The Character of the Team

April 3rd, 2006 by ironsoap

It’s a shame that the new NHL rules have forced guys like Murray into a supporting role because he’s an absolute hoot to watch. The way he throws checks reminds me of watching hockey back when the Sharks first came into the league and the game was grittier and nastier and there was a reason that hockey players evoked images of toothless savages. Now the game is slicker, faster and I’ll grant you overall more exciting. Still, nothing sparks a stadium crowd like a thundering, bone-rattling, glass wobbling plaster into the boards. Maybe a bit more time in the minors developing some stick skills and a shot to go with that devil-may-care body tossing will create a real force to be reckoned with. Murray is everything we always wished Rathje would be, and that’s a compliment.

Evgeni Nabokov

It’s been a rough year for Nabby. He’s been hurt, he’s been bad and he’s been good. He seems to have finally settled into being “mediocre” which is at least something. And he has been playing okay since the Olympic break… I can’t help but wonder if he suffered during the lockout last year somehow. But Nabokov hasn’t been Mr. Brilliant since his first couple of years in the league and I think with Toskala playing well lately and an impressive if little-seen netminder waiting down in the minors for his second chance, Nabby is going to have to find a way to rise above. Contract or no contract.

Ville Nieminen

Nieminen is an odd player. A checking line guy that has some finesse; a winger that acts like a d-man; a brute that shows some surprising grace on occasion. It’s fairly obvious that the Wilsons got Nieminen to put some grit out there in case of a playoff berth but he seems to have had a positive impact in the race to get there as well. Surprisingly his career numbers aren’t much to look at, but he’s got a noticeable work ethic that shows up on the forecheck, backcheck and work down low that could make all the difference in a tough final nine games.

Scott Parker

Like Nieminen and Murray, The Sheriff is a relic of a game gone by. Sad or not, hockey has moved on and this isn’t Scott Parker’s game anymore. I don’t mind having Parker on the team but if you watched him take a miserable penalty on Saturday night and get moded into a one-sided roughing penalty for trying to pick a fight it’s hard not to think of him as a liability, especially down the stretch. The Sharks could have used his gut and heart-on-the-sleeve style early in the season when they were slumping badly but at this stage of the game they need clean play and solid skills, not goons. If Parker can learn to adapt and use his abilities to lead the charge in playing a physical game (the Sharks are 500 times better when they play tight, physical hockey) without taking a bunch of idiot penalties in the process he’s going to be a huge asset. If he can’t do it without constantly putting the Sharks down a man, he’s got to be out of a job.

Tom Preissing

The Sharks best offensive threat from the blue line has started to come into his own late in the season, finding the back of the net more regularly and (importantly) at opportune times. I’d still like to see the Sharks rely a bit less on the long shot from the point on the power play but if they have to go that route at least send it Preissing’s way. If the Sharks only got to keep two defensemen from this year’s team, I’d let them all loose save Priessing and Hannan.

Patrick Rissmiller

Yet another young offensive player who hasn’t had enough time to really get over the learning curve of the NHL transition. Time will tell if he’s got what it takes but so far I haven’t seen much to really complain about.

Mark Smith

It’s a crying shame that Mark Smith doesn’t have more skill than he does. If guys like Stevenson, Michalek and Goc worked half as hard as Smith does they’d all be 25+ goal scorers. I absolutely love watching Smith play. He tries so hard and you can just tell he’s only where he is in the league because he simply never gives up. Of course this means he’s got to do a lot of compensating for his lack of raw ability so he ends up in the penalty box a lot. But he plays with heart and mind so usually I don’t mind the penalty minutes. When you consider that comparable role players like Sean Avery have more than twice as many PIMs than Smith (the most penalized Shark), you realize that we’re lucky to have Smith doing what he does.

Grant Stevenson

I was hoping for a bit more from Stevenson this year. Maybe it was just that with so many rookies on the team I had to pick one that I thought might come out of nowhere and have a spectacular year. Well that didn’t happen and honestly Stevenson has quite underwhelmed me. I hope he gets better but even if he did so on some other team, I wouldn’t be all broken up about it.

Joe Thornton

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