In this offseason, the San Jose Sharks lost only Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi and Kyle Wellwood from their top three forward lines and replaced them with Martin Havlat and Michal Handzus. They have enough young talent to replace the other role-players they lost.
Meanwhile, the Sharks lost No. 3 defenceman Ian White, No. 5 Niclas Wallin and No. 7 Kent Huskins. They upgraded all three players by getting Brent Burns, Colin White and Jim Vandermeer (not better than Huskins, but better fitting the Sharks needs).
The blueline is another place where the Sharks have young, developing talent. Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic (now the team's No. 3 behind Burns), Jason Demers and Justin Braun are born after 1984, and should only continue getting better.
Most observers now believe the Sharks were better than last season. The Hockey News gave them one of three A's handed out for the offseason.
But the question they have to ask themselves now is, "Are we better than the Vancouver Canucks, the Boston Bruins or the returning-to-health Pittsburgh Penguins?"
The Eastern Conference's top seed the last two years (Washington Capitals) was the only tea ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by MJ Kasprzak
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