NHL: Why the San Jose Sharks Will Be Hoisting the Stanley Cup in June

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride—that has seemingly been the San Jose Sharks’ motto for the last eight years.

They have been forces in the regular season, but when the NHL playoffs roll around, they can just never seem to cut it.

The Sharks have finished with at least 99 points in each season since 2003-2004, while never having been seeded lower than fifth heading into the Playoffs. Yet, they still have never had a sniff of the Stanley Cup Finals.

So, if they could not do it then, why will they be able to do it now?

That is a great question, and without giving the simple answer of "they are due," here’s why the Sharks will have their names engraved on the most heralded trophy in sports this year.

The Sharks easily boast one of the best groups of top six forwards in the NHL. Joe Thornton (52 points), Dany Heatley (50), Ryan Clowe (48), Patrick Marleau (47) and Joe Pavelski (44) lead the team in points, giving their offense a very balanced attack. The sixth forward is Devin Setoguchi (28 points), and he has finally started playing up to his level as of late.

This is the same nucleus that took them to the Western Conference Finals last year versus the eventual Cup-winning Blackhawks. This year, the Sharks also have rookie phenom Logan Couture (25 goals, 44 points) centering the third line.

Their defense is nothing to write home about, but they still have rock-solid Dan Boyle leading the way with 37 points. The pickup of Ian White at the trade deadline gives them a good one-two punch on the blue line. 

They also have last year’s Cup-winning goalie, Antti Niemi, who, after a rough start to the year, has found his groove in San Jose, going 14-2-1 over his last 17 games. 

With this goalie/defense group, San Jose has given up the fourth least amount of goals among playoff contenders in the West (behind Vancouver, Los Angeles and Nashville).

Now, you can call me crazy, but I only really see two other contenders in the West besides San Jose: Vancouver and Detroit—and here is why neither the Canucks nor the Red Wings will win.

Vancouver has a great offense, led by the Sedin twins and Ryan Kesler—that part of the team should keep the Canucks in games during the playoffs.

However, their biggest problem will be the play of Roberto Luongo.

He is historically bad during the playoffs, and his numbers have actually gotten worse over the last three trips to the playoffs with Vancouver. Check out his stats:

Season	GP	W-L	GA	SO	GAA	SA	SV%
2007	12	5-7	25	0	1.77	222	.919
2009	10	6-4	26	1	2.52	278	.914
2010	12	6-6	38	0	3.22	362	.895

The Canucks should be able to get by in the first round this season, but when faced with a team like Chicago or Los Angeles in the second round, their luck should run out once again.

As for the Red Wings—their problem also lies between the pipes.

Jimmy Howard faces way too many shots (over 30 a game), and when he is facing that many shots from other playoff-caliber teams, his 2.82 GAA will certainly inflate in April and May.

The Red Wings also are not getting any younger, and will have to rely on a lot of elder statesmen, such as Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper, Todd Bertuzzi and Mike Modano in the postseason.

That won't get it done.

Now, many of you may say, “What about the Kings, Blackhawks, Coyotes, Stars, Wild, Predators and Flames???”

They do not count as serious threats this year, for many reasons, and for word-limit purposes, will be left out of this article.

So, once San Jose makes it through the West, that leaves the Sharks with one team to go. This could come down to many teams from the East, but like the West, I feel it is only a two-team race in the East, between Philadelphia and Boston.

Philly is undoubtedly the deepest team in the East. The Flyers made it to the Cup Finals last year, and are well on their way to doing so again this year.

They rode Michael Leighton in net in '09-'10, but I am not so sold on their current combination of Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky for this season.

Boucher was overtaken last season in the playoffs (2.47 GAA, .909 SV%), and it could easily happen again this season.

So, can the Flyers rely on a rookie goaltender in the playoffs?

As for the Bruins, they have Vezina Trophy-lock Tim Thomas between the pipes, so he should provide stability on their back end.

The addition of Tomas Kaberle to the blue line will also help bolster that unit defensively, as well as on the power play. He and Zdeno Chara will be an excellent combination on the man advantage.

Their forwards are good; however, they may be a little thin.

They have a great first line with Lucic, Horton and Krejci (46, 40, 47 points, respectively), but their secondary scoring may be lacking with only Bergeron, Recchi and Ryder giving them any real threats.

Two months ago, it looked like the Sharks may not even make the playoffs, but after reeling off a ridiculous run of games, they are back to their usual post, near the top of the Western standings.

Coach Todd McLellan has this team playing at a very high level, just in time for the greatest playoffs in professional sports.

The Sharks have 14-1 odds of winning the Cup right now, which is still higher than when they began the year at 13-1. If you do like gambling, I suggest putting a bet on this team now before they dip into the single digits.

Does anyone else get the feeling like the Sharks were playing possum at the beginning of the year?