The San Jose Sharks weren’t able to beat the St. Louis Blues once in the regular season...so I guess this playoff series was an improvement? The Sharks suffered a 3-1 loss Saturday and were eliminated after five games.
After years of disappointing playoff runs amid high expectations, the Sharks showed that if you take that those expectations away, they still won’t get very far. Naturally, a lot of the credit belongs to the Blues themselves, who did a very effective job of shutting down San Jose, but let’s focus on the team that’s season just ended...
What happened? The Sharks never really figured out the Blues’ defense or their goaltending. It didn’t matter if it was Jaroslav Halak or Brian Elliott playing between the pipes because both of them ended up with a sub-2 GAA against San Jose in this series.
Who takes the blame? Outside of Joe Thornton and Logan Couture, the Sharks’ best players didn’t really step up. Patrick Marleau stands out though for finishing the series with no points.
What will they do about it? What more can the Sharks really do? Every summer they make significant changes to their roster in the hope of finally obtaining that elusive Stanley Cup. That being said, they don’t have a lot of wiggle room with their cap situation going into the summer. Short of blowing up the team or making a big trade, all the major players from their 2011-12 run should be back.