for the last ten games, where the Sharks have gone 6-2-2.

0 goals
1 assist
-10
21 shots for a shooting percentage of 0%

Oh man. That’s not very good is it? I know what you’re thinking, everyone’s numbers must be off during this period, right?

Rob Blake 1 goal 4 assists +4
Dan Boyle 2 goals 5 assists -3
Brad Lukowich 0 points +2
Pickles 0 goals 2 assists +2

Oops. Ehrhoff’s -10 is a glaring WTF is going on here type of stat!!! It’s alarming actually. No wonder McLellan benched The Hoff for the Dallas game. Isn’t it time to sit him some more? While I applaud his physical play in the Islanders game, it’s not like he exactly got the message about being responsible since being benched since he’s a -5 in his last three games. YEEESSH. With one point since November 17th, what has happened here? He has regressed into the Ehrhoff of old. According to Andrew Peters of the Buffalo Sabres, “His game bites” (Sorry couldn’t resist).

So, I’m calling for the benching of the Hoff. Let’s see what Joslin has to offer, since it can’t be worse than what Christian has been bringing to the table, right? Joslin has earned the chance and was chosen as an AHL All Star this season. Let him play for a four game stretch and see what the results are. If Joslin can wheel and deal, then DW has some roster flexibility at the deadline. If he stinks, then back to the Hoff.

What do you say, Sharks fans?

I, for one, am glad that Joe is doing such a public service.  I’m learning about him and what to do in certain sticky situations.  Thanks, MYFO!

So Thornton and Boyle were named to the All Star team; grier and I had both of them right in the podcast.  Who we also picked (maybe because we’re shameless homers) is Patrick Marleau, who wasn’t chosen.  We both forgot that a player from every team needs to be there, and because of a crazy restriction like that, I present to you Milan Hejduk, tied for 68th in the league in scoring, -6, and a 2009 All Star.  That is crazier than Giguere being voted the starter.

Because a person on ChompBoard requested it, and because I’m also into such things, I made a list of Sharks all-stars, culled from hockey-reference.com

• 1992 – Doug Wilson
• 1993 – Kelly Kisio
• 1994 – Sandis Ozolinsh, Arturs Irbe
• 1995 – no game because of lockout
• 1996 – Owen Nolan
• 1997 – Tony Granato, Owen Nolan (the called shot goal)
• 1998 – none, it was North America vs. World
• 1999 – Marco Sturm (again NA vs. World)
• 2000 – Owen Nolan (NA vs. World)
• 2001 – Evgeni Nabokov (NA vs. World)
• 2002 – Teemu Selanne, Owen Nolan, Vincent Damphousse (NA vs. World)
• 2003 – Teemu Selanne (back to West vs. East)
• 2004 – Patrick Marleau
• 2005 – no game because of lockout
• 2006 – no game because of Olympics
• 2007 – Jonathan Cheechoo, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau
• 2008 – Evgeni Nabokov, Joe Thornton
• 2009 – Joe Thornton, Dan Boyle

You’re welcome.

2009 has begun, and the dudes are back from vacation.  However, the Sharks aren’t riding quite as high as they were earlier in the season, 2-1-2 since the last podcast.  The dudes tackle all of that, present the first installment of Lemieux Watch 2009, and make some Western Conference All Star predictions.

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Bit of intensity difference in that first period, huh?  I don’t think the Sharks had a single possession in the offensive zone in the first 15 minutes.  And as we all know, they didn’t have a shot in that time either.  It was a few minutes into the second when the Sharks finally woke up, and they had already spotted the Flames four goals.  Not exactly a winning game plan.

We talk about all that and more in the latest podcast.  Frankly, I think swapping all the lines around had something to do with the Sharks’ collective incompetence in the first period, and we saw Marleau and Thornton on the same line again late in the first, and from then on.  But McLellan has a response for that:

(On the poor showing the same night the lines were revamped) “If that shuffling affects our team that much, then we’ve got bigger problems than we can imagine. There’s been a number of teams throughout the years that continually shuffle there (sic) lines around and continue to win.”

True enough, but those teams ‘continually’ shuffled the lines.  They probably didn’t keep the same lineup for 30 games, then shuffle the deck against one of the hottest teams in the league.  Maybe the Sharks do have some serious problems,  but I still think the monkeys-with-typewriters method of line combinations hurt the team here.  And frankly, McLellan realized it, made a change, and the Sharks played much better.  If he wants to go all Ron Wilson on us and swap lines around according to the tides, that’s his perogative, and I’ll probably blast it every step of the way.  It’s the change in system yesterday that did ’em in.

Of course, the total lack of effort, positioning, and physicality probably didn’t help either.

Now that Shelley is out, and the Sharks facing the physical Calgary Flames tonight (24th in PIMs), McLellan has decided to switch the lines around again.  Pavelski, either because of lack of production or the stated reason of it being “.. more a reflection on mixing people up.  But it also gives us what I’d like to think are three responsible centers,” will now be centering the third line between Plihal and Grier.

And the initial 2007 first line is back together again tonight- Jumbo, Cheech, and Michalek, with Marleau centering Clowe and Seto.  Maybe it’s time to shuffle the deck, but I have a feeling it’s a little more like rewarding Cheech for playing well, and reducing minutes for Pavs and Seto for being a bit off.

The other wobbly plate is Semenov, skating as a forward on the fourth line.  We’ll be recording the podcast tonight after the game, and I have a feeling we’ll have quite a bit to say about that.  If there are other issues you’d like us to discuss, feel free to drop us a line.

Some thoughts on a 5-3 win vs. the Islanders.

– I think the Semenov as a forward experiment was a failure, and I think Coach McLellan would agree judging by his 03:44 of ice time. Frankenstein didn’t play after ten minutes into the 2nd period. He had one of the worst fights of the year vs. Tim Jackman in the first period. Hasn’t Sharks management seen enough of this guy?

– On the flip side, one of the most entertaining fights between Ehrhoff and Weight. Blow after blow from two guys who rarely drop, but when they do, its fists flying.

– Derek Joslin’s NHL debut was….well….honestly, I barely remember him out there. He didn’t do anything to stand out in a good way, but he certainly was better than Frankenstein back there. He seems to be slick with the pass and had a few good exchanges with Ehrhoff in the Islanders zone.

– The lack of physical play minus Murray and Shelley was evident to me. We really missed them and their attitude in infectious on the team when they’re on the ice. To succeed on this road trip, the Sharks are going to need both these big boys back.

Tough, tough road trip ahead. Listen for a new podcast this week at www.dudesonhockey.com.

First game of 2009. Team with the worst record in the NHL. First loss at home.

WHAT????

Yup. I have a bad feeling in my “chicken fried” stomach that the Sharks are going to get snake bit tonight by the New York Islanders. This team, who haven’t won a road game since November 24th which means 11 losses in a row on the road, is exactly the type of team that gives the Sharks fits. Consider this.

EXHIBIT A: The St. Louis Blues. 1-1-1 vs. Sharks.
Another bottom feeder in the NHL but the team plays hard and forechecks all night. They are young and have played the Sharks better than most top tier teams.

EXHIBIT B: Columbus Blue Jackets. 1-2-0 vs. Sharks.
Another middle of the road team that plays with a non stop motor. They have taken the Sharks to the limit in one loss and beat San Jose on their own turf.

I watched the Islanders play at Phoenix last night. They lost 5-4 in a tightly played game. New York is not very talented, but they play with heart and hustle. With a Sharks team that is scrapping around a little lately, dropping overtime losses in St. Louis and Minnesota on the road trip, could the Sharks be ripe for the picking tonight? I think so. Islanders get up early and the Sharks rally to make a game of it, but too little too late.

ISLANDERS 3 SHARKS 2 Ugh.

The good news is my predictions have been lousy lately. I got everything wrong on the road trip – so maybe the “chicken fried” feeling in my gut from my trip to the South isn’t such a bad thing…

POSTGAME: AS ALWAYS, IT IS A PLEASURE BEING WRONG. LISTEN FOR A NEW PODCAST THIS WEEK!

The Sharks aren’t playing exactly like the Sharks of early in the season; it was bound to happen sometime.  Seto’s out of the lineup, Michalek is just coming back, JR is out, and Ehrhoff was scratched in favor of Semenov.  I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1.  No such luck.

Nabby managed to pull his head out and have a fantastic game, stoning all of the Stars’ best chances.  The only one that went in was off the aforementioned Semenov’s big mitt.  Bastard can’t get a break, can he?  He did have a nice laydown block late in the game, but that unfortunately doesn’t make up for the several times he watched a guy go around him.

In the second period or so, I was really expecting the patented Turco standing on his head show, and he almost pulled it off.  If not for a Michalek circus goal from his knees, it might have been a different story.  Plus, I thought the Marleau penalty shot attempt was pretty weak sauce.  Barely a move, then a pretty low percentage shot.  Patty, you got better than that.

There’s no doubt that right now, Dallas is playing much better than their record.  If they keep playing this way, they will scratch themselves back into the playoff hunt in a month or so, and who knows, we might have seen a preview of a first-round matchup last night.  Please God, no.

Step three in the process to bring Claude Lemieux to the San Jose Sharks roster was initiated by Doug Wilson this weekend when he signed the four time Stanley Cup winner to a two-way contract.

Doug Wilson says “don’t just to any conclusions….”. Dougie…baby….I love ya but I’m calling your bluff big guy. Bust out the Teal for Claude – he’s coming folks. As I’ve said before, are the Sharks in the charity business here of resurrecting careers? This isn’t an NHL shelter for wayward veterans who’ve lost their way. This is the Stanley Cup front-runner – and they’re looking for the missing piece – and Claude Lemieux could be part of the equation.

Look at it from this point of view. At the trade deadline, or at any point before then, you can add one of most legendary winners in modern hockey and a player known to terrorize the Detroit Red Wings. Do you think Todd McLellan hasn’t shed any light on this? Come on….he would know the legend of Lemieux from the other side. Doug Wilson can poo-poo this all he wants, but once Lemieux clears waivers on Tuesday, and he will – every other team has had this time to sign him, no one is going to suddenly jump in today and be forced to add Claude to their NHL roster tomorrow, the Sharks have a built in Wing killer in the wings for nothing. No prospects lost, no draft picks given up. Another shrewd move by King DW. He wouldn’t even have bothered to go this far with Lemieux if he didn’t think he was part of the big picture for a Cup run – and that’s what this is all about – a Cup run. Patience will be a virtue here because, as I understand it, once the Sharks bring up who ESPN once called “the most hated man in hockey”, Lemieux’s deal will count against the Sharks cap for the rest of the season because of his age. (Mike our resident cap guru will correct me if I’m wrong). So, I still don’t think we see Claude until late February – for that reason mainly.

Imagine these playoff lines.

Marleau/Thornton/Seto
Clowe/Pavs/Michalek
Cheech/Mitchell/Grier
Shelley/JR/Lemieux

Tee-hee-hee. Now that’s money. With two solid scratches like Goc and Plihal, the Sharks will be looking good heading into any playoff series. Alright, that’s really it I think. I’m sitting at the San Jose Airport waiting to catch my flight and I couldn’t help myself. LEMIEUX WATCH is on…more than ever.

P.S. I am really going to see the Mississippi River Kings play at home against Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs on New Year’s Eve. My first minor league hockey game and I’m looking foward to seeing these CHL (Central Hockey League) foes do battle. They are two of the most penalized teams in the CHL, so some gloves should be dropped. There are four players with 98+ PIM’s….in 26 games. Awesome.

Happy New Year.