The Sharks have won the Dan Boyle sweepstakes!  According to TSN, he and fellow defenseman Brad Luckowich are coming to San Jose in exchange for Matt Carle plus a first and fourth round draft pick.

While I hate seeing Carle go, exchanging him for Boyle... you have to make that move.  Boyle is a shade below the not-so dearly departed to Chicago Brian Campbell in the playmaking department, but is an excellent playmaker nonetheless and is definitely better on the defensive side of things.

Assuming Rob Blake has anything at all left in the tank for the Tank, with Boyle on board the Sharks have definitely improved themselves behind the blueline.  Boyle and Blake alone aren't the answer for everything, but they're certainly a very large part of the equation.

And isn't it nice to as a Sharks fan be able to be the one able to spend today sticking their chest out and saying "look who WE got!"

Now that most if not all of the free agent frenzy has passed, a moment to look around at a couple of possibilities being mentioned as potential improvements for Los Tiburones.

Tampa Bay is apparently still shopping defenseman Dan Boyle to one and all.  Not quite the playmaker but with an overall better game than the not-so dearly departed Brian Campbell, the question isn't whether he'd be an asset to the Sharks but whether he's worth whatever price the Lightning are asking and will the Sharks be first to meet that price.  Which is why Doug Wilson makes the big bucks, deciding such things.

The other name is one I hadn't given much thought until seeing it mentioned in a blog post by Drew Remenda:

Todd Bertuzzi.

Before the Steve Moore incident (if you can call nearly killing a man an "incident") Bertuzzi was one of the absolute best power forwards in the NHL, a perfect combination of applied brute force and hockey skill.  Since then he's been indecisive most every shift for whichever team he's been on, playing like someone afraid of themselves and what they might do should they be aggressive.  Is he worth the risk and the guaranteed negative press plus reaction in every arena the Sharks visit?  Can he recapture his edge?  Questions that can't be answered unless he's given a try.  Since 99 44/100% of the local sports media doesn't know there is an NHL team in the Bay Area, certainly he wouldn't be hounded by them.  But does he still have what it takes as a player to warrant considering him as someone who ought to be wearing teal?  Again, that's why Doug Wilson makes the big bucks..

Dallas has signed agitator extraordinaire Sean Avery which will make them even more of a pain to play against.  One can only imagine the high hilarity that will take place during every Sharks-Ducks game next year, given the latter team's penchant for pushing it whenever possible.

Detroit has landed probably the best offensive player in this year's UFA crop by signing Marian Hossa.  Great, now they have even more firepower.

And the Sharks?  You tell me.  I might be able to hear you over the sound of a nearby wall splintering from me pounding my head against it after Doug Wilson's "if anything, we’re a better team now than we were at the beginning of the last season. . . . We’ve gained a year’s experience, there’s the excitement of Todd (McLellan) coming in" line following Campbell's departure.  Come on.  That's nothing more than an addition to all the lines repeated every summer:

• "Look at the upside of the players we're developing from within.  They're not there yet, but one of these years they will be.  Honest."
  
• "We're spending our money on re-signing our own players.  That's the same thing as signing free agents.  No really."
• "We're already a championship-caliber team.  We just need to play up to our talent level.  Obviously it's all Ron Wilson's fault that never happened."

Uh, no.  You're not good enough.  Your kids aren't good enough.  You're not doing anything other than maintenance work by re-signing players already on the team.  It wasn't Ron Wilson's fault that the team has never been to the finals, has been in the conference finals once in franchise history, and has been two and through three straight years.  So please don't insult the fans by telling us otherwise.

Your division and conference opponents have improved themselves.  You haven't.  You talk trade as a better way to bring in who you want than free agency.  Fine.  Who are you going to give up?  Marleau?  Oops, sorry, forgot.  No-trade clause.  Cheechoo?  Good luck trying to convince other teams he's more than a one year wonder, and if he isn't why would you be trying to send him elsewhere when your team suffers from severe scoring deficiency?  Mitchell and/or Pavelski?  Too much genuine upside.  Clowe?  No way.  Some of those kids you keep telling us are future Stanley Cup hoisters?  Whatever.

I'm not of the "the Sharks have to do something in the next five minutes or all is lost" mindset.  Training camp doesn't start for several weeks.  However, San Jose had better do something if it wants to be something other than a vague approximation of a low speedbump to whoever gets them in the playoffs assuming the Sharks get that far.  And whatever it does had better be really, really, really good.

Once we're done unceremoniously burning any Brian Campbell jerseys and/or shirts we might have along with noting that we have yet another reason to despise the Blackhawks, now what?

There isn't any other UFA who's a genuine playmaking defenseman.  Do the Sharks try to snag one via trade, and if so who and how much would the team have to give up in order to get someone worth getting?  Do they run the tired "we're fine just the way we are -- wait for the kids to develop" line again with a sidebar of how much better Christian Ehrhoff has become and how he'll blossom into filling Campbell's role?  What about the need for a dominating physical defenseman and wingers willing to crash the net?

You can't fault management for not re-signing Campbell; his family issues made it apparent the chances of his returning to San Jose were slim, and as a snide snark the fact he chose the Blackhawks is a good indicator he's decided the best way to avoid the bruising nature of Western Conference playoffs, which he handled poorly, is skipping the post-season altogether.  That said, Doug Wilson and company certainly can't afford to stand pat.  The team is not good enough to be anything other than two and through, if not one and done, without external upgrades.  The next batch of kids is almost undoubtedly not ready for prime time.  The current crop is not going to magically make great strides forward.  This team needs help if it wants to become a legitimate Cup contender.  Period.  So what will management do?

Nothing to do but stay tuned, I guess.

Nothing happening in the UFA or RFA markets thus far that to any great amount affects Los Tiburones.  Brad Stuart has re-signed with Detroit, thus making the speculation he might return to San Jose moot.  Everything else is silence.  Which beats bad news, I suppose.

Los Tiburones have re-signed Jody Shelley to a two year deal, thus removing his name from the unrestricted free agent pool and making sure everyone else in the NHL stays honest against the Sharks.  Shelley didn't drop his gloves all that often last year after being acquired, but also wasn't challenged very often.  He played a passable fourth line left wing when called upon to do so, which was a nice bonus.  Glad he's staying around.  I suspect we'll be seeing lots more #45 jerseys at the Tank this coming season.

So, let us review...

• Jeremy Roenick is re-signed.  Here's hoping he has one more season left in the tank for the Tank.
• Brian Boucher is re-signed, which solidifies the backup goalie position.  Wonder how much ice time he'll see this coming season.  Of course he'll want to, but is it wise to allow Evgeni Nabokov to do a second straight year of making "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath his theme song?
• Joe Pavelski is re-signed.  Last year showed he has both skill and grit, especially in the post-season.  Don't know if he'll ever be a superstar, but definitely a player of value.
• Christian Ehrhoff, who's a restricted free agent, has a qualifying offer.  Here's hoping it comes with instructions on how to properly clear the puck out of your own zone.
• Marcel Goc, who's also a restricted free agent, has a qualifying offer.  Eh.  He has his moments.
• Ryane Clowe, who also is a restricted free agent, has a qualifying offer.  No way should he be allowed to leave San Jose.  A big physical left wing with skill and a mean streak?  You build lines around players like that.

Back to waiting for the clock to strike midnight (correction: 9:00 A.M. Tuesday local time) back east and see what happens in UFA (and for that matter RFA) land.

This and that, otherwise known as playing catchup:

• Rob Zettler and Tim Hunter have both opted to join Ron Wilson in Toronto, meaning John Shrader will have different people behind the bench to talk to next year.  Okay, seriously... I'll miss them, but for Todd McLellan's sake it's probably best he be able to bring in his own people to help with his first NHL head coaching position.
• Brian Campbell really needs to take "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" by the Clash off the repeat position on his CD player.  No genuine indication I'm aware as to what he'll do.
• Ryan Clowe is all but signed, this taking him off the restricted free agent market.  Which is a good thing.
• Patrick Marleau has a no-trade clause in his contract which kicks in on July first.  Somehow I doubt he's going anywhere before then.
• What are the Sharks most pressing needs?  To me, in no particular order since they're all vital are:

1. A playmaking defenseman should Campbell leave;
2. A physical defenseman capable of taking care of business behind the net when the big boys pay a visit; nightmares of how Brenden Morrow manhandled everything in teal during the playoffs make this deficiency all the more glaring;
3. A couple of wingers willing to plant themselves in front of the other team's net and able to stay there while making positive things happen.
   

One of the more maddening elements of the Sharks has been how they've generally spent the past few free agent periods apparently counting palm fronts outside the Tank than trying to swing some deals.  When asked why the apparent inactivity, the answer has always been the same: we're just fine the way we are, be patient, wait for the kids in the system to develop.  We're still waiting.  Yes, the team has made an effort to lock up key players through long-term deals, but the "that's just as good as signing someone from another team" speech was more than enough to spark riots outside of 525 West Santa Clara Street.  If Sharks fans did such things, which we don't.

That said, looking at the list of this year's UFA brigade indicates it might well be a year when not making much of an effort to sign people might not be such a bad thing.  Taking Brian Campbell out of the equation, there's not a whole of of "there" there this year, as this list of the top thirty players (pared down to twenty-nine) available as compiled by the fine folk at sportscity.com attests:

Uh, yeah.  Maybe I'm missing something, but other than a possible short-term spark from Mats Sundin who on this list could genuinely benefit Los Tiburones?  And let's be real.  Marian Hossa is not coming to San Jose.  Not for the amount of money he can command.  Far better to focus on re-signing Campbell, his playoff woes notwithstanding.

Y'all know what's what, so feel free to chime in on this one.

A quick look at the guys the Sharks drafted this past weekend.

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NHL adopts rule changes - Yahoo! Sports

After the Torrey Mitchell - Kurtis Foster incident in which the latter player broke his leg, it looks like the NHL is taking some action in terms of addressing touch icing, and the disasters that can happen due to it.

A change to Rule 81.1 states that “any contact between opposing players while pursuing the puck on an icing must be for the sole purpose of playing the puck and not for eliminating the opponent from playing the puck.”

The amended rule further states that “unnecessary or dangerous contact could result in penalties being assessed to the offending player.”

It's great news on the heels of many scary moments last year shared by fans of every team at one point or another, I'm sure. Another rule change that is minor but could have a very big impact to the end of games is the new rule touching on face off after a rewarded power play.

A change to Rule 76.2 will place the first faceoff of a power play in the defending zone of the team that committed the foul.

This is a pretty cool idea, IMHO. With that being said, lets see how I feel about that when it's 4th overtime in a game 6, and we get rewarded with a lucky whistle. Haha, I don't think I'd be diggin' it so much at that particular time.

Other sharks news:

Larionov Elected to Hall

freesia39 touched base on this, so I just linked to her diary. 

McLellan and Marleaus - San Jose Mercury News

A freshly written article about how the new head coach and our team captain might have a little history. Something I feel sharks might be able to take a little peace in knowing. Hopefully he truly makes a difference and propels us to where we should be. Jacking up that Stanley Cup as high as we can!