Sharks the talk of NHL
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Todd McLellan knows his first two months on the job were a bigger success than a rookie NHL head coach has any right to expect.
His San Jose Sharks are the class of the league through the season’s first quarter, blowing away almost every opponent they’ve faced with speed, depth and a relentless game plan that puts dozens of shots on net each night. The Sharks’ 16-3-1 start matched the third-best mark in NHL history, even with star goalie Evgeni Nabokov sidelined by injury for several games.
Yet a good early season record isn’t what excites McLellan, who still hasn’t had time to add many personal touches to the office at the Sharks’ training complex that was occupied for 5 1/2 years by fired coach Ron Wilson.
The former Detroit assistant is much more pleased by the confidence and chemistry he sees in a club that had been good for several years, but never discovered the right combination of strategy, toughness and mental fortitude to turn that success into Stanley Cups.
“There’s always a chance” of complacency, McLellan said after his club finished a methodical 7-2 rout of Washington, one of the Eastern Conference’s top clubs, on Monday.
“It’s a human trait that it could happen, and we’re human,” McLellan added. “But we’re doing everything in our power not to let that happen to us. … We’ve got a bunch of guys here who are all on the same page, who all want to be part of something special.”
The Sharks might be Silicon Valley’s signature pro sports team, but McLellan’s approach is more Microsoft than Apple. Instead of creating revolutionary strategies to solve the Sharks’ problems, the coach borrowed heavily from the Red Wings’ impressive work during last season’s title run, adapting those schemes to a talented roster coming off three straight second-round playoff defeats.
The early results are stunning: San Jose has led the league in goals and shots for most of the regular season while winning 11 of its first 12 home games. The Sharks haven’t lost back-to-back games in regulation this season, and they had a double-digit lead in the Pacific Division over second-place Anaheim by mid-November.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what we’re doing,” said forward Jeremy Roenick, a solid veteran presence in his second season with San Jose since postponing retirement. “It’s tremendous talent and a great system, which is a pretty lethal combination.”
San Jose also doesn’t seem to be lacking grit, as the Sharks showed in early season tussles with Pacific Division rivals Anaheim and Dallas. In their biggest overall test to date, the Sharks beat Detroit 4-2 on Oct. 30 in the early chapter of a rivalry that could be revisited in the spring.
Even the champs left impressed.