It's been an El Nino summer here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Long
hot days with the highest temps in years. Even San Francisco, long
home to the "coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San
Francisco" jokes, was a hot place.
Yep, everywhere was hot, even Dean Lombardi's office.
Yeah, the man they call Dumbo was hard at work this summer. He spent
the summer following his semi- successful pattern of bringing in new
blood and just past-their-prime veterans. He did change a bit as he
focused solely on protecting the blue line by adding vets Gary Suter
to help the anemic power play and hiring Bob Rouse away from the Red
Wings to provide some size. He added rookie Scott Hannen (their 1997
first-rounder) to the defense corps as well.
Lombardi and Sutter surprised the world this draft by trading DOWN
to take defensemen Brad Stuart. Stuart played in most of the
preseason games, scoring some decent points, but not enough to
hammer out a contract prior to the deadline. Given the Sharks
history of starting them young, burning them out, then trading the
`potential' away, probably a good move for Stuart. They also added
the Hasek-schooled Steve Shields. A fortuitous move given how the
minor league goalies played in the preseason.
And what a preseason! The Sharks managed a paltry 2-5 record against
rivals like Calgary, Los Angeles and Vancouver. True, LA may be a
real rival, but Calgary and the Canucks? The Finned Flops surprised
no one with their lack of dedication in the preseason.
To be fair, Sutter fielded a unit of hopefuls including: Jamie Baker
(he's back for a year), Dave Lowry (again for a year), goalies Racine
(not bad, but not good enough) and Gauthier (letting in those six
goals against Colorado must have meant he didn't like California
cuisine, cause it was a sure ticket back to the minors) and Stuart,
plus Hannan, Heins and a sordid cast of others. These were on the
ice while opponents like the Avs put their A lines out. However,
guys like Billy Houlder and Bryan Marchmant, men the Sharks are gonna
look to if they are to make the playoffs this year, looked like they
were bored and couldn't be bothered with preseason play. Joe Murphy
may have been the one standout in these warm-ups and a possible
rising star in the organization.
So, with the regular season upon us -- if you consider a trip to
Japan regular -- Jeff Friesen and Owen Nolan still aren't signed.
Steve Shields and Gary Suter are nowhere to be seen (both are out
with injuries). And the Fish are floundering.
Opening night in Tokyo and the Sharks give up three to Calgary with
Vernon in net. True, Ken Wregget in net for the Flames gave up
three also, but we are talking the Flames. In order to be serious
contenders for the playoffs, the Sharks need to discard teams like
the Flames much as Bill Gates does with pennies. The second game a
night later was worse. Much worse. The Sharks stiffened blue line
allows five, count `em, five goals to slide in including a hat
trick for Theo. Fin fans are flabbergasted. The best that can be
said is that the team escaped Japan with a point.
Every Fin Fan was expecting a big-time, first-line point scorer
signing this summer, actually, every summer, but none were
forthcoming. Worse, our top pole-banger (Nolan), still isn't signed
and neither is fan fav Friesen. Teal Town is expecting big things
from the men in the fish suits this year. After two truly bottom of
the fish-barrel seasons and one sorta, kinda OK year, the Tank had
better be hoppin' this year or the idea of fish for dinner will
take on a whole new meaning. Stayed tuned.
