Game Twelve Recap: San Jose Sharks 4, Dallas Stars 2

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Having been watching the Sharks since literally Day One, starting with Pat Falloon I’ve seen all kinds of Tiburones labeled as the Next Big Can’t Miss Superduperstar Stud Thing.  I’m still waiting for a player thus labeled to actually become one.  Oh, there have been some decent players in this department.  But live up to the hype?  No.

Devin Setoguchi has never borne this tag.  From the day he was drafted, there’s been a vibe of “eh…” about him.  Is he physical enough, does he want ‘it’ enough, and so on.  Which actually is a good thing, not bearing unrealistic expectations before jumping on the ice for his first regular season NHL shift.  As an example, I recall all too clearly how Brad Stuart was being called an all-world defenseman in the making pretty much every time he made an appearance in his early days with the Sharks.  So how did that work out, anyway?  (This explains why I cringe over such statements about Matt Carle.  But I digress.)

For this reason I am cautious in the extreme about getting excessively amped over Setoguchi’s two goal and oh so close to being a hat trick debut last night, same as I’m not ready to do handsprings over San Jose putting together a complete game. Joe Pavelski started out like gangbusters when he debuted last year, and ever since has far more often than not been in the “oh was he playing tonight” category. Certainly I’ll take it; certainly I’m hopeful Setoguchi is a legitimate sharpshooter who can play at both ends of the ice and the Sharks are finally getting it through their heads they need to do something more on a nightly basis than throw their pre-season press clippings into the other team’s bench in order to play winning hockey. But excited? No. Not yet.

I certainly wouldn’t mind becoming that way, though!