San Jose Sharks Season Preview : 2014-2015
The first game of the year was perfect against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, Los Angeles Kings. The San Jose Sharks played a great road game with impeccable defense, key saves at the right time and executed offense on the first night. At the second game, the San Jose Sharks shut out the Winnipeg Jets 3-0. If the Sharks continue to play like this throughout the season, the team will be a success. While the first game was good, the Sharks have a few holes in their line up and I’ll be reviewing them with you in my season preview of the 2014-2015 San Jose Sharks.
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First line (Hertl- Thornton- Pavelski) : If you watched the game, this line was dominant from the beginning. They dominated the boards, the neutral zone and the defensive zone. After playing together last year, this line already had some chemistry going and they showed it on Wednesday night. If they keep this up and stay healthy for the majority of the year, it could be one of the top lines in the NHL.
Second line(Nieto- Couture- Marleau) – This line is one of the San Jose Sharks’ quickest lines. With Nieto and Marleau, they easily could be one of the top in the NHL. The first game of the year, Marleau seemed like he was on a misson. Nieto creates havoc wherever he is on the ice because of his speed and shots. And Couture is expected to have the best year of his career. Couture is one of the top 10 two-way players in the NHL. There’s no doubt that he will continue to get better every year. He will now want to show management and coaching staff the reasons why he should have been given a shot at captain.
Now, here comes the iffy part on the forward lines and the depth. They will change during the season.
Third line (Tye Mcginn- Tierney- Wingels)– This line will create havoc and some depth scoring. The only guy that has the reputation of getting some goals in is Wingels. Tye Mcginn and Tierney are rookies. But from the games I saw, they create speed, passing vision and physicality which the Sharks need from the 3rd line.
Fourth line (Brown- Desjardins) – The fourth line brings one thing and one thing only, and that is physicality. All they need to do is hit their opponent every time they touch the puck. One could argue that is the job of the fourth line. Dump and chase and hit the body. That is what this fourth line does.
Defense:
First defensive pairing (Vlasic- Demers) – Every defensive pairing needs essentially a puck moving defenseman and a two-way defenseman. When Vlasic first came into this league, he was merely defense. But for a few years now, he has changed his game to becoming a complete defenseman in the National Hockey League. Demers has gotten better in his defensive zone, but he still needs some work to do. He is mostly good in the offensive zone and on the power play.
Second Defensive pairing (Burns- Mueller)– This is a interesting case. Burns was a forward last year, but the Sharks didn’t change Burns back to defenseman because he was not good at it. They changed him because they thought he was better defensively than offensively. Brent Burns is a very physical defenseman with a rocket of a shot at the blue line. Now, Mueller is a interesting player. He is one of the young players currently on the Sharks roster at the age of 19. He is a puck moving defenseman that is solid in the defensive zone. He has poise on the power play and has good vision on the ice. Mueller will only get better being paired with Brent Burns.
Third Defensive pairing (Hannan- Braun)– Scott Hannan is a shut down defenseman that can move the puck out of the zone. But, that’s the only strength he has. He does not have a shot at all and he has only alright vision in the offensive zone. Justin Braun just signed a 5 year deal. He will be part of the Sharks team for a while. He is a puck moving defenseman and can move the puck extremely well. Expect Braun to make an impact with the Sharks over the course of his contract.
Goalies (Niemi- Stalock)-. Niemi and Stalock will split the starts 41 games each. Stalock is the goalie of the future for the San Jose Sharks. Stalock is a hybrid goalie and he is a very aggressive goalie. He reminds me a lot of Evgeni Nabokov. Niemi is a very good goalie. He is a butterfly goalie but allows some bad angle goals to get past him. I do think Niemi will be traded at the deadline, however Stalock will be the starting goalie at the end of the season.
Prediction: I think the San Jose Sharks will have a very good year. Tierney and Mueller will improve their game as they become regular National Hockey League players. Unfortunately, like previous years, the Sharks may get ousted in the first or second round of the playoffs because they are not deep like the other California hockey teams such as the Anaheim Ducks or Los Angeles Kings. Prove me wrong, San Jose Sharks. I wouldn’t mind that at all.