Greycliff's Chronicles: San Jose Sharks update: what's going on?

What’s up with the San Jose Sharks lately? They win a few games then lose a few. I don’t see any consistent play. The team management has yet to name a team Captain preferring to keep four ‘Alternate’ Captains instead: Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski, and Vlasic. At least in December, they have won more games than they have lost but to date (12-10-14) they stand in 8th place. The team has played 30 games with 15 wins, 11 losses, and 4 overtime games for 34 points.

Six players have double-digit points: Marleau at 27 (7 goals and 20 assists); Couture has 26 (12/14); Pavelski with 25 (14/11); Thornton has 24 (7/17); Burns with 23 (8/15); and, Wingels with 21 (9/12). In the current day’s ranking, three of San Jose’s Centers appear in the top twenty (Couture, Pavelski and Thornton). Brent Burns is the only defenseman in the top twenty. Patrick Marleau & Tommy Wingels are in the Left Wing list while Marleau, Burns, and Pavelski earned places in the top twenty Right Wingers. Only Antti Niemi has a top spot in the goalies standings. Andrew Desjardins currently has the highest total of penalty minutes (37). Joe Pavelski is number one on the team in shots on goal (104). Vlasic is a +12 (highest in the team).

When it comes to team stats, the Sharks are #3 on the power play (24.2%), 12th on the penalty kill (82.8%), 9th on face-offs won (51.8%), and 5th in shots per game (31.7%). The team is working hard but this doesn’t explain their placing. The defense has to improve for the team to advance to the post-season. Is a coaching change pending? T-Mac may be on the look-out for a job if the team misses the post-season.

Why is this? The team has the talent to get the job done. Doug Wilson made a minimal amount of changes over the summer. Perhaps he should have done more besides letting a couple of veteran D-Men go. There are 52 games left for the team. This is enough time to rise in the standings. San Jose has been fortunate in having a short list of injured players, one of whom is Raffi Torres. Last season he made a big impact when he returned to the game. Let’s hope Raffi can work some magic when he returns...who knows, I guess Wilson is waiting to give Raffi the ‘C’? C'mon Doug - make a decision and appoint someone Captain. At this point, SJ Sharkie would work!

San Jose Sharks

SJ Injuries

Brown, Mike	Lower body injury	injured reserve
Kennedy, Tyler	Shoulder injury	injured reserve
Nieto, Matt	Lower body injury	injured reserve
Torres, Raffi	Knee injury	injured reserve

The complete Western Conference standings are given below (as of pre-game Wed 12-11):

WESTERN CONFERENCE

	TEAM		GP	W	L	OT	GF	GA	PTS
1		ANA	30	19	6	5	87	80	43
2		CHI	28	19	8	1	88	55	39
3		NSH	27	18	7	2	73	54	38
4		STL	28	18	8	2	80	65	38
5		VAN	29	18	9	2	88	81	38
6		CGY	29	17	10	2	90	76	36
7		WPG	29	15	9	5	69	66	35
8		SJS	30	15	11	4	86	81	34
9		LAK	28	14	9	5	72	60	33
10		MIN	26	15	10	1	76	65	31
11		DAL	28	10	13	5	81	100	25
12		COL	28	9	13	6	72	92	24
13		ARI	28	10	15	3	66	90	23
14		EDM	29	7	17	5	63	98	19

In other news, the NHL is having the fans vote for the All-Star attendees. EVERY Sharks fan should rush to get in their ten ballots every day to get our guys to the games. Come on folks, get out and vote for the Sharks!

San Jose put out their annual Christmas message. The team sings about Christmas sweaters. If you haven’t seen it, click below. It’s a hoot!

Hockey great Jean Beliveau (of the Montreal Canadiens) passed away. He will be missed.

San Jose will be playing the Los Angeles Kings in the Sharks first outdoor game on Feb. 21, 2015. This is a great boost to Bay Area hockey.

http://video.sharks.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=125&id=694179&navid=SPLASH

Stay safe out there!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!