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No Calder for
Couture
Sharks pre-season schedule
released
The Sharks may have been one of the top teams in
the NHL, but they were shutout by voters on Wednesday night at the NHL Awards
Show from Las Vegas. Not that the Sharks were primed to win much anyway having
only a lone finalist, but the reality of a Conference Finalist getting zero
recognition confirmed the notion that west coast teams are an afterthought for
most NHL voters.
Logan Couture, the Sharks Calder Trophy finalist, was
the runner-up to Carolina's Jeff Skinner for top NHL rookie. Couture received
41 first-place votes to go along with his 908 points. Skinner received 94 of
the 127 first-place votes for 1,055 points.
Skinner's margin of
victory was the smallest since 2003. Couture graciously congratulated Skinner
via Twitter immediately following the announcement, also thanking fans for
their roll in his nomination and breakout rookie season.
The Sharks
forward was 2nd in scoring during the regular season (32 goals, 24 assists),
trailing Skinner by 7 points (31 goals, 32 assists), but Couture was also
second among rookies in scoring during the playoffs (7 goals, 7 assists) while
Skinner was polishing his golf clubs.
Carolina failed to even make the
playoffs, but voting completes during the first week of the playoffs. Couture's
importance to the Sharks was critical early in the regular season when San Jose
had issues scoring goals.
Skinner amassed the majority of his numbers
later in the season, but even that was too little too late for the Hurricanes
to make the playoffs. They finished 2 points behind the New York Rangers for
the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Couture helped San
Jose qualify for the Conference Finals with big goals during the Sharks playoff
run.
Lace 'Em Up All Over Again
If
you're already going through hockey withdrawals, fret not. The 2011-12
pre-season schedule was released on Wednesday. San Jose will kick off the
prelude to their 21st season with a tune-up on September 21st in Anaheim.
The Sharks will then play their pre-season home-opener two days later
against the same Ducks.
San Jose will play Phoenix on September 24th,
before squaring off with the Vancouver Canucks in a home-and-home series on the
25th and 29th. They wrap up the pre-season on October 1st against Phoenix in
Arizona.
The regular season schedule will be released on Thursday. The
Sharks regular season home-opener will be on October 8th against the same
Phoenix squad.
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