The NHL

You know what's scary? Looking at the Western Conference

Every team in the West is playoff worthy the way they're playing right now.

Nashville and Minnesota have been consistent low seeds the past few years with a drop-off recently. Nashville is in 4th while Minnesota is 4 points out of 8th place, currently in 11th. Those are the 2 worst teams (in my opinion) in the West.

The teams behind Minnesota? In this order: Anaheim (35 points), Columbus (35 points), Edmonton (34 points), St. Louis (33 points). 3 of those 4 teams were in the playoffs last year, with Edmonton getting beat out by Anaheim in the last couple of days of the season. With Hemsky out for the season, maybe the Oilers are not playoff bound this year either. But it really is surprising to see the other teams rounding out the bottom of the barrel.

Just a year ago, the Predators, Kings, and Coyotes were pretty much free wins. Today, they are 4th, 5th, and 7th respectively. Nashville has one of the best road records in the NHL, the Kings have finally played to their potential, and the Coyotes have the 2nd fewest goals against in the Conference, behind Chicago with an astounding 71 GA (the Yotes have 83).

Honestly, every single team in the West can be argued for deserving a playoff spot this year.

Looking out East... Carolina is dead last with 24, and the Flyers are surprisingly 2nd to last with 32 points. Outside of them, the standings aren't too surprising, with the Islanders, Maple Leafs, and Lightning all tied for 13th place with 33 points. Those teams are pretty much free wins on any given night (unless they're playing each other).

The West is pretty freaking crazy.

Update LOOOOOOOOOOONG Past Due

Wow I haven't written in this blog in months. Actually, given that hockey started in October, it's only been 2 months. But it seems like forever.

Here's a quick rundown of what I've been doing that have simply been handcuffing me in terms of availability.

-First and foremost, working on various stories for journalism class. Primarily with professional gamers in Southern California. Although I've already submitted it as a final, still doing finishing touches on a profile on Alex Valle. May post it on this blog, because Valle is a cool guy and at least one other person besides me and my professor should read about it. Random free time project currently working on: Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez. Very excited. Waiting in the wings is who I think is the future of Southern California Street Fighter: Jason Nghe. 15 years old and placed 5th at a recent tournament with all the top SoCal players participating.

-Finally got a job. Retail sucks. Co-workers are awesome though, and Best Buy pays well (and not commission based either). But damn, customers need some common sense. Same with drivers.

-Modern Warfare 2 is my new free time game. Still haven't hit prestige 1 yet, although it may be for the best. That game needs a patch badly, for a multitude of reasons.

-Keeping up with as many hocke... Sharks games as possible. Already missed 5-6 recent ones because of school/work. And lo and behold, they're in a losing streak. Thankfully, most of them have been OT/SO losses. Still going strong in the standings, although the rest of the league has or is catching up. The second line looks more like the playoff line than the dominant 08-09 season version. McLellon needs to decide right now whether he keeps the #1 scoring line in the league in tact (which has only been together for less than a month, and they're already over 20 points higher than the second place line), or if he wants to spark more offensive balance by moving Marleau to the second line and bumping Setoguchi back up. He's been moving Seto back and forth between games. Created good scoring chances, but has yet to translate to a point since he returned from injury.

-BlazBlue: Continuum Shift reached the shores of California last last Tuesday, with Arcade Infinity in Fullerton being the first arcade in California and one of four in America to get have it up and running that day. I think it's still one of the only ones. That or nobody is updating arcade locations on dustloop. Anyways, got my new Rachel game down. 2 of her links have been destroyed, another is much more restricted. Litchi, Ragna and Bang are front runners for top tier, since they didn't change much and if anything were buffed. Makes sense for the last two, but Litchi made 2 of the top 8 positions in SBO. She obviously was A/S tier, but she's still just as good and even has a NEW combo. Clearly having ONE bad match-up against V-13 means she should be buffed. Rachel seems pretty weak right now; none of the Japanese are winning and a lot have changed mains. Haven't seen MSY though. Rachel may be restricted, but I still say she's a character that hasn't been tapped to her full potential. I'm excited to see CS Rachel in 3-4 months. Arakune seems to be built to be 5/5 against everyone. Want to learn Arakune and Tao in CS, since they have the longest juggles. 84 hit untechable combo? Good times.

That's it for now. Hopefully by next week all the kinks in my Valle story will be worked out. I'll try to post it on this blog in sections... it turned out to be a 17 page story. Free time and finances permitting, I'll be attending a lot more tournaments, although not necessarily participating.

Check out http://www.gootecks.com/bar-fights/bar-fights-hooters-wrap-up-results-pics-videos/ to see the tournament I was at this past weekend. That Jason kid is crazy.

*edit*
Just watched Arcade Infinity's youtube channel for some top 8 action of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift tournament they held this weekend. To nobody's surprise, Mike_Z is there. Also to nobody's surprise, we don't have an Arakune, Lamda, or Rachel player, but they have been conveniently replaced by Bang, Litchi, and Ragna. My suspicions have been confirmed. Although like I said, it is still the infant stages of the game and those 3 characters (Tager isn't included because he'll still be B tier at the most) were the easiest to transition to.

BlazBlue Online Matches

Should've posted this earlier, but if you want to see some mid-level Rachel/V-13/Noel play, my online matches (mostly ranked) are being recorded (ghetto as it may be, via camera) and uploaded on to YouTube.

My channel can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MuchitsujoRyu

Here's a sample:

Sharks End Rangers' 7-Game Win Streak; Defeat New York 7-3

The New York Rangers continued their homestand against the San Jose Sharks in the middle of their best start since the 1983-1984 season, winning 7 in a row to start the season off 7-1-0. The Sharks came in in the middle of their longest road trip of the season with a big problem: they had only scored the first goal of the game in 1 of their first 7 games of the season. But what looked like the beginning of a blowout for the Rangers quickly turned the other way around, as San Jose scored 6 unanswered goals to rally from a 2 goal deficit and defeat New York 7-3.

In the first 10 minutes of the game, New York outshot San Jose 7-1. It was also no surprise that they scored the first two goals of the game. After a Joe Thornton turnover from the neutral zone in an attempted pass back to his defenseman, Sean Avery intercepted and set up a Marc Staal shot that was deflected by Chris Drury in front to give New York the 1-0 lead. A little over a minute later, the Rangers had their first power play of the game and capitalized, as Michael Del Zotto pinched in from the point to slap home a rebound from the top of the left circle to make it a 2-0 lead. Then, the San Jose Sharks woke up.
Brad Staubitz created a turnover off the boards and skated into the Rangers' zone alone, and hammered a hard shot from the top of the faceoff circle to beat Stephen Valiquette below the glove to bring the Sharks back within 1. Then, with 15 seconds left on the power play, Dany Heatley powered through 2 defenders, kicked the puck back to his stick, and backhanded it over the shoulder of Valiquette to tie the game 2-2 at the end of the first.
The former New York Ranger Jed Ortemeyer continued the scoring early in the second period, as he crashed the net and shoved home a loose puck 1:19 into the second frame. The effectiveness of the strategy employed by the San Jose third line seemed to wake up the regular scorers of San Jose, as on the ensuing power play, Devin Setoguchi found a loose puck in front of the crease and was rewarded for crashing the net with his 6th goal of the season to make it a 4-2 lead. Although the Sharks did not score on 2 other power plays in the period, it helped them sustain the offensive momentum, and with a little over 2 minutes to go in the period, Patrick Marleau won a battle in the neutral zone to create a 2 on 1, and fed Devin Setoguchi for his second goal of the game to extend the lead to a 3 goal margin.
Valiquette was pulled in the intermission, and Henrik Lundqvist played for the final 20 minutes. But a goal was generated on the first shot he faced, as Heatley shot the puck hard off Lundqvist, who lost sight of the puck, and a crashing Ryan Vesce barely nudged the puck inside of the left post to make it 6 straight for the Sharks. With 3 minutes left, the Rangers tried to save face, as an Avery pass off the boards bounced right into the left faceoff circle, where Enver Lisin hammered a slap shot between Evgeni Nabokov's pads to make it 6-3. But a minute later, Jason Demers had a give and go with Marleau, and the ex-captain of the Sharks cleanly beat Lundqvist from the top of the goalie crease to end the onslaught at 7-3.

San Jose continued their streak of power play goals allowed, as the Rangers converted on 1 of 3 attempts. The Sharks converted 2 of 7, with the final power play in the last minute of the period with the fourth line on for the entirety of it. Before this game, the Rangers had not allowed more than 3 goals in any of their games played in the young season. Vesce, who grew up a Ranger fan and netted his first NHL goal against the Islanders 2 days ago, scored a goal against his favorite team in front of his family and friends. The Sharks dominated the faceoff circle, winning 33 of 53 draws. Valiquette ended the night with 13 saves on 18 shots, while Lundqvist fared a little better, stopping 10 of 12. Marian Gaborik was held scoreless for the first time this season, ending the night with a -1 rating, 3 shots on goal, and 2 penalty minutes. San Jose will play the 4th of their 6 game road trip at Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Sharks Defeat Islanders 4-1

The San Jose Sharks entered New York on a 2 game losing streak, with sloppy defense and minimal offense. In the first period, it looked like more of the same, but San Jose rebounded in between the first intermission and came back to score 4 unanswered goals to win against the Islanders.

The first period was all New York's. The Islanders put 19 shots on goal, and held the Sharks to just 8. They also had the only power play of the period and capitalized, as Matt Moulson deflected a Kyle Okposo shot from the slot to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. It could have easily been much more, but Evgeni Nabokov played extremely well, and, in some cases, looked like a one man team on the ice.
The Sharks, who looked like they weren't even trying, rewarded Nabokov's efforts in the next 40 minutes. San Jose got their first power play of the night, and Patrick Marleau shot a no-look backhander over the glove of Martin Biron to tie the game 1-1. With under 4 minutes left in the second period, Joe Thornton caused a turnover behind the Islander's net, and fed Ryan Vesce in front to give the young skater his first NHL goal. The Islanders had a power play in the final 2 minutes of the period, but as time expired, the Sharks tried to convert a shorthanded opportunity into a scoring chance, and as a result the Islanders gave San Jose a power play to start the third period. The Sharks took full advantage, as Joe Thornton shot a puck from the high slot past a 2 man screen set up by San Jose to increase the lead to 3-1 in the first 40 seconds. San Jose kept the offense up, and eventually Devin Setoguchi secured the win with a nice move from the corner boards, skating past 2 defenders before lifting the puck over the shoulder of Biron, ending the scoring at 4-1.

After being outshot 19-8 in the first period, the Sharks held the Islanders to 13 shots in the 2nd and 3rd period combined. The Islanders ended the night outshooting the Sharks 32-29, although they also had 22 blocked shots. Ryane Clowe and Tim Jackman had a late fight with under 4 minutes left in the game, and the game became very physical in the dying minutes but nothing came out of it. Clowe also got his first point of the season, assisting on Setoguchi's late goal. Joe Thornton passed 400 points as a Shark on his second assist, ending the night with 401. Nabokov played his 500th NHL game, all with the San Jose Sharks. With the Islander's first power play goal, the Sharks have allowed power play goals in 7 out of their first 8 games of the season. But they also improved on a recently stale power play, converting 2 of 3, with the only power play unconverted coming in the final minutes of the third period when they already had a 3 goal lead. San Jose's next game will be Saturday night against the New York Rangers.

Coyotes Defeat Sharks 1-0 in Shootout

It took a lot less time than last year's President's Trophy winning season, but the Sharks got their first home loss, but still received a standings point for it, as the Phoenix Coyotes played solid defense all night long and won it in a shootout, scoring twice to San Jose's one to win it 1-0.

The first period was filled with fast-paced, open-ended action. San Jose dominated early, and got the first power play attempt of the game, but a minute into the man advantage, Dan Boyle took a slashing penalty which negated the power play. From then on, Phoenix seemed to dominate the Sharks offensively, not allowing any good shots on goal and keeping the puck mostly in the San Jose end of the ice. Phoenix ended up holding San Jose to just 5 shots in the second period, outshooting them 11 to 5. They also had 2 power play attempts in the period, with one carrying over to the third. But the story for the Sharks was the penalty kill, as they killed off all 4 penalties in the game with ease. However, they failed to capitalize on any of the 3 power plays they received, although 2 of them were not for a full 2 minutes because of penalties of their own. The key of the game was the match-up of Adrian Aucoin against the San Jose top line, primarily one on one with Dany Heatley. Dave Tippett made sure Aucoin was on the ice every second Heatley was on, and the Coyotes did not even allow a shot for Heatley until midway through the third period. Given the lack of scoring in the game, the overtime period was probably the most exciting for fans, as it displayed teams taking one or two shots on goal before the other team would race down the end for a scoring chance of their own. There was only one whistle in the entire overtime as teams skated freely from end to end. But ultimately, both goalies did not allow a goal, as Nabokov made 30 saves and Bryzgalov made 26 brilliant saves of his own.
In the shootout, Dany Heatley opened things up for the Sharks. He tried to fake a high shot to open up Bryzgalov's pads, but the moment he shot it the Phoenix goaltender dropped down to make a save. Radim Vrbata shot first for the Coyotes, and tried to make a backhand deke but missed the net. Devin Setoguchi shot second for the Sharks, and simply tried to rifle a wrist shot past the right side of Bryzgalov, but also missed the net entirely. Peter Mueller went after and scored the first shootout goal, sliding the puck just past Nabokov's left skate and inside the post. Dan Boyle had to score to keep the shootout alive, and he did just that, faking a forehand before avoiding Bryzgalov's poke check and flipping a backhander in to tie it at 1-1. But Lauri Korpikoski had a chance to win it for the Coyotes with his first career shootout attempt, and beat Nabokov cleanly, making one move to the glove side before shooting it past Nabokov's blocker for the win.

In 6 regulation periods and an overtime, the Coyotes have yet to score a goal. San Jose ends their home stand coming out 2-0-1 after they went 1-2-0 on the road trip that opened up their season. Both goaltenders got a shutout in the game. Bryzgalov recorded his second of the season while this was a first of the season for Nabokov. San Jose dominated the faceoff circle, winning 35 draws to Phoenix's 19, but were outshot 30-26. San Jose's next game will be the start of a road trip in Washington against the Capitals Thursday night.

Sharks Defeat Wild 4-2

After a shaky opening to the season, Evgeni Nabokov looked like the goaltender who carried the old San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, stopping 38 of 40 shots, including several attempts on a 5 on 3 penalty kill, to ruin Todd Richard's homecoming back to San Jose.

Minnesota got off to a fast start, scoring the first 2 goals of the game. They limited the high-powered San Jose offense to 7 shots in the first period and scored the only goal of the period, as Andrew Brunette deflected a Shane Hnidy shot from the sidewall to give the Wild the 1-0 lead.
Things didn't seem to get better for San Jose, who took 6 penalties to Minnesota's 1 in the first 30 minutes of the game, with their 4th penalty negating a potential power play attempt. Minnesota had a 5 on 3 power play early in the second period, but several sensational stops by Nabokov from point blank robbed the Wild of a quick goal. However, the Wild finally capitalized on their 5th extra man opportunity, as Owen Nolan floated a soft shot that sunk at a weird angle over Nabokov's shoulder to give the Wild a 2 goal lead. But 2 minutes later, Jed Ortemeyer scored his first goal as a Shark, as he just shot a puck hard from the right faceoff circle to beat Niklas Backstrom and cut the lead in half. Then after the Sharks killed another penalty, Patrick Marleau wristed a shot that deflected off a Minnesota defender. Backstrom was not prepared for the deflection, and although he stopped the shot with his shoulder, he let a big rebound straight back to Marleau, who flipped the shot over the sprawling Backstrom to tie the game 2-2. Then on their 3rd power play opportunity late in the 2nd period, Dany Heatley took a pass from Dan Boyle in tight space, and managed to beat a screened Backstrom by sliding a puck just beyond his extended pad to give the Sharks the 3-2 lead.
The opening for the 3rd period was the worst Minnesota could possibly have had. San Jose won the faceoff, and Dan Boyle made a simple pass to Patrick Marleau, who simply skated past 3 Minnesota defenders for an easy breakaway goal against Backstrom to give San Jose the 4-2 victory. Minnesota outshot San Jose by double in the final period, but Nabokov simply did not allow a shot to get through against an offensively revamped Minnesota team.

Patrick Marleau led the Sharks with 2 goals and 1 assist. Several Minnesota Wild skaters were injured in the game, as the Sharks out-hit the Wild by double digits. Minnesota was second in the league in power play conversion percentage going into the game, but only went 1 for 8 against San Jose. The Sharks were not much better, converting only 1 for 5, including shortening 2 attempts by taking penalties of their own. San Jose went above a .500 record for the first time this season, with a 3-2-0 record. They finish their 3 game home-stand on Monday against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Heatley Hat Trick Propels Sharks to Win 6-3 Over Blue Jackets

In the season home opener, the crowd in San Jose were excited to see one of the biggest off-season acquisitions in the NHL in Dany Heatley. Heatley did not disappoint, as he scored 3 goals, including the game winner in the dying seconds of the second period, as the San Jose Sharks won their home opener against the previously undefeated Columbus Blue Jackets.

The first period displayed a lot of open ice offensively, but only one goal was scored. A failed clear attempt in the San Jose zone led to a blast from the point. The puck reached Nabokov and a crowd in front of him, but eventually trickled out to the top of the crease, where Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash skated across the blue paint to stuff it into the open net to give Columbus the 1-0 lead.
The second period was a much different story. San Jose outscored Columbus 4 to 1 in the period, which started with Dan Boyle skating the puck into the offensive zone by himself, and wristing a perfect shot over the far shoulder of Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason to tie the game 1-1. 3 minutes later, Dany Heatley found himself 1 on 1 in the left faceoff circle, and took a quick shot above the pads of Mason to give San Jose the 2-1 lead. But Jason Chimera tied the game again, after he took a hard slap shot from the top of the faceoff circle to beat Evgeni Nabokov from long distance. But late in the second, the Sharks struck again. With under 2 minutes left, San Jose cycled the puck around the offensive zone, before Marc-Edouard Vlasic found himself along the sidewall. He took a quick shot, and it traveled through 3 bodies and hit the far side of the net to give San Jose the 3-2 lead. Then, with 12 seconds left in the period, Dany Heatley took a long pass from Joe Thornton across the neutral zone, split the Columbus defense, and made a quick right to left move to beat an unbalanced Steve Mason to give San Jose a 4-2 lead into the third.
San Jose came out to add some more insurance early in the third. Devin Setoguchi had a nice give-and-go play with Joe Thornton parked behind the Columbus net, and was able to free himself for a one-timer a few feet in front of Mason to extend the lead 5-2. Mason was pulled and Mathieu Garon made his first appearance on ice as a Columbus Blue Jacket this season. San Jose took a penalty, and a few seconds into the 4th power play attempt of the night, the Blue Jackets' Raffi Torres took a high slap shot that looked as if it was going to sail over the net. But as it went over Nabokov's head, it hit Dan Boyle's head and was redirected into the net, and the Blue Jackets were within 2 with lots of time left. But Heatley found himself on another breakaway before a Columbus defensemen tripped him with the stick, setting up one of the most electric moments in HP Pavilion. Dany Heatley took the penalty shot, and made a quick feint with his stick before shooting the puck underneath the stick of Garon, completing the hat trick, which was a storybook ending for a player who made his home debut in San Jose after a summer of scrutiny.

Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves on 27 shots, but could have easily given up 2 more goals, as he handled the puck a la Marty Turco, but threw the puck both times from behind his net into the front to a defenseman. Both were dangerous plays, but the Blue Jackets couldn't jump into the play in time to punish the goaltender. Heatley led all skaters in goals (3), plus-minus rating (+6), and shots on goal (6). Joe Thornton had assisted in every single goal (except, of course, the penalty shot), and had tied a career high in assists in a single game with 5, before a scoring change took away Thornton's secondary assist on Heatley's late second period goal. The game was ugly early, as there were two fights in the first half of the second period. Ryane Clowe bloodied Mike Blunden, and minutes later rookie Frazer McLaren and second year Derek Dorsett exchanged multiple blows, but both were fine after the fight and gave each other both friendly pats after the duel. Joe Pavelski missed his second straight game with a lower body injury, and is expected to miss two more weeks. Brad Staubitz served a one game suspension he picked up following the Los Angeles game. Rick Nash was the only Blue Jacket with multiple points, picking up his first goal of the year as well as an assist. San Jose's next game will be the second of their first home stand, where they will be hosting the Minnesota Wild before finishing it off with Phoenix.

Kings Defeat Sharks 6-4

What looked like a very comfortable lead for the Los Angeles Kings suddenly became very necessary, as the Sharks rallied from an 0-4 deficit, scoring 4 straight power play goals before the Kings answered with an ugly goal and an empty netter to secure the win 6-4 Tuesday night.

The story of the game early was poor defense in front of the goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, literally. Wayne Simmons scored his first of the season, scoring the goal off of Nabokov's arm as he made 2 desperate saves sprawling on his side earlier, but got no help from his defenders to stop the third man from crashing the net. Then, on a fresh power play in the second period, Ryan Smyth found himself scoring from a familiar position: inches away from the goal line for an easy tap in. Then off a crazy aerial pass by Michal Handzus, Jack Johnson battled the puck straight out of the air, again directly in front of Nabokov, as he had beat Douglas Murray in a foot race to the front of the net to make it 3-0. Anze Kopitar scored less than a minute later, roofing a slapshot that cleanly beat Nabokov.
Coach Todd McLellon clearly felt that something needed to change, and he pulled Nabokov and put in back-up Thomas Greiss. After Greiss made several spectacular saves, including stuffing a breakaway for Kopitar, the Sharks responded. The Kings took 4 straight power plays, and the Sharks capitalized on every single one. Devin Setoguchi found open space in the slot for a Joe Thornton pass, and wheeled a puck right past Jonathan Quick, who had made spectacular saves all night. Then, in the first of a double minor, Rob Blake crashed the net from the blue line and scored by somehow putting the puck through multiple bodies in the dying seconds of the second period.
In the third period, the Sharks continued the second minor of the double, and Devin Setoguchi found a Dany Heatley rebound for his second score of the game to bring the Sharks within 1. After Heatley took a hooking penalty that he was visibly angry at himself for, he made up for it on another Kings penalty, scoring his first goal as a Shark, rifling a signature shot from the faceoff circle after Dan Boyle made a pass from the blue line to tie the game 4-4. But under 30 seconds later, Teddy Purcell scored from an unimaginable angle, and instantaneously stopped all the momentum the Sharks had. Thomas Greiss was clearly expecting the pass to Jarret Stoll parked in front, but Purcell instead just threw the puck at Greiss's pads from behind the goal line, and it bounced off the inside of his legs and into the net. With 2 minutes left, San Jose pulled Greiss, but could never get the puck into the Los Angeles zone, and the Davis Drewiski scored his first career NHL goal into the empty net to secure the win 6-4.

Nabokov ended the night with 16 saves on 20 shots. Nobody on the San Jose line had a positive plus-minus rating, while nobody in Los Angeles had a negative. Joe Pavelski was injured and did not play on the second line, and was replaced by rookie Benn Ferriero. It was also the first time Patrick Marleau did not score a goal (or a point) this season. The first line did all the scoring for the Sharks, as Setoguchi, Thornton, and Heatley combined for 8 points: 3 goals and 5 assists. Anze Kopitar led the kings with a goal and 2 assists. Jonathan Quick looked spectacular in the first period, stopping 14 out of 14 shots including several second and third chances. San Jose looks to find answers on defense soon, as they'll face Rick Nash and the undefeated Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.

Sharks Defeat Ducks in Anaheim Season Opener 4-1

The San Jose Sharks hoped with the acquisition of Dany Heatley, they could finally solve their postseason woes. Heatley looked much better in San Jose's first game against their interstate rival Anaheim, and a couple of nice passes helped the Sharks defeat the team that eliminated them from the playoffs last year 4-1.

The nastiness got started early with 4 power plays split between both teams in the first 5 minutes, as newcomers for both teams got a sense early of what this rivalry was about. But it was a combination of 3 rookies that got the scoring done first, as Benn Ferriero got the Sharks up 1-0 with his first NHL goal, assisted by Jason Demers and Frazer McLaren. The Sharks took two late penalties in the first period, but in a twist of fate, it helped them break away from the pressing offense of the Ducks, as Patrick Marleau outskated Ryan Whitney and made a quick backhanded shot to beat Jonas Hiller for already his third goal of the season, his first shorthanded. Then seconds after Dany Heatley stepped out of the penalty box for a tripping penalty, he found Joe Thornton on a 2 on 1 break, opting to pass to Thornton instead of his normal slapshot, and Thornton made a similar backhand move to beat Hiller again to give the Sharks a 3-0 lead late in the first period.
The offense continued to be much more one-sided for the Sharks in the second, but only one goal was converted. The Sharks outshot the Ducks 17-2 in the second period, not allowing a shot on goal until the dying seconds of a late Anaheim power play with only 2 minutes to go in the period. But it was Devin Setoguchi with the lone goal in the second period, as he got a nice feed from Heatley during the power play, taking the pass in stride as he crashed the net and wristed it to the far side to make the lead 4-0.
In the third, the Ducks finally cracked the San Jose defense. Anaheim outshot San Jose 16-8, and converted on a power play opportunity, as Ryan Getzlaf made a perfect pass to set up a one timer from Ryan Whitney at the blue line, who beat Nabokov cleanly with a high shot to bring the Ducks within 3 with 10 minutes to go. But Anaheim took a couple of penalties in the last half of the third, preventing themselves of achieving any comeback in their first game of the season.

Heatley looked much more impressive in his second game as a Shark than in the season opener against Colorado. He improved from a -3 night to a 2 assist +2. Patrick Marleau had several breakaway attempts, but only converted on the shorthanded move in the first period. Douglas Murray was thrown out of the game early in the third period after receiving a 10 minute game misconduct. San Jose held Anaheim to 1 out of 6 power plays, successfully killing off the first 5, but once again only converted 1 out of 6 of their own after a similar result Thursday night. San Jose's next game will be in Los Angeles against the Kings on Tuesday.

Predictions of the 2009-2010 NHL Season (West)

Western Conference:
Central Division:
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
St. Louis Blues
Nashville Predators

Northwest Division:
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
Colorado Avalanche
Minnesota Wild
Edmonton Oilers

Pacific Division:
San Jose Sharks
Los Angeles Kings
Dallas Stars
Phoenix Coyotes
Anaheim Ducks

Western Conference Playoffs:
Calgary Flames
Detroit Red Wings
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Los Angeles Kings
St. Louis Blues

Western Conference Champions: San Jose Sharks
I'm not putting Anaheim at the bottom of the Pacific because I hate them. I really believe that they have the weakest spread of talent in their line-ups outside of goaltending. They had one of the best first lines in hockey and a solid second line, but they are really lacking in the third/fourth line department after the departure of Rob Niedermayer. Pronger gone on the defense leaves a lot of questions on the blue line, especially with Scott Niedermayer getting older by the minute. Phoenix and Los Angeles are primed for a breakout season with all the young talent they have on their roster, and one of them will make the playoffs but not go very far. Despite all the attention on Chicago, Detroit is still the team to beat in what looks to be the toughest division in the West. I like Calgary over Vancouver, because they have a lot more skill on the defensive line with both Phaneuf and Bouwmeester, whereas Vancouver is smaller, slightly less talented offensively, but more balanced in front of Luongo. Calgary's offense is a bit thinned out with the departure of Cammalleri, but he was wasted on the third line last year anyways. If the seeds play out like this, San Jose should have a much easier first round, which will build confidence going into a 7 game series against Detroit. But the past several years, that match-up has always been a coin-flip, and Detroit's goals against is slowly rising each year. The Flames are the scariest team on paper, and I consider them favorites to win the President's Trophy, but they've had as much playoff disappointment in recent years as the San Jose Sharks. As deadly as the Canucks look defensively, especially with Luongo secured for the long-term, defense has never been their problem. The Sedin twins can't be expected to carry this offense for the rest of their careers. The Edmonton Oilers lost the only reason why they were in the playoff hunt by losing Roloson to the Islanders, and they'll end up being dead last in the West, 1 point behind the Nashville Predators.

Stanley Cup Prediction: San Jose Sharks vs Philadelphia Flyers
This is going to be old school hockey, as talented as the top two lines for both teams are. There is nothing but grit and mean on both teams' third and fourth lines, and this is going to be a very rough match-up for both hockey teams. San Jose will be the underdogs going into this match-up, not because of seeding or points, but because they have a much tougher road to the Finals than the Flyers. The Flyers are much more built on holding onto small leads, and Emery is a much more athletic goaltender than Nabokov, but Nabokov has much more solid fundamentals and despite losing Michalek and Cheechoo, Marleau on the second line brings much more consistency and firepower to the Sharks, which means a lot less eyeballs on Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley in the playoffs. San Jose wins in 7 on home ice in the closest victory in recent playoff memory.

Predictions of the 2009-2010 NHL Season (East)

Eastern Conference:
Atlantic Division:
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
New York Rangers
New York Islanders

Northeast Division:
Boston Bruins
Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Buffalo Sabres
Ottawa Senators

Southeast Division:
Washington Capitals
Carolina Hurricanes
Atlanta Thrashers
Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning

Eastern Conference Playoffs:
Washington Capitals
Boston Bruins
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Montreal Canadiens
Carolina Hurricanes
New York Rangers

Conference Champion: Philadelphia Flyers
I don't predict any changes in the Eastern Conference playoff line-ups outside of seeding. The Washington Capitals are the most explosive team in the Eastern Conference, and I will not find it surprising if they are shot out of a cannon and carry a huge point streak early in the season into the top seed in the East, much like the San Jose Sharks did last year. Tim Thomas is considered to be the top goaltender in the East, but we'll see how an extra workload a season after a timeshare and a deep playoff run will affect him in the final stretch of the season in what looks to be a very tight race for the top 4 seeds in the East. Everyone is saying Martin Brodeur for the Devils is primed to have a huge bounce back season after the past 2 years were cut short with injury and disappointing playoff runs, and it's almost unanimous that he'll win the Vezina if that happens. But the Devils play in the hardest division of hockey, and I'm barely giving the Devils an edge over the likes of the Flyers and Pens under the assumption that Zach Parise is THAT good. But in the end, the Flyers are built for the playoffs. They have the nastiest third/fourth/defensive lines in the East, and although their top wingers aren't as great as others, with Jeff Carter and Mike Richards centering, their offense will be good enough. They're a team built to take a quick lead and hold on to it by wearing down the opponents over the last 30 minutes of a hockey game. This prediction is completely reliant on whether Emery is the real deal or whether he's just another failed comeback story, but I believe if Emery does waver a bit, the Flyers have the personnel (not just in the coaching staff) to give him a good smack in the face and get him back on track. Carolina could easily go deep and win a Conference championships, as they have the most balanced lines offensively (not stacked on the first/second like the Flyers, Devils, etc.), but their special teams need to improve drastically from their below average finish last year.

Possible dark horse teams are the Toronto Maple Leafs, as soon as they put less pressure on Toskala, and the Atlanta Thrashers, who look like the Capitals a couple of years ago in terms of offense. Granted, the Thrashers don't have Ovechkin. And I'm not buying the whole "Tampa Bay is the surprise team of the year".

Opening Night Review of San Jose Sharks

Well, there wasn't a lot to like about a 2-5 loss to one of the worst teams in the Western Conference the past two years in Colorado. Then again, I guess you can't really cheer against the Avs since it was Joe Sakic night. But as great as Colorado played despite their youth, their goals were more of them capitalizing on really horrible San Jose mistakes.

When you look at a score like 5-2, you think, well, the goaltender must have had a horrible night. And as eager as San Jose and the hockey world will be tomorrow to jump all over Nabokov, who took a lot of heat this off-season, I'm not placing the blame on him. Out of the 5 goals, only one of them was completely his fault, as he gave up a huge rebound on a fast break chance, which resulted in an easy goal for Cody McLeod. But the other 4? San Jose not controlling bouncing pucks in front of their net. San Jose not clearing skaters out of the face of Nabokov. San Jose defensemen not turning around fast enough and being walked around by Avalanche forwards. It was a sad sight to see for the Sharks defense. They were over-committing to pucks, not playing good team defense, and looked incredibly slow and out-matched on the ice.

It wasn't a great night offensively. Joe Pavelski, Ryane Clowe, and Patrick Marleau are going to have a great season. Clowe is crashing the net, and Pavelski is making perfect passes to defensemen or Marleau, who seems to love sneaking in as a trailer behind the defense. But Thornton, Heatley, and Setoguchi, who are supposed to make up the deadliest line in the NHL, looked like they had no team chemistry whatsoever. Setoguchi was all over the puck, but Thornton rarely assisted him and Heatley was never in the picture. On the fast break goal previously mentioned, Heatley was on the tail of McLeod, but gave up as soon as McLeod entered the offensive zone. That was disgusting to see on replay; imagine what a difference the game would've been if Heatley kept skating and harrassed the stick of McLeod. We're looking at a 1-2 game 5 minutes into the second instead of 1-3. Although it wasn't a game changer, Heatley missed a wide open net on a beautiful pass across the crease in the dying seconds of a 5 on 3 power play. I'm not about to run Heatley out of town, nor demand a line-up change, but for San Jose fans and fantasy owners investing in the first line, it might take a couple of weeks before they start producing.

I did like the penalty kill, particularly Scott Nichols and Jed Ortmeyer, two ex-Nashville Predators picked up during the free agency to add defensive depth and grit to San Jose's third and fourth line. Nichols had two great hits on Avalanche forwards trying to crash the net, and Ortmeyer played solid defense throughout the game. Manny Malhotra failed to clear 2 pucks near the end of the power play that the Avalanche scored on, but he played hard throughout and hopefully his role will be more offensive once Torrey Mitchell comes back.

That's not to say Nabokov wasn't at fault for the other 4 goals, however. First and foremost, Nabokov did cover the five hole really well. He had two shots get re-directed by him, one through a screen, so I'm not blaming him on that. But it seems like he forgot how to cover the puck. Nabokov in the glory years smothered pucks left and right and always let the Sharks win faceoffs to get out of their zone. Against Colorado, rebounds were flying all over the place, and San Jose defensemen didn't have time to rest as they scrambled to try and retrieve (and fail) pucks out of the corners. If Nabokov is going to try and contend for a Vezina trophy this year, let alone backstop a Stanley Cup contender, he's going to need to cover up more pucks. He specialized in it, so hopefully he can figure it out without too much trouble, unlike last year's 5 hole problem.

I wouldn't be surprised if San Jose starts the first 10 games with a .500 or worse record. This is a team that has clearly been rebuilt from the ground up, and even the top skill guys are playing with new linemates who have yet to experience a fast-paced system that McLellon uses. But this is a strange season, with the early start and the long Olympic break, so hopefully they figure out what to do with each other fast and never slow down.

Avalanche Win Season Opener on Sakic Night; Defeat Sharks 5-2

On an emotional night for the city of Colorado, who had just seen their baseball team clinch the Wild Card spot, the Colorado Avalanche opened the NHL season at home, retiring Joe Sakic's number in a stunning pre-game ceremony. Whether it was the energy and emotions of the ceremony or the fact that Colorado's off-season acquisitions are the real deal has yet to be seen, but the Avalanche, who were one of the worst offensive teams in the NHL a year ago, never gave up a lead to San Jose, winning by a dominating score of 5-2.

Colorado started the scoring early in the first period and never let up until the third, when they already had the comfortable 3 goal lead. Darcy Tucker re-directed a John-Michael Liles point shot 2 minutes into the game to give the Avalanche the 1-0 lead. But just under 4 minutes later, Patrick Marleau, freshly removed from his captaincy, trailed on a play resulting from a Ryane Clowe turnover, and took a pass from Joe Pavelski to score an easy goal to tie the game 1-1. But once again the Avalanche scored fast, as Wojtek Wolski was the recipient of a puck that bounced off Marc-Edouard Vlasic's glove and landed near the corner of the goal, where Wolski tapped it in easily past a sprawling Evgeni Nabokov.
The second period didn't get any better for the Sharks. Cody McLeod and Chris Stewart went on a fast break, and Stewart's shot rebounded off Nabokov right to McLeod for an easy bury to make the lead 3-1. Patrick Marleau once again scored for the Sharks soon after on the power play, in similar fashion to Wolski's goal earlier in the game. Dan Boyle's shot from the point bounced off Pavelski, and the puck settled near the corner of the net in front of Marleau who simply had to tap it in past Craig Anderson. But just a minute later, Wolski scored his second goal, and Liles added a 5th insurance goal on the power play to finish the scoring in the second period and the game.

Craig Anderson was the star of the game, especially in the third period, as he totaled 38 saves on 40 shots in the game, and was a perfect 19 for 19 in the third period. San Jose, who had one of the best power plays in the league last year, converted only 1 for 6 opportunities, including a failed 2 minute 5 on 3 chance in the third period. The Avalanche looked in-sync despite acquiring new members Matt Duchene and Kyle Quincey, but Duchene, despite not having a point, made a great rookie debut as he was swarming the puck and had 2 breakaway chances, both of which were saved by a Nabokov poke-check. Kyle Quincey helped set up one of Duchene's breakaways, and ended the night with an assist and a +2 rating. The Sharks, on the other hand, looked terribly out of sync, especially the much talked about first line. Dany Heatley only had 3 shots (several were blocked) and was a -3 rating. Joe Thornton was around the puck a lot less than usual and ended with a -1, while Devin Setoguchi, who was one of the hardest working skaters for San Jose, ended with a -2. The beginning of the season doesn't get any easier for San Jose, as they now travel to Anaheim, the team that eliminated them from the first round of the playoffs last year, and then Los Angeles, another young and upstart team similar to Colorado.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Hey time for another game review. The last one was Blazblue, which turned out to be one of the greatest fighting games I have ever played, so hope you are all excited for this one.

The game, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, is a side-scrolling hack-and-slash made by the creators of Odin's Sphere. As you can imagine, the playstyle is very similar, but are about 10x more enemies and thus 10x the amount of flashier moves and combos you can execute as well. The art style is extremely beautiful, even to the extent that the backgrounds of each area you are exploring are extremely detailed and looks like it came straight out of a landscape portrait you'd see in an art museum. Which is fitting, because everything is hand-drawn.

The storyline is where this game is the real winner, and it's always good to be the best at the most important aspect of a game. I didn't get a chance to see the actual intro to any of the characters, but I got a good idea of the idea of the story from watching about 10 hours of gameplay (yes I'm reviewing this based on someone else's experience, not mine). You have a choice of 2 characters: a male ninja Kisuke, or a female kunoichi Momohime. For Kisuke, he had lost his memory after some sort of crazy incident, and he wakes up to find his own ninja clan calls him a traitor and is hunting him down. For Momohime, you actually play as a guy whose soul kicks Momo's soul out of her own body and takes over. He does this to prevent death, but a deeper story unfolds as he and Momo's soul end up having to work together to give Momo's body back while the other soul seeks a stronger body. Both arcs start off with different towns, different enemies, and a different storyline, but both share two things in common: you are fighting in medieval Japan, and you both wield demon blades forged by a cursed sword maker, and these blades require you to feed them souls. So obviously peaceful negotiations are not an option.

The gameplay is a bit short for a basic run-through, but still extremely entertaining. Every sword has a special ability, unique stats, and durability. Durability is dropped by parrying attacks and using the special ability; it is gained from feeding the sword souls or keeping it sheathed. If the durability drops to 0, then the sword is "broken" for a period of time as it regenerates from souls/sheaths. While broken, it cannot parry anything anymore and deals minimal damage, but can still be used in combat. You can carry up to 3 swords at a time (although you can keep an unlimited amount in your inventory), and you forge new swords as you level up and gain more souls from killing, and more spirits from eating and using healing items. There is a chart of swords you can forge in the game, and obviously to forge certain end-game swords you have to follow a certain path of sword forging. You also get special swords from defeating bosses in order to break "barriers" and advance further in the game, as well as unlocking forgeable swords down the chart that require the sword as a pre-requisite. Experience and levels are also gained from absorbing souls, as well as completing entire fights with bonuses, such as not being hit, or killing everything quickly.

There are a few problems with the game, but nothing really big. The biggest problem is the fact that there is no seperate button for jumping in a game that allows double-jumping, hugely important in combat and exploration. You just have to push up twice, even though it'd be more convenient to have a button configuration menu or simply allocating one of the unused ones. The game has 2 modes: normal and hard, with the difference being hard gives you more souls but you cannot parry attacks from behind and, well, everything is a lot harder. Normal mode is actually pretty easy once you start forging swords, as the enemies don't seem to scale properly with the power of the swords very well. And once you get an xp boost bonus with a sword or an accessory you can equip, well let's just say my friend hit level 70 simply by blazing through to the final boss. Oh yeah, and this game is only on the Wii, the reason why I was not able to play it.

That said, this game is an amazing game, and a couple of simple tweaks would help make an even better game if they decide to make a sequel. It is roughly about 10-20 hours of gameplay through each character's storymode once (depending on how much of an effort you actually try to find 'everything'), but the sword forging tree connects both character's paths and requires you to beat both of their paths at least once, so you to get the full experience of destroying things with angry demon swords, you have to play one character at least twice, which is fine by me. If this game was on the Playstation 3, I would pay the standard $60 price tag for it without a second thought. Instead, it's on the Wii for $50.

Final score: 9/10

Dany Heatley to Sharks

So after the rumor of Heatley going to the Sharks started, died, and has been falsely confirmed about 100 times, the trade finally went through. Dany Heatley of the Ottawa Senators and a 2010 fifth round draft pick have been traded to San Jose for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo, and a 2010 second round draft pick.

Let me be straightforward here: I hate this trade. I absolutely detest it. I feel the Sharks have been ripped off. A little over a month ago, I stated that out of Marleau, Cheechoo, and Michalek, Michalek was the one player we absolutely should not trade, with Marleau being right up there. He is a guaranteed 20+ goal scorer year in and year out (and after last season's performance, I'd even say he'd be a guarantee for 30 this year) on a young second line that revolved around one thing during the 2009 regular season: consistancy. And after the past trade with Vancouver, we've basically given up Ehrhoff, Lukowhich, Michalek, and Cheechoo with a second rounder for Heatley, 2 prospects, and a fifth rounder. I'm excited about one of the prospects who is still in his college years, but the second one was supposedly a bust in Vancouver's eyes. So Heatley for 2 young upsiders, and another young skater who has already shown what he can do at his best just doesn't sound like a deal that will keep San Jose in the hunt past the next 2-3 years. And why were the Sharks the one that gave up the better draft pick?

Let's look at the upside. Depending on how our lines look, the Sharks now have one of the most deadliest looking first lines in the NHL heading into the regular season. Obviously, Thornton and Heatley on the first line is a lock. Who gets the second wing position, however? Marleau would complete that line in terms of stacking all our fire-power into a line that would probably average 22 minutes of ice time per game. But I like keeping Setoguchi up there; I have a feeling we might see a repeat of the Thornton effect that he had on Cheechoo if we move Seto away as well. Marleau, Pavelski, and Clowe on the second line is still pretty deadly (and it might even be an upgrade to the Michalek version if Marleau can retain what he did last year, but without Big Joe), and gives a lot more balance than if we had stacked the first line and sent Seto to the second. And Heatley on the power play might finally end the curse of the slumping power play in San Jose. Michalek and Cheechoo were both overpaid for what they delivered last year, and were mostly given contracts on their potential, so in terms of money management, GM Doug Wilson invested in the safer point producer. Stacking first lines could also work, as we've seen it done in Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Chicago, and Vancouver.

But the problem I have is still that we had to give up so much just for one guy. I don't think our 6th defenseman slot will be an issue given how many defensive prospects we've drafted in the past few years, but we have a lot of holes to fill in the third and fourth line. I'd hate to see the first 20 games of the season turn out to be an AHL prospect tryout session on those lines as we try to figure out who the heck to fill those holes (because we still barely squeeze under the salary cap after the Heatley deal, so we're not about to sign more free agents). Speaking of the salary cap, where does this put Nabokov at next season? Are we seriously going to let one of the best goalies in the league walk just because he had ONE bad playoff year (after the 4-5 amazing ones)? What happens if he comes back to old school Nabokov form this year? Like I said, I don't like this deal because of what it could mean for the Sharks in the near future.

Sharks Trade Ehrhoff and Lukowich

The San Jose Sharks finished a deal with the Vancouver Canucks, trading two of their starting defensemen from last season, Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich, to Vancouver for two prospects, center Patrick White and defenseman Daniel Rahimi.

The move was made primarily for freeing up cap space, which San Jose saved $5 million of by completing this deal. Even GM Doug Wilson didn't hide the intentions, saying that he wanted to be able to take advantage of opportunities "down the road", also stating that the team wouldn't be "complete" until the NHL trade deadline in March.

With the move, the Sharks went from a 7-8 starting defenseman roster (with the 8th rotating between Worchester and San Jose depending on injuries) from the 2008-2009 season to a current 5 man starting D rotation going into the 2009-2010 season. Wilson said that he had high expectations for his younger defensemen, some of whom played last year in several NHL games, to step up during training camp and claim a spot on the starting roster, and that he wasn't going to "keep these guys off the team."

Ehrhoff was one of the most criticized Sharks throughout last season, primarily because he made noticeable mistakes in his own defensive zone as San Jose began their mid-season slump after the All-Star break. Ehrhoff was still considered to not have reached his potential yet, however, as he is still only 25 years old and was one of the top offensive defensemen in the roster before Dan Boyle and Rob Blake were signed last year.
The impact could also be greater, although not likely, due to the fact that Brad Lukowich was traded. In Dan Boyle's first season with the Sharks that ranked him 5th amongst point-earning defensemen and got him his first ticket to an All-Star game, Lukowich, who was also part of the deal between San Jose and Tampa Bay, was his primary skating partner throughout the regular season on 5-on-5 situations. They were also linemates during their time in Tampa Bay as well.

And of course the big question is, does this mean Wilson and the Senators are finally ready to pull the trigger on a Dany Heatley deal? I don't think so; the media was overhyping it and there wasn't anything stated that Wilson and the Senators were actually in serious trade talks. The whole basis of the Heatley rumors was that San Jose was one of the teams he personally wanted to become a part of and that it would make sense for him to join the Sharks' roster. It still does, and the deal could be played out, but as Wilson said, saving $5 million opens up opportunities, and I'm sure a top team like San Jose is always in the trade market, looking at every possible deal.

Daniel Heatley and the San Jose Sharks

A few months ago when summer began, Daniel Heatley demanded to be traded from the Senators. Ottawa made it no mystery they would try and oblige, and underneath the mud of 6-10 teams that he would supposedly go to laid the San Jose Sharks.
Fast forward two months, and all of a sudden I'm seing a cropped picture of Heatley's head right next to Jonathan Thornton's on the front page of Yahoo! Sports' NHL page.

Looking back, the first time I got a whiff that Heatley to San Jose was a possibility, I posted on it. That post was on June 9th. The big problem I focused on was the salary cap, and the problem is still very relevant right now for the Sharks. But surprisingly, all signs point to Doug Wilson dropping cap space to make room for Heatley. Roenick is retiring, Grier is gone, Moen is gone, Goc is gone, and Boucher is gone. Rob Blake is re-signing at $1.5 million cheaper, so Wilson just cleared up a little under $5 million in the past two months, with some of it going to the signing of fourth-liner Scott Nichol. Heatley supposedly wants something in the neighborhood of $7-8 million, but half of that would be paid by the Senators anyways, meaning the Sharks do have the wide open window of opportunity to sign a top scoring left winger.

The problem is the fact that we would still have to trade: Heatley is not a free agent. The Senators have supposedly rejected the notion of Jonathan Cheechoo, but Wilson said he did not like the rumors that the GM has already discussed specific San Jose skaters in a trade for Heatley. I quote myself discussing the notion of Heatley in the San Jose line-up: "That said, many critics are thinking he's losing his touch, as his point totals have dropped from an average of 2.95 to 2.20 in the past year (per 60 minutes played), and he had his lowest point outing last year since his rookie year. Still, 2.2 points is quite a hefty amount, and a quick comparison to a Sharks player would be along the lines of Devin Setoguchi or Joe Pavelski. Think the Sharks can use another Seto in their roster? I sure do. If the Sharks do get Heatley, we're looking at a potential 3 scoring line roster, something that GM Doug Wilson and Coach Todd McLellon expected to happen during the playoff series against Anaheim this past postseason. Obviously, Heatley would be moved to the first line right next to Thornton. Personally, I would move Patrick Marleau rather than Devin Setoguchi off the line, because Marleau can create plays on his own and is more versatile than the young Setoguchi. Keeping the second line in tact, we would have a third line of Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo, and one more. That would be a deadly line, and may even rekindle Cheechoo's scoring touch."

In blogs and newspapers everywhere, the names being circulated around the Heatley to San Jose trade have been none other than Marleau, Cheechoo, and Michalek. The biggest mistake would be trading Michalek, as he was a third of the crucial second line that carried the Sharks to the President's trophy after the All-Star break. I'm still not a fan of Marleau taking all the heat for playoff losses, but nor am I eager to get rid of Cheechoo either. Cheech is still young and he was one of the three players that showed up to play in last year's playoff series. Marleau is one of the best PKers on the team now that Grier is gone, and even if he is ousted off the first line for Heatley, would be critical in stabilizing offense for the third line under the assumption that the second line of last year stays in tact. There's also the big possibility of a defenseman (such as Ehrhoff, whose name has been coming up often as well) being traded for Heatley, which would make a lot more sense given the drafting San Jose did as well as the huge amount of young defensive prospects they already have in the minors. The one defenseman outside of the obvious non-tradeable Blake and Boyle I would hate to see go would be Vlasic. He plays top defensive minutes, and he's proven he can skate with other top lines, using his wits and passing to compliment Blake's physical presence and slight offensive tendencies.

There were also a lot of other speculations in other free agents I had outside of Heatley, including Gaborik, Cammalleri, and Antropov, but obviously Wilson wants to play a waiting game to get the best possible deal for talent, which has seen a lot of top scorers slip to other teams quickly.

So now we're back to Heatley and San Jose, which is becoming the biggest NHL headline in August. Based on blogs and reports, the universal concensus amongst Sharks fans is Heatley would be worth having an experiment with under the presumption San Jose does not lose too much for him, and I would have to agree. If we can get Heatley without losing Marleau or Michalek, we've struck gold in terms of amplifying our offense and filling up the hole in our power play that plagued us last year. Like I said, I would prefer not having Cheechoo gone along with Marleau and Michalek, because that would give us three top scoring lines instead of just two. But we must face reality, and if someone has to go, it would probably be Cheechoo. With Brian Boucher out the door, I don't see any possibility of Nabokov leaving this season, unless Thomas Greiss has suddenly became a Vezina finalist over the course of two to three months. And assuming the Heatley deal is done, we would probably see Thornton centering Setoguchi and Heatley, Pavelski, Clowe, and Michalek on the second line, with Marleau being the facilitator on a third line that would probably include Torrey Mitchell and Jamie McGinn or Brad Staubitz.

San Jose Sharks 2009-2010 Schedule

The NHL has released the schedule for every team for next season.
San Jose's schedule can be found here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/schedulebyseason.htm?team=sjs


It seems like a pretty favorable schedule for the Sharks. Their three biggest road trips, both consisting of 5 away games in a row, will take place in the beginning of December, the end of January, and the beginning of March.
It is right in the middle of the season, so they should not be worn out like they were last year when they were beginning the stretch of securing the President's Trophy in 2009. In fact, in between two of those three road trips should be the All-Star break. None of those away games also involve any back to backs, although the last game in the March campaign will be the first of a back to back, with the second being played in San Jose.
The season will end with a two game road trip, but 10 of the last 15 games will be played at home, including a 6 game home stand. Out of the 15 games, San Jose will be seeing Vancouver, Dallas, Minnesota and Calgary the most: twice each. And there is Colorado twice, but they probably won't be contenders next season.
In terms of the Stanley Cup finalists, the Sharks will be seeing Pittsburgh once this season, in an away game on November 7th. San Jose and Detroit will square off 4 times throughout the season, with two home games for each team, but the majority will be in the first half of the season.

Lots of optimistic things to take out of this schedule, if scheduling really is that important in an 82 game season.

BlazBlue: Review Part 2

Yes, there is going to be a part 2. Because as of now, I have officially 100% everything you can in terms of single player BlazBlue. What does that mean? I've unlocked every trophy that doesn't involve online play, I've unlocked every gallery picture and sound, I've beaten Arcade Mode on "Hell" difficulty, and I've beaten Score Attack mode. Oh, and I've played my first 100 online matches: 20 ranked matches and 80 player matches, winning 18 ranked and 62 player.

So first, beating story mode is a lot easier than it was in the Guilty Gear series. A couple of characters require distortion finishes on every match, but other than that it is as simple as losing to every character (sometimes losing to a specific character will unlock a new story arc), and going down every arc and beating every character. Beating Arcade Mode with every single character will also unlock their Astral Heat moves, except for Ragna, V-13, and Rachel, who get their "unlimited" modes unlocked (boss versions) since they already have Astral Heats to begin with.
Beating "Hell" Arcade Mode and Score Attack mode is extremely hard the first few times around, but as with any video game, a computer than can input commands flawlessly is still restricted to a set program. What does this mean? To put it simply: you can cheese the computer if you just look for the opening. For example, Tager will always use his down D charge move if you're on the opposite side of the map, meaning he will stop and be vulnerable in the middle of the map. Using a character like V-13 can punish this extremely hard with some well placed D swords. That being said, the AI does adapt to your tendencies, so you can't just chain throw or spam a single move all day, and having to fight unlimited versions of the 3 possible boss characters is still a royal pain regardless of how open they may be in certain situations. Which, of course, adds to the already high replay value, making the game that much more enjoyable.

The online play (I play on Playstation Network), the main content lacking in my first review, is phenomenal. There is very minimal to no lag at all. If you do happen to play a match against someone who is very laggy, the entire beginning of the match is used to synchronize the lag delays, making any kind of delay in your command inputs to on-screen actions almost unnoticeable. There are cases of people lagging out, but I have yet to lag out of a match myself.
There are 2 minor problems with the network, however. First, if you join a game and can't connect, you'll be stuck trying to connect until the host disbands the room or starts a match. With ranked matches, rooms fill up fast enough so you won't be waiting for long. But player matches, especially when the host is not paying attention to his television, can cause some long waiting times while your internet repeatedly fails to connect.
Secondly, friend invites will not work 100% of the time, and will often be subject to the "being stuck in connection" problem until you tell your friend to disband his room. Does that mean you can't play with your friend? No, it just means he/she can't reserve a slot for you in his/her room all the time. If he/she makes a completely public game, you can manually search for it in the list of public player matches, and join it that way. There are usually no more than 20 rooms in queue at a time, so it is pretty easy to find a specific room or a specific host.

With everything missing in my last review now covered, I'm still retaining the same score I gave it last time. I doubt I'll be bored of this game before summer ends, as this game can easily provide several hours of entertainment at a time, especially during network play. I was debating if I should throw in decimals to my score system just because I think BlazBlue deserves a 9.5 or higher, but I don't think that will be fair or very convenient.

Score: 9/10 (still)

By the way, if you want to check out my BlazBlue achievements or just get a glimpse of my player card, check out this album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2400962&id=6023771&l=7a78261ef7

BlazBlue: Review

So I've spent the past 6 hours playing the heck out of the story mode of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, which was released yesterday on June 30th. And let's just say I doubt I'm 50% through. I've done a single run through of every selectable story arc (12 characters and a "true ending"), and another run of Ragna the Bloodedge. I've also went through an Arcade Mode run with Rachel Alucard, but it took 2 continues, so I'm sure I haven't unlocked everything for her yet in that aspect. I have not yet tried out the network play.

I was really hyped up about this game 2 months ago, and I must say that it has lived up to all my expectations. Playing several hours in the arcades probably helped my first time experience in the console version as well, and I already knew a little of each character's backstory heading into my first run through of story mode. That said, it was pretty odd transitioning from stick to controller, and the stories were just as crazy/unpredictable as Guilty Gear's despite a lot of spoilers being leaked previously online before the US version was even released.

Well, let's dive right into the positives of this game. It looks amazing in HD, although I was already used to playing it via arcade cabinets. The cutscenes are fantastic, although short-lived. The music, of course, is once again top quality stuff from Daisuke Ishiwatari. Character development is a bit on the empty side, obviously because I haven't explored all of the story and if the design holds similar to the Guilty Gear franchise, even getting 100% completion won't tell me all the in and outs of the plot, but several characters have come out with unexpected twists/personalities that I didn't perceive from their online backgrounds or the arcade. And that was a very very good thing for me.
The appeal will be very limited, as the heavyweight fighting franchises have all already transitioned to 3D fighting. Also, for a fast-paced, anime-style fighting game, button mashing is not very effective. There are way too many combos and moves that rely on quartercircles, double quartercircles, dragon punches, crouches, forwards, dashes, etc, that if you try to mash, you'll end up doing the wrong move, leaving yourself vulnerable to a counter-attack. Which, of course, is how a fighting game should be. There has already been several unofficial tier lists published due to the release of cabinets much prior to the consoles, which would imply that there is some sort of unbalance in the game. However, even the lowest C tier characters (Tager, Carl, etc.) have their huge advantages against some of the top tiers, which makes them much more useable than say, certain low tier characters in Street Fighter 4 which you never see used in tournaments.
There are plenty of unlockables in the game, most of which take the form of art. There are drawings for various scenes in each characters' 3 story paths, Arcade mode endings, special CG drawings that can only be unlocked when "certain circumstances are met", and other goodies as well. Which is also a good measurement of how much of the game you've actually completed, and where I got my theory that I'm not even 50% done with the game (lots of empty picture spaces in my gallery). And if you think it's just random art, let's just say the "partial nudity" rating in the ESRB rating isn't through arcade/story mode.
One neat feature is the Network Play capabilities of the Playstation 3 version. For those unfamiliar, if you own a PSP and a PS3, you can connect to the PS3 via the internet through your PSP, no matter what your location is (as long as there is a wireless internet connection available, obviously). In terms of playing games, BlazBlue is one of the very few games that support gameplay on the PSP through your PS3. It does lag a bit since all your Playstation's data is being streamed through wireless internet onto your PSP, but it is perfect for those who want to mess around with the game while they don't have access to their TV and PS3. Just leave your PS3 idled, and you can turn it on and off with the PSP, and do everything your PS3 can do as well, such as browsing the internet, visiting the Playstation Store, and access all your Playstation 3's media on your PSP (to play BlazBlue, you have to leave the game disc inside the PS3, and access it under the "Game" menu as you would on your PS3). Obviously it doesn't play in HD on your PSP and the half second delay takes some adjusting to, but honestly it is perfect for some training/arcade mode when you have a roommate sleeping in the living room.

Now, for the negatives. First, in terms of gameplay, the only complaint I have is the very incomplete command list provided for each character. I was hoping I would be able to have a full command list and practice those 20-30 hit combos I see from the top players in training mode, but the moves provided are as bad as the ones online. You have your basic A, B, C, and D moves, along with each character's drives. Astral Heats have to be unlocked, but I rarely find the opportunity to use it anyways. But due to the incomplete command list, it looks like I'll be forced to use the tutorial disc they provided me with the limited edition pre-order.
The soundtrack in the limited edition was flaunted for having 12 more tracks than the Japanese release. But after uploading both CDs onto my iTunes, the 12 tracks are: 6 remixes by DJ Oh No, each about a minute and a half long, and various story mode BGMs. The BGMs are nice, but I'm not sure how I feel about the remixes. The main thing that upset me with the OST is the lack of songs I know are in the game but aren't on the CDs. The intro anime sequence to the game's background music and the music playing when Bang uses his drive ability that makes him gold and glowy both have lyrics and singing, and there isn't a single song on the soundtrack with either. Sticking with limited edition goodies, the GameStop artbook pre-order bonus is nothing special. A couple of pages are wasted on the prologue of the game (which can be found in the manual), and every other page is concept designs of stages and characters. The only useful page was a neat relationship tree of all the characters minus Hakumen and V-13, and even the cover of the artbook (the skimpy Noel drawing) can be found at the back of the game manual. With all that said, it was great that the limited edition costed the same amount as the normal edition sells for now, so I really can't complain too much about all the stuff since it was virtually free.
From a professional standpoint, the limited appeal of BlazBlue is really the main factor that brings down this game. Obviously not everyone is keen with the anime-style and the crazy 30 hit combos and timed attacks to execute said combos, but honestly I believe anyone who picks this game up and actually gives it a try will enjoy it, provided they actually take the time to learn some basic combo links. You could theoretically do crappy two hit moves and win matches against the computer through good teching and defensive play, but that would be extremely boring. And of course, the confusing and incomplete story could have some screaming in anger and frustration.

But as a huge fan of the Guilty Gear series, I am absolutely in love with BlazBlue. Even before I first went to the arcades and I simply stuck with YouTube videos, I could already tell this game was a must-buy for me. Obviously I have a long way to go in terms of learning the ins and outs of the gameplay of each character, and I intend to spend most of my day today going through the tutorial video (must learn Rachel's 10 hit command!). Until I feel comfortable that I'm somewhat decent, I will avoid the Playstation Network's ranked matches. But I have no doubt that the servers will be just as good, if not better, than Street Fighter 4's.

Grade: 9/10

San Jose Offseason

It looks like Doug Wilson finally uncapped his pen, so for now I'm just going to list signings/releases of players as the news arrives, editting this post as it goes.

Rob Blake - resigned with San Jose for $3.5 million, a lot less than his $5 million last year.

Ryane Clowe - resigned with San Jose for 4 years for $3.5 million a season.

Kent Huskins - resigned with San Jose for 2 years for $3.4 million.

Travis Moen - signed with Montreal for 3 years.

Brian Boucher - signed with Philadelphia for 2 years.

Scott Nichol - signed with San Jose for one year, 750,000 dollars.

Jed Ortmeyer - signed with San Jose for one year.

Ryan Vesce - resigned with San Jose for one year.

Dwight Helminen - signed with San Jose for one year.

Joe Callahan - signed with San Jose for one year.

Danny Groulx - signed with San Jose for one year.

Jeremy Roenick - retired.

Mike Grier - signed with Buffalo Sabres for one year.

Torrey Mitchell - resigned with San Jose for 3 years, 4.1 million dollars.

Brad Staubitz - resigned with San Jose for one year, $500,000.

Sharks Decline Contracts to Three Players

The restricted free agency signings have been completed for San Jose. The Sharks resigned their second line forward Ryane Clowe, goalie prospect Thomas Greiss, the young Torrey Mitchell, and the 7th defenseman Brad Staubitz.
The Sharks did not make qualifying offers to Marcel Goc, Tomas Plihal, and Lukas Kaspar.

So what does this mean in the long run?
The Sharks failed to sign three forwards. Kaspaer was a first round pick of San Jose's in 2004, and scored his first NHL goal last season. Goc was San Jose's top faceoff man in 2008-2009, while Plihal was a fourth-line roleplayer. Assuming Lemieux retires, that means we have a lot of holes in the third and fourth line.

With two centers gone, this almost automatically means Patrick Marleau is not going to be traded, and if anything, will get a contract extention. Jonathan Cheechoo is probably safe for now too. With Brad Staubitz resigned, one has to wonder why so many defensemen have been drafted in the past 3 years for the Sharks. Theoretically, Brian Boucher could be let go during the unrestricted free agency period, and the Sharks probably don't want to pay more than 1 million for him as a back-up. Given how Boucher played last season, a team could use him as a rotational starting goaltender, and he would be worth much more than 1 million a year. With that, they almost had to re-sign Greiss. The most interesting thing would be: does this mean Roenick is leaning towards his third comeback attempt at a Stanley Cup?

The Sharks are always listed as "interested" teams when it comes to big name free agents or players demanding to be traded, but they never appear as the frontrunners. We'll see what the Sharks do starting July 1st with their big name UFAs, mainly Rob Blake and Mike Grier. Blake has already stated interest in returning to the Sharks, but if one or both aren't resigned, there could be a big move in the making.

San Jose Sharks NHL Draft 2009

With the end of the 2009 Entry Level Draft for the NHL (finished off by the San Jose Sharks with the 207th overall pick), the Sharks have made a couple of interesting picks given that they didn't have a single first round pick due to the Dan Boyle trade.

With their two second round picks, the Sharks loaded up on defensive defensemen, but both with different styles. First, at pick 43, San Jose selected William Wrenn. He was the captain of the Under 18 US team, which won the gold medal in 2009. He's similar to a young(er) Marc-Edouard Vlasic, as he doesn't really put up the points but early scouting reports indicate he's most comfortable in the defensive zone, as he has good puck movement out of the zone and good decision making, something that plagued the Sharks down the stretch in 2009. Assuming Wrenn joins the team within a couple of years and gets to feel Coach McLellon's system, his offensive points should also boost up like Vlasic's.
At pick 57, the Sharks chose who I think is their best draft choice and most NHL ready in Taylor Doherty. He's a massive 6'7" and 218 pounds (if you want an idea about how massive that is, Douglas Murray is 6'3" and 240). He'll probably need to put on a few extra pounds of muscle if he wants to establish himself as a top intimidating defenseman at the NHL level and compete with the Chris Prongers and Zdeno Charas, but a good off-season workout should establish that easily. Just like Wrenn, he's more well known for his play within his own zone, moving the puck out, and making smart decisions.
Oddly enough, both players selected the Anaheim Ducks as their favorite teams, so it will remain to be seen how they get along with the San Jose prospects and starters.

With the fifth round, 147th overall pick, the Sharks selected Philip Varone. He's a slightly slower Torrey Mitchell, in the sense that he doesn't have the same skating speed that made Mitchell one of the top short-handed scoring threats a couple of years ago, but he is great at being a penalty killer, a two-way forward, and has lots of grit. He averaged a little under a point per game in the regular season, but improved in the playoffs as he had 19 points in 14 games. However, he did fall in the rankings coming into the draft, as he was previously ranked at 90th overall before falling to 172nd. So either the Sharks took a gamble, or they had a huge steal with this pick. More likely than not, however, Varone will not play next season and they will develop him in the minor leagues to get a better grasp of what they selected.

To round out the day, the Sharks traded a 2010 6th rounder to select a center Marek Viednesky at the 189th pick, and with the final pick of the draft, they chose another defenseman in Dominik Bielke.

Historically, the Sharks have always leaned towards defensemen during drafts, which has been paying dividends in the previous seasons with the rise of Vlasic and Murray. They also chose a few defensemen last year, so there is a few questions as to why they spent both their second round picks on defensemen. Even if Rob Blake isn't going to resign, they have plenty of young guys in the minor leagues. Still, Wrenn and Doherty are as solid as any pick in terms of defensemen, and I'm really excited to see Doherty on the ice to wreak havok on power forwards (especially since Anaheim traded Pronger for Lupol).

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

aka: Michael Bay Hates Black People

I have mixed feelings about this movie...

First, the positives: everything good about the first movie has been improved. The special effects and battle scenes were amazing. Sometimes they were over the top, but I didn't mind. Megan Fox running in slow-mo with nothing but a tank top... epic. And some of the jokes were pretty funny. The story was OK, but it could have been delivered better. And in every "robots fuck up human technology" scene, there's always some poor random dude that falls from a very high location into his probable death, which is always a nice touch to that kind of scene.

Now, the negatives: 30 of the first 45 minutes of the movie could have easily been cut out, making this 2 and a half hour movie a lot shorter. Sam Whi... however you spell his last name moves to college. Great. Let's spend 20 minutes on that. Great for the character development of his roommate, who turns out to play an absolutely insignificant role in the overall story. And they try so hard to make it funny with his mother. Loooooots of very unnecessary sexual references which was more awkward than comedic. And the twins are just... not... good characters. No matter how hard Michael Bay tries to make them funny/retarded. I didn't mind the transitions between army/robot battles and the Sam's normal life like they did in the first movie, but the whole romance between him and Megan Fox was so cheesy. I felt like I was watching some lame teen movie. "Omg, it's my first internet date with Sam! I'm so excited!" Seriously... some scenes I could tell Megan Fox smokes a lot of weed. And everytime a transformer transformed, the camera had to do two laps around the body during the transformation sequence, or it was slow-moed from some crazy angle like directly above or below. The first couple of times, it was like "yeaaah, look at Optimus go!" or "Man, Ironhide kicks ass!". Then, it was "not again... time to relax my eyes for 30 seconds".

*spoiler*
The one thing I really didn't like about the story was how they keep referencing Starscream as some sort of sly backstabber who is betraying Megatron. Yes, it was a major thing in the original cartoon, and yes Megatron has always been suspicious of it. But they don't really show Starscream actually doing anything in the movie that would warrant any type of betrayal outside of his lack of participation in major battles except for one in the forest. So pretty much, the impression the audience has is that Megatron is just some paranoid guy who likes to beat the shit out of Starscream for no apparant reason. "Dammit Starscream, you betrayed me!" "But sir, I built this giant army for your return!" "Screw you, I'm gonna beat you up anyways!"
*end*

For the little details: no I didn't stay after the credits... they had some tidbit scenes before the credits started scrolling (like, after they introduced all the main actors/actress), but I did not stick around for the entire thing to finish.

Despite all that, I'd have to say I'd give this movie at least a B. It was fun to watch, if you can handle the insane amount of cheesiness in Michael Bay comedy/romance. Was it worth watching the midnight showing? Probably not. Luckily there's a theatre near my apartment which is never crowded, so I didn't have to wait in a ridiculously long line. If you really liked the first movie... you'll either be disappointed or in love with the second one because it was pretty much an amped up version of the first. In short, the action sequences were so great that it more often than not took your mind off (temporarily) the fact that the last pointless scene you watched 5 minutes ago was so horrible. If you absolutely hated the first one or Michael Bay, both of which would be very understandable, avoid this movie at all costs.

Katamari Forever

After waiting weeks for this game to finally go on sale, I found that GameStop has finally begun their pre-order phase for what may be the final installment of the Katamari Damacy series: Katamari Forever.

Exclusively for the Playstation 3 (for now), Katamari Forever looks to continue off the story of the last Katamari for the Playstation 2. From GameStop's description:
The Prince and his cousins have generated millions of fans and want to roll more katamaris. But the King of Cosmos bumped his head and lost his memory. When the Prince built a robot King of Cosmos to replace him, the robot went crazy and destroyed all the stars (sound familiar?). So it is your job to roll up enough katamaris to replace all the stars as well as your father's memory.

Obviously, as expected from a Katamari sequel/spin-off, the gameplay is pretty much the same. In fact, about 50% of the levels are just remakes of older levels from other Katamari games. Still, they now have different artistic view modes that you can roll in, from black and white, to some kind of stencil sketch, and it is all in full 1080p high definition.

The game is also adding a few more goodies to the gameplay. There will be useage of the six-axis controls on the Playstation 3 controller, and under "certain conditions", the katamari will have a magnet effect to suck in nearby objects, which will no doubt make rolling easier (or harder if you're doing those specific item missions). There is also going to be use of the Playstation Network: they have announced an online ranking system.

For any Katamari fan, and especially for first-timers, this will be a great game to have. The only downside is the lack of online capabilities announced outside of a ranking system. I was hoping for online versus mode, co-op mode, or maybe a Little Big Planet level creation system. There is a lot of potential in this game, but it will be unfortunate if the creators don't tap into all of it, especially since it won't be making full use of the Playstation 3's capabilities. Still, it's all about the gameplay, and rolling a katamari in itself has unlimited replay value. This game is set to be released on October 1st.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 7

Detroit Red Wings vs Pittsburgh Penguins: Pittsburgh wins 2-1 (Pittsburgh wins series 4-3)

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were not needed in the two game comeback by the Penguins, as Maxim Talbot proved to be the hero in game 7, scoring the only two goals for the Penguins in their 2-1 victory, both in the second period to give Pittsburgh the then 2-0 lead. The rookie Jonathan Ericsson, who played a strong playoffs, came through with a goal with 7 minutes left in the third to give Detroit a gasp of life as they tried to tie it late in the third, outshooting Pittsburgh 7-1 in the period. But Marc-Andre Fleury stood strong (he denied Detroit captain Lidstrom a wide open goal with 1 second left with a sprawling save, similar to what happened to Hossa and the Penguins last year), and the defense had strong rebound control as the Penguins secured their first Stanley Cup since the Mario Lemieux era.

Evgeni Malkin won the Conn Smythe trophy, as he was the leading point scorer for the Penguins in the playoffs. Sidney Crosby became the youngest captain to hoist the Cup, winning it in just his fourth year in the league at age 21. But the victory was probably the sweetest for Bill Guerin, who was part of a rebuilding phase in New York for the last place Islanders before being traded at the deadline to Pittsburgh. It was his first championship since 1995, just 3 years after Pittsburgh's last Stanley Cup. Marian Hossa came out on the short end of the stick; he turned down a pay raise in Pittsburgh during the offseason and decided to take a pay cut to come to Detroit, as he publicly announced he felt that he had a better chance to win the Cup with the Red Wings. The decision probably turned out to be beneficial for Pittsburgh, as they had the cap space to sign Kunitz and Guerin at the deadline, who both played stellar in the postseason. It was also probably the last chance for Chris Chelios to win a cup, as the 47 year old defenseman, who only played 6 playoff games this postseason, will most likely retire from the sport this offseason.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 6

Detroit Red Wings vs Pittsburgh Penguins: Pittsburgh wins 2-1 (Series tied 3-3)

The Pittsburgh Penguins talked about change. That they were a different team. At least they changed one thing: Detroit didn't celebrate the cup on the Penguins's home ice, right in front of their faces and their fans. Jordan Staal caught Detroit sleeping early in the second, and Tyler Kennedy added a much needed insurance goal in the third period as Fleury held off an onslaught of 14 shots and a power play in the third period by Detroit to help the Penguins tie the series at 3-3 with a 2-1 victory over the Red Wings. Once again, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were held without a point and combined for 3 shots, but secondary scoring came through huge for the Pittsburgh in a game that was almost stolen by stellar goaltending on Chris Osgood's part. The Penguins thoroughly dominated the first period and outshot the Red Wings with the second, but their combined 24 shots in 2 periods accounted for only one goal. Still, a win is a win, and now it all comes down to who can win one game in Detroit.

Before everyone starts jumping back on the Pittsburgh bandwagon, there are a few things to consider. First and foremost, the home team has won every single game. Secondly, Detroit's game plan of shutting down Pittsburgh's scorers almost worked: they held them off the score sheet but just couldn't get the win. Third and most importantly, Pittsburgh has been in this situation before: right after game 4. They tied the series, they outworked Detroit on home ice, and they went back to Detroit for game 5 with what seemed to be all the momentum and a game plan that underminded the puck-possession of the Red Wings. Then they got blown out 5-0. With all that said: Fleury gets better with time. If Detroit scores early and often, Pittsburgh's goaltender has no chance. But if the Penguins hold off Detroit until late in the second and the third period like they did in game 6, Fleury will bail them out for the win and the Stanley Cup.

Very Early Speculations on Potential Off-Season Moves for the Sharks

I was reading Puck Daddy on Yahoo! Sports blogs like I usually do daily, and I ran upon an article stating that Dany Heatley, one of the top snipers on the Ottawa Senator's coveted scoring line, wanted to be dealt. Further reports have stated that he is considering a move to the Western Conference. Obviously, the first thing that came to mind was "how can we get this 75+ point winger onto the Sharks?" Of course, my train of thought expanded to more free agents this summer, and here are the results.

Free agents for the Sharks this summer:
Looking at the free agent list, we have Mike Grier at 1.775 million, Jeremy Roenick at 1.1 million, Travis Moen at 912.5k, Marcel Goc at 775k, Torrey Mitchell at 725k, Tomas Plihal at 500k, Claude Lemieux at 500k, Rob Blake at 5 million, Alexei Semenov at 650k, Brian Boucher at 650k, and Kent Huskins at 625k (these were the salaries of the 2008-2009 season).

First and foremost, Dany Heatley. He is still under contract with the Senators for a whopping 7.5 million. Before we get into all the mathematics, let's see what Heatley will bring to the Sharks. First, he's another pure scorer for Joe Thornton to distribute to. He was also in the Stanley Cup finals 3 years ago when Ottawa fell to the Anaheim Ducks. That said, many critics are thinking he's losing his touch, as his point totals have dropped from an average of 2.95 to 2.20 in the past year (per 60 minutes played), and he had his lowest point outing last year since his rookie year. Still, 2.2 points is quite a hefty amount, and a quick comparison to a Sharks player would be along the lines of Devin Setoguchi or Joe Pavelski. Think the Sharks can use another Seto in their roster? I sure do. If the Sharks do get Heatley, we're looking at a potential 3 scoring line roster, something that GM Doug Wilson and Coach Todd McLellon expected to happen during the playoff series against Anaheim this past postseason. Obviously, Heatley would be moved to the first line right next to Thornton. Personally, I would move Patrick Marleau rather than Devin Setoguchi off the line, because Marleau can create plays on his own and is more versatile than the young Setoguchi. Keeping the second line in tact, we would have a third line of Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo, and one more. That would be a deadly line, and may even rekindle Cheechoo's scoring touch.
Now to the mathematics. In order for the previous paragraph's scenario to work out, Marleau, Setoguchi, the second line, and Cheechoo would not be dealt.
I would really hate to trade Blake, but that would be the quickest way to take out a huge chunk of the 7.5 million we need for Heatley. Roenick retiring would save us another 1.1, so we have 1.4 million to go. Travis Moen and Kent Huskins would be the next expendables, and you could probably make the case for Marcel Goc. Keep in mind as well, these are just the free agents in the summer. We wouldn't necessarily have to trade any of these guys, just not re-sign them. Theoretically, they can also take a pay cut to stay in San Jose. If we look at Sharks who are signed through 2010, Jody Shelley's name pops up, as well as the rest of our starting 6 defensemen. One of our fan favorites would have to go (or we could shorten our roster by 10 skaters), but it could be worth it for Heatley.

Immediately after the postseason began, I wanted Marion Gaborik on the Sharks. He would provide everything Heatley would provide, but we have injury concerns to worry about. But don't forget the same thing happened with Dan Boyle, and he stayed relatively healthy for the Sharks. And in the extremely short 2008-2009 season Gaborik had, he had 23 points in 17 games.
In terms of the mathematics, Gaborik would also cost the Sharks 7.5 million, so the thinking process would be along the same lines as Heatley. Gaborik has a lot more upside, but a lot more downside as well. Heatley would be the safer of the two picks; Gaborik has more potential to produce more points.

Nikolai Antropov is the cheapest for his skill set on the list of free agents this summer, as he is coming off a 59 point regular season and 3 points in the 7 game series against Washington in the playoffs. A signing of Antropov would be 2.15 million based on his 2008-2009 contract. Those point totals may not seem entirely impressive by themselves, but remember that he was playing most of last year as a Toronto Maple Leaf, before being traded to a Ranger team that struggled the entire year offensively (one of the main reasons why they went for Antropov).
What to do with a guy like Antropov would be the biggest question for San Jose. He is a center/right wing hybrid, so he could theoretically be a good replacement for Patrick Marleau on the first line if Marleau moves to center or wing the third. His skill set is also too valuable for the third line, although you could also make that argument for Marleau as well. And I really don't think San Jose will break up it's second line. Can Antropov fit on a third line and bring out the offense in that line as well as other guys can? For 2 million, I think it'd be an experiment worth testing. The only problem would be whether or not Antropov would be willing to move out West.

The most ideal signing for the Sharks would be Michael Cammalleri. He's only 26 years old, and role-played for the Calgary Flames, jumping around all the lines as a centerman and winger. His salary last year was 3.6 million, not too bad for a young talent that produced 82 points last year. 34 of those points also came on the power play. As a left wing, he would be perfect in replacing Marleau on the first line if Patty is moved to the third. 3.6 million is relatively cheap for a guy who has had two 80 point seasons (including one in Los Angeles!), so I'd expect if the Sharks sign him, he'd also come with a more expensive contract. That said, a contract like Rob Blake for Cammalleri would be much more worth it than, for say, Gaborik and Heatley, because of the age factor. The only downside is, like Antropov, he was only a 3 points producer for Calgary in their 6 game series against Chicago.

Other big names would be Marian Hossa, and the Sedin Twins. Assuming Detroit wins the Stanley Cup this year, what are the odds that Hossa would want to leave the team he took a paycut for? Then again, can the Red Wings even afford Hossa past next year? And can anyone in the NHL imagine splitting up the Sedin twins? Each one costs 3.575 million, combining for a total of over 7 million. San Jose could use either, but Henrik (the center/playmaker) would be too expensive for a third line role, so Daniel (the winger/scorer) would be the best fit (and 3.6 million is pretty cheap as well). The only question is will he have the same syngery with Thornton as he had with Henrik? Do you believe in twins having ESP?

Regardless of what we do, free agents that are expendable would probably be Moen, Goc, Lemieux, Huskins, and Roenick. Despite Grier's inability to score, he's a very good role-player on the penalty kill. Roenick will probably retire, Boucher is extremely cheap for a back-up goaltender with his skill level, and I wouldn't mind if Rob Blake stayed one more year for a shot at the cup with San Jose. Moen did his job fairly well, but I could care less whether he stays or not. And Huskins didn't do anything for us. Finally, the one free agent I want to see re-signed is Torrey Mitchell. We had an entire season without him last year, so imagine how much better we'll be if he stays healthy all or most of next year.