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The Future's So
Bright?
Sharks' brass bullish on the team's
prospects
These past two seasons have not been kind to Sharks
fans. The 2014-15 campaign ended with the Sharks missing the playoffs for the
first time in a decade, as we know all too well. And before that, the Sharks
had a historic choke against the Kings, losing a playoff series when they had
been ahead three games to none. But all of that is behind us now.
A
"town hall" session for Sharks season ticketholders, held at the arena on
Tuesday evening, had Sharks executives, including GM Doug Wilson and Chief
Operating Officer John Tortora, taking the stage along with the new coaching
staff and scouts including former Shark Mike Ricci. Also onstage were members
of the San Jose Barracuda (formerly the Worcester Sharks) staff and, to open
the evening, the Sharks three most-recent first round draft picks: Timo Meier
(2015), Nikolay Goldobin (2014) and Mirco Mueller (2013).
We got a bit
of news on Meier: He has signed his first pro contract with the Sharks. Terms
were not revealed by master of ceremonies Dan Rusanowsky, the Sharks radio
play-by-play man.
Meier seemed personable enough during Rusanowsky's
brief questioning. He was not expecting to be selected by the Sharks, who took
him ninth overall last month. "I actually was kind of surprised," Meier said.
He also stressed he likes to "shoot the puck" after Rusanowsky listed Meier's
impressive stats for the season in junior hockey: 44 goals, 90 points, 23 power
play goals and 10 game-winners.
When Rusanowsky said Meier speaks four
languages, Meier downplayed this, saying the Swiss language was actually just
German with a Swiss accent. (Who knew?) Mueller, meanwhile, said it was a great
experience breaking into the NHL this past season, although missing the
playoffs of course was a disappointment.
In other highlights during
the evening:
* Wilson revealed his dismay with missing the playoffs.
"First of all, we had too much time off this summer. We're not planning on that
happening again." Players can't wait to get back on the ice in September he
said. In a smaller, group meeting after the main panel session, Wilson
downplayed what became a very public dispute with center Joe Thornton last
season over the captaincy, which was taken from Thornton.
Wilson likened it to two brothers who argue and then
are best friends again immediately afterward. Wilson also had high praise for
new goaltender Martin Jones and said he thinks forward Raffi Torres, sidelined
for most of the past two years with a torn ACL and a subsequent staph
infection, will play this year. Wilson also expressed frustration with the
team's poor at-home record this past season as well as its tendency to lose to
bottom-feeder teams like Buffalo, even as the Sharks were beating topnotch
Anaheim.
* New head coach Pete DeBoer believes the Sharks are not far
off from getting to the Stanley Cup Final and winning the Cup. "I think we're
very close." But he added the Cup is probably the toughest trophy to win in all
of sports. As far as San Jose itself, he recalled his first experience in San
Jose was when he coached the Florida Panthers. The Sharks had a very loud
building, he noted. The Panthers? Not so much.
Tortora congratulated
the fans in attendance for making last season's outdoor game at Levi's Stadium,
which attracted more than 70,000 fans, a success. He said the Sharks will try
to get an outdoor game scheduled every three to five years. That next game
could be at Levi's or maybe AT&T Park or even a theoretical baseball
stadium in San Jose, he said. (This stadium will never be built, though, if the
San Francisco Giants, who claim San Jose as their "territory," continue to have
their way.)
Tortora also said the Sharks would have special guest
appearances by alumni as part of the upcoming 25th anniversary season along
with a throwback jersey akin to what the team wore in 1991. (I believe I
already have one of those - purchased at the long-since-closed Sharks store at
the Vallco Park Mall in Cupertino around that time frame.)
* Panelists
noted the genesis of the Sharks' moving their minor league affiliate to San
Jose, saying the move had been in the works for years and was clinched when
four other teams - Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles and Anaheim - agreed to move
their AHL affiliates west also. The move means the Sharks no longer have to
shuttle players back and forth from the AHL to the NHL on cross-country
flights. (I'm not so sure about this move, though. The last two Bay Area
attempts at minor league hockey - the San Francisco Bulls and San Francisco
Spiders - both flopped. Can the Barracuda do any better? I guess we're going to
find out.)
Contact Paul at at
paulkrill@letsgosharks.com
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