The Top 5 New Year's Resolutions for the San Jose Sharks

With the start of a new year, many people are making resolutions to improve their lives. Some people will try to lose weight, some to stop smoking and others pledge to spend more time with their families.

The San Jose Sharks (20-13-5, third in Pacific Division) are no different. Here are the top five New Year's resolutions the Sharks should make for the year 2015.

Keep in mind this list is what the Sharks should do, not necessarily what they will actually do. If the franchise follows these five proposed resolutions, it will be headed in the right direction for 2015 and beyond. If it fails to take action on these suggestions, it could be a difficult road ahead for the Sharks.

Feel free to comment on any of the items listed here or suggest another of your own. As always, please indicate why you feel the way you do.

5. Get Healthy and Stay Healthy

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Matt Nieto is one of many Sharks who have been injured this season.

The Sharks' injury list this season has been lengthy—way too lengthy.

Tyler Kennedy and Mike Brown remain on the injury list right now, but plenty of other players have missed significant time this season due to injuries.

Matt Nieto just returned to the lineup. Alex Stalock missed significant time due to injuries as well. Raffi Torres has yet to play this season as a result of a knee injury he suffered last year.

Injuries have been one of the reasons that the Sharks have had so much turnover on their third and fourth lines this season. That lack of stability certainly hasn't helped the team's performance.

A resolution to get healthy and stay healthy is a simple way to start 2015 for the San Jose Sharks.

4. Get Tomas Hertl Back on Track

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Tomas Hertl has not been as productive as expected.

Tomas Hertl was a sensation as a rookie. His spectacular skills and highlight-reel goals made the hockey world take notice in the first half of last season before injuries cut his first NHL campaign short.

In 37 games last season, the native of Prague, Czech Republic scored 15 goals and 25 points, a pace that would have led to 33 goals over an 82-game season.

Hertl's sophomore season has been a major disappointment so far. In 37 games this year, Hertl has scored just seven goals and 14 points. His plus/minus rating has dipped from a plus-11 in 2013-14 to a minus-three during the current campaign.

One major difference for Hertl this season is the number of shots he is taking per game. Last year, the 21-year-old took 98 shots in 37 games (2.65 shots per game). This season, Hertl has taken just 68 shots (1.84 per game).

The Sharks' coaching staff should resolve to get Hertl back on track in the second half of the season.

Adding another skilled offensive weapon to the lineup would only make the team more dangerous to opposing goalies down the stretch.

3. Be More Consistent

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

The Sharks have been hot and cold for much of this season.

Truly great teams win on a consistent basis. Sure, there are some bumps in the road in the course of an 82-game season, but more often than not, a great team plays well and wins a lot more games than it loses.

So far in 2014-15, the San Jose Sharks have taken their fans on a roller-coaster ride. For four or five games at a time, the Sharks move from looking like true contenders to looking completely lost.

The Sharks started the season on a 3-0-1 streak. Later in the campaign, the team also put together winning streaks of four and five games.

On the flip side, the Sharks have had a four-game losing streak, a three-game losing streak and an 0-2-2 slide.

This team has enough talent to avoid prolonged slumps. Team Teal needs to resolve to be more consistent in the second half of the 2014-15 campaign.

2. Raise Their Level of Play in Key Situations

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San Jose cannot afford a repeat of last season.

For a decade now, the San Jose Sharks have been one of the league's best regular-season teams but have fallen short each year in the playoffs.

One of the many criticisms of the Sharks is that they don't raise their level of play when the stakes are at their highest.

The most painful example for both the team and its fans came last spring, when the Sharks took a commanding 3-0 lead in their series with the Los Angeles Kings before losing four straight games and the series.

The 2013-14 Sharks became just the fourth team in NHL history to lose a playoff series after holding a 3-0 series lead.

It's time for the team to find that extra gear in big games and finish off opponents when they are down. Whether it's an issue of heart, leadership, coaching or experience, the Sharks need to play their best hockey in the biggest games of the year. That is especially true in the playoffs.

If the Sharks are unable to fulfill this resolution, the San Jose teams of the mid-2000s through the mid-2010s may go down as some of the most talented squads to never win a Stanley Cup.

1. Find a Way to Play Like Pit Bulls

TONY AVELAR/Associated Press

The Sharks have to play a hungrier style of hockey.

Sharks head coach Todd McLellan vented his frustrations Tuesday night after his club's 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

McLellan showed extreme disappointment in his team's effort. "For me, there’s a price that our team has to pay to win. Right now we’re not reaching deep enough," McLellan told reporters. "We want everything on sale, is basically a good way of putting it. Take the easy way out."

"The dogfight tonight, I didn’t think our dog was a pit bull, by any means," he added.

This is the most important resolution for the Sharks this new year. The team needs to be a harder-working bunch and pay the price to win each and every game. If the Sharks take shortcuts and take the easy way out as often as they have been, they will never rise above mediocrity.

Unless the Sharks are willing to be pit bulls on most nights, they will never reach their full potential.