Sharks, Avs in Round one of 2015 NsHL playoffs

June 1, 2015 - As the NsHL playoffs are set to start today, the GM and coach of the San Jose Sharks were laying out a simple message while the team was getting ready for their round one match-up with the Colorado Avalanche.

"This is the slogan for the 2015 playoffs for the San Jose Sharks."  Said Sharks GM Kurt Fulmore.  "And it's not to be taken like we think we are unbeatable.  It's far from that.  We have a good team in front of us in our way to our ultimate goal.  So our team needs to have the mindset that not only can we beat them, we can conquer the offensive giant known as the Colorado Avalanche.

The Sharks even went as far as printing the slogan on towels, t-shirts and other items for their home games in the series.  It will spark team spirt for the fans and along as bring in some extra revenue for the club. 

The series starts out in Denver for Games 1 and 2.  

-- Michael William

San Jose finishes the season 6th in the West

May 26/14, San Jose, CA - For the first time in 5 years, the San Jose Sharks will not be handing out the year end awards at the end of the regular season.  The Sharks clinched a playoff spot yesterday with a victory over the Nashville Predators.  The Sharks dropped the last game of the season to the Vancouver Canucks.  The Sharks will be facing the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs.  During the season, the Sharks played the Oilers 6 times and of those 6, the Sharks only won two.  "Going off the season stats, the Oilers probably think this will be an easy season." Says Sharks GM Kurt Fulmore. "But that was the regular season.  This is playoff time now.  Anything can happen in playoffs."

This is a totally different team that the last Sharks team that was around when the Sharks last made the playoffs.  The only player that was on that team was netminder Kari Lehtonen.  "We are all excited, especially me, to be back in the playoffs." commented Lehtonen.  "Never thought about it till it was mentioned but yeah, I'm the only left around from the last time the Sharks made it to the post-season."

For others on the team, it will be their first kick at the can in the post-season. "It's awesome that we get to go on and be in my first playoffs." commented Shark centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.  "It was a rough season last year so to be going there this year, it's pretty awesome."  When asked about the post season, Kevin Poulin said, "I'll most likely be riding the pine for the most part but if I do get called upon, I hope I can help the team get to the ultimate prize."  "It's pretty exciting." Said Sharks winger Jakob Silfverberg.  "To be in the post season your rookie season, I'm excited.  Looking forward to getting out there and having fun and hopefully going all the way."

The Sharks did end the season on a sour note.  They only won 1 game in their last 8 games.  When asked about that, captain Patrick Marleau has this to say: "We just couldn't get it going for a stretch there.  We dug down deep and got that playoff spot clinched.  But we need to get our (expletive deleted) and do a better job in the playoffs.  We got the monkey off our back and got it.  Now it's time to get down to business."

Game one of the first round series starts on Thursday in Edmonton.

San Jose Sharks NsHL 2013 Entry Draft results

Here are the results of the 2013 Entry Draft for the San Jose Sharks:

4th overall - Alexsander Barkov (Centre) - Blessed with ideal size and strength for the center position at the National Hockey League level, he competes for every square inch of ice. Produces good numbers thanks to his poise and playmaking ability. Must prove he can be a dominant figure in North America. In fact, he may need to amp up his physicality in order to do so. Must also live up to expectations as the son of a legendary player in his hometown.

35th overall (Pick acquired in deal with Anaheim) - Robert Hagg (Defense) - Is a tremendous puck mover with a smooth skating stride. Can play an effective shutdown role, mostly because of an extremely active stick. Can log huge amounts of ice time. Has the size NHL scouts love but must learn how to use it more effectively (and more often) in order to maximize his potential at the highest level. Isn't a natural point producer.

138th overall - Mitchell Wheaton (Defence) - Big stay-at-home defenseman. Wants to be a hockey player and will work hard and improving all parts of his game. Already over 225 pounds. Big, but docile. He gets picked apart and skaters blow by him, because he hasn't perfected his turns and hasn't even caught up to the WHL speed. Will need to continue gaining quickness and strength but looks like a long-term project. 

184th overall - Jacob Jackson (Centre) - A high school centre who displays good all-around abilities and creativity. Is developing a strong two-way game and is tough. Projects as a versatile forward who can slide anywhere on a teams bottom six...if he continues to get strong and improve his game. 

188th overall - Emil Galimov (Left Wing) - A 6`1`` winger who plays in the KHL.  Had 7 goals and 13 assists in 33 games playing for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv.  Had decent size for NHL but needs to pack on some muscle as he`s only listed at 163 lbs.  Looks to be a long term project.

Sharks/Citadels hand out awards, Rolston retires

After the Citadels, the Sharks AsHL affiliate, was eliminated from the AsHL playoffs, the Sharks and the Citadels held their awards night.  The Sharks handed out the following awards:

Forward of the year - Patrick Marleau/Kyle Okposo
Dman of the year - Dustin Byfuglien
Hardest Hitter Award (Most hits) - Dustin Byfuglien
Best Plus/Minus - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Trigger Happy Award (Most Shots) - Patrick Marleau
Best Faceoff Percentage - Patrick Marleau
Rookie of the Year - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Most Valuable Player - Patrick Marleau/Kyle Okposo

The Citadels handed out the following awards:

Forward of the year - Brian Rolston
Dman of the year - Matt Walker
Hardest Hitter Award (Most hits) - Scott Nichol
Best Plus/Minus - Vladimir Zharkov
Trigger Happy Award (Most Shots) - Brian Rolston/Alex Giroux
Best Faceoff Percentage - Scott Nichol
Rookie of the Year - Kevin Poulin
Most Valuable Player - Kevin Poulin/Brian Rolston

Also as Brian Rolston was accepting the MVP along side Kevin Poulin, he announced that he would be retiring from NsHL/AsHL.  The Sharks picked up Rolston up in the offseason to add some depth in the Sharks organization.  Rolston played 75 games in Halifax getting 35 goals and 46 assists.  Rolston got called to the Sharks and played 7 games where he registered 1 assist. The Sharks would like to wish Brian Rolston the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Sharks season end report

The Sharks had, what they think for some part, was a disappointing season.  Hoping to be battling for a playoff spot this season, things didn't work out that way and they ended up battling for a high draft pick instead.

"It was definitely disappointing to a degree." Said Sharks GM Kurt Fulmore.  "We thought we'd be in a better position this year, playoff wise.  But after things didn't go as planned, some more dealing took place and we added some more young guys to the squad, some of which we hope will make the pro team as early as fall time."

Not all was dark and dreary for the Sharks season.  Sharks RW Kyle Okposo had a career season scoring 38 goals and having 37 assists for 75 points. Captain Patrick Marleau had over a point a game, scoring 27 goals and having 57 assists.  Rookie centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a solid rookie season with 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 pts.  Sharks netminder Kari Lehtonen had solid numbers despite the team's rough season.  He had a GAA of 2.71 and a save percentage of .913.  Dustin Byfuglien led dmen on the team with 38 pts despite being in the sin bin for 204 minutes this season.

While the Sharks cleared out their lockers in San Jose when the season for them came to a close, Sharks GM Kurt Fulmore was looking forward in the offseason.  Looking towards the 2013 NsHL draft.  After it was all said and done, the Sharks will be selecting 4th overall in the first round.  Rumors are speculating as to who the Sharks may pick with the pick.  If one of Nathan McKinnon or Johnathon Drouin happens to fall to 4th, the Sharks will take one of them.  If those two are gone, looks like Alex Barkov, Valeri Nichushkin or Elias Lindholm are on the Sharks radar.  After their own first rounder the Sharks have the following selections:  Buffalo's 3rd (74th), St. Louis' 3rd, (80th), Boston's 3rd (84th), Toronto's 3rd (86th), Minnesota's 5th (138th), their own 7th(184th), Anaheim's 7th (188th) and Colorado's 7th (205th).

After the draft is done, looks like the Sharks' scouting staff will be out and about again seeing who might be making the jump to the pro team or at least to the Sharks AsHL affiliate, the Halifax Citadels.

Speaking of Halifax, as of press time, the Citadels were up 3 games to 1 in their first round AsHL series against the Chicago Wolves.

Wheelin' and Dealin'

Apr. 24/13 - A lot of games have passed since the last post.  The San Jose Sharks are currently sitting 14th in the West with a record of 20-29-4 for a total of 44 pts.  The Sharks have had a pretty rough season and it  seems that a few weeks ago, Sharks GM Kurt Fulmore pushed the trade button and went to town on a few deals.

The Sharks sent LW Guillaume Latendresse to Montreal for goalie prospect Petr Mrazek.

The next day, the Sharks sent goalie Pascal Leclaire to Boston for Boston's 3rd rounder in the 2013 draft.

At the beginning of the month, the Sharks sent farm vet Brendan Morrison to Ottawa for Ottawa's 5th in the 2013 draft.

Petr Mrazek wasn't property of the Sharks for very long as they sent the goalie prospect, along with Alex Picard and 1.5 million dollars to Minnesota for LW Sean Avery, prospect Jakob Silfverberg and Minnesota's 3rd rounder in the 2014 draft.

The next deal for the Sharks saw defenseman Richard Petiot to Nashville for dman Jake Muzzin, SJ's 5th in the 2014 draft and Nashville's 3rd in the 2015 draft.

Brooks Orpik was the next one headed out.  He was dealt to St. Louis for dman Mark Eaton, dman Brandon Burlon and St. Louis' 3rd in the 2015 draft.

Sharks just kept on dealing.  They flipped Mark Eaton, along with Buffalo's 4th in the 2013 draft to Nashville for Nashville's 2nd rounder in the 2014 draft.

Then in a strange turn of events, the Sharks sent LW Sean Avery back to Minnesota for prospect Dominik Uher and St. Louis' 3rd in the 2013 draft.

The Sharks have the NsHL rights to Mikael Granlund.  I guess they like what they see in his younger brother.  The Sharks sent Ottawa's 5th in the 2013 draft to Boston for centre prospect Markus Granlund.

The Sharks swung some more minor deals in the last couple of weeks.

The Sharks sent Toronto's 5th in the 2014 draft to Carolina for D prospect Adam Polasek.

The Sharks then sent C/RW Marc-Antoine Pouliot to Vancouver for prospect Max Friberg.

The Sharks sent prospect Carson McMillan and Minnesota's 7th in the 2013 draft to Boston for farm C/LW Dustin Jeffrey.

The Sharks also saw some movement via the waiver wire.  The Sharks picked up dman Willie Mitchell up on waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes.  In an effort to save some money and send him to the farm, the Sharks lost vet RW Daniel Alfredsson to waivers as he went to Calgary.

Sharks GM Kurt Fulmore said the last few weeks have been filled with lots of work on the phone.  He feels he may have pushed the panic button a little too early but thinks even though they have probably taken a step back, he may have added some more good pieces to the future of the franchise.

The Sharks look to be just riding the waves of the rest of the season as they are no where near getting a playoff spot and are probably already looking forward to the 2013 draft.

The Sharks do have some bright points to the season so far.  RW Kyle Okposo has scored 25 goals on the season.  Sharks rookie RNH has 24 pts (13 G, 11 A) for 3rd in rookie scoring.  Dustin Byfuglien has 22 points (2G and 20 A) and is 15th in defenseman scoring.  Patrick Marleau has 31 assists and is 20th in the league in that category and is 45th overall in points for the league. And even despite the team's rough season, Sharks netminder Kari Lehtonen is still posting decent numbers. (2.6 GAA, .904 save percentage. )

THN Top 50 prospects NsHL style

Picked up the Hockey News Future watch issue today and figured I'd translate the top 50 prospect rankings if it were the NsHL version.  I marked in brackets if said prospects is playing in the NsHL or AsHL.  Enjoy,  guys!!

#1 Vladimir Tarasenko - Buffalo
#2 Justin Schultz - Detroit
#3 Evengy Kuznetsov - NYR
#4 Dougie Hamilton - Edmonton
#5 Nail Yakupov - Tampa Bay
#6 Alex Galchenyuk - Edmonton
#7 Mikeal Granlund - San Jose
#8 Jonathan Huberdeau - Columbus
#9 Ryan Muray - Phoenix
#10 Jacob Trouba - Columbus
#11 John Gibson - LA
#12 Hampus Lindholm - Colorado
#13 Ryan Strome - Toronto
#14 Mark Scheifele - Chicago
#15 Sven Baertschi - Colorado
#16 - Mikhail Grigorenko - Carolina
#17 Mika Zibanejad - Phoenix
#18 Jakob Silfverberg - Minnesota
#19 Morgan Rielly - Columbus
#20 Chris Kreider - Philly
#21 Filip Forsberg - San Jose
#22 Jonas Brodin - Toronto
#23 Griffin Reinhart - NYI
#24 Robin Lehner - Carolina (AsHL)
#25 Andrey Vasilevskiy - Toronto
#26 Brendan Smith - Tampa Bay (AsHL)
#27 Charlie Coyle - Florida
#28 Boone Jenner - Chicago
#29 Jaden Schwartz - Chicago
#30 Jacob Markstrom - San Jose
#31 Calle Jarnkrok - Ottawa
#32 Brandon Gormley - NYI
#33 Brandon Saad - St. Louis
#34 Teuvo Teravainen - Anaheim
#35 Scott Laughton - Toronto
#36 Nick Bjugstad - Edmonton
#37 Oscar Klefbom - Anaheim
#38 J.T. Miller - NYR (AsHL)
#39 Tomas Hertl - Phoenix
#40 Olli Maatta - Carolina
#41 Nathan Beaulieu - Minnesota
#42 Derrick Pouliot - Boston
#43 Joel Armia - Vancouver
#44 Marcus Foligno - Ottawa
#45 Malcolm Subban - Winnipeg
#46 Brett Ritchie - NYI
#47 Mathew Dumba - Carolina
#48 Rickard Rakell - Carolina
#49 Zemgus Girgensons - Toronto
#50 John Gaudreau - NYI