2015-2016 San Jose Sharks...

the next team on my NHL previews is the team who finished 12th in the Western Conference,last season,and a team who had ten straight years,in the Stanley Cup playoffs,before collapsing to 12th,last season... in fact,they have not been the same team,since collapsing against the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings,in 2013-2014,in seven first round games,after being up 3-0,in the seven game series... the San Jose Sharks... to tell you how lopsided the Western Conference was,last season,they finished 27 points ahead of the 13th seed,the Edmonton Oilers,and 8 points behind the 8th seed,the Calgary Flames...they scored fewer goals than they allowed,by four goals... simply,their team defense,and goaltending stunk in the second half of the season... the turning point of last season,for the Sharks,happened in Detroit,when the Red Wings scored twice in the last seven minutes,turning a 2-1 Sharks' lead into a very painful 3-2 defeat,on February 26th,2015...even though they beat the Red Wings,in Detroit,6-4,exactly one month later,after that loss,in San Jose,on that February night,the team never won more than two games in a row,after that bitter loss,to the Red Wings... they then had their head coach go off to Edmonton,and even though,they signed a very good young goaltender,in Martin Jones(and Alex Stalock),they do have a very good goaltending duo who should fight it out for the starting spot in goal... however,Patrick Marleau,"Jumbo" Joe Thornton,and Joe Pavelski are over 30 years of age,along with Logan Couture,and Melkar Karlsson should stabilize the team offense,and Marc Edouard Vlasic,and Brent Burns should help the team defense... two things that may be the Sharks' achilles heel:age of the stars,and a simply brutal travel schedule,in terms of miles flown(number one on that list,unfortunately)... they must have a better home record,than they did(19-17-5),than their road record(21-16-4),last season... expect improvement,and in the crazy Western Conference,they honestly could be a playoff team,but they have to improve their record in the Pacific Division to do that,this season...