Joe Thornton and the Sharks are already starting to talk contract extension. Thornton’s current contract ends at the end of the upcoming season. Here’s the thing about Thornton and the Sharks: The Sharks want to keep him around and Thornton wants to stay in San Jose. He’s comfortable in San Jose, where he and his [...]

One thing that’s a bit frustrating about the NHL is that a lot of weight is attached to well-known names. It seems that a lot of GMs look at names rather than stats before they make a move. How else to explain all of the interest in Mike Modano, he of the 14 goals and [...]

I was a little surprised when I saw the Sharks had re-signed Patrick Marleau (4 years/$6.9 million per). Apparently I wasn’t the only one. Marleau told David Pollak he didn’t know how San Jose felt about re-signing him until after the playoffs were over. And that’s the thing about Marleau and San Jose. It’s always [...]

San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was a victim of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. First of all, these playoffs allowed Nabokov to once again show he’s not a big-game goalie. He just wasn’t very strong. But also, watching goalies like Ryan Miller and Roberto Luongo fail to carry their teams had to register with Sharks [...]

Expectations are a funny thing. Once they been raised, they can be very hard to lower. The Flyers and Blackhawks are going to the finals and while only one will end up with the Cup, you can say that to a certain extent, both teams have met or exceeded expectations. The Sharks made it to [...]

Context is everything. The Sun-Times has a small item talking about how well Marian Hossa is playing in the playoffs, despite scoring just two goals. And Hossa’s game really has evolved. He’s gotten much, much more physical, which he attributes to his year with the Red Wings. But would everyone be content with Hossa’s performance [...]

The nice thing about San Jose’s advancement into the Western Conference finals is that there are quite a few heroes responsible for the Sharks finally dumping their choke artists reputation. Here are five thank yous the Sharks need to express: Thank You One: Coaching First of all, you have to thank coach Todd McLellan, who [...]

I’m loving the San Jose-Detroit series because of how it represents a rebirth for the Sharks. Instead of being a first-round choke kind of team, they’re suddenly confident and composed. The officiating has been a bit strange, though. Specifically, the NHL suddenly seems to have taken exception to some of Detroit’s around-the-net play. Last night [...]

[picappgallerysingle id="8523816"] Out in Denver, the Sharks are dealing with the fallout from Dan Boyle’s freak goal on his own team. A day later, Boyle said he’s still not over the mistake, but he’ll have forgotten by tonight’s game. Sharks coach Todd McLellan seems content to write the whole thing off as a freak accident, [...]

[picappgallerysingle id="8535182"] I loved the end of last night’s Vancouver-Los Angeles game because the final few minutes were a microcosm of the Canucks’ season. You had Mikael Samuelsson, an off-season acquisition, scoring in overtime, proving his playoff experience and ability to get into the slot made him a solid pick-up. You had Henrik Sedin setting [...]