The battle of California will feature the best team in the NHL, San Jose, up against Anaheim, a team not to far removed from a Stanley Cup championship in 2007. After missing the playoffs last season, with basically the same team intact from 2007, the Ducks had a rebound year this season. As for the Sharks, immense amount of pressure is now on their shoulders, because that team has the right players in place, changed their attitudes with a new head coach, Todd McClelland, and it’s pretty much Stanley Cup or bust.
If the Sharks don’t win the Stanley Cup, or even come close to competing for it, major changes will be made in Silicon Valley.
For instance, Joe Thornton has yet to prove himself when it matters most and has struggled in the playoffs. Last season, Thornton did show some flashes of brilliance in post-season play, but it wasn’t enough to prove himself. Patrick Marleau was involved in trade speculation all season long after a disappointing season and playoff in 2008. Marleau did bounce back this season and led the Sharks with 38 goals. These two players must set the tone for the rest of the Sharks to follow, because a lot of the scoring and leadership will come from these two.
It looks like Thornton and Marleau have already set a great example and tone as Devin Setoguchi had a breakout year with 31 goals, and overall the Sharks had six players finish with twenty or more goals.
In the back end, the Sharks also have a standout goalie in Evgeni Nabokov who won 41 games for San Jose this season. Along with Nabokov, and stalwart defenders in Dan Boyle, Rob Blake, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Christian Ehrhoff, the Sharks are stacked on defense. Luckily for the Sharks and their defenders, they won’t have much to stop in the Ducks.
Offensively, the Ducks are led by Ryan Getzlaf and his 91 points, and by Corey Perry’s 72. After that, the Ducks don’t have much pop and are basically a one line team, even with Teemu Selanne and super rookie Bobby Ryan.
The Ducks on defense will be led by Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. This time around, Niedermayer and Pronger cannot do all the work, and must be gassed because the Ducks had to do a lot just get into the playoffs.
The goaltending situation is sort of a good one for the Ducks because they saw the emergence of Jonas Hiller as J.S. Giguere’s play dropped off. Either way the Ducks go, they will have two goalies they could turn to.
In the end, if the Sharks scored like they did during the season; their offensive capabilities alone will win them the series. If the offense doesn’t click, then the league’s second best defense in goals against (204) can shut down the Ducks.
SERIES PREDICTION --> THE SAN JOSE SHARKS WILL WIN THIS SERIES, THERE IS NO DOUBT THERE, AND WILL WIN IN 6 GAMES. THE ANAHEIM DUCKS WILL PUT UP A FIGHT, BUT THE SHARKS HAVE PLENTY OF DEPTH IN ALL POSITIONS AND WILL EASILY OUTLAST THE DUCKS.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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