The Sharks are looking like they won't make the playoffs. They've been a two faced team this year where you never know who is going to show up on any given night.
I think this behavoir can be partially attributed to the losses of Ricci, Damphousse, and Rathje. We started the year with only one player over the age of 30, Scott Thornton (not exactly know as a leader).
While our GM, Doug Wilson, will talk endlessly about all the "young veterans" we have (Patrick Marleau, Scott Hannan, Kyle McLaren, Evgeni Nabokov), obviously the results have not been satifactory. The 2003 Sharks were one of the best first period teams in the NHL, while the 2005 Sharks often come out flat in the first period and often don't play a 60 minute game. Somebody's to blame...
Anyways, my point is the Sharks don't have anyone to really sell at the deadline other than Vesa Toskala (if this ridiculous Nabokov contract is true) and some scrubs we want to get rid of (Jim Fahey, Niko Dimitrakos, and maybe Rob Davison). We are not rebuilding, so don't expect any core players to be traded for picks/prospects. We also lack scoring depth on the wings after losing Marco Sturm and Alexander Korolyuk.
In the offseason, our GM will hopefully be looking for:
1) a PP quarterback who can defensively play in the top 4
2) a top 6 scoring winger
