Sharks Deadline Moves Not Enough to Turn this Season Around

            Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson made a trade just hours before the trade deadline today. He acquired forwards Daniel Winnik and T.J. Galiardi. These two players are third line players who will provide great penalty killing as well as the occasional goals. They also bring size and good defense to the team. However, the Sharks have so many holes that these trades alone are not going to turn around the teams misfortunes.

            While Winnik and Galiardi are decent players they are only role players. They are not going to score goals frequently. They are not going to amaze you on offense. They are not going to be relied on to score that needed goal to tie a game with just a minute left. They are not going to be the guys who will score important goals in the postseason that advance the team to the next round.  Wilson needed to get a big time goal scorer and didn’t do it.

            Now that the trade deadline has passed without major moves, many things have to happen for the Sharks to turn around their season. First of all, Antti Niemi and Thomas Greiss have to stop giving up so many goals each game. As the goaltenders, they have the most important job on the ice. They are the last line of defense. They can’t give up soft goals. If they keep struggling like they are currently, the Sharks will not get far in the playoffs if they’re lucky enough to reach that point.     

            Second, the Sharks need Douglas Murray and Martin Havlat back. I believe the team is missing Murray right now. His physical presence on the ice intimidates opposing offensive players which makes Murray a great defender. It’s no coincidence that Murray has been injured during the majority of the Sharks bad nine game road trip. That is why they need him back to help the defense. Since the team didn’t acquire a big goal scorer, they are going to have to rely on Havlat to score some goals. If Havlat can go on an offensive tear, the offense in general will be where it is expected to be. They also need Havlat to stay healthy for the rest of the season. That means no more freak injuries.

            Finally, the team needs to play better on the penalty kill.  History shows that a team cannot win a lot of games if they are bad at penalty killing. The Sharks need to improve on that. Winnik and Galiardi will help in this department along with Dominic Moore, but the team’s defensive men also need to pick up their game.

            I don’t see all of these keys happening for the Sharks. Everything has to go in place at the same time and the schedule is getting closer to an end. Doug Wilson’s moves will help but they don’t solve all of the teams needs.