Remaining Connections
Kelowna vs Portland
Rourke Chartier has 12 points in 12 games so far in the post-season for Kelowna – a pace down from his strong regular season, which also happens to be a trend among the 2014 Sharks draft class.
Alex Schoenborn has four points in 16 games on the other side for Portland. The Rockets are up 3-2 in the Conference Final with game six set to go today.
Worcester Sharks
The Worcester Sharks are no more. Dumped 3-1 by the Hershey Bears, the Sharks will turn into the Barracuda for next year. Nikolay Goldobin was held pointless through the four games of the AHL playoffs.
World Championships
Brent Burns had an assist against Latvia in his only game so far this tournament. Canada faces Germany today.
Tomas Hertl has one goal in two games for the Czech Republic. Hertl will face off against Brent Burns on Monday.
Ben Smith is pointless for the USA. The US faces Russia tomorrow.
Trading The 1st Round Pick
The Leafs Hub has a rebuilding article up where they made trades with writers that cover different teams, including a few from here at HockeyBuzz.
I’ll cut to the chase.
I traded our first round pick for Jonathan Bernier.
At the time of the deal it looked like an 11th overall finish for the Sharks so the pick ended up being higher than expected but that still wouldn’t change my stance on the deal. The New Jersey Devils sent the 9th overall pick to the Canucks for Cory Schneider and you’d be hard pressed to find someone who isn’t happy with that deal for the Devils.
The Sharks need a younger starter that has the ability to be better than Niemi and steal some games. Bernier is that guy. Did he get torched during the dumpster fire that raged on in Toronto since January? Sure he did, but I don’t really care. He’s a good goaltender and what he did prior to January is a larger sample to get indications from. Place Bernier behind a good possession team with a better defensive group and he’ll be just fine.
With Ivan Provorov most likely not available at nine, the Sharks now have a starting goaltender and can work on signing a UFA defender to boost the line. Without trading Thornton/Marleau the Sharks have to push for the win because they won’t be able to properly “rebuild” finishing just outside, or just inside, the playoffs each year.
Is it risky? All trades are, but I’d rather pretend this season didn’t happen and continue trying to chase a Stanley Cup before two of the greatest players in league history retire – because they aren’t going anywhere before then.
Thanks for reading.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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