J0e Th0rnton

Well, some teams are a quarter through the season, with most hitting the quarter mark tonight. How is your team doing in regards to where you thought they would be?

Personally, you will probably think I'm a headcase for this.
The Sharks are 2nd in the West, 1st in their division, and playing well as a team, yet I am disappointed as heck with their play because they are capable of so much more.

In order of Pros and cons.....

Pros: Thornton, as usual, is playing great hockey, even though his linemates have been a disappearing act. He leads the team in goals, assists, and points of course, while being a solid two way player.

Roenick has done what I expected of him and more. He leads the league in Game winning goals, and is currently 2nd on the sharks team in points. I knew it was a great move to pick him up, and the team is getting paid off for it.

Setoguchi. Well, I was waiting for him to get a call up. He was injured last season, but was easily our best prospect. I have not been disappointed so far. Jeez, the kid has 7 goals and an assist in 9 games.

Rivet has been a rock on defense. Above and beyond what montreal fans and everyone else expected of him.

Vlassic is repeating his rookie shutdown Dman run, playing huge minutes as a 20 year old. Better than Hannan was defensively, which is saying a lot.

Now, my old doghouse Dman, Doug Murray(Next to Gorges) has decided to totally surprise me and be a rock on defense this season. Not only does he make nice outlet passes, but he has been a physical force, doing Mclaren's job for him. Heck, he's +15 with 3 points just because of his great outlet passes.

Ozolish coming back was unexpected, and Ill admit, I groaned. However, he has played above my expectations, helping our young inexperienced blueline.
I'm almost expecting John Leclair to sign a minimum year deal in San Jose and come back and have a good left wing year just because all these guys everyone thinks are done are coming over and playing so well.

Nabokov, despite what stats have shown, has been a stellar game winning goaltender. Sharks are the top Western GAA team, and 2nd best PK team. He has played every game this season. We have yet to see backup action. However, at this point, it is clear we kept the better goaltender.

Cons:
Well this is easy.
#1 Marleau
#2 Cheechoo
#3 Michalek
There are more, but those 3 are HUGE MIA cases. Michalek started great. 6 goals, 2 assist in 9 games or so, but has dried up in the last 9 games. To make matters worse, he got injured because of Doan's dirty hit vs Phoenix. The good news is, he is still our best two way forward and is extremely hard to beat when he backchecks.

Marleau finally had a good game the other night. It better open the floodgates. For a guy who just signed a fat contract, he sure went missing on the scoreboard. 6+ million a year for 11 points in 20 games is unacceptable. Especially for the captain. Hopefully, he can shake the pressure off.

Cheechoo. Former Rocket Richard winner? Where? 3 goals, 7 points in 20 games. He was a 30 goal scorer before Thornton showed up so he has the talent to get it done. He just needs to find it again. He started slow last season too, so hopefully, he can get rid of this snakebite.

A few other cons are Carle, Ehrhoff(Our 2 top offensive Dmen)not living up to what they are supposed to be doing. When Doug Murray is your best outlet passer, its not hard to imagine how well the team might do with a real outlet passer.
Mclaren has been invisible since he hurt his knee last season. he has never seemed to recover. Where are the big hip checks? The tough solid defense? Get it back Kyle.....

Ryane Clowe getting injured hurt us. Not only was he a good second liner. He was our toughest grittiest power forward and best puck possession man outside of Joe T on the team. Joe really taught him a lot.

Bernier has again, failed to show any signs of maturing beyond his current ability. Pavelski as well, though there is still time, they are young. The good news is they are playing well defensively, as is Torrey Mitchell.

If Marleau, Cheechoo and Michalek could start scoring like they are capable of, the sharks would look unbeatable right now.

How about you guys? as well as feedback on thoughts about each others teams.