Preseason Preview: San Jose Sharks

We're heading down the stretch as it's time for another Preseason Preview. This is where we check out the teams going into the season.

Now, the San Jose Sharks.

Team M.O.: This is a team that's build to blend finesse and toughness along with a balanced team to go out and win games. There's a lot to like about the Sharks and from top to bottom, they can be a team to be dealt with...

Last Season: ... but they aren't impervious. After winning the President's Trophy for the 2008-03 season, they were eliminated in the Western Conference Quarterfinals by the Anaheim Ducks. A few players were let go at season's end and Coach Todd McLellan made the decision to remove the captaincy from Patrick Marleau and instead have the players battle for it in camp. Hopefully that fares well with the rest of the group, including Marleau.

Offense: Joe Thornton may be the most dominant center in the Western Conference while Marleau rebounded from a disappointing season. The team benefited from Ryan Clowe's emergence as one of the better power forwards in the league along with Milan Michalek's efforts to generate excellent secondary scoring. Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski continued their development upward and provided San Jose with firepower when their first-unit guys may have had an off night.
Their bottom six, however, isn't as impressive. Jonathan Cheecho was a promising top-six forward who's lack of production has forced him to try and adapt to a depth role, something he hasn't done entirely well. Torrey Mitchel missed all of last season and was a non-factor in the playoffs, so he may need a minute to catch up with the speed of the game. The team did well to add agitator Scott Nichol to go along with enforcer Jody Shelley, but Shelley hasn't exactly been on the winning side of a lot of fights lately. The rest of the squad are prospects and fringe players, and San Jose will have to make due with that unless they can make a trade due to cap issues.

Defense: I'm willing to bet these guys have the most expensive defensive squad in the NHL but you know what, they're all great at what they do. The team traded for Dan Boyle and in turn he's provided the team with top-pairing defensive scoring. Marc-Edouard Vlasic is a young budding defensemen who more than doubled his point total from the year before under McLellan's system. Rob Blake might be up there in age, but he can still fill a top-four role and leadership. Christian Ehrhoff is an excellent power play quarterback who's worth giving top four minutes, but he really needs to tighten up his defensive play a bit more. Douglas Murray has unfortunately turned down the aggression a bit, but he still provides the team with an excellent defensive presence. Kent Huskins seemed to rebound from his foot injury with giving San Jose a performance that was so impressive they rewarded him with a two-year deal to play for them. Brad Lukowich seems like a viable option to pick up the remaining games. Some prospects might get calls up if injuries persist, but they have enough established presence to deal with that.

Goaltending: Evgeni Nabokov is one of the best goaltenders in the league, but I always worry about if he can provide solid and consistent goaltending for the duration of the season without it being interrupted by injuries or slumps in his play. The team's going to go with Thomas Greiss as the backup and while he's been steady in the AHL, he hasn't exactly dominated the league. Due to cap issues, however, the team cannot afford to bring in an experienced backup. Henrik Karlsson is coming over from Sweden, most certainly on a two-way agreement, and will probably challenge Greiss for that backup spot. Alex Stalock signed a contract too in the offseason, but you can expect him to go to the minors out of camp.

Expectations: They aren't as good as they were a season ago but they're still a legitimate team if they remain healthy. If the injury bug affects the wrong people, though, they may suffer a season similar to what the Dallas Stars suffered during the past season.