I own it. I thought the Sharks were going to win the Western Conference title this playoffs. Surely, I told myself, the Sharks were due for a long playoff run. This group had under achieved so many times before and they’re so talented. How could they not get it right this time around? How could they not come into the playoffs with the utmost focus and motivation since, after all, they had the chance to avenge all their countless playoff failures?
I knew Anaheim would be tough. There are no easy wins in the playoffs. Likewise, there are no excuses for the losers. The better team – whether its strengths are in its skaters, goaltenders, or coaches – always seem to win in a 7-game series.
This year when the (1) Sharks and the (8) Ducks met in the first round, most thought that the Sharks would be able to out skate and overwhelm the slower Ducks. Anaheim had an unproven goaltender going into the playoffs and only an average offense. Few thought the Ducks would be able to keep up with the Sharks prolific and overwhelming offense.
I think we all underestimated how the elevated game speed would affect many of the players on the Sharks. The Ducks were well coached, experienced, patient, and smart. They were able to capitalize on the Sharks mistakes, and after doing so, sat back, and defended. Jonas Hiller was terrific but he can’t be used as an excuse for the Shark’s elimination. They should have been able to beat him.
The Sabres were a successful playoff team in the late ‘90s primarily because of superior goaltending. It might have appeared on paper or in person that the Sabres were over matched by some but the truth is they were always the better team. Dominik Hasek was part of that team. I considered him to be part of the collective battle that teams would have to face when playing the Sabres. Hasek was obviously more talented in his position than most, but he still was a member of the group.
I don’t mean to compare Dominik Hasek with Jonas Hiller or even compare the Sabres of years past with the current Ducks. Rather, I just want to point out that both teams benefited from terrific goaltending and that defeated teams should never justify an elimination based on the oppositing goaltender.
But I digress. I think the difference in the first two home games for the Sharks was their powerplay, which went 0-6 in the first game and 0-6 in the second. In the 4 games the Sharks lost, they were a total of 1-18. Not surprisingly, five of the eight teams advancing to the second round had powerplay conversion percentages of 21.7 percent or better. For some perspective, Buffalo had the 7th best powerplay conversation rate in the regular season at 21.0 percent. So five of the advancing teams had what most would consider dominant powerplays to this point in the playoffs that in the regular season would rank in the top 25 percentile.
For a while, I thought that first-year coach Todd McLellan might take a lot of the blame here. But given the fact that San Jose’s playoff failures date back long before McLellan arrived, it’s clear he shouldn’t take the majority of the blame.
When I was looking over the Shark’s numbers, I noticed a few statistics that jumped out at me:
- Nine Sharks forwards recorded a point or less in the six playoff games.
- Three of their top five shot takers for the Sharks were defensemen.
- Marleau, Thorton, Pavelski, and Setoguchi, the Sharks four leading goal scorers, combined for 119 goals in the regular season. In the playoffs, the four of them combined for just 4 goals.
- Evgeni Nabokov dropped off from a .910 save percentage in the regular season to .890 in the playoffs.
That makes me think that no one showed up. Everyone is to blame, even Nabokov. He is who he is: A moderate goaltender that’s prone to good and bad playoff years.
Few can argue now that this team just doesn’t have the right mix of players to win in the playoffs. It’s no longer a possibility or concern; it’s fact. It would be tough for Shark management to put the blame on specific players. However, I do think that in order for younger players to play well in the playoffs, the veterans have to come through. Sometimes the right chemistry and the right mix of younger players can help spark veterans. Chemistry can be a funny thing, after all. Generally though, if the veterans fail in the playoffs, everyone fails. If the veterans play well, and the team still fails, then it’s a problem of depth and indicative of an over-matched team.
The Sharks can’t trade everyone nor would they want to. There’s a lot of talent on that team. But it’s obviously going to be the veterans that take most of the blame. It’s still unknown whether or not the younger players on the Sharks are capable of playing well in the playoffs. They play well in the regular season, so that’s a good sign. The front office should realize that the younger players are the future and the safer investment.
If I were the the general manager of the Sharks I would trade either Patrick Marleau or Joe Thorton. They’re good players so the Sharks will get a lot in return for them. These guys have a history of underachieving in the playoffs (Thorton more than Marleau) but that doesn’t mean that playing for a different team couldn’t change that. Everything changes when a player switches teams. He’s surrounded by different players, a different coach, and a different city whose fans have a renewed optimism about you as a player. The future is still bright for Marleau and Thorton.
Sharks fans should realize too that their team has a lot of assets which make for a bright future. Even though this playoff loss is probably particularly difficult to swallow, this team is in a good position to succeed in the immediate and distant future. They’re closer to a championship than most teams. There should and will be change in the off-season. No doubt, the Sharks will have new leadership and a lot of new talent by the start of next year. New leadership and new talent mean new possibilities and a new sense of hope. So hang in there Sharks fans.