Todd McClellan and the Sharks

[soultrain 43]

I get a chance to watch all of the sharks games living in the bay area of california. In the last 5+ years i have never thought they were even close to making a legit cup run. The sharks have a totally different look and feel this season. Todd McClellan is one piece. A new look defense is another. They play a puck possesion game that rivals the red wings, but there is distinct differences..... Size: there is some giants out here. Jody Shelly: this dude can hold teams accountable. A cup hungry Roenick: Never won a stanley cup. San Jose will be quite a force all year. They have some key elements that the red wings could use.

[b.shanafan14 733]

They are really the one team that scares the s*** out of me. They have had the tools for years, but they are ELITE this season with McLellan behind the bench. Hopefully tonite is the first game of the season for the Red Wings playing at their dominant potential, I'm sick of 3+ goals against a game, we're much better than that. Hopefully Babs has had them practicing hard and watching a lot of game film to get them pissed off.

Edited November 8, 2008 by b.shanafan14

[CrossoverThrash 0]

THe Wings shouldnt worry about them at all, the Sharks will be weeded out by the Wild or the Stars in the playoffs, it is almost certain that that Wings aren't gonna have to face them until the conference finals if they can make it there.

[Doc Holiday 0]

Oh no they have McLellan what are we going to do we only have Babcock Hossa Datsyuk Zetterberg Franzen Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Osgood Conklin.

I'm so worried.

[stormboy 47]

Oh no they have McLellan what are we going to do we only have Babcock Hossa Datsyuk Zetterberg Franzen Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Osgood Conklin.

I'm so worried.

they also have a lot of other components. they've pushed us around quite a bit in recent years. not to say that we've lost every game to them, but our wins are not usually easy. they're going to be a real good team--we have the potential to be even better (albeit quite different) in my opinion, but i believe our levels of potential are roughly the same, it's just a matter of who's going to work harder.

[rage 24]

Yeah, I'd say they're a threat.

Anything can happen in the playoffs.

[uk_redwing 495]

Oh no they have McLellan what are we going to do we only have Babcock Hossa Datsyuk Zetterberg Franzen Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Osgood Conklin.

I'm so worried.

And yet with all that they still beat us this season...act cocky if you want. If it comes back to bite us, Im gonna personally hunt you down and force feed you crow till you die from crowAIDS.

[BobRouse03 31]

And yet with all that they still beat us this season...act cocky if you want. If it comes back to bite us, Im gonna personally hunt you down and force feed you crow till you die from crowAIDS.

I got crowAIDS from sitting on a dirty toilet seat in a public restroom - it is no fun

[b.shanafan14 733]

I got crowAIDS from sitting on a dirty toilet seat in a public restroom - it is no fun

hahahahaha WIN.

[Doc Holiday 0]

And yet with all that they still beat us this season...act cocky if you want. If it comes back to bite us, Im gonna personally hunt you down and force feed you crow till you die from crowAIDS.

You can't base it on one game. Detroit hasn't played like Detroit ONCE this season and San Jose has been playing well since the start.

To say playing them in the playoffs is the end of us is obviously ridiculous and actually seems par for these forums.

San Jose isn't going to be the death of us. The only team that can honestly beat us is ourselves and us playing San Jose was evidence of that. I'm sorry but I'm not afraid of San Jose.

[akustyk 84]

I'm not much sold on those Sharks after so many years of playoff chokes

and subsequent failures. they sure do look good and have all the tools

to get the job done but I'd like to see how they look at the end of regular

season to evaluate their playoff chances.

[chrisdetroit 189]

And yet with all that they still beat us this season...act cocky if you want. If it comes back to bite us, Im gonna personally hunt you down and force feed you crow till you die from crowAIDS.

They have beaten us 1 of the 4 games that we played them and that was on a back to back night in their rink.

There's 3 more games left with them but all that means nothing because they fall apart in the playoffs every year (3 in a row and counting). A rookie coach isn't going to make a difference.

[soultrain 43]

this post had nothing to do with the loss last week to san jose. detroit was really tired from the ducks game the night before. I have also watched them choke hard every playoff year, but anyone who doesn't think this team is real deal needs to check themselves and start watching the sharks play this year...they play waayyy different. A mature Marleau with no Ron Wilson up his ass, Cheechoo who is healthy from a old hernia surgery, Nabby who hasn't been too solid this year but good enough, Thornton who has been the captain of team canada. A solid d-core featuring Rob Blake, Dan Boyle, Christian Erhoff, and young gun Marc-Edouard Vlasic. They are all playing together, and all playing well. They also have some young go-getter forwards who will make an imprint this year. Not too much dead weight with these sharks. Yes they are playoff chokers but I know another team who choked for many a years, before and during 4 stanley cups in 11 years. So lets not talk about playoff choking, because we have been one of the biggest chokers of all time.

[Guest Crymson]

And yet with all that they still beat us this season...act cocky if you want. If it comes back to bite us, Im gonna personally hunt you down and force feed you crow till you die from crowAIDS.

If what comes back to bite us?

[BlueMonk 102]

I'm not sold on the Sharks yet.

[Guest Shoreline]

I hope the Sharks go far, just not further than the Wings.

Love the playoff atmosphere. Downtown SJ goes nuts.

My fiancee came on her first visit to the U.S. for one of the Sharks/Flames playoff games, that the Sharks won. We wore our Red Wings stuff, too. Kinda funny.

Edited November 9, 2008 by Shoreline

[This Is Bida 0]

Truthfully the Sharks are probably the closest talented team in the NHL right now to the Wings and there really isn't any denying that.

Obviously everyone is talking up the Habs but personally the only team that I will be worried about in the playoffs (saying every team is healthy going in) is San Jose. Montreal is a little overrated to me.

The one thing I will say though is a hope that for as many years to come to the Sharks NEVER make the conference Finals. I absolutely find it HILARIOUS that people pick them year after year (even this year) to win the Cup and they can't even touch the conference Finals. Keep under achieving... please!

[T.Low 1,011]

Like someone posted earlier, they are out Wingin' the Wings.

13-2, with 26 points! 18 goal/goal against difference in only 15 games!

Yeah, they're gonna be tough this year. Lets hope they fade as the Wings get it going even more. Or we'll just have to wait and see how it shakes out.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

They're certainly off to a fast start, have a lot of the same guys that have been good for a long time, and some new faces to boot. We're a loooooong way from the playoffs but if they ever did meet then it'd be an absolutely outstanding series.

[T.Low 1,011]

AND they are already 14 pts ahead of Dallas!

[Doc Holiday 0]

How did Ottawa do last year at the beginning? 15-2?

How'd they do in the playoffs?

How far into the season is it right now?

[shoe 165]

Lets see how big and strong they are on a road trip playing the night before.

Sure they are a good team but we walked into that building on a west coast road trip played the night before against the ducks and then had to go vist these guys waiting for us, that would have been a good game to bet on the wings loosing if I was one to bet on my team.

[stormboy 47]

i still believe the sharks are a good team, but they just lost to the 'yotes, 4-2. so, no, they are not invincible. and i agree with the above poster (a post or two). yes, we're 0-1 against the sharks this year. but it was a west coast away game having played the night before in a very physical contest with the ducks. sure, that's not an excuse for losing, but i think even sharks fans would admit that they had the favorable position. put a tired sharks team in the joe (if somehow we could make them play at midnight with us still playing at eight, then maybe things would be even). i'm not saying we easily win that game, but if our guys are on, i say we do. the real question becomes who will stick it out through what would probably be a seven game series. i still think we got heart, even if it hasn't shown through in all games thus far. hossa is ******* sick, and dats and z aren't getting any worse, even if it's not showing up on the stat sheet. z played a very very good game in jersey. yeah, he didn't score a million points, but he was taking guys 1 on 4 and making them look silly. ozzie (i hope) is finding his groove.

and flipper, my countryman, can still fly.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

i still believe the sharks are a good team, but they just lost to the 'yotes, 4-2. so, no, they are not invincible. and i agree with the above poster (a post or two). yes, we're 0-1 against the sharks this year. but it was a west coast away game having played the night before in a very physical contest with the ducks. sure, that's not an excuse for losing, but i think even sharks fans would admit that they had the favorable position. put a tired sharks team in the joe (if somehow we could make them play at midnight with us still playing at eight, then maybe things would be even). i'm not saying we easily win that game, but if our guys are on, i say we do. the real question becomes who will stick it out through what would probably be a seven game series. i still think we got heart, even if it hasn't shown through in all games thus far. hossa is ******* sick, and dats and z aren't getting any worse, even if it's not showing up on the stat sheet. z played a very very good game in jersey. yeah, he didn't score a million points, but he was taking guys 1 on 4 and making them look silly. ozzie (i hope) is finding his groove.

and flipper, my countryman, can still fly.

I caught the last 10 minutes of that one.....Brian Boucher was absolutely ridiculous in the final minutes there while the Sharks self destructed penalty wise. Darren Pang even commented that it looked like street hockey or something out there, NO defense whatsoever in front. At least 2 two-on-0's, players left completely unguarded in front of the net, breakaways, it was crazy fun to watch.

[GoalieManPat 1,007]

The Sharks always look like world beaters....until April. They aren't the "lose to win" type of losses either. They are the bigtime choke kinda losses.