San Jose Sharks: Looking Forward to the Return of Torrey Mitchell

Before the start of the 2008-2009 NHL season, it would have been hard to predict that Sharks would begin the year 16-3-1 without their star rookie from last season, Torrey Mitchell in the lineup.

Mitchell suffered a broken left leg, (breaking both his tibia and his fibula) in a scrimmage in late September.  The injury put some doubt in the mind's of Sharks fans on whether or not this year was going to be different.  A year ago, a similar injury put Ryane Clowe on the IR for the majority of the season when he injured his knee a few games into last season.

So even though Torrey's recovery time is supposed to be only a couple of months, it was easy for Sharks fans to doubt whether this team could fare without their star rookie.  

Now when I say "star" rookie, fans of other NHL teams may think Mitchell must have put up 20+ goals and 50+ points, but that is not the case with Torrey.  Even though he only put up a modest 10 goals and 10 assist for 20 points in his rookie campaign, Mitchell played all in 82 games as a rookie.  A feat that hadn't been achieved by a Shark since Brad Stuart did it back in the 1999-2000 season.

To put that in perspective, Patrick Marleau didn't play in all 82 games during his rookie year, despite being the No. 2 overall selection.  Jonathan Cheechoo didn't play all 82, and neither did Marco Sturm, Jeff Friesen, Ray Whitney nor the Sharks first ever rookie selection, Pat Falloon.

In essence, Mitchell accomplished a feat that some of the all-time Shark rookies weren't able to accomplish.

Along with playing every single game during his rookie season, Mitchell became a fan-favorite because of his play on the penalty-kill. 

Mitchell became a regular on the San Jose penalty-kill in his rookie campaign, contributing with two short-handed goals.  One of which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest individual efforts of all-time when he scored against Anaheim last season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q44RRllsCg

Not only did Mitchell score highlight-reel goals but his play on the penalty-kill also helped the Sharks finish first in the NHL with an 85.8 percentage last season.

Currently the Sharks are ninth in penalty-kill percentage but the Sharks should be ready to welcome Mitchell back into the lineup in about two to three weeks, which will help bolster the current penalty-kill unit.

Mitchell's return will also help stabilize the Sharks' third and fourth lines that have seen a good amount of juggling this season.  The Sharks have had the likes of Grier, Roenick, Clowe, Goc, Cheechoo, Plihal, Shelley, McGinn, Staubitz, and Kaspar all at one point or another playing on third and fourth lines.

As of now, head coach Todd McLellan has had Jonathan Cheechoo easing his way back into the lineup after injury by playing on the third line, but I'm interested to see how things will shake out when both Grier and Mitchell are back in the lineup.

Mitchell and Grier were teamed up on the penalty-kill last season and have shown they play extremely well together.  Grier returns tonight for the game against Washington, and we won't get to see Mitchell for another few weeks, but many Sharks fans are looking forward to a possible third-line combination of Mitchell and Grier to go along with Ryane Clowe.

Clowe-Mitchell-Grier, as it would look like in the lineup for the Sharks with Clowe on the left-wing, would be arguably one of the best third lines in the NHL.  Something Sharks fans are pretty familiar with, being treated to the line of Scott Thornton, Mike Ricci and Niklas Sundstrom back in the day.

But this new combination would probably be even better, Clowe is stronger and a better goal-scorer than Thornton was.  Mitchell is arguably the fastest player on the team and plays with the same edge that Mike Ricci played with, and Grier brings the steady, veteran presence on the right side.  The line would be able to bang the body on the boards, especially in the defensive zone, and then spring the speedy Mitchell on out-let passes.

Yes, the Sharks are the No. 1 team in the NHL right now, but as a fan of the team, I can't wait for Mitchell's return because it's just going to make the Sharks that much better.