Who's In: D Brad Norton (FA-DET), D Sandis Ozolinsh (FA-NYR), C Jeremy Roenick (FA-PHO) and D Alexei Semenov (FA-FLA).Who's Out: LW Mark Bell (Trade-TOR), RW Bill Guerin (FA-NYI), D Scott Hannan (FA-COL) and G Vesa Toskala (Trade-TOR).
What's Changed: Rather than augment a lineup that finished only three points behind Pacific Division champion Anaheim and tied with Dallas last season, GM Doug Wilson looked to replenish the talent pipeline.
On draft day Wilson kicked things off by shipping Bell and Toskala to Toronto in exchange for a package of draft picks that with the help of St. Louis and Buffalo he turned into Ottawa 67's Center Logan Couture at #9 overall and Defenseman Nick Petrecki at #28.
While both might be promising talents, they won't be arriving in San Jose anytime soon. Allowed to leave without much fuss were deadline acquisition Guerin and Hannan, who proved to be the most popular defenseman during the July shopping spree. Instead of keeping Hannan, Wilson opted to save $4 million over the length of a four-year contract to retain another deadline acquisition, Defenseman Craig Rivet.
The one player everyone expected to depart, Center and Team Captain Patrick Marleau, managed to make it back to training camp, though you have to wonder what his relationship with Head Coach Ron Wilson is at this point after getting called out in the media during the playoffs last season.
The one significant offseason pickup, Jeremy Roenick, looks to be ticketed for bigger things than most folks anticipated after his surprising signing a few weeks back. Wilson has made it clear that Roenick wasn't brought in to play fourth line minutes, and has spent time playing right wing on a line with Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski.
Also in camp trying to resurrect his career is veteran Ozolinsh, though you wonder what role a puck-moving defenseman like him could play on a team that already had the league's second-best power play last season.
The one thing that hasn't changed in San Jose: Expectations. With a roster that boasts Center Joe Thornton, Marleau, Goalie Evgeni Nabokov and some of the best young talent in all of hockey, those expectations have returned undiminished.
Who's on the Hook: Entering his fourth full season as Sharks Head Coach, the onus is all on Ron Wilson. The front office has delivered the talent, it's time for the coach to make it all pay off. Though the Sharks are likely the class of the Western Conference, a division title or a Presidents' Trophy most likely won't be enough to save Wilson's job. Either this team goes very deep into the playoffs -- with a berth in the Finals being a reasonable expectation -- or all the fingers get pointed at Wilson.
Where They'll Finish: With Anaheim and Dallas both one year older and suffering some significant roster losses, San Jose has to be the prohibitive favorite to finish on top in the Pacific. Granted, neither of those two teams are going to roll over and die for the Sharks, so expect the Pacific to remain the best dogfight in the NHL.
Then again, as we've already pointed out, what happens in the regular season will be merely an afterthought.
Blogs to Watch: Sharkspage (OG), Two for Elbowing, Battle of California.
Gratuitous YouTube Embed: So how up are you on Czech street slang? Probably about as well as these Sharks players are on American urban slang in this FSN feature from last season:
