Shark Talk: Random Thoughts

Posted 12:54 PM ET | Comments 7

With the summer silence still in effect around the league, here are some random thoughts.

99 Problems But A Russian's Not One

If you look at the roster listed on sharks.NHL.com you'll see a full list of Americans and Canadians, with one Swede, a Fin and a Czech. The thoughts of any player bolting to the KHL aren't a worry for San Jose.

Smooth Schedule

I had a good look at the Sharks schedule to see how challenging it would be. It's a pretty nice schedule, especially in comparison to last years nonsense around the league.

The Sharks play 10 back to back games. 8 of those games are back to back games on the road, one is a back to back at home and the other set of back to back games is one home and one away.

October will be a good test to start the season as the Sharks play 11 of 13 games against 2013 playoff teams.

Value and Attendance

The Sharks, in the most recent Forbes Valuations, ranked 15th in the league at $223M, $31M more than Anaheim and $53M less than LA.

In the past 5 seasons there were 9 teams who averaged 100% attendance in each, and the Sharks are one of them. The other 8?

Chicago, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Philadelphia, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver

To break it down, the Sharks are one of only 4 American teams in the last 5 seasons to average 100% attendance in each year.

Name Change

The HP Pavilion is no more. The newly named SAP Center will replace the name that held strong for 11 seasons, the longest tenure of arena names in Sharks history. When they announced the name change a few weeks ago I didn't like it, but I gave it some time and I still don't like it.

All-Star Game

There won't be an All-Star game this year due to the Olympics in Sochi. I'm not a huge fan of the All-Star Game, but it does provide some interesting entertainment when the players get to do some things they wouldn't normally do in a real game.

The Sharks hosted the game in 1997, with the East beating the West by a score of 11-7. The Sharks were represented by Tony Granato and Owen Nolan.

Sochi 2014

The Sharks have 6 players named to summer camps for their respective countries. They are:

Joe Pavelski (USA)
Antti Niemi (FIN)
Joe Thornton (CAN)
Logan Couture (CAN)
Dan Boyle (CAN)
Marc-Edouard Vlasic (CAN)

I'm predicting Pavelski, Niemi, Couture and Boyle make their clubs.

California Dreamin'

All three California teams made the post-season last year and they have a combined cap space of less than $4M for this season. Looks like sunshine teams do like to spend money and compete. Hockey is alive and well in California, but it will always be overshadowed by the plethora of Hollywood stars. California is not Florida.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

Stay icy, Sharks fans.

Filed Under: NHL Sharks Schedule

walk-talk

August 5, 2013 1:35 PM ET | Delete
Hockey must be alive in California!! Very interesting to see the sharks having an average of 100% attendance over the past 5 season. Here in canada we basicaly demand it lol. Do ya really think boyle still has what it takes to make the team? Just seems with the number of great talent canada has on its back end his time has past no?

thirstyfin

August 5, 2013 1:41 PM ET | Delete
I think he has a shot and that shot may be only as a 7-8 D. They should be going with youth for the most part but they will need some vet leadership. It wont upset me if he doesnt make it because in the end its Gold that matters.

adgo43