THN Archive: SHARK ATTACK!

The San Jose Sharks came into the league in an untraditional market and have excelled since their birth.

In this Archive issue, the Sharks had just begun their major playoff success. The team put together a lot of players that were known and not known. You'll read the names of figureheads that led this team to the legacy that is known today. 

For any fan of Sharks history, this archive story is for you. 

Vol. 56, Issue 3, Sept. 20, 2002

By Mike Brioophy

OK, so there’s this team out there called the San Jose Sharks. You may have heard about them…really cool teal, white and black uniforms…great logo…outrageously enthusiastic fans…a scrapping mascot…took the Colorado Avalanche to seven games in the Western Conference semifinal last season. Ring a bell?

Anyway, this Sharks team, well, they’re pretty damn good. So good, in fact, some hacks believe they may actually dethrone the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings as conference winners this season.

The thing is, the Sharks don’t get much respect. We’re talking about a team that finished tied for third overall last season, a team that has improved its point total in seven straight seasons, a team that was fifth in goals scored and ninth in goals against last year. Hardly chopped liver.

But do you think anyone is picking them to win the Cup this year? Anyone other than THN managing editor Jason Kay, that is?

“Until you get it done in the playoffs, that’s the way it is and deservedly so,” said Sharks GM Dean Lombardi, the mastermind behind the methodical building of this bona fide contender. “When you talk about teams that get the recognition, it’s teams like Detroit, Colorado and obviously Dallas jumps back into the mix. We’ll get the recognition when we enjoy the type of playoff success those teams have enjoyed.”

Taking it a step further, left winger Scott Thornton, who has toiled under the media spotlight in such locations as Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton, thinks being anonymous can actually work in the team’s favor.

“We’re obviously not forgotten,” Thornton said. “Our building sells out every night and it’s a great atmosphere, but the fact we don’t get a lot of media attention is a good thing. We just go about our business and keep plugging away.”

Enough plugging already. As the saying goes, just do it!

It’s time for-the Sharks to stand up and be counted. No more regular season improvements followed by disappointing playoffs. That was a good story angle for a few years, but it has grown old. When they get into another Game 7 against a good team with a shot at moving to the conference final, they’ve got to win it.

The Sharks pulled off a couple of major playoff upsets in the mid-nineties, beating Detroit (which had finished 18 points ahead of them in the regular season) in seven games in 1994 and knocking off Calgary (which finished 13 points ahead of them) the following year. Those were monumental feats, to be sure, but recent playoff failures have washed those memories away.

Last year the Sharks, convinced they had the goods to go all the way, eliminated Phoenix in five games in the first round and then had Colorado pinned to the canvas, but couldn’t get the three count. The Sharks led the Avalanche 3-2 in their series, but dropped Game 6 in overtime 2-1 and lost Game 7 by a 1-0 score.

“This was the first year the guys left here honestly upset at what happened,” Lombardi said. “In the past, we had triumphs, but it was always in the back of our minds: ‘OK, we got beat by better teams.’ That was not the case this time. The guys truly believed we had a chance to beat Colorado and were convinced we matched up well with Detroit. To me, that is part of the building process. I think there is a mental approach to winning that has to be learned.”

“Hey, you lose a seven-game series, then obviously you deserved to lose,” added center Mike Ricci, “but we fumbled the ball. We had a good chance to win and we were pretty disappointed. There was no, ‘Keep your heads up boys,’ or ‘We were happy to get this far.’ Losing that series was a bitter pill to swallow.”

So what’s next? The Sharks are coming back with basically the same team as last year minus veteran defenseman Gary Suter, who retired. The good news is, they have a nice blend of youth and experience. The bad news is, the defense remains a little green.

Sure there are veteran blueliners like Marcus Ragnarsson and Bryan Marchment, but the guys who will log most of the key minutes, Brad Stuart, 21, Scott Hannan, 22, Jeff Jillson, 22, and even Mike Rathje, 28, are still in the developing mode.

What the Sharks hope will carry them over the top is depth up front and solid goaltending, assuming Evgeni Nabokov’s contract battle gets settled. Nabokov was the NHL’s top rookie two years ago.

The Sharks are crossing their fingers that veterans Owen Nolan, Vinny Damphousse and Teemu Selanne bounce back from subpar seasons. The trio finished 1-2-3 in team scoring, but all three are capable of putting up better numbers. If they rebound, the Sharks’ decision not to dip into the free agent market or make a substantial trade will be a wise one.

“None of us wanted any major changes,” Thornton said. “As far as we’re concerned our lineup is set. We definitely feel management has done a good job getting the right people for the right positions. Our strength is the character of the guys in our room. There are no weaknesses in that department. Everybody is committed. We work hard in practice and we play hard in games. On top of that, we have a lot of skill.”

Lombardi, a 42-year-old whiz kid who has been at the helm for six years, has stuck to his vision of building the team through the draft. Two of the team’s more productive players, Patrick Marleau and Marco Sturm, both scored 21 goals. What makes them unique is they’re both entering their sixth NHL season, yet they are just 23 and 24, respectively.

It is those players, along with veterans such as Adam Graves, a Cup winner with the 1994 Rangers, and Damphousse, who sipped champagne from the Cup in 1993 with Montreal, that give San Jose such a great feeling.

“They’re a very good team,” said St. Louis defenseman Chris Pronger. “If you look up and down their lineup, they’ve got three lines that can score and four lines that hit. All four of their lines hit. All four of their lines play defense. Actually their fourth line can chip in goals, too, so they have four lines that can score.

“You shut down Nolan and then you’ve got Selanne,” Pronger continued. “You shut down Selanne and then you’ve got that third line of Ricci, Thornton and (Niklas) Sundstrom. They’re probably the best third line in the league…always around the puck.”

The Sharks had an NHL-high six players who scored 20 or more goals last year and Ricci, a top checking center, had 19.

Coach Darryl Sutter said it’s important the Sharks don’t look too far ahead.

“I think the key, because we play in the toughest division in the league, is to keep pace within the division,” Sutter said. “You don’t even look outside the division. Last year we won our division and our whole goal was to stay one step ahead of the teams in the division.”

Of course, with high expectations come pressure. That’s fine with Lombardi.

“Pressure makes it harder, but I don’t care,” he said. You’ve got to learn to deal with it. There isn’t a team that ever amounted to anything that didn’t have to deal with it.”