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San Jose Sharks? goalie Antti Niemi, left, from Finland, watches the puck as Calgary Flames? Lee Stempniak swats at it during third period NHL hockey action in Calgary on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013.
Photograph by: Jeff McIntosh , THE CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON - Picking the San Jose Sharks to win the Stanley Cup has been an annual rite for pundits before the start of every NHL season.
But you?re not hearing it about the Sharks this year.
?Away from San Jose, I?ve seen us picked anywhere from 12th to third (in the Western Conference),? said San Jose head coach Todd McLellan.
Obviously, people can?t figure out the Sharks. They have two new coaches ? Larry Robinson and Jim Johnson. And they likely have a new centre in Scott Gomez, who was skating with the team at Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre on Monday, wearing his old No. 23 jersey.
He?s still unsigned, but he could as a possible No. 3 centre behind Joe Thornton and Logan Couture after the Montreal Canadiens bought out his contract last week.
The Sharks have $2.8 million in salary-cap space, more than enough for Gomez, who might get a quarter of that.
Their window for winning a first Cup may have slammed shut, but maybe not.
Maybe they?ve got just as good a chance as anybody if goalie Antti Niemi gets as hot as Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. And if Patrick Marleau, who did not have a good second half last season, plays 47 more offensive games like he played against the Flames in Calgary on Sunday. He was virtually unstoppable even though he hadn?t played a single game minute anywhere during the lockout.
Marleau has played 1,117 regular-season games, but has not one in a Cup final.
San Jose also has a good chance if winning a Cup if Brent Burns gets back from his hernia problem to give the Sharks some offensive juice on the back end, and if defenceman Brad Stuart partners with Marc-Eduoard Vlasic to give them a shutdown blue-line pair to go against everybody else?s big guns.
Gomez, who played for Robinson with the New Jersey Devils in 2000 when he was named rookie of the year, has taken his medical, but he has yet to take a fitness test.
Does he need one? Officially, probably. But not in McLellan?s trained eyes.
?To me, a fitness test is whether he can keep up in practice. If he can?t, he?s not fit. From what I?ve seen, he looked quick and the effort in practice was strong,? said McLellan.
The Sharks were all about highs and lows in 2011-12. They were e great on the power play ? second in the league ? and awful at killing penalties (29th overall).
Seventeen teams had more even-strength goals than McLellan?s team, and the Sharks led just 15 times in 82 games after the first period.
Who was worse last season? The Edmonton Oilers and the Minnesota Wild. But the Sharks still had 96 points to finish seventh in the West.
The Sharks haven?t missed the playoffs since 2002-03. In the last 11 years, they have finished with at least 95 points in all but the 2002-03 campaign.
For years, San Jose has teased the pre-season pickers. Is there less heat now that they?re just one of bunch in the West?
?We haven?t often been picked in that 12th hole ... if we?re picked to finish there, the pressure is just to make the playoffs,? said McLellan.
It?s not Stanley Cup or bust. But Marleau is now 33 and so is Thornton. They have just one core player at forward under 25 in Couture.
Contrast that with the Oilers: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is 19, Taylor Hall, 21; Jordan Eberle, 22; and Sam Gagner is 23. And Edmonton is counting on big things from rookie Nail Yakupov, who?s only 18.
Of course, you get your hands on talented young players when you?re a bad team, which is something the Sharks hardly ever are. But they were only one point out of eighth in the West last season, and 12 teams in the league had more points.
Throw in Dan Boyle, who is their best defender at 36, and time is a wasting for the Sharks.
How are they going to be different this year?
?Good question. One, the penalty-kill should be better,? said McLellan. ?Larry and Jim have taken that responsibility, changing some things.
?We have to tap into the depth on our four lines more than I did last year. The trust factor has to be up a bit. (Martin) Havlat and (Ryane) Clowe are both healthy. Brad Stuart will help us physically and penalty-killing wise. The goaltenders have to be sharper and the coaching staff is looking to refresh things.?
Robinson, who won a Cup as Devils head coach in 2000, was Pete DeBoer?s Devils assistant last year. He jumped at an associate coaching job in San Jose to be closer to his daughter, who lives in L.A.
Johnson was Dale Hunter?s assistant with the Washington Capitals, but with the coaching change he caught on with McLellan, who kept Jay Woodcroft off last year?s staff. Matt Shaw is now in New Jersey.
?Larry and Jim both have a real passion. Best way to describe Larry is he?s a 28-year-old in a 60-year old body. He loves coming to the rink; he?s very social with the players and Jimmy has a jump in his stride, he energizes the team that way. Both have a defencemen background, which will help our young guys develop and both will help on the penalty kill,? said McLellan.
jmatheson@edmontonjournal.com
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