Who Sharks Fans Should Root For In Conference Finals
As a San Jose Sharks fan, the playoffs feel like they started six months ago. The only Sharks-related news since the season ended was Todd McLellan being fired and the new coach, Pete DeBoer, being hired.
Alas, we sit here twiddling our thumbs waiting for October, or at least the free agency period starting July 1st. There is hockey still being played, however, and most of us have an itch to watch some good hockey games.
The Eastern Conference finals will end tonight between the Tampa Bay Lightening and the New York Rangers in game seven, and the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks complete their long duel tomorrow night in another game seven.
Sharks fans may have no connection to any of the teams and may not know who to root for for the rest of the postseason - that's why I'm here.
Let us take a look at each team and their relevance to San Jose.
Tampa Bay Lightening
We all remember the great seasons of Dan Boyle as an undrafted defeseman for Tampa Bay before he was a Shark. Also, as an east coast team, they have not knocked the Sharks out of the playoffs or done any personal damage like the Ducks (I'll touch on that in a moment).
Tampa Bay also has Matt Carle, the former Sharks draft pick and "young stud" on the blue line. It was hard to see him go when we traded him in a package for Dan Boyle, but it looks like hes made a decent career thus far. I could root for him.
New York Rangers
Speaking of Dan Boyle, the Sharks traded him for a draft pick last offseason to the Rangers. The Sharks all-time scoring defenseman who played six wonderful seasons as a Shark was a fan-favorite and all-around good guy. James Sheppard is also on the New York roster, after playing on the Sharks from 2012 until this year.
Another former Shark, albeit not for a long time, is Dominic Moore. Many fans wont remember him - he played just 23 games for the Sharks and put up six assists before he joined New York (the team that drafted him ten years earlier).
Chicago Blackhawks
Now that we focus to the West, it's going to get personal. The Blackhawks knocked the Sharks out of the Western Conference finals back in 2010 in sweeping fashion. They went on to win the cup. The Sharks then nabbed Antti Niemi from them in the following offseason. You win some, you lose some.
The Sharks did make a trade this year with Chicago, meaning a former Shark is playing for them right now. Andrew Desjardin was a good Shark. Not at hockey, but he was another undrafted guy who rose up through the minor league ranks to earn a roster spot from 2010 to this season. Now he has a chance to ride to coattails of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to win a ring.
Anaheim Ducks
Let cut out the fat and get right to the meat. They are the Sharks rivals. They already won a cup in 2007 and they have not shut up about it. There is one former shark and he was not necessarily a fan-favorite.
It's Dany Heatley.
Now ask yourself, do you want to root for a guy who was traded for Jonathan Cheechoo (who was terrible at the time, but still a likable Shark) and Milan Michalek? You do?! What if I told you two years later, Heatley was traded to Minnesota for Martin Havlat? Ah, now we are on the same page.
There are former Sharks everywhere in the final four. Some could have been your former favorite, some could have been the guy you loved to hate. Either way, there is a lot of great playoff hockey left to watch, so try to enjoy it.
If not, then keep twiddling those thumbs.