Shark Tank Outta Gas?

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Shark Tank Outta Gas?

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Thornton to Cheechoo… SCORESSSS!!

By Huey Law

Oct 27, 2007

Are we not hearing enough of Thornton to Cheechoo? Or is Cheechoo still even playing…

The San Jose Sharks started the season as one of the Stanley Cup favourites. A month into the new season, the Pacific division powerhouse(11pts) is seeing themselves in a tight race with unfamiliar foes, the Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings(10pts each). Anahiem, the 06-07 division winners, are a close fourth(9pts) after losing Scott Niedermayer and Finnish superstar Teemu Selanne. Rouding out the division are the Phoenix Coyotes(6pts).

Despite still on top of their division, the big guns aren’t scoring for the Sharks. Is the Shark tank running out of gas? Here are some quick stats for some of the struggling players:

Joe Thornton- 10 points
Jumbo Joe is on pace for 82 points. The former Hart and Art Ross winner had previous season totals of 114 and 125. Having a 30 point drop off isn’t the most astonishing stats. If you think this is bad, wait till you see his favourite linemate, Jonathan Cheechoo.

Jonathan Cheechoo – 3 points
The Cheechoo train is off the tracks and going wild! In a bad way. The ’06 Maurice Richard winner has 2 goals. Playing with Joe, he should easily have 5-7 goals by now. Will Ron Wilson have to sit the Moose factory goal scorer to wake him up? Only time will tell.

Patrick Marleau- 4 points
Playing most of his games with Roenick, Mitchell, Bernier, Clowe and Grier (you can throw anyone in there), he has done everything, but put up points. Captain Shark does show great speed in many of his games, but if he continues on his drought, he might be the reason for his own slump, and not his linemates.

The big three for the Sharks have been lacking. Thornton is the best playmaker in the league, and has one of his wingers struggling. The “Big Line” of Cheechoo-Thornton-Marleau was split up for the second Vancouver visit, promoting Torrie Mitchell and Milan Michalek to play with Jumbo Joe, and sending Cheechoo down to the third line. In the second period of that game (yours truly was in attendance), Cheechoo was paired with Thornton and Michalek, and had a goal and an assist. Just as the critics thought the sleeping giant had awaken, he went right back to sleep, pointless to-date.

The Sharks are scoring 2.38 goals per game, bottom third in the league. Compared to the 3.11 last season, the entire team has to pick up the slack. Their goals against average is down from last year’s 2.39 to 2.38, but that only neglects all the goals they score, and ultimately, tying every game isn’t going to win you one of the toughest divisions in hockey.

Shark fans are still waiting impatiently for their beloved team to wake up, and pot some goals. Is Mark Bell and Bill Guerin the cause of the one goal differential? Does Nabokov have to carry too much of a load? Or are the Sharks still lacking a veteran d-man in the back end? These questions will be panned out and answered as the season progresses.