San Jose Sharks: 4 Players Most Responsible for Recent Struggles

The San Jose Sharks are in the midst of a downward spiral that has dropped them from third in the Western Conference standings to ninth (as of March 16). Their once comfortable rank atop the Pacific Division has vanished and they now trail both the Dallas Stars (83 points) and the Phoenix Coyotes (81 points) in the division standings.

It's easy to blame the coaching staff or general manager Doug Wilson, but the bottom line is that the Sharks' recent woes can mostly be attributed to poor performances from some of their key players. Todd McLellan and his staff have coached the Sharks to back-to-back appearances in the conference finals and Wilson has masterfully crafted a club that has been among the NHL's top Cup contenders for nearly a decade.

The weight of San Jose's mid-season collapse that could cost the Sharks a playoff berth rests on the shoulders of the following players.  

(I acknowledge that winning is a team effort and that there are other players who need to step up, but these four players have been noticeably worse over the last few weeks.)

Michal Handzus

Signed as a free agent last summer, Michal Handzus was brought in to center the team's third line and provide solid two-way play. It was expected that he would help create offense while also playing a key role on the penalty kill. 

Instead, Handzus has produced a lackluster seven goals and 23 points in 63 games and is a minus-five. The 35-year-old pivot has also failed to improve San Jose's penalty kill, which is currently ranked 28th in the league at 78.2 percent. 

In his last five games, Handzus has zero points and is a minus-three. He has been a healthy scratch since March 10, when the Sharks were blanked by the Phoenix Coyotes in a 3-0 loss. 

Sorry, but for a guy who put up back-to-back 42-point campaigns with the Los Angeles Kings just a few years ago and has a $2.5 million cap hit, that isn't a big enough contribution.  

Ryane Clowe

Ryane Clowe is a key part of San Jose's top six and, now that the team has traded away budding winger Jamie McGinn, Clowe is the team's only true power forward. He has hands, he can hit and he can fight, but when he's not doing any of those things he's invisible and he's hurting his team. 

After registering a career-high 62 points last year, Clowe has only 36 points so far this season. Since Feb. 19, he has just two points. That's 14 games played and he has only scored in two.

Clowe is a force when he's on his game and he needs to get back to the level he was playing at last year if the Sharks hope to break out of their untimely slump. 

Joe Pavelski

It's hard to criticize Joe Pavelski when he's a player who does so many of the little things necessary to win hockey games, but he's playing on the top line because he is expected to produce offense and he has failed to do so over the last few weeks. 

Pavelski is having a strong season overall, with 50 points in 70 games and 24 goals on the season, just one shy of the career-high 25 goals he netted two years ago. 

However, he has just one goal and one assist in his last 10 games, all while playing on San Jose's first line with Joe Thornton.

When given ample ice time with one of the NHL's best playmakers, it's assumed that you'll put the puck in the net. Pavelski needs to start doing that again as the regular season comes to a close.   

Antti Niemi

Antti Niemi, like Joe Pavelski, has had a good season on the whole. He has a respectable .914 save percentage, a 2.41 goals-against average and the seventh-most shutouts in the league with five. These numbers aren't breathtaking, but they're solid. 

It has been over the last month, where the Sharks have struggled the most, that Niemi's play has been lackluster at best.

Since Feb. 16, he has posted a save percentage below .900 on six different occasions. This includes a .760 save percentage against the Tampa Bay Lightning (Sharks lost in overtime), a .727 save percentage against the Columbus Blue Jackets (Sharks lost in regulation), a .864 save percentage against the Calgary Flames (Sharks lost in overtime) and an alarmingly poor .571 save percentage against the Nashville Predators (Sharks lost in regulation). 

In addition, Niemi has allowed three or more goals in eight of his starts over that same period.

Not only do these stats indicate weak play against not-so-great opponents, they also show a correlation between Niemi playing poorly and San Jose losing. His shaky play between the pipes of late has single-handedly cost the Sharks numerous games. He has to be better. Period.

Sam Kelly is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @samkelly10.