Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The San Jose Sharks lost in Buffalo 4-1 to the slumping Sabres. If you are a Sharks fan, this should not be surprising to you at all. The Sharks are now 1-16 all time in Buffalo, and despite the Sabres being one of the worst teams in the NHL, it’s just a building the Sharks can’t win in. The Sharks decided to give Troy Grosenick another start tonight, and while he wasn’t at fault for all of the goals, he was most certainly not as impressive tonight as he was a few nights ago. It’s a shame to say it because I believe Grosenick could have a strong future with this organization, but the Sharks got hyped up in his play two nights ago and decided to start him again. The team wasn’t perfect in front of him. The first goal could’ve been cleared out of the front of the net and you could find a bunch of issues with the third goal, but that doesn’t leave Grosenick without criticism. Grosenick allowed 3 goals on 13 shots, which is not a good game at all. But I will not blame this loss on Troy Grosenick. I will not blame it on the coaching staff starting him over Niemi. As I said a few nights ago, something is wrong with this Sharks team.
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Any other year the Sharks lose to the Sabres, it’s not really that big of a deal. They’re a good team playing in a city they just can’t seem to win in. It’s only one game in an 82 game season. However, after Sunday’s difficult win in Carolina, the team acknowledged they played terribly against a team that isn’t very good. An elite NHL team comes out after a bad performance, and plays like they should to make a statement. What statement did the Sharks make tonight? They are not an elite team anymore. I can think of 8 teams right now in the Western Conference that are better than the San Jose Sharks. Sure, they’ve been on the road a lot, but there’s no excuse for the Sharks, a team that has made the playoffs 10 consecutive years, to have two bad performances against two lottery teams. And unfortunately, this all comes down onto the shoulders of the front office.
I don’t need to remind you all that the Sharks were up 3-0 on the Los Angeles Kings last year before a monumental collapse. The Sharks could’ve looked at the 2011 Bruins for help. The Bruins had a 3-0 lead on the Flyers in 2010 before blowing it, and in that offseason, they addressed needs, and won the Stanley Cup in 2011. What did the San Jose Sharks do? They panicked. They contemplated trading the two cornerstones of the franchise, so that they could become a younger team. Meanwhile players like Christian Ehrhoff and Radim Vrbata, two players that could actually help the Sharks take the next step, were being signed by other teams for reasonable deals, while the Sharks were signing players like Taylor Fedun and John Scott. The team did nothing to become a better team this year, and now we’re seeing the results. I’m not willing to go so far as to say the Sharks won’t make the playoffs this year, but if the Predators and Canucks continue to win while the Sharks continue to struggle, the Sharks fans might be watching the NHL Lottery Draw to see where the Sharks pick in the 2015 draft.