Sleeksays

LA Kings (10-11-4) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (11-11-3) 7:30 PST, Fox Sports West The Kings' power play feels shitty right now. The numbers don't really back me up (the Kings are about where they were last year, around 17th) but I don't know, I'm still not a fan. There's something vaguely unlikable about it; if the Kings' power play were an actor, they'd be Cole Hauser.* I think the problem I have with it is that it relies way too heavily on the Kings' forwards to move the action. When the Kings get the puck in the opposing zone, they end up passing it back and forth between the forwards while the defensemen just kind of stand there. There's no movement, there's no position-switching to confuse the defense. You kind of kill the man advantage when you allow the defense to stand still. What the Kings need is a small, nimble puck mover, one that can get involved in the play. Maybe pair him with a big, aging asshole with a booming shot. That would...

There's been plenty of talk about how great Dan Boyle has been for the Sharks this season, how Christian Ehrhoff is coming into his own, how Rob Blake got his groove back. But Marc-Edouard Vlasic? Sure, he's having a great year -- but a Norris-worthy year? The Hockey News thinks so : NORRIS TROPHY (top defenseman) Shea Weber, Nashville � I said several times during the summer that Preds GM David Poile was genius in getting Weber, a restricted free agent to be, to sign a very reasonable deal before other teams had the chance to knock on his agent�s door with an offer sheet. Five months later, I�m looking prophetic; Weber has dazzled in both ends posting 10 goals and 23 points, both a blueline best, and a plus-12, tied for fourth best among rearguards. Nashville fans have been calling for years to have Weber�s name spoken in the same breath as Dion Phaneuf�s. Turns out Weber may be in a class of his own. Runners-up: Marc-Edouard Vlasic, S.J .; Mike Green, Wsh. I'm just surpri...

San Jose Sharks vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 7:30 PM, Comcast Sportsnet Sharks fans weren�t particularly nice to Brian Campbell when he returned to HP Pavilion. That�s to be expected, as Campbell came with a lot of potential and promise and he failed to deliver, then he said, �Screw you� to the team before cashing in. So what happens when the guy who came with the most potential and promise returns? Perhaps Ron Wilson himself didn�t embody that potential but his roster � and regular season performance � certainly did, and as the guy who runs the show when it comes to motivating players, the combined lack of inspiration and toughness can fall on Wilson�s shoulders. If only to accentuate the point, Todd McLellan�s got this team doing those things, though it certainly helps that McLellan�s got a better set of defensemen. Does Ron Wilson deserve a harsh greeting when he steps behind the bench as a visitor for the first time since the axe fell? In my opinion, no. In fact, as critical as I was of...

Tim Sassone, Chicago Beat Writer, November 25: Is it being a little too greedy to think the Hawks can go 6-0 on this road trip? Wednesday's game in San Jose won't be easy, but the Sharks can be beat and the Hawks almost did it last week at the United Center. The Hawks led 5-4 going to the third period then took a couple dumb penalties and wound up losing 6-5. It's on to Anaheim Friday and the Ducks aren't anywhere near as good as they were when they won the Stanley Cup. The Hawks close the trip Saturday at Los Angeles against an improved, but nothing special Kings team. Rudy Kelly, BoC Blogger, November 29: The Blackhawks have lost both California games (against San Jose and Anaheim) this weekend. Let's make it one more so Earl has to bust out the ol' rape graphic again. Well, apologies for the absence this week, but with siblings in town for Turkey Day, I was away from the computer for a bit -- but I've had myself a great week. I was even in Row B for Fri...

No, it's not Claude Lemieux. That dude's skating in the AHL, not the NHL, and despite some people speculating that this move might be made to intimidate the Detroit Red Wings (uh...I don't think Lemieux's intimidating anyone in the NHL at this point, but interesting theory), we won't be seeing him in San Jose unless he wants to buy Doug Wilson a pizza or something. Of course, Darren McCarty just got sent to the AHL too, so they can sell some minor-league tickets promoting Avs-Wings circa 1997. That could be fun. In the meantime, Evgeni Nabokov will return in net today against the Chicago Blackhawks. The crowd gave Nabby a good welcome-back chant on Saturday night when he was shown on the in-house camera. As well as Brian Boucher has played, I don't think anyone's unhappy about having Nabby back between the pipes. That is, except for this guy . Chicago comes in on a hot streak and they're thinking sweep even though they're only halfway through their s...

Here are a few photos from the Sharks 7-2 thrashing of the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. Evgeni Nabokov returned to the lineup to backup Brian Boucher, and he is expected to start Wednesday night against Chicago. More photos and notes from the game are available here , and postgame comments from the coaches are available here . Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was kind enough to answer a lot of questions for me about technology and the NHL prior to the game here , and Offwing.com and AOL's Eric McErlain also answered a few questions for me about the Capitals here . Naturally Jody Shelley and Donald Brashear fight when I am in the tunnel going from one side of the rink to the other, but hockeyfights.com posted a video clip of the fight here . I am the first to admit I was not as positive about Shelley when he was with Columbus, but scroll through some of his fights this season on HF. He is having an incredible season, and Todd McLellan is throwing him out on a line wi...

So, you may have heard there's this little thing called, erm, BlackArmor debuting against the Caps on Saturday night. It's black (duh) and not a heck of a lot different from the old black jerseys. Guess those early reports were wrong . (The good news? There's not a Seagate logo to be found. Fortunately, Euro-style sponsorships haven't crept into the league as some had feared.) Still, you guys know that I'm just a teeny tiny bit superstitious. The old black jerseys were seemingly cursed, at least for the first few seasons. I don't have specific numbers but I believe that the team's record when wearing them was roughly 0-19573893-2. They did eventually start winning with the black jerseys on, so whatever curse they had was apparently shaken off. History does tend to repeat itself though, and with the Sharks wearing the new duds on consecutive nights (Caps and Wednesday night against the Blackhawks), I say this: if you lose both games, burn them. Burn them all ...

A Sharkspage films premiere. Highlights after 20 games to "I am the night, colour me black" by Priestess.

I owe you an apology Doug Wilson. We traded a #1 pick and Bernier for "the missing piece". Brian Campbell became the best D-man we ever had. He was going to lead us to the promised land. Then the playoffs began, I defended Campbell thinking he was injured when he just sucked and could not stand up to the rough play of the Calgary Flames. You wanted to go back to the East to be closer to your family when in reality you took the highest offer and took your spin-o-rama to Chicago. Can't blame you for taking that contract but F-you anyway. I am thinking what do we do now. We sign an "over the hill" Rob Blake..ok fine. Then 2 days later we trade Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, a #1 pick and a #4 pick for Dan Boyle. Are you out of your mind? 5 months later the Boyle trade looks like a steal. Boyle is a better D-man than Campbell at 500k cheaper. Boyle is the "point guard" for the Sharks, always knowing where everyone else is and controlling the PP. Than...

Perhaps caving to the general dislike of the new-look jerseys (seriously, is there anyone who actually thinks they're an upgrade over the previous ones?), the San Jose Sharks have leaked their third-jersey. And the jersey, well, it looks a hell of a lot like the old black third jersey with an updated logo. Check it out over at Icethetics . Which I'm totally ok with. I bought a road teal because I wanted a Roenick one but I would have stuck with the previous jersey set had I not wanted a specific player. This one looks a little better, though the stupid thing is that the lack of any real design change from the old black jersey shows what a money grab this whole thing is. But we're good little NHL fans that keep finding ways to help the league push that salary cap up and up, so I think most of us take these occasional jersey redesigns. At least it's not like the Anaheim fans who got a redesign the year before the RBK jerseys came out. That's a double-dip of crap. Off ...

As the Sharks have racked up points to start this season, I've had my attention fixed on where they'd sit after the sixteen game mark. Why sixteen games, you ask? For one, it does represent the first 20% of the season, but more importantly, it's where I mentally set the bar two years ago when the Ducks finally suffered a regulation loss in Game 17. This originally was going to be a comparison of just the 06-07 Ducks and the 08-09 Sharks, but since I started mulling the idea I've been reminded that it's not just the Ducks that started their season on fire en route to a Stanley Cup. Here's a look at the last four cup winners have performed in their (mostly) first sixteen games, with the Sharks thrown in for comparison. In the right-hand column I have included each team's record through 60 minutes -- probably more indicative of projected postseason play. Overall Records: Team Raw Record GF � GA = GD PP PK Regulation Record 03-04 Lightning * 11-2-2-1, 25 pts 0...

Yesterday, I joked with Earl Sleek that tonight's Sharks/Stars game seemed like the perfect storm for the Sharks to get their first loss at home. After all, Evgeni Nabokov is out, Sergei Zubov is in, the Stars have been trying to figure out something to inspire them to a win (signing Mark Parrish, obviously, is the key), and it's a big Saturday-night tilt between conference rivals. Seems like just the type of situation that used to drive Sharks fans nuts. The team probably had a 30/70 percentage split of meeting the challenge of an occasion last season versus appearing listless and confused. Now? Maybe the NHL's scheduling staff is on the team's side. First Detroit comes to the Golden State to face Anaheim, then less than 24 hours later, skates out on HP Pavilion ice. Now the Stars have to do the same thing. Instead of using my "Oh crap!" negative thinking that still lingers from the Ron Wilson era, I'm going to look on the brighter side of things (don...

What's an MVPP? Pretty simple, really. The Sharks have a promotion -- my personal favorite promotion -- called Four In The Net, Pizza You Get. Sounds pretty self-explanatory, right? The Sharks score four goals during a home game and the ticket becomes an instant coupon for a personal pan pizza with one topping at Round Table Pizza. If you're like me and you sell a good number of your season tickets, it's a double-bonus -- the tickets pay for themselves and the ticket stub (since I email PDF tickets most of the time) still get me pizza. Simply put, it's awesome. In fact, if you listen closely during home games, there's one guy who always yells, "WEEEEEEEEEE WAAAAAAANT PIIIIIIIIIIIZZAAAAAAAAAAA!" some time after the third goal. Keep an ear open for it on the TV broadcast and I guarantee you you'll hear it. So, with this in mind, MVPP stands for Most Valuable Pizza Player. It's a new thing I'll be tracking this season, and it'll show just who...

Here are a few photos from last night's 4-2 Sharks win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. After a tight checking game in the first period and several spectacular saves by backup goaltender Ty Conklin, the Sharks opened up for 3 goals in the second and outskated a tired Wings team in the third. More notes and photos from the game will be posted here soon.

Hey, your team just beat last year's Stanley Cup Finals participants! Your top line is dominant, your young guys are doing great, and Dan Boyle has been a great acquisition so far. You guys are celebrating, right? Right? [Update from anonymous Battle of California Blogger] Yes.

The big story today seems to be the whole Todd McLellan vs. Mike Babcock sub-plot (I was going to do an Obi-Wan/Darth Vader Photoshop of the two with the "When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master," line but I ran out of time) but that whole thing doesn't really mean that much to me. I mean, these guys are professionals and they knew that some day this was probably going to happen. My bigger focus is on seeing how the Sharks compare as a whole to the Wings. Like it or not, the god damn Red Wings have been the measuring stick for the league since the mid-90s (give or take a few seasons), and the emphasis is even higher now that they're defending champs. Holding Sidney Crosby and company to just a handful of shots showed that the Sharks were ready to put forth a strong defensive effort against an elite opponent, but I got the sense that the Penguins were off their game on Tuesday. I doubt I'm the only one who thought that the whole game was pretty ...

Underwhelmed to put it mildly with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin at the tank. Thornton and Marleau turned in a dominant performance defensively as well as offensively, and Marleau and Setoguchi were really exploding on the back check to chase down plays. More photos and notes from the game here . Detroit returns tonight.

During the Stanley Cup Final, my wife was watching a game with me and after several Sidney Crosby shifts, she turned to me and said, "Why don't ANY of the Sharks skate like that?" Yes, dear, that's a very good question. One of the things that I've been very impressed with so far under new coach Todd McLellan is the fact that the Sharks are constantly moving their feet. It's no longer shuffle in the neutral zone, coast in the offensive zone; instead, it's go-go-go pretty much all the time. I don't know if it's a homer bias or what, but the other teams I see on Center Ice look slow compared to the Sharks, and I know it's not because they lack natural skating ability. It's all about the system. Speed = good. Go-go-go = good (for the most part; gotta work on choosing when to pinch in so we don't get those crazy odd-man rushes). And that brings us to tonight's game against NHL Golden Child Sidney Crosby. While the Red Wings are probably ...

Video of every single one of Jonathan Cheechoo's NHL leading, Rocket Richard winning, 56 goals in 2005-06. Tape delayed play-by-play of the Sharks 3-0 win over Tampa Bay is up here . The Sharks recalled forward Jamie McGinn earlier today, head coach Todd McLellan is scheduled for a conference call today at 3:15PM.

I'm not going to predict who's going to win this game, but just as a side note -- I guaran-damn-tee you that Steven Stamkos will get his first NHL point tonight against the Sharks. Why? It's not the news that he's been bumped to the first power play unit or that coach Barry Mullet wants to expand his ice time. It's because the Sharks have consistently wanted to dabble in the history books by being the team that other teams hit milestones against. You want specifics? Um, well, much of my brain is still recovering from my friend's Halloween party last night (where I dressed as Robert Smith from The Cure during the era where he wore hockey jerseys; my outfit was complemented by a knock-off Vancouver Canucks jersey with the old orange/red/white skate logo) but I know every time it's announced on a broadcast, I slap my forehead and go, "Not again." If my coffee kicks in before game time, I'll post some specific memories. But just sayin'. That...