Robertus Reviews: The San Jose Sharks

The city of San Jose sits on the golden California shore, south of San Francisco, 2,853 miles from the burgundy couch in Laurel, whereupon Robertus sits, trying to drum up a few dozen words about a Sharks team that looks basically as they did skating off the ice on May 19^th, 2004, as the Calgary Flames celebrated on Shark Tank ice. Not that the San Jose Sharks needed a large roster turnover (a la Pittsburgh) to make an impact in the new NHL landscape. When last the sun shone on the Pacific Division, the Sharks were crowned her champions.

To grasp the key to their success, we must look back eleven years, to the Spring of 1994. The New York Rangers were celebrating their Stanley Cup, young Robertus was strutting around his high school, the San Jose Sharks held the eleventh pick in the entry draft. They selected Jeff Friesen. And then they selected Angel Nikolov. And then they selected Alexei Yegorov. And Vaclav Varada. And Brian Swanson. And Alexander Korolyuk. And Sergei "Ixnay with the ikhailMay" Gorbachev. And Eric Landry. And Evgeni Nabokov. And Tomas Pisa. And, with their last pick that season, David Beauregard. It would be easy to make fun of the Sharks for selecting "Brian Swanson" in front of the 2000 Calder Trophy winner and their franchise cornerstone. Until I realized that 218 players were selected in front of the career .915 goaltender. Some of those 219 went on to become solid NHL players (Radek Bonk jumps off the list). Others went on to become Jason Bonsignore. And this is why we watch.

The Sharks future may not be decided by the moves they made or did not make, but the moves of their opponents. Although face a few question marks on D (withthe offseason loss of Mark Rathje and the addition of question marks), Kyle McLaren and Brad Stuart are a formidable pair at the top of a young and smallish defensive corps. They return assist leader Nils Ekman, goals leader Patrick "The Island of Dr." Marleau, and 40-point man Marco Sturm, and their other forwards are young, quick, or Scott Thorton. Famed Russian-American author and goaltender Nabokov is one of the five best at his position. Although the Sharks are not the best team in the Western Conference, but they are perhaps the best team in the Pacific division, and San Jose sportswriters will get to type "Johnathan Cheechoo (Moose Factory, Ontario)" well into the Spring of 2006.

Post Scriptum: Sports purists have made some noise in the last few years that, because World Series games are starting later in the evening on school nights, fewer children are being exposed to the game of baseball. I'd like to take a moment to make some noise that, because the San Jose Sharks play the bulk of their games at 10 PM Eastern time on work nights, fewer old sports bloggers on burgundy couches are being exposed to Sharks hockey.

Coming Soon! The All Canada Edition of Robertus Reviews, plus Robertus Retires!

Robertus Reviews: The New York Islanders

My good friend Scott, a fan of the Yankees, Jets, and Islanders, has developed an acute sense of fatalism that sets in every October with the ALCS, the first injured Jet, and the first fresh sheet of ice in Nassau Coliseum. Every year he comes to me and says, "Robertus, the Islanders suck"; to which I reply "yes, but" and proceed to defend my Rangers rival from the Island.

At the dawn of the 2005-2006 NHL season, we find ourselves entering Year Five of the Rick Dipietro Experiment. In 2000, the Islanders traded future franchise rock Roberto Luongo (selected first overall in 1997) to the Florida Panthers for the first overall selection in the draft. With that pick, "Mad Mike" Milbury selected future franchise rock Rick DiPietro. Since the trade, Luongo has played in 243 games, faced a shade under 45,000 shots for the Panthers, compiled a .902 save percentage, went to a couple of All Star Games, and has generally built the foundation for a Hall of Fame career. Since being drafted, Rick DiPietro has played 81 games for the Islanders (splitting his first two seasons with the big club and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, which raises the question: what the hell is a sound tiger?), compiling a .900 save percentage on 2049 shots. the spirit of the U.S. Open match between Andre Agassi and James Blake on the television, Advantage: Florida. In another milestone, I just wrote "Advantage: Florida" for the first, and perhaps last, time in my web log.

However, as with most baseball pitchers and good homebrew, NHL goaltenders need time to ripen. Like most baseball pitchers and good homebrew, this ripening is usually best done in a dark and cold closet far away from human sight. Unfortunately, Ricky D was left to ripen in the largest media market in the world. Although his numbers are by no means bad for a young goaltender (he played well in 51 games in 2003-2004), the last three Stanley Cups have gone to the Not Islanders, and so he has suffered the cruel blows of the Islanders fan base. As if to prove my point, as I sat down to type this entry, my attention was drawn to the New York Newsday report that the Islanders offered DiPietro a 15-year deal worth $65 million (the NHL balked at the offer, and DiPietro has since singed a one-year, $2.5 million deal).

A funny thing happened to Rick DiPietro's fourth year as a NHL goaltender, and so he found his dark and cold closet far away from human sight. The fate of the Islanders rests on how he emerges.

On the plus side, the new rules, meant to increase the speed and flow of the game, should prove a boon to the Islanders. With Jason Blake Light Tragedy, Bates, Parrish, and Hunter, the Isles should be able to outskate most teams on the wings. They traded away oft-injured captain Mike Pecca to Edmonton for Mike York, whom I enjoyed watching with the Rangers some years ago, and Alexi Zhitnik provides a veteran presence on the Isles blue line (which is a diplomatic way of saying he's old, but I don't forsee the Islanders media guide quoting me with "He's Really Old!", so we'll make due with diplomacy).

On the minus side, what the Islanders lacked in toughness and grit, they more than made up for with softness. The potential line combination of Miroslav Satan, Alexi Yashin, and perrenial Tomas Kloucek Memorial Award candidate Oleg Kvasha reminds me of an overstuffed down comforter on a cool November morning. Their defensive corps is made up entirely of players older than me, meaning that they were awash in veteran presence before adding Zhitnik. That I very nearly started this paragraph with "With the exception of Janne Niinimaa," before realizing I was thinking of Ville "The Demonin" Nieminen speaks volumes.

Ultimately, the season rests on the shoulders of their enigmatic young goaltender, Ricky D. If he can sustain the flashes of brilliance he's shown in previous years, the Isles could find themselves in the playoff hunt. If he fails, and I hope for the health of my friend that he does not, at least the Islanders can fall back on Garth Snow and Sound Tiger Wade Dubielewicz.

Coming Soon! Do you know who plays for San Jose, plus the Anaheim Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the All Canada Issue of Robertus Reviews!