A Few Thoughts On The Upcoming Season

Very few, actually.  Not that there isn’t a lot to say, but given the lateness of the hour and how we senior citizens need our sleep…
Anyway, the Sharks have the talent to compete for the Stanley Cup.  The questions is: will they compete?
When the team puts its mind to it, San Jose can blow most any team in the NHL off the ice with its combination of skill, speed, and size.  It can also spend too much time reading its press clipping about the aforementioned skill, speed, and size.  This manifests itself by either being excessively nice to each other while throwing the puck back and forth instead of someone taking charge by being selfish for a minute and trying to make the play, or simply taking a few shifts off in belief it can turn the power back on whenever it pleases.
You never know which set of Sharks is going to show up on any given night.  Will it be mako or meek-o?  Sometimes they both show up during the same game, which can lead to some interesting moments when one wonders who let the locker room coffee pot run dry as the same player who a couple of shifts ago was blasting opponents into baby powder is now playing the equivalent of flag football on ice.  Which can be a mite disconcerting for fans.
That all said, it is a new season.  At its conclusion, will the Sharks be in the playoffs?  Almost certainly.  How far will they advance?  It depends.  If they play like they have the past few post-seasons where the team folded under pressure from an opponent more willing to pay the price and play physically, not as far as they should have.  But if this is the year the Sharks decide they want it…
The answer starts tomorrow.