The Sharks May Be Hard To Beat

from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail, Reluctantly, in the aftermath of the San Jose Sharks’ bold trade for Dany Heatley, it might be time to jump back on the bandwagon of the NHL’s perennial underachievers. The Sharks, who generally follow an exceptional regular season with a do-nothing playoff, have been hinting about major changes since their first-round pratfall to the Anaheim Ducks last spring. That it took until the eve of training camp for Sharks general manager Doug Wilson to pull off a deal speaks to the warring factions inside the organization, the unwillingness to gut a team that finished with 115 points to win the President’s Trophy last season against the clear sense that something needed to be done to rouse his remaining players to attention. In the 28-year-old Heatley, a two-time 50-goal scorer who had demanded a trade from the Ottawa Senators in the spring, they may just have found the missing piece of the puzzle. continued