30 for 30 in 30 - San Jose Sharks

**AS OF TIME OF WRITING**

TJ Molland: Good regular season - Hopes renewed - Playoffs start - Embarrassing defeat - Rinse - Repeat.

That sums up the Sharks for the last umpteen years doesn't it? Actually did you know in the 20 years the SJ Sharks have played in the NHL (21 years but 20 seasons due to lockout) they have made the playoffs 15 times?!?! Pretty impressive actually. Number of Stanley Cup Finals appearances: 0. None. Zilch. Nada. Mind boggling. I don't even need to write jokes for this one....just show stats....and watch the people laugh. 

This is a fun one because I know they have the pieces to be a competitor, as they show night in and night out during the regular season. There is just apparently no one who knows how to play in the playoffs. And I think it is actually getting to the team. Thornton has been called out by everyone. My favourite was John Tortorella, Head Coach of the New York Rangers, telling it like it is. While we are at it kids, it's time to play "Things Joe Thornton is NOT good at!" *HURRAY!* Let's start:

Ventriloquy

Making Toast

Babysitter

Singer - If you watch any of these please make it this one. 

Pretending to be tough

Like seriously, can this be the whole post? I haven't even talked about any one else other than Thornton and already this is hilarious. 

**bzzt bzzt** Oh, that is a message from Bik.........Uhhhhh, oh jeez. Uhhhh yeah, ok......

We here at The Extra Period have learned that Bik is a man of much anger and hatred. And burning down the Flames franchise was not enough violence for this week. So without further adieu I give you "Bik Nizzar with a Shotgun: What the Sharks should do this summer (an angry novel)"

Bik Nizzar: Yeah maybe this team would be better at winning if they didn’t stop to do stupid stuff like shooting a Christmas infomercial. Gentleman, your job is to win hockey games, not showcase how terrible you are at making toast.

Remember how I absolutely LAMBASTED the Calgary Flames for their drafting record. The San Jose Sharks themselves have also done a TERRIBLE job. I’m going to go back even further to break down some of their drafts.

1999: The most notable player they got out of this draft was Douglas Murray, who they snagged in the 8^th round... but they also got in the 1^st round Jeff Jilson – 140 career Games Played – but only 26 of those were with San Jose. Outside of that was Niko Dimitrakos who slotted 11 goals last year splitting time between Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and the Manheim Eagles.

2000: They made 7 draft picks (no 1^st rounder, or 3^rd rounder) and got a grand total of 22 man-games... Naturally only 4 were for the Sharks

2001: Was a good year... They got Marcel Goc, Christian Ehrhoff and Ryane Clowe – but of course only Clowe is on this team now.... Goc was allowed to leave as a free agent, and Ehrhoff was traded to the Canucks for prospect and former 1^st round pick, Patrick White, who’s claim to fame will always be “Wait the Canucks drafted him instead of David Perron?!” White now plays in Germany, so they have nothing to show for that trade.

2002: 7 picks – 0 man games

2003: In what was widely regarded as 1 of the best drafts ever for the NHL.... The Sharks had 11 picks, 4 of which were in the 1^st 2 rounds.... They took Milan Michalek (no longer on the team), Steve Bernier (NLOTT– I’m just gonna shorten it from now own) Josh Hennessy (NLOTT) and Matt Carle (NLOTT). Joe Pavelski in the 7^th round was a good snag.

Michalek was dealt to Ottawa for Heatley, who has since been dealt to Minnesota for Marty Havlat – who is best known in SJ for the time he fell over his own boards and injured himself. If that clip of falling flat on your face isn’t a metaphor for this team - I don’t know what is.

2004: They took Tomas Greiss 94^th overall... And got Torrey Mitchell in the 4^th... But WHIFFED on Lukas Kaspar in the 1^st

2005: (man I still got 6 years to go – and we wonder why this team has struggled) Devin Setoguchi (NLOTT) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. A decent draft. Vlasic is a bit underrated, but Setoguchi morphed into a “Never-Was” and hasn’t exactly been any better in Minnesota.

2006: 1^st rounder Ty Wishart has 26 career Games played and Jamie McGinn – GUESS WHAT?!?! IS – NLOTT.... That’s their 1^st 2 rounds in 06... They also got John McCarthy who has 51 career games, most of which were last year.

2007: FINALLY A HIT! LOGAN COUTURE!!! And Nick Bonino in the 6^th round – wait he’s in Anaheim? Oh... chalk him up as another NLOTT – but they did hang onto Justin Braun and he played decent last year. So this year is actually a good year if you can believe that.

2008: They had no 1^st or 2^nd round picks so they decided to just completely brain-fart all over this draft... The only notable is Jason Demers in the 7^th round but even he regressed last season.

2009: From here on out I’m willing to give a slight pass cause obviously the players haven’t really hit top form yet, but we’re also in an age in hockey when young players are contributing... 0 man games in this draft. No 1^st rounder, two 2^nd rounders, no 3^rd, no 4^th.... I can go on but you get the idea.

2010: Charlie Coyle inexplicably dropped to them here.... but rather than cherish holding a winning lottery ticket – they opted to cash it into Minnesota and try to get Brent Burns. So they gave up Coyle and fellow former 1^st rounder Setoguchi... So chalk up Coyle into the NLOTT pile.

And we wonder why this team has struggled?! They’ve never really had elite depth thanks to a miserable drafting record. I need a break – your turn.

TJ Molland: It seems poor drafting really gets you all riled up man. The time and effort to compile such a list is remarkable. Also remarkable is how bad their drafting has been. I knew it was bad but this is ridiculous. 

So what do the Sharks do to fix their playoff woes? A lot of people are starting to talk like it's time one of Patrick Marleau or Joe Thornton needs to go. Time to hand the team over to a new set of hands. The only catch is it is tough to part with someone of their skill level. Those types of players don't come along very often. If you have to choose I think you go with Thornton before Marleau because Maleau is a draft pick of the team, all around good guy, and face of this franchise for a while.

I can't even pin point one area where the Sharks would target if/when they trade one of those guys. I guess prospects with, maybe, a reliable scoring winger to supplement the loss of offense. The last thing you want is more draft picks, they seem to do no good. Maybe a deal with Toronto to get Luke Schenn and some other young talent? Might not be able to get say, a Nazem Kadri as well, but a second rate forward like Jerry D'amigo or Greg McKegg plus Schenn could be a nice return for Jumbo Joe.

Bik Nizzar: It’s not so much poor drafting that irritates me... its poor drafting compounded with teams who never seem to understand why they don’t make the playoffs or fail in the playoffs. Or complain about it. That’s the worst. Or not understand why everyone makes fun of them for not winning.... Yeah, THAT’S the worst. But onto fixing this team (but do we even want to fix them?! Isn’t it fun to have a go to joke of a team?)

I agree one of Thornton or Marleau has to go. Personally I’d move Thornton too, not necessarily for his well documented playoff history though. But you’ve got Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture to build around the middle. Marleau can play wing, and also – Marleau is your guy! He’s been there since his career has started. He’s a Shark through and through. Both assets probably net you similar returns – and yeah, do NOT bring in draft picks because that’s just a lost cause. If they were to move Thornton to Toronto, you gotta figure its something like that... Schenn & D’Amigo.... The tricky part is, both Thornton and Marleau have NTC’s so really you’re gonna have to ask them first. So while a lot of teams are looking for dynamic players like those 2, finding a market that they would want to play in, is tough. Really outside of Toronto, who else would be in the market for 1 of these 2 AND that either player would want to play in?

The other thing that concerns me with this team is its cap situation. They have 14 players signed and 14 million in cap space, but they’ve got to re-sign TJ Galiardi, Tommy Wingels, Benn Ferriero, Justin Braun... Plus they traded for Brad Stuart’s rights, so he’ll warrant about 3+ million... It’s going to be interesting to see how this team plays it out.

TJ Molland: The cap situation pretty much sums up why the Sharks won't win a Stanley Cup any time soon. There is so much locked up in front end talent that there is no depth to this team. And when your talent isn't producing (because it becomes so much easier in the playoffs to shut down the lone line that scores) the depth needs to. And literally once you get out of the top 6 forwards in the Sharks lineup no one....NO ONE scored more than 10 goals. They had just as many double digit goal scorers as the Minnesota Wild (6). The New York Islanders had MORE 20+ goal scorers (4) than this Sharks team (3). Not the company you want to be with

We can pretty much rule out any big free agent signings unless Thornton is moved so let’s just pretend that isn't an option. I’ll see what they have in the system that is under a cheap contract...Hmmmm yes......very nice.....good. Lots of cheap talent in the system....Sorry I meant lots of cheap guys I have never heard of before in their system. That should solve the problems right? This team’s window is closing and I don't think a quick fix this summer is going to really help it. They just need to hold steady and hope the players in the system can keep them relevant. They should stay competitive in the West but it's time to focus on trying to get younger players at more reasonable contracts so the can finally start adding some depth to this team. 

I know you are a betting man so I want to ask you.....what is the over/under on games Havlat will play this year? Only 5 times in his 11 year career has he broken the 70 game mark. I want to say around 65 games?

Bik Nizzar: We mentioned moving Thornton for Schenn, but remember when Thornton was first dealt to San Jose... The Sharks unloaded 3 roster-player pieces to Boston. Perhaps this is what should happen. Rather than get 1 big piece in Schenn, perhaps they target multiple pieces to equate the value for Thornton and add overall depth to the team.

How can anyone take the over on Havlat no matter what the number is set at?! HE HURT HIMSELF CLIMBING OVER THE BOARDS FOR A LINE CHANGE!!!! Like c’mooooonnnnn!  I’ll take the under and thank you for the high number.

What’s unfortunate about this team now is that the expectations are going to be lowered. So I think we’ll have to stop administering the Heimlich maneuver to their seasons because the choke label will no longer be applicable.