Hitting the Hinote: Sharks Looking to Toughen Up

Sticking with the theme of 2009, "change" has been the word circling around the San Jose Sharks this offseason. To some, the changes promised by General Manager Doug Wilson have not been plentiful enough. This offseason, the Sharks have waived good-bye to forwards Mike Grier, Thomas Plihal, and Marcel Goc, as well as defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich. Both of whom were traded to the Vancouver Canucks. San Jose has also lost the legends Jeremy Roenick and Claude Lemieux to retirement. In the last few months, the Sharks have re-signed Ryane Clowe for four years, blue-liner Kent Huskins for two years, and veteran defenseman Rob Blake will stay on board for one more year. However, one of the biggest knocks against San Jose is the fact that they aren't tough enough, despite their size as a team. To address this, Doug Wilson went out and signed former Nashville Predator agitator Scott Nichol to a one year contract. Wilson also re-signed energ...