Sharks Struggle

The San Jose Sharks are one loss away from an early off-season. Some say it's no surprise given their underacheiving history in the playoffs, but I'm stunned at their lack of success on the ice. Here's a team that had one of the best regular seasons in NHL History! They got off to the best start in league history at the quarter point of the season, they won the President's Trophy for the first time in franchise history, and finished 26-points ahead of the Anaheim Ducks to win the Pacific Division Championship.

Skip ahead to the playoffs and the Sharks are down three games to one to those very same Ducks and are poised to become just the third team since the President's Trophy was first awarded in 1985/86 to lose in the first round.

They just can't seem to win in the playoffs. Since losing in the Western Conference Final in 2003/04, the Sharks have lost in the Western Conference Semi Final three consecutive years - throw in this year's Western Conference Quarter Final loss, and that's four straight years of utter disappointment.

So who's to blame?

The team felt that Ron Wilson had run his course and let him go at the end of last season. They replaced him with Todd McLellan who saw great success in the regular season but is seeing his team collapse much like Wilson did for all those years. Needless to say, coaching isn't the issue here - the players are.

Six players had 20+ goals this season, seven players had 50+ points so they can certainly get the job done offensivly.

Let's take a closer look at some of their "Star Players"...

Regular Season

Joe Thornton: 25 Goals, 61 Assists - 86 Points
Patrick Marleau: 38 Goals, 33 Assists - 71 Points
Devin Setoguchi: 31 Goals, 34 Assists - 65 Points

Playoffs (Through 4 Games)

Joe Thornton: 2 Assists, -4
Patrick Marleau: 1 Goal
Devin Setoguchi: 1 Assist, -2

If you're going to win in the playoffs, you need your star players to step up to the plate and quite frankly they're invisible in this Conference Quarter Final.

Joe Thornton has taken a lot of heat over the years for his subpar performances in the playoffs, and at this point I'd have to agree. He's the Alex Rodriguez of the National Hockey League. Dominant in the Regular Season but nothing more than a dud in the playoffs.

Thornton has averaged about 97 Points per Season with the Sharks which breaks down to about 1.3 Points per Game. It's a much different story in the playoffs where he's scored just 32 Points and is averaging about 0.82 Points per Playoff Game. But it's not just his offensive skills - he's becoming a liability to his team. He was a MINUS THREE tonight in Game Four - simply unacceptable at this stage of the game. On two goals in particular he either turned the puck over or was just standing around watching the play. I'd expect that from an inexperienced player, not from a first overall draft pick (1997) and Hart Trophy Winner (05/06).

And that's not to say that he should absorb all the finger pointing. Patrick Marleau and even Jonathan Cheechoo have a lot of explaining to do.

So what's my solution?

1. Fire Doug Wilson. As General Manager, he has failed to address certain issues on this club. He thought it was coaching but it's clearly about the players. He needed to make some moves last year and instead he's stuck watching another early exit. With that said, I'd be willing to give him one more year - but that's all.

2. Trade one or two of the "Big Three" in Marleau, Cheechoo, and Thornton. At this point, I think they'd be able to get a bigger return from Thornton so that's the route I'd go. Yes he's a big help in the regular season but the only thing that matters is who's lifting Lord Stanley's Cup in June and that doesn't look likely with the group of guys in the Shark Tank.

Something needs to be done and it needs to start as soon as the Sharks hit the golf course.