Hello San Jose Sharks fans and fellow hockey aficionados I am your new HB blogger. For some of you my name may look familiar and for most of you it won't.
So please let me introduce myself. My name is Steve Palumbo and this is my second stint on the one and only Hockeybuzz. I was the Anaheim Ducks blogger for quite sometime before handing the reigns over to Mr. Ed Stein.
Now it is I that is taking the torch from Mr. Tim Chiasson and running with it. I read the comments from Tim's final blog and I know I have some big shoes to fill. I always enjoyed Tim's work and will do my best to keep this blog insightful, informative and hopefully entertaining.
Now that I've got that out of the way...I have a thoughts I'd like to share.
I'm looking forward to blogging about the Sharks. I find this team fascinating. San Jose is off to a decent start. They are14-9-0 with 28 points at the quarter mark of the season. They are in the hunt for the Pacific. It seems a far cry from what took place last fall. After 23 games in 2014-15, the Sharks ere treading water at 10-9-4 with 24 points.
And let us be completely frank...
Last season was a mess. Last season was a lost season.
BUT....last season may be the most important in the progression of the franchise and some of its key players. The club missed the playoffs. It ended a 10-year run off success. For some on the roster it was the first time they had experienced and empty spring. It was a wake up call. The season was marred by several odd exchanges between the players and management. It became the straw that stirred the drink of a team in disarray.
Todd Mclellan, the most successful coach in franchise history, is gone. Peter Deboer is in.
San Jose needed stability in net. Martin Jones is in.
The Sharks are ushering a new era. The pride of Northern California has witnessed both of its Southern California rivals hoist the Stanley Cup and are thirsty for their own taste of success and I want to be along for the ride.
Speaking of Deboer...
Pete looks to have the players ear, but I caution you to tread lightly when it comes to the PDB affect.
Deboer led an average Florida Panthers club to 41 wins and 93 points season in his first year coach. Florida missed the playoffs but appeared to be a team on the rise. I said appeared, but in reality it was all downhill from there. The Panthers never managed to crack more than 77 points in either of the next two seasons and Deboer was unceremoniously fired.
Pete was considered a hot coaching commodity and was not unemployed for long. The New Jersey Devils came knocking and the fit was magical...at first.
Year one in NJ was incredible as Deboer coached a talented Devils team to 102 points and an Eastern Conference title. New Jersey was withing two wins of the franchises fourth Cup.
Then it was de ja vu all over again.
Zach Parise went home, Ilya Kovalchuk 'retired' and Martin Brodeur got old. New Jersey missed the playoffs in each of the next two seasons and were a team in a complete meltdown before Deboer was ousted again. Will this pattern continue in San Jose? That is still to be determined, but sometimes you are what you as a coach. Look ,I'm not saying I lack faith in Pete, but in seven seasons behind the bench he has seen led a team to the playoffs once.
Once.
And Jones?
Can Jones be the man that leads San Jose to the promise land? So far so good for the 25-year old. He is third in the league in wins (12), Seventh is goals against (2.13) and tied for first in shutouts (3). Every win from here on out will be a new career high. Jones appears to getting better from game to game and he admits that he is still learning as he goes. I like quick learners. These are all good signs for a goalie that I feel has yet to tap into his full potential. Having a competent starting goalie can go along way in this league...If you don't believe me...see 2015-16 Anaheim Ducks.
But I digress.
Thanks for reading, Steve