So far this season we've seen three different Sharks teams. One team has dominated possession and the scoreboard for partial games; another has sat back with a lead under relentless attack and possession loss while the third has been a roster on spin cycle until the washer door opens and five players fall on to the ice. In the Buffalo game it seemed like they'd lost passion for the game. The same troublesome scenes can’t be present if the Sharks want to even compete with the Anaheim Ducks today.
In an attempt to find the mother of all super lines, head coach Todd McLellan has dismantled and restructured functional units to create franken-lines. In other words, he’s robbing Peter to pay Paul. San Jose lacks an identity and it has nothing to do with a lack of captain, everyone knows Thornton is still the captain regardless of which letter happens to be on his jersey. It’s hard, right now, to pinpoint what kind of team the Sharks are trying to be.
What’s been the Sharks identity, bread and butter, or whatever you’d like to call it, has been their ability to play a sound defensive game while their goaltenders made routine saves, occasionally stealing a game. Teams that came to play the Sharks knew they were going to be bottled up in the offensive zone, pushed to the outside and forced to make plays they didn't want to make. The defensive schemes that worked, regardless of personnel, aren't working right now. The goaltending is suspect and leaky. The offense is being asked to carry a team when it simply doesn't have the proper structure to do so.
If an offense is to carry a team to the top all by itself for an extended period of time it needs to have one of two things: 1)Crosby and Malkin or; 2) A 60 minute power play. I see neither of those in the Sharks future. When you don’t have the aforementioned options and you can’t roll four lines you need solid defensive play or a goalie to steal a win or two.
The defensive identity is gone for the time being. The offensive lines don’t last for much more than a period at a time making it hard to generate any sort of chemistry. Right now you could replace the Sharks logo with a blank person with a question mark in the middle and it would be a disgustingly accurate portrayal.
On Saturday afternoon the Sharks had a chance to right the ship and quell the chatter of dysfunction; instead they dropped a 2-1 contest to arguably the worst team in hockey. If that doesn't open the coaching/management staffs eyes I’m not sure what will. Maybe the fact that for the first time in over 200 games the SAP Center wasn't sold out; that’s a direct result of poor play on the ice.
Maybe the Sharks need another trip to Tahoe by themselves; maybe the lines need to return to what they were. Something has to give in San Jose and the answer isn't sending a mish-mash of lines over the boards. There’s no excuse for a team this talented, with this little roster turnover, to have lost four straight in the first nine games of the season. It’s completely unacceptable.
For the first time in years, possibly ever, the fans voiced their opinions and were heading into the season holding the team and the staff accountable. That accountability was on full display during the Buffalo game when there was no sellout announced. The expectations have been raised in San Jose and they are coming nowhere near the level of play demanded by the fans.
With the price of defenders seemingly at an all-time high right now it’s unlikely a move will be made that can be of significant impact unless it’s done in the heat of panic. When the players don’t play up to standard the fans stop paying to see them play. When the fans stop paying to see them play the businessmen/businesswomen start turning the heat up on the reclining chair in the GM’s office. When the heat gets turned on the GM he usually lights a torch to the head coach to deflect attention or makes an irrational roster move.
This situation is going to have to be sorted out in-house, with the personnel that are already there, before it gets any better. It’s time for San Jose to decide what team the Sharks want to be: an average team or the team they've been for the past decade. One thing should be certain, though, and that’s the thermometer should be starting to boil in the offices after a four game skid with no clear direction of a team filled with talent and expectations. I’m not saying panic, or fire anyone, I’m saying relax and figure out what’s worked this year and what hasn't. There’s plenty of film on both so it’s time to plug in the old VCR.
Thanks for reading.