San Jose Sharks: Blueline and Goalies

In part one I am examining the blueline and goaltending currently on the Sharks roster. I hope to provide an analysis of the team's forwards once we find out whether they can re-sign Ryan Clowe.

The backbone of every team is its goaltending, and the Sharks are strong in this unit. Not only should Evgeni Nabokov have won the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goalie, leading the league in wins (46) and games played (77-tied with Martin Brodeur, who did win the trophy), but he was only .03 goals per game worse than Brodeur.

There are a handful of goalies I would take over Nabokov despite his career year. I believe that while Nabby deserved the award last year, Brodeur is probably still better than him if for no other reason than playoff experience. I also think that Miikka Kiprusoff is a more tested commodity, and there is no question Jean-Sebastien Giguere has the pedigree and consistent performance to surpass all his peers.

Roberto Luongo is probably better, but a less proven commodity, especially in the playoffs. The same can be said for Henrik Lundqvist. That leaves Nabby as unquestionably a top six goaltender, in the top 20% of the league's starters.

Brian Boucher saw limited action last season, playing mostly in the minors. Despite being the league's record holder for consecutive scoreless minutes in net, he struggled some a couple years back and was out of the NHL for about a year.

However, Boucher played very well in the time he did get, he is still fairly young, and he has playoff experience. This makes him a mixed result projection: could be very good, could be shaky; therefore, he must be considered average.

Moreover, the team has Thomas Greiss as an emergency #3 goalie if there's an injury. He has limited NHL experience and was considered good enough to back up Nabokov a good part of last year.

The #1 goalie needs to be the strongest, so overall this unit is outstanding. Perhaps only Anaheim has a better goaltending unit, since Jonas Hiller is at least as much a sure thing as Boucher and Giguere has an edge on Nabokov. Other teams either lack the outstanding #1 and/or have lesser back-ups.

If net-minding is a team's backbone, the defensemen are its legs. If you have even a mediocre blueline in the West, you will be exposed as the Sharks have been the last couple years in the playoffs. All three teams they fell to had better defensemen on the whole.

So this year general manager Doug Wilson made bold moves to upgrade the unit. In the end, the team was minus two defensemen who played key roles: gritty leader Craig Rivet and young offensively skilled Matthew Carle. However, Carle could not crack the lineup on a consistent basis, and Rivet's lack of speed was getting exposed from time to time.

In their place, the unit now boasts four Stanley Cup rings. Stay-at-home defenseman Brad Lukowich has won two. His old defensemate Dan Boyle, who is among the best in the league at offensive and puck-handling skills that the team needs to play the new style favoured by coach Todd McLellan, has one. Rob Blake, still among the most dangerous power play defensemen in the game, also has one.

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