Rob Blake

After a few rough years for a very proud franchise, Avalanche fans are realizing how lucky they were to watch the star-studded teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s play night in and night out.

As we move towards the launch of a new NHL season, here is a look at the top players in the history of the Colorado Avalanche and what they were able to contribute to the team.

The Discovery Channel kicked off Shark Week, its week-long celebration of the San Jose Sharks NHL franchise, today in style, with several brand new programs about the mediocre hockey team.

The yearly tradition of changing the entire channel over from nature programming to sports and focusing on such an obscure franchise has surprisingly worked out great for the network. Families gather around the television to tune in and see what crazy footage the Discovery cameras have captured every year.

In the third piece of my series, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," assessing the San Jose Sharks offseason, we examine the ugly or non-moves of the summer. (See the following links to read about the team's good and bad decisions in free agency.)

The thing that makes these decisions ugly is the business of the NHL: It is not so much that they were bad moves as they were unfortunate, but necessary, to keep a competitive team under the salary cap.

The San Jose Sharks once again fell short of expectations this past season as they failed to win the Stanley Cup despite finishing first in the Western Conference during the regular season.

And as it turns out, that failure against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference finals will be the last series that Sharks defenseman Rob Blake will ever play.

The 20-year NHL veteran is reportedly going to announce his retirement sometime next week.

This past season was Blake's second in San Jose but it was the first and only season in which he was their team captain.

A former captain with t

Rob Blake spent his final two seasons in San Jose and was the Sharks captain for his final year in the NHL.

The veteran defenseman earned many accolades throughout his 20-year career, including hoisting the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001.

In 1998, Blake won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best blueliner, and in 2002, he played on Team Canada's gold-medal squad.

Blake was a seven-time All-Star, and he scored 240 goals over his career with 537 assists. He had more than 40 points in a season for 12 different years.

According to NHL.com, citing a report from Comcast Sports Net Bay Area, Rob Blake will announce his retirement in the days following the NHL Stanley Cup Finals that ended tonight.

He is a no-brain Hall of Fame inductee. Blake is one of 22 members of the Triple Gold Club: Players who have won a Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold Medal, and World Championships Gold Medal.

When the San Jose Sharks decided to take the captaincy away from five-year captain Patrick Marleau last off season, almost the entire fan base was in unison on who should handle the role.

Of course, it’s a no brainer; Dan Boyle was the ONLY option that made sense for captain.

But Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, GM Doug Wilson and the rest of the club's front office landed on the then 39-year-old defenseman Rob Blake to take on the responsibility.

After Patrick Marleau had the captaincy taken from him, it was given to the team’s third-most important player facing unrestricted free agency, veteran Rob Blake.

NHL Buzz is a new blog that I will be doing based on rumors I hear, giving you a taste of what could or will happen.

— Buzz around the NHL is that Sharks captain Rob Blake will retire.

— It is possible that the Florida Panthers will trade the 3rd overall pick as they are looking for an offensive player and the best ranked players around the three spot are defensemen.

— Leafs General Manager Brian Burke does not like the asking price for Nikolai Kulemin.

There's a hockey buzz in Northern California unlike anything the Bay Area has felt in quite a while. After years of playoff exits, potential unfulfilled, and continual postseason failure the Sharks have reached the Western Conference Finals for just the second time in team history.

Before we preview the Blackhawks, let's flash back to Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinal between the San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche. The game in which needs no review for Sharks fans, and the now famous goal-heard-round the world by Dan Boyle in OT.