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Sharks Unquestionably the Laziest Team in the NHL

December 30, 2010, 4:07 AM ET [ Comments]

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Disagree if you wish, because everybody has the right to be wrong, but the San Jose Sharks are unquestionably the laziest team in the National Hockey League. How else can you explain the disturbing trend of blown third-period leads this season? What other conclusion can we draw from the fact that every time the Sharks are mentioned on a national broadcast their heart, desire and leadership are being questioned? That third-period goal differential provides the statistical evidence, your own two eyes the anecdotal. If there’s anyone out there with a legitimate rebuttal please share it, because in my mind it’s as certain as Neil Young’s superiority to Bob Dylan and pot roast’s dominance over tofurkey. It can’t even be disputed.

The Sharks aren’t the worst team in the league, just the laziest, and it’s disheartening even the most loyal followers of Team Teal this season. After being booed off the HP Pavilion ice during Monday night’s 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, the Sharks should have taken the ice Wednesday night intent on smashing the inept Minnesota Wild into oblivion. After 40 minutes, the Wild shouldn’t have been within screaming distance of the Sharks. And once the beatdown had mercifully come to an end the home crowd should have retreated into the Minnesota night, shaking their heads and complaining about another futile attempt to run with the big dogs.

Instead, the Wild were down by a single goal after the first two periods, and in the final frame they surged while the Sharks swooned. Rather than witnessing the latest in a string of disappointing outcomes, the Xcel Energy Center faithful enjoyed their team’s most satisfying comeback of the season, and the team’s first victory when trailing after 40 minutes. As if Shark fans needed another reminder, the 5-3 loss reinforced for the umpteenth time that hard work overcomes talent when talent doesn’t work hard. And make no mistake, these Sharks are talented but they do not work hard. You don’t see many lunch pails or hard hats in Silicon Valley, either on or off the ice.

Perhaps even more disappointing than the loss was the fact that there wasn’t any pushback from the Sharks, just as there hadn’t been 48 hours earlier two time zones away. On Monday night the Sharks were embarrassed by a division rival on their own ice, in their own rink, and the shellacking was punctuated by a goal that was equally impressive for both its jaw-dropping skill and brazen showboating. If Anze Kopitar tries that pass in Anaheim he gets planted in the fourth row. If he even thinks about it in Philadelphia he has his jaw mangled and nasal cavity re-arranged. When he pulls it off in San Jose nobody bats an eyelash; he doesn’t even get a gloved hand in the face.

Shark fans have finally reached their breaking point this season, and it’s easy to see why. Why should they care about a team filled with players who don’t seem to? Why should they support a team that runs off every media member that asks tough questions and pointedly calls for accountability? What would convince them to believe that this season will end up differently than any of the five that have preceded it? Doug Wilson is either blissfully ignorant or asleep at the wheel, because the Sharks have Boogaard-sized holes in their roster and a coaching staff that misguidedly instructs players to sit on a one-goal third-period lead but can’t motivate them to do it effectively.

Those problems could probably be addressed without reconstructive surgery, but there’s one fatal flaw that continues to plague the Sharks and won’t be corrected anytime soon. San Jose has a leadership void that’s become painfully obvious to intelligent hockey observers around the league, and even the unintelligent ones are catching on thanks to Drew Remenda’s insistence on blaming anyone but the coaching staff. Joe Thornton’s captaincy stalled and sputtered in Boston before the franchise corrected its misguided course. His second stint with the "C" hasn’t inspired any confidence, and hasn’t done a thing to silence his increasingly-vocal critics at home and abroad.

Washington Capitals forward Brooks Laich, a player who would skate through a wall and come out the other side grinning proudly, best summed up the qualities of a leader during the most recent episode of HBO’s 24/7, saying, “I think leadership and character is revealed through a player’s work ethic and desire to win.” After 37 games, you can draw your own conclusions about the San Jose Sharks. And if you don’t agree that they’re the laziest team in the NHL it’s okay – you have the right to be wrong.

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