Dan Boyle

Dan Boyle broke his foot against Minnesota on November 10, but only the San Jose Sharks and Boyle's family knew that fact. In the month that followed, he had no goals, one assist and a minus-six rating in 12 games.

During that time, there were numerous calls for him to be traded, including from many of my colleagues here. He is washed up, he has lost a step, he is not good in his own end...

It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. Especially in the preseason.

The Sharks suited up last night against a Vancouver Canucks team that was without their best five players, including the Sedin twins.

The Sharks ended up taking the victory easily and, from the first look this reporter has had at the new team this year, have showed some improvements on the year before.

The San Jose Sharks have all of the makings to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender this season.

The San Jose Sharks enter Monday currently seated third in the Western Conference. After hitting a little bit of a rough patch earlier in the month, the Sharks appear to be back on track with a three-game winning streak.

The San Jose Sharks are 10 games and 3 weeks away from the end of the regular season. They've collected points in 21 of their last 25 games. With just a one point lead in the Pacific Division entering their match up with the St. Louis Blues, they entered into the face of the storm Saturday night. The Sharks have fared very well since their last meeting with the Blues, going a total 24-3 since January 15.

The Phil Kessel drama continues.

A year after the Toronto Maple Leafs' General Manager acquired the star sniper from the Boston Bruins, things continue to deteriorate.

Not only is Kessel on pace for another low-50's point total, but the Leafs as a whole continue to struggle heavily and once again find themselves in the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

And now it comes out in the media that Kessel and Leafs head coach Ron Wilson aren't on speaking terms.

Yikes.

The San Jose Sharks are hoping that their play coming out of the All-Star break is nothing like their last time.

After all, the last break we saw Team Teal emerge from had them dip into their worst losing streak since 1997, losing eight of 10 games. Blowing late game leads and failing to close out games were some pretty ugly marks during the stretch. Losing two home games to Eastern Conference teams currently out of the playoff mix wasn't pretty either.

The Sharks would travel to Vancouver in a rubber match of their 4-3 January 3rd loss at HP Pavilion.

The Canucks lead the Western Conference with 66 points and have been one of the best, if not the best, teams to this point.

In Hockey, like all sports, great players can carry teams through difficult times. But in Hockey, more-so than any other sport, winning championships requires an abundance of depth. The San Jose Sharks have entered another season with only one thing in mind: The Stanley Cup. Anything short of going all the way will be considered a complete failure. The Sharks have finished first in the West two years running, and don't even have a single win in a conference finals game to show for it. They spent their off-season and pre-season modifying their roster and approach.

A familiar foe comes calling tonight as the Sharks will host the Anaheim Ducks at the Shark Tank. These two teams need no introduction as this intrastate rivalry kicks off for the 2010 NHL Season.

The Sharks will look to notch another W for the fourth time in five games tonight after dispatching the reeling New Jersey Devils 5-2.

As Drew Doughty emerges as a top candidate for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman, more parallels exist between him and the best defenseman ever to play the game.

Now in his third season, Doughty was the talk of the preseason. Loads of analysts and pundits were predicting that he would rise to the top spot as a defenseman to capture the Norris Trophy and lead his team to an extended birth in the Stanley Cup playoffs.