Bleacher Report - Articles by Rob Saccuzzo

San Jose Sharks Re-sign Marcel Goc

Rob Saccuzzo — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:43:36 -0400

The San Jose Sharks and center Marcel Goc avoided arbitration by agreeing to terms on a one-year, $775,000 contract.

Goc had five goals and three assists in 51 games during the '07-'08 campaign.

Goc's greatest contribution to San Jose was his appearance on Shark Byte hosted by Jamie Baker with fellow-German, Christian Ehrhoff.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZxMUwHPWeZM&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sho_ihSNvkk&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VHwt0Lur8hs

Christian Ehrhoff Re-signs with the San Jose Sharks

Rob Saccuzzo — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:59:15 -0400

The San Jose Sharks on Wednesday announced the re-signing of Christian Ehrhoff. That alone should give the Teal Nation shivers down their collective spine. To make matters even worse, they signed him for three years. I wouldn't have signed him for more than a two year contract.

So, I started the day finding out we resigned Ehrhoff for an undisclosed amount for three years. I'm in a bad mood already and I carry on with my business throughout the day and I head to work. I tell my coworkers who are also Sharks fans the bad news and I get cringe after cringe after cringe as the reaction.

The question I asked myself, "Why get rid of the solid, seasoned Rivet and then resign Ehrhoff?" It doesn't make sense.

After work, I come home and I pull up Yahoo! Sports. Much to my dismay, I find out that Lord Wilson has given Ehrhoff $9.3 MILLION DOLLARS.

Many people consider San Jose a tight wallet hockey club. Just to put things in context here's a list of San Jose's salaries:

Joe Thornton Avg. Salary: $6.66 Million

Evgeni Nabokov Avg. Salary: $5.36 Million

Rob Blake Avg. Salary: $5.00 Million

Patrick Marleau Avg. Salary: $4.17 Million

Johnathan Cheechoo Avg. Salary: $3.00 Million

So it's official. Christian Ehrhoff is one of the five highest paid San Jose Sharks that have been given contracts as free agents. Is your mind blown yet?

He only had one goal last season. He only had 22 assists. Ehrhoff also registered 72 penalty minutes. I know I have a negative bias against the guy, but I would bet that most of those penalties came down a goal in the third period.

Does anyone else remember when he lost his stick and then tackled Owen Nolan with the puck in the playoffs?

He is a joke. Last year during an episode of Shark Byte, Drew Remenda asked Christian, "What is the element of your game that you need to work on the most?" Christian laughed and said, "Probably my defense."

When you only have one goal and 22 assists in a season and you think that's better than your defense, you should not be making $3.1 million dollars a year!

On the signing, General Manager Doug Wilson said, "We expect him to continue to get better and be a big contributor for this organization.”

Great! I'm so glad that Doug is excited about this. He's probably the only one aside from Ehrhoff who is probably laughing to himself while lighting a cigar with a hundred dollar bill.

When it's game seven of the Western Conference Finals against Dallas next season, and Ehrhoff puts San Jose a man down with 56 seconds left in the third period in a tie game, don't say I didn't warn you.

Extreme Makeover: San Jose Sharks Edition

Rob Saccuzzo — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:24:37 -0400

A new era will begin in San Jose for the Sharks when the '08-'09 campaign begins. New faces have arrived. Familiar faces have been shipped off.

Hopefully the right combination of both will spell a Stanley Cup Championship for the San Jose Sharks.

The biggest new face will be behind the bench for the Sharks. Todd McLellan was picked off of Detroit's bench where he was in charge of Detroit's phenomenal power play squad. Sharks fans alike hope he can spark the offensive powder keg that San Jose's forwards have the potential to do.

Doug Wilson seemed to be sitting on his hands the first two days of free agency while players like Brian Campbell and Patrick Rissmiller were sent packing to Chicago and the Rangers respectively.

Despite the absence in the free agent market, Wilson made a deal with Tampa Bay to bring Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich to San Jose to join 18-year veteran defensemen Rob Blake in bolstering an inconsistent blue line. Wilson lured Rob Blake away from the Los Angeles Kings with a one-year for five million contract.

In return for Dan Boyle and Lukowich, San Jose sent Matt "Turnover in the Defensive Zone" Carle and hot prospect Ty Wishart packing. The Sharks also bundled up two future draft picks (first and fourth round) to complete the deal.

These additions are key in the replacement of Brian Campbell who took money over Stanley Cup contention. Boyle and Blake will hopefully teach young defensemen like Ehrhoff and Vlasic how to become all-star caliber defensemen. They will also be able to add a threat on the power play for the Sharks.

The Sharks have the best defensive lineup in their history. The lock down defense of Boyle and Blake will work well with the speed of Ehrhoff and Vlasic with the explosive hitting of Douglas Murray.

Another face that will be missing during the '08-'09 campaign will be veteran Craig Rivet. He was shipped shortly after the Boyle trade was finalized to Buffalo for two second round picks. I'm not sure if the Sharks simply wanted to free up salary or truly wanted replacement picks for the ones they sent to Tampa Bay, but he will be a great asset to the Buffalo Sabers.

On a much more disappointing note, did not renew a contract with Curtis Brown.

Any true Sharks fan respected Curtis Brown for being one of the hardest working Sharks the team has ever had. He resembled Mike Ricci in his relentless grit. He went into the corners harder than anyone, back checked when no one else did, and worked harder on the penalty kill than most. When Grier and Brown were on the penalty kill, a puck clear wasn't expected or hoped for, but a short-handed breakaway. He will be truly missed.

The off-season is still a long way from being over, and these new additions are only making the upcoming season more and more anticipated. Hopefully these key additions will bring the cup to San Jose.

Misfires and Missteps Doom San Jose Sharks Early Against Calgary Flames

Rob Saccuzzo — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:01:53 -0400

Fans left HP Pavilion Wednesday night in disbelief and anger. With such high expectations for the San Jose Sharks, severe criticism of everything from Joe Thornton's ineffectiveness to the soft goals Nabokov let in could be overheard from every conversation as people filed toward the parking lots.

It didn't look like San Jose came to play.

Blame whomever you want for San Jose's loss to the Calgary Flames, but the reason why they lost is very simple: Calgary outplayed, out-hit, and out-skated San Jose for 60-minutes of hockey.

Three keys to Calgary's success mentioned in my previous article spelled victory for Wednesday's game. Calgary setting their own pace of the game early, Phaneuf's physicality, and Kiprusoff's dominance earned the Flames the early lead in this best-of-seven series.

After the first five minutes of the first period passed, there were still many seats left unfilled at HP Pavilion. But, by that time Calgary already mounted a 2-0 lead over the Sharks.

Although the Sharks answered back a few minutes later, the fans seemed removed from the game, and Nabokov looked shaken from his normal rhythm. On shots where he would normally stand resilient, he seemed to sprawl more in the butterfly position. A final minute charge and Clowe's second goal of the night brought the game back within reach for San Jose.

With Nabokov pulled, a six-on-five effort consisted of more than five shots on goal in the last 30 seconds of the game. Ultimately, Kiprusoff and Calgary prevailed by a score of 3-2.

The word I kept thinking to myself as I watched the game at HP Pavilion, was "lackluster." Passes weren't crisp, shots were rushed, and it seemed that every loose puck was corralled by Calgary.

One bright spot was the utilization of the defense in the offensive zone. Many shots were taken from the point, but with no screen of Kiprusoff, he easily made the glove save. The Sharks came out of the gate flat-footed and it doomed them from the opening drop of the puck.

Phaneuf began the night getting under the skin of the San Jose forwards. He opened the door for San Jose to respond and spark a comeback, but San Jose's efforts were snuffed every time by Kipprusoff's goaltending.

Ryan Clowe, Captain Patrick Marleau, and defenseman Douglas Murray led tonight's charge for San Jose. Clowe had the Sharks' lone two goals, Marleau assisted on the first goal, and Murray was a +2 on the night.

Murray's most noticeable contribution was his ability to shut down Jarome Iginla with his line mate Brian Campbell. San Jose made it clear they were going to look to shut down Iginla by shading him on every possession. When a team focuses on the superstar, it requires the team's secondary players to step up.

Stephane Yelle did just that. He had two goals for the Calgary Flames. Iginla assisted on two goals, including the game winner.

The way the San Jose Sharks respond to the Calgary Flames' physicality and tempo in Thursday's game will decide the direction the rest of the series will go in as it heads to Calgary.

They need to skate hard, fire passes, and crash the net. Thursday's contest will define the San Jose Sharks as a team and as a Cup contender. If they can learn from the mistakes that were made in game one and improve, they will be able to take the series in five games.