Funeral at Sea

Today, we are here to eulogize the 2010-11 San Jose Sharks.  Like many of the Sharks teams before them, they had high expectations, and like every last one of them, they didn't make the Stanley Cup Finals.  But let's not just bury them, though.  After all, it takes a special talent to choke on the expectations every year.  Whether it's to the eight seed, as the Sharks did with Anaheim in 2009, or not even bothering to show up, as the Sharks did against Chicago in 2010. So, what was the Sharks' excuse this year?  In a word: discipline.  That was the thing that eluded them against the Canucks and proved to be their downfall, but even then, this year's Sharks should have been eliminated in the first round against the Kings for playing down to their level and again versus the Red Wings in the Conference Semifinals for nearly choking away a 3-0 series lead.  And before you say anything, yes, I am perfectly aware of the Canucks' own close call in the first round.

So, the autopsy of the season could read like this: the goalie that was supposed to take them over the top in Antti Niemi, wasn't a whole lot better than the guy he replaced in Evgeni Nabokov, who himself screwed himself out of a potential starting job next year with his own contract issues in re-entering the NHL.  Niemi had a terrible first round, spectacular second round, and terrible Conference Finals.  He was inconsistent last year, which is often overlooked, since Chicago ended up winning the Stanley Cup.  Joe Thornton actually showed up for the playoffs.  The problem?  He's the captain, and with the captain's responsibilities, comes the praise and blame for the team's fate.  Same goes for Patrick Marleau, only without the captain's C.  If you could point to one person who disappeared this year, including playoffs, it has to be Dany Heatley.  At one point, he was dropped to the third line in the Vancouver series.  Defensively, the Sharks could have used Niklas Hjalmarsson, and would have had Chicago not matched the Sharks' offer in the off-season.  And then there's Ben Eager, who just can't get enough of the penalty box in Vancouver.

Getting a second seed in the playoffs should be something that the Sharks should be proud of...however, no Stanley Cup Finals again this year should really be considered a failure.  All season long, the Sharks had a chance to finally shake the label of "unable to win the big one," but like the bizarre goal that ended their season, the Sharks are once again, bitten by the same bad luck that they've had for twenty years.  As we say goodbye to the Sharks' 2010-11 season, the last word in this eulogy is that there will be Shark sushi served for the reception, so come hungry.