Winning is always fun, but the car is more important
- Teemu Selanne on the All- Star game

The NHL All-Star game is something fans look forward to each year. Personally, I am tired of seeing the same guys each and every year. Not only that, I feel that each team should be represented in the game itself, and not just for the skills competition. So here are five reasons for why you should vote for the five members of the San Jose Sharks.

1. Last time Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle played in the All-Star game together they combined for a total eight points (2G, 6 A) They were the only three members to combine for more then 3 points during the 2009 All-Star game. This season alone they have a combined 37 points (11G, 26A) That averages out to 12.3 points per game.

2. Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski simply have never played in the NHL All-Star game. Last season with the Sharks, Pavelski had a career high 46 assists and 66 points. Now doesn’t that sound like someone you would want on your All-Star team? While Burns tallied a career high of 17 goals and 29 assists with 98 penalty minutes. Yes, okay, you don’t need penalty minutes in the ASG, but let’s all be honest, we really just want to know that Hogwarts and others will be a part of the NHL All-Star game.

3. The line of Thornton, Marleau and Pavelski would just be unstoppable. Thornton is 24th in the league with a 54.4 perfect on faceoffs.  Pavelski sits 28th under the shot percentage, with 19.1 percent, while Patrick Marleau is comfortable just being average right now.

4. Hello Skills Comp! Dan Boyle in the hardest shot. Patrick Marleau/Joe Thornton/Joe Pavelski in accuracy. Brent Burns in hardest hit? (If they made such a event!)

5. It’s pretty much a popularity contest, so we all know the generals who will be in the game. Why not throw some unknowns into it? Like, did you know that Joe Pavelski is a Polish-American player and a silver gold medalist? Boyle named his oldest daughter after Easton hockey equipment, but spelled it Eastin. Just some little known facts about the Sharks.

By Stephanie Lee

Just one week into their 2011-2012 campaign, the San Jose Sharks have played four games. Last Friday, they opened their season with a 6-3 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. Since then, San Jose has gone 0-3, losing twice to the Anaheim Ducks and once to the St. Louis Blues.

It’s no secret that the Sharks have never started the season off with a bang. In fact, in the past four seasons, the Sharks have gone 8-7 in their first four games (not including the two games in Stockholm, Sweden). According to the official Sharks website, defenseman Dan Boyle was quoted as saying, “The offense isn’t clicking for us just yet.” There’s really no telling WHEN it will click, but something has to happen for the Sharks to start scoring more and passing less. Even captain Joe Thornton said in interview with the Associated Press of the game against the Coyotes, “The lines worked out well. Everyone is still learning each other so we can still get better. But it was a good game.”

Surely it’s not all about scoring more and passing less. So if isn’t all about the goal scoring and passing, what else could it be about? Weak goaltending? Bad defense?

This season Sharks started off using their third back up goalie in Thomas Greiss. Last season, Greiss spent the season playing with Byrnäs of the Swedish Elite League to get some playing time. While with the team, Greiss played 32 games, earning 2 shutouts with a 2.92 goals against average. Compare that to the 2.76 total goals against average with the Sharks. After the Sharks made the playoffs, he was recalled back to the team just in case he was needed, and ultimately resigned with the Sharks on July 7. With Greiss back in the line up, it allowed the tandem of Antero Niittymaki and Antti Niemi to get the appropriate surgeries they so badly needed. Niittymaki undergoing groin surgery while Niemi had a cyst removed, reportedly from one of his knees. So there’s little room to judge the Sharks based off having Greiss in net when he hadn’t played in the NHL in over a year. And without their one-two punch of Finn’s, the Sharks were skating blind really. Having to use your third string goalie in place of your top two can really take some getting used to. Not to mention the new additions to the team (eight of them to be exact.)

Now, if it’s not the fact that the Sharks have been using Greiss in favor of Niemi (who started the game against St. Louis on Monday), then it could boil down to defense. Dan Boyle and Douglas Murray are the two veterans of this Sharks squad. Which means they should be the ones to be leading the blueline. Yes, Jim Vandermeer is a veteran in his own right, but not on this team. However, it appears as though Brent Burns has stepped up to whatever challenge that coach Todd McLellan has thrown their way. Through the four games played, Burns has 2 goals and 1 assist. That’s the same amount of points as Murray and Boyle combined.

Really, there’s no telling just how this Sharks squad will do. San Jose heads out on an early season six game road trip. They face the New Jersey Devils on Friday before heading to Boston to face the Bruins on Saturday.

By Danny Di Nicolantonio

In today’s edition of the fantasy hockey preview series we take a look at the back end of the drafted players, defensemen. The reason most are not drafted until toward the end for the exception for the top tier, is due to a low to medium reward.

A good balanced roster is the path to the success of your team and defense is just as important as any other position. There are times when you will see teams skip drafting defensemen or only fill one or two roster spots of out the four. This is a result of them stocking up on forwards, but causes havoc as more attention is necessary to streaks, injuries of a player. A good way to draft is not only by position but by the stats category that you know you will need more assists with. For example, if the first three defensemen I have selected provide an average amount of a goals and assists but not necessarily penalty minutes, I may use my last defensemen spot that produces more penalty minutes than the other categories.

It is always important to evaluate the stats attached to the name, instead of just the name before making your selections. Head-to-head leagues will have an average of 15 stat categories that you will need to try and conquer to win week to week. When it comes time to draft, grab these rankings and evaluate what is available with what you need as the draft progresses.

Ranked Defensemen 2011-12 Fantasy Hockey:

RANK DEFENSEMEN TEAM GP G A PTS +/- PIM PPP
1. Zdeno Chara BOS 81 13 31 45 27 87 18
2. Keith Yandle PHX 80 12 49 61 5 56 22
3. Mike Green WSH 70 15 33 48 20 56 21
4. Kris Letang PIT 78 11 42 53 7 71 21
5. P.K. Subban MTL 78 14 29 43 2 96 20
6. Nicklas Lidstrom DET 81 11 38 49 15 22 29
7. Christian Ehrhoff BUF 79 13 34 47 14 50 25
8. Dan Boyle SJS 75 9 35 44 4 66 26
9. Lubomir Visnovsky ANA 73 14 39 53 8 26 25
10. Drew Doughty LAK 79 11 31 42 10 62 21
11. Duncan Keith CHI 81 11 43 54 12 38 18
12. Dustin Byfuglien WPG 80 17 28 45 -2 91 19
13. Dion Phaneuf TOR 76 15 30 45 -3 89 17
14. Tobias Enstrom WPG 77 8 43 51 -5 38 22
15. Shea Weber NSH 80 15 28 43 4 54 18
16. Andrei Markov MTL 69 9 32 41 5 40 21
17. Chris Pronger PHI 63 5 28 33 12 63 18
18. Mark Streit NYI 76 9 30 39 1 48 20
19. Kevin Shattenkirk STL 75 9 40 49 3 32 17
20. Mark Giordano CGY 78 11 34 45 2 66 20
21. Ryan Whitney EDM 67 6 39 45 4 54 23
22. Ryan Suter NSH 77 5 36 41 9 54 18
23. Alexander Edler VAN 74 11 34 45 6 34 19
24. Alex Goligoski DAL 75 11 26 37 6 34 21
25. James Wisniewski CBJ 68 7 37 44 -7 52 21
26. Brent Burns SJS 72 10 25 35 3 71 15
27. John-Michael Liles TOR 74 10 38 48 -8 34 20
28. Alex Pietrangelo STL 78 11 36 47 8 22 16
29. Brent Seabrook CHI 81 7 34 41 11 54 14
30. Travis Hamonic NYI 78 6 27 33 6 119 6
31. Jack Johnson LAK 76 7 36 43 -17 48 20
32. Kimmo Timonen PHI 80 8 29 37 8 44 19
33. Erik Johnson COL 76 11 30 41 -6 59 13
34. John Carlson WSH 80 8 31 39 17 42 9
35. Tyler Myers BUF 81 10 26 36 5 36 15
36. Cam Fowler ANA 79 10 31 41 -15 28 21
37. Tomas Kaberle CAR 78 5 41 46 -2 18 24
38. Dennis Wideman WSH 76 9 29 38 2 36 18
39. Niklas Kronwall DET 71 11 25 36 4 38 14
40. Marek Zidlicky MIN 70 8 28 36 -10 50 19
41. Kevin Bieksa VAN 69 7 20 27 14 81 8
42. Erik Karlsson OTT 73 12 31 43 -17 40 18
43. Brian Campbell FLA 74 7 33 40 5 22 16
44. Matt Carle PHI 80 5 41 46 10 24 9
45. Sheldon Souray DAL 60 11 16 27 -11 78 15
46. Joni Pitkanen CAR 72 6 25 31 -3 64 14
47. Victor Hedman TBL 77 5 26 31 1 72 5
48. Joe Corvo BOS 72 10 26 36 -1 22 18
49. David Rundblad OTT 77 7 28 35 -6 24 12
50. Stephane Robidas DAL 80 4 23 27 -5 69 12

Stephanie Lee

A short two weeks ago the team held their annual Captains Practices, hosting past players such as Owen Nolan and Devin Setoguchi. So as the San Jose Sharks season looms closer, players are taking to the ice at Sharks Ice to get back into the swing of things. And with training camp starting up on September 17. This will be the chance for newly acquired Sharks Brent Burns and Martin Havlat to skate with the entire team.

Unlike last season, it appears that this year training camp will be four days, compared to the two it has been in past years. Some things not changing are the two team squads that will alternate between the North and South rinks at Sharks Ice. Fans going will get to see the entire team practice that first day. This is something that many fans look forward to each year.

But it isn’t just something that fans look forward to, Logan Couture has something to look forward to as well.  Amassing 32 goals and 56 points in his rookie season, Couture started his “season” by snagging up a two-year contract extension. The question now is will he continue to stay hot or be doomed to face the sophomore slump as many players do?

Will Coach Todd McLellen finally have all the pieces he needs to capture the Cup? Will Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski continue being scoring machines? Can Dan Boyle score more this season? These are all questions that only time can answer.

Stephanie Lee
NHLHS San Jose Sharks Correspondent
@OhMySwede
Stephanie@nhlhotstove.com

In my heart of hearts, I want to be able to recap the game for you all, but I can’t. Mostly due to the fact that my tears haven’t quite subsided.

To lose a elimination game in double overtime on a incredibly freaky – bouncing off the glass to the blue line, onto the stick of Kevin Bieksa and fluttered into the net – kind of goal takes time to get over. It’s not the fact that we lost the game, but how we lost it. Sharks fans knew in reality (and I hate living in reality) that we were destined to lose this game.

Okay, I don’t want to dwell on the fact that the San Jose Sharks lost for the second year in a row in the Western Conference Finals, rather I want to say Thank You to the team.

Thank You to Logan Couture and the rest of our rookies. You guys have been amazing this season. Thank You to Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymaki for playing in tandem trying to live up to what Evgeni Nabokov was to the Sharks. Without Niemi, the Sharks wouldn’t have done nearly as well as we had. Thank you to Dan Boyle and Douglas Murray, our best defensive pair this season — combined 10 goals, 54 assists, with a +7.  Thank you to Jason Demers for being the best individual defenseman with your stunning +19! Leading the San Jose Sharks in the +/-.  Thank you Patrick Marleau for leading the Sharks in goals (37) and points (73).

Lastly, Thank You to the fans who’ve read every article I’ve done this season and will continue to do so in the off season. The San Jose Sharks said it best.

One OT win… Two OT wins… Three OT wins… I could go on and finish counting to five, but it doesn’t sound nearly as cool when you read it as it does in my head. But the image of five overtime wins out of seven wins is just as cool as it is in my head. Take a look!

Based off the fact alone, that the Sharks have won five OT games this post season, they have been compared to the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, who won ten OT games and went on to eventually win the Stanley Cup.

“If we get five more overtime wins, that would be something special,” Captain Joe Thornton said.

Not only have they won five overtime games, but they were also the only five games that went into overtime. To top it off, the Sharks had four different guys score the game winning goal. The least likely coming from Benn Ferriero, who sat out the entire first round against Los Angeles. He capped the Sharks 2-1 win on Friday, putting the Sharks up 2-0 in the series.

However, last night in the Sharks 4-3 overtime win, it was Devin Setoguchi who fueled the fire for many fans in the Bay Area. The man known as Gooch to the fans, put the Sharks on the scoreboard first before Nicklas Lidstrom would make it a tie heading into the first intermission. Setoguchi would add his second goal of the night in the second period with a power play shot from the right that was low on Jimmy Howard.

Dan Boyle put the Sharks back in the game with his first of the playoffs with just under 5 minutes left in the third period.

And in true typical Shark fashion, Setoguchi was called for holding Todd Bertuzzi just five minutes into overtime. “Clearly I wasn’t holding on. He was grabbing my hand. If I was holding on, then I wouldn’t have fell right on my back.” Setoguchi said of the call, “It’s a tough call.”

When asked about the feeling of scoring the goal, Setoguchi divulged some of the humorous side of him —

“I looked over at Logan Couture and I said, you better it before I do cuz I already got my celebration ready to go. And he said ‘so do I’.  I said well I’m going to go pull the Ronaldo double knee and he said ‘That was mine.’ So I said, well I’ll try and beat you to it then.”

Patrick Eaves and Pavel Datysuk would also score for Detroit, who hadn’t played a home game since April 16th.

Since the NHL went to a best of 7 format in 1987, the 1992-93 Buffalo Sabres have been the only team to sweep their opponent in the first round then be swept in the second. The Sharks can complete a sweep of the Red Wings tomorrow night in game 4.

By Jeff Quirin
NHLHS NHL correspondent

San Jose Sharks vs. Los Angeles Kings

We came close to a Battle: LA worthy of such a title (because the movie wasn’t), but the hockey gods decided that the LA Kings should not face their local nemesis Anaheim Ducks. Instead they travel up the coast to San Jose and jump in the tank with the Sharks.

Let Battle: California begin!

During the 82 game primer, the Pacific Division rivals squared off six times. San Jose took the season series 3-1-2. Outscoring the Kings 18-13. In games where the teams combine for 6 goals or less, LA has won three of the four contests. In the barn burning affairs San Jose is two for two.

What do such figures this tell outsiders? LA better keep these games close and play to their strengths.

At season’s end, Terry Murray’s Kings boasted the NHL’s 6th best GAA (2.4) and 4th rated penalty kill (85.5%). Putting young stud defensemen Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson as well veterans Willie Mitchell and Rob Scuderi in the spotlight for this series. Their ability to control the pace of play and lock down their defensive end will determine how effective the Sharks top two lines can be.

The other factor to consider is of course Kings netminder, Jonathan Quick. The US Olympian put together a solid season. Posting 35 wins (T-9th) in 61 games (60 starts) with a 2.24 GAA (5th) and .918 save percentage (T-13th). Assuming the top two pairings keep the shots to a minimum, which they should given they were 3rd best with just 27.9/game against, Quick will just need to make the routine save. Something he has for most of the season, against San Jose at least. In 5 starts against the Sharks he has a 2.19 GAA, .910 save percentage and a shutout.

The challenge for LA comes up up front. They were the 25th rated offense this season. Averaging just 2.55 goals/game (209 overall). As if scoring was hard enough, they lost team offensive leader, Anze Kopitar, to an ankle injury. Gone are his 25 goals and 73 points in 75 games. Second leading scorer, Justin Williams, may also miss time due to a shoulder injury. The time is now for another US Olympian, captain Dustin Brown, to step up and take over the reigns on the big stage. Trade deadline addition Dustin Penner must improve on his two goals and six point pace over 19 games pace if the Kings will be able to counter the Sharks attack.

…and the Sharks will be attacking. After a turbulent first half of the season Todd McLellan settled the veteran group down and powered up to the second highest position in the Western Conference. They’re style is the yin to the Kings yang. San Jose was the league’s 6th more prolific offense. Scoring 2.96 goals/game.

Even if LA can contain the super trio of Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley, another unit must step up and stop Ryane Clowe, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture and Devin Setoguchi. That group of seven has combined for 182 of the Sharks 243 goals, roughly 75%.  That said, the dynamic also presents a major concern if LA strongly plays the matchups and Quick catches fire. There will be no secondary punch from the Sharks energy lines.

Defensive responsibility is also at a premium for San Jose. They finished 2010-11 with the 8th lowest shots against/game average (28.9) and 10th lowest GAA (2.54). Dan Boyle, Douglas Murray and Marc-Edouard Vlasic remain as names most know and will be counted on to eat minutes on the back end. Ian White and Jason Demers are not, but consistently hold down an average close to 20 minutes a night as well. their puck moving abilities will be key to help break LA’s sure to be tight coverage.

Last but not least is 2010 Stanley Cup winner Antti Niemi. Many chastised the Sharks for rolling the dice on a netminder who ‘earned his ring” by playing behind the Chicago Blackhawks. His second half surge has put some of those doubters back in their place. Finishing the campaign with numbers comparable to Quick. Posting 35 wins (T-9th) in 60 games, a 2.38 GAA (11th) and .920 save percentage (12th). He could be the “x factor” that carries San Jose further than exiled Evgeni Nabakov.

Who Has The Edge?

Forwards: San Jose
- Even if Kopitar and Williams were in the lineup, the top two lines of LA just don’t match up against the brute force, size, speed and skill the Sharks roll over the boards. Ryan Smyth, Jarret Stoll and Michal Handzus provide a needed veteran balance to the youg core, but are not as dynamic as the likes of Pavelski or Couture.

Defensemen: LA
- Boyle is as good as they come on the back end, but the remainder of the group leaves much to be desired when compared to the potential impacts of two very dynamic youngsters in Doughty and Johnson. Add in the cup winning experience of Scuderi and LA has the advantage.

Goaltending: San Jose
- Niemi is a Cup champion. Quick has one playoff series loss and Silver Medal earned from opening the door to the bench. Winning validates no other athlete in such a defining way than a NHL goaltender.

Prediction: San Jose in 7
- LA is going to grind as hard as they can and force a full set of seven tilts. How efficient the Kings are in their own end will determine if the series runs short or not.

__________________________________________________________________

Battle of California: Kings vs Sharks

By Stephanie Lee
NHLHS San Jose Sharks correspondent

In what turned out be one of the toughest divisions in the National Hockey League, the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings will face off for the first time in either teams history.  So what make the Los Angeles Kings scary good this year and why will the San Jose Sharks will have a tough time:

1. Jonathan Quick – For a guy whose last name is pretty much the epitome of what he is, it’s hard to watch a Kings game and not get caught solely watching him. His six shutouts and 2.24 goals against average landed him in the top ten among all NHL goalies. He only allowed five or more goals in three starts this season, and put together a seven game winning streak back in the first half of the season.
2. Justin Williams & Anze Kopitar – Both players led the Kings in goals before going down with injuries. Okay, yes Kopitar is done for the season, but he still finished the season leading the team in assists, points, +/-, game winning goals and shots on goal. Williams tallied 22 goals before his shoulder injury kept him out for the final nine games of the season. And according to coach Terry Murray, Williams might be able to return to the line up for the start of the first round on Thursday.
3. Dustin Brown – Yes, the almighty Captain. Leading the team goals (28) and hits (300), Dustin Brown knows how to score goals and do his job quite effectively. He is especially good on the penalty play, scoring seven goals and adding eight assists.
4. Penalty Kill – Los Angeles ended the season ranked 4th in penalty killing compared to San Jose’s 24th ranked penalty kill.

So, then what makes San Jose tough for the Los Angeles Kings?

1. Joe Pavelski – The man we call Joe Pa isn’t anywhere near as good as our top line, but his ten game point streak, including 12 assists makes him quite lethal. Pavelski reached career highs in just about every category this season, achieving 66 points and 46 assists with a +10 rating.
2. Logan Couture – Because if you have been following the Calder race closely, then you would know why. Although Couture is in his second season in the NHL, his twenty five games played last season still allows him to be considered for the Calder this season. He led the rookies early in the season in all categories and is second among the Sharks in goals (32), +/- (18), and game winning goals (eight).
3. Power Play - San Jose’s 68 power play goals puts them 3rd among the NHL for most goals on the man advantage but 2nd over all on the power play with 23.5%.
4. Seven 20+ goal scorers – Los Angeles only has five available players at the moment with 20+ goals, assuming Williams will be ready for action come Thursday.

The Los Angeles Kings needed a big win and Captain Dustin Brown helped earn it with 2 goals and the eventual shootout-winning goal. It was well-known that the Kings were in for a tough game but the team showed their strength and determination as they took the current Pacific Division Leader, the San Jose Sharks to a shootout.

Joe Pavelski would wind up putting the Sharks on the board first, scoring his 100^th goal 35 seconds into the second period with a redirect on a shot from Patrick Marleau. This single goal may have stung more than usual for the Kings since it was scored while Jarret Stoll was serving the second-half of his slashing penalty from the first period. Pavelski’s goal ended the Kings’ consecutive streak of penalty-kills at 35.

An aspect that has been missing for quite some time also surfaced during the game. The Kings were able to score on the power play.  Brown would tie the game at one in the ending moments of a Kings’ power play. The goal came from an odd dump-in by Alec Martinez, which was then found behind the net by Alexei Ponikarovsky and fed to Brown. Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi went for the save but Brown was too quick.

Willie Mitchell would give the Kings a 2-1 less than two minutes later with another one of his powerful slap-shots. Unable to convert on his initial attempt, Oscar Moller was able to get his own rebound and feed it to Mitchell. The shot came from between the top of the circles and dead center, beating Niemi who was decently screened.

The third period would find the Sharks battling back hard however, as they would outshoot the Kings while maintaining a decent defense. Marleau helped tie the game at two as he scored late in the third, beating Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick on an angle-shot. Quick had good position on Marleau but obviously it wasn’t good enough. The goal is probably one of those goals that Quick wishes he could have back.

To the joy of many Kings fans and coaching staff, the Kings were able to score on the power-play yet again. Brown would earn his second goal of the night with 1:42 left in regulation. Much like his goal in their previous game against Calgary, Brown would receive a pass from the boards by Michal Handzus. This time Brown would find the net by firing from the top of right circle.

However, the Kings would find themselves succumb to a problem that has plagued the team the entire season. The Kings would surrender a goal moments after scoring one. With 11 seconds left in regulation, the Kings would struggle to control the puck after a neutral zone face-off and the Sharks would persist to capitalize upon it. After two failed attempts by the Kings to clear the zone, Marleau would flip the puck past a sprawling Quick, making it a tie-game with 4.6 seconds to go.

The game would carry-over to a shootout where the Kings would shine. Shootouts for the Kings instantly bring two names to mind: Stoll & Quick. Stoll would deliver yet another laser-beam of a shot to give the Kings their first shootout goal after Niemi blocked Handzus’ attempt. Stoll’s goal gave the fans a much needed sigh of relief after an official review deemed Dan Boyle’s attempt did indeed maintain forward motion and was a good goal. Brown would score the game winner however, beating Niemi with a quick wrist-shot after Niemi previously denied both Anze Kopitar and Dustin Penner. Quick is now nine for nine in shootouts this season and Stoll improved to eight out of nine attempts.

To simply say that it was important to the Kings that they win this game is an understatement. The Kings were in a must win scenario and for multiple reasons. Would they be able to produce that much needed offense now that Justin Williams is out for the rest of the season with a dislocated shoulder? Moller showed he can fill Williams’ shoes nicely. Would Kyle Clifford be alright after returning from his two-game absence? He didn’t miss a step. Would the Kings emerge from the ever-tight jam that is the lower-half of the playoff positions? That remains to be seen. Could the Kings get two points from their division leader? Yes.

The Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks will meet one last time before the season ends. Something tells me we’re going to need a bigger boat.

Chris Van Deusen
NHL Hot Stove Los Angeles Kings Correspondent
Twitter: @TheCrazyWhls

It’s ten days before the NHL Trade Deadline and teams are already making moves to try and improve their teams. Right on cue, the San Jose Sharks did their dealings yesterday, as they are desperately in need of an offensive defensive defenseman, like Shea Weber or Nick Lidstrom. Yes, I get it, those guys won’t ever become available from their respective teams.

It’s no secret that San Jose’s defense has been lacking all season with only fourteen goals coming from the blue line. Dan Boyle and Niclas Wallin (shocking!) are San Jose’s top two scoring blue liners this season. Boyle has six goals in 59 games played, not something you’d expect from a guy who’s spent the last four seasons with 10+ goals. Where as Wallin only has 21 goals in 594 career games. How is it that the two top scoring defensemen on this team play such a vastly different game?

So what’s the plan? How do the San Jose Sharks get that outburst of scoring from the blue line? Well, first they send Derek Joslin to Carolina for future considerations then sent a 2nd round pick to for Ian White.

Here’s what I like about all these deals – Derek Joslin is a 6’1, 210 pound defenseman who doesn’t really do anything. In just three seasons with the Sharks, he’s managed just one goal with a minus-four rating. He’s on ice presence isn’t really noticed until he makes a bad play. He almost reminds of a young Christian Ehrhoff (who by the way is having a stellar year in Vancouver; 10 goals in 56 games.) Here’s what I don’t really enjoy about this trade — we still don’t know what we’re getting. That’s it.

Regarding White, I’m not so sure yet. Here’s a player who’s been traded four times in the last four seasons. Why is it that he keeps getting traded from team to team? Is it something that affects the locker room feel or is he just not that good a player that teams feel the need to dispose of him? In his six career seasons, White has played for Toronto, Calgary, Carolina and now San Jose even though he has yet to suit up for the Sharks. His 34 goals on 693 shots is less then 5% hitting the back of the net. The way I see it, that’s not an huge offensive prowess the Sharks need on the blue line.

White brings just about $3M in salary, while the Sharks dumped off only $500K. Wilson sent Jason Demers to the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL, dumping just shy of $600K in salary there. That still leaves nearly $2M in salary that needs to be moved in order to make room for White on the roster. Needless to say there will be more moves made before February 28th by Doug Wilson in order to get under the cap.

Every NHL team has a deep pool of players at their disposal in the American Hockey League. But the prospect pool goes even deeper than that — you have the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League,  the ECHL (Formerly East Coast Hockey League) and college leagues.

Players can be drafted from such leagues and go on to play in the NHL. Some players can even go undrafted and still make the big club. There have been a number of prominent players in the NHL that have gone un-drafted, such as Martin St Louis. He played college hockey at the University of Vermont before signing with the Calgary Flames in 1997. He milled around the IHL and AHL before being released by the Flames, eventually signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2000.

While the San Jose Sharks have had a lot of players come through their system who went undrafted. Most notably for the Sharks is current alternate Captain, Dan Boyle. Like St Louis, Boyle signed with the Florida Panthers in 1998 after playing for the Miami Red Hawks of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. He played four years in the Panthers system before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lighting in 2002, playing along side St Louis.

Currently, the San Jose Sharks have 13 of their top 17 prospects in one of the a fore mentioned leagues. Nine are in the American Hockey League with the Worcester Sharks, three are in the Western Hockey League (Portland Winterhawks, Saskatoon Blades and Moose Jaw Warriors), and one in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kingston Frontenacs. That’s 13 players who can potentially be recalled depending on contract/non-contract status.

William Wrenn is one of those thirteen players, currently playing with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. Wrenn is a 6’1 210 pound, 20-year-old American defenseman  who was drafted 43rd overall in the 2nd round of the 2009 Entry Draft. He continued on to play for the University Of Denver, playing 41 games, tallying just eight assists before joining the Winterhawks. This season with Portland, he has two goals and seven assists in seventeen games. Not exactly staggering numbers for a defenseman who’s only scored nine goals since 2007-08. Wrenn is no stranger to fighting either; 205 penalty minutes in 174 games played, 36 in his first year with U. of Denver. He’s a big guy who uses his size and would be an asset to any coach who knew how to utilize him in the right way.

The NHL Entry Draft is the day that young, aspiring hockey players dream of. It’s the day that can make or break them, inspire them to become better players or discourage them from continuing on. For the players who get drafted, it is the best day of their professional careers. Some go on to sign contracts with the team that drafted them, others continue with their educations, some head straight for the minors and some sign with teams without even being drafted. No matter how it happens, each prospect can say they were a part of the team.