San Jose Sharks: Lack of Stories Becoming the Story?

Taking a look at the top four stories on sjsharks.com, one will quickly notice that none of them have anything to do with the upcoming milestone 2010-2011 season.

Lost amidst lauding over Jeremy Roenick and Todd McLellan’s pending honors, analysis of the Ilya Kovalchuk contract debacle, and previews of players who may one day contribute to a Cup run in San Jose (but in the near-term will do well to hold down consistent playing time in Worcester) is the fact that as the Sharks quickly approach their 20th year in the league, some key questions remain to be answered.

A path forward in goal seems to be in place, and the Sharks are set to return a largely familiar crew of talented forwards, but questions remain on the blue line.

Having lost Rob Blake to retirement, the Sharks continue to search for ways to supplement and improve a defensive group that was suspect at times last year, particularly in the playoffs.

Given the departure of former goaltending mainstay Evgeni Nabokov, many would rightly argue that the defense needs to be that much stronger to protect the tandem of Antero Niittymaki and Thomas Griess to give Team Teal a fighting chance night in and night out.

However, the Sharks have done little along these lines thus far, at least as far as results go.

Doug Wilson did make a strong play for Stanley Cup Champion Niklas Hjalmarsson of the Chicago Blackhawks weeks ago, offering the restricted free agent $14 million over four years and risking a first and third-round 2011 draft pick in the hopes of landing the Swede in San Jose.

While he succeeded in forcing the Blackhawks to pay more than they would have liked to retain Hjalmarsson, compounding the salary cap issues for a key Western Conference opponent, Chicago’s retention of Hjalmarsson left the Sharks with no direct improvement of their roster.

Since that news broke, the Sharks have done virtually nothing tangible to attempt to improve their current situation.

Why is this?

There could be a variety of reasons. The Sharks could be shopping for a big-name trade, but the market could be cold. Big trades can take a while to orchestrate, as illustrated by last offseason’s saga of forward Dany Heatley.

Rumors broke of public dissention between the talented sharp shooter and the Ottawa Senators early in the summer—and the Sharks were an immediate favorite to land the disgruntled star—but negotiations dragged on into training camp before Heatley was finally shipped to Silicon Valley.

Could Doug Wilson be mired in another haggling session for an established blue-liner?

The Sharks could also have interest in a remaining free agent, but might be waiting for the price to go down.

The team’s early focus on Antero Niittymaki and apparent overpayment of Niclas Wallin led to them missing the chance to land the likes of Henrik Tallinder, Anton Volchenkov, or Dan Hamhuis.

However, options like Kim Johnsson, Anton Stralman, Ian White, and Andreas Lilja remain.

Could Doug Wilson be waiting to see how desperate these players get for a deal as training camp approaches, hoping to sign one of them for less?

I truly believed that, after the Blackhawks did the Sharks the favor of letting them know early of their intentions to match the Hjalmarsson offer sheet, the Sharks would move quickly to secure an alternative. However, that has failed to materialize.

Could one of the above circumstances be to blame? Could possible negotiations with Mike Modano be siphoning their focus? Could a combination of these factors be at play?

Personally, I think the prospects of landing Modano affordably are slim. He would be a worthy gamble were he willing to sign in San Jose for around $1 million, but anything more would hamper their chances of addressing their blue-line deficiencies.

Ultimately, I believe Modano will go the way of Marty Turco, experiencing his 15 minutes as a hot prospect on the Sharks’ radar before ultimately finding himself elsewhere. He would be a nice addition, but cost is the issue.

This could be a huge year for the Sharks if they can properly address their blue-line susceptibilities.

Being just one year removed from the franchise’s second-ever trip to the conference finals, and certainly looking to be in stronger competitive position than the Blackhawks to this point, the Sharks could accomplish big things as the team hits the big 2-0. But there is still work to be done before hitting the ice.

Maybe they can sign Ilya Kovalchuk to a 20-year deal...

Keep the Faith!