2006–07 San Jose Sharks season

2006–07 San Jose Sharks
Division	2nd Pacific
Conference	5th Western
2006–07 record	51–26–5
Home record	25–12–4
Road record	26–14–1
Goals for	258
Goals against	199
Team information
General Manager	Doug Wilson
Coach	Ron Wilson
Captain	Patrick Marleau
Alternate captains	Scott Hannan Joe Thornton
Arena	HP Pavilion at San Jose
Average attendance	17,496
Team leaders
Goals	Jonathan Cheechoo (37)
Assists	Joe Thornton (92)
Points	Joe Thornton (114)
Penalties in minutes	Mark Bell (83)
Plus/minus	Joe Thornton (+24)
Wins	Vesa Toskala (26)
Goals against average	Evgeni Nabokov (2.29)
<2005–06	2007–08>

The San Jose Sharks 2006–07 season was the 16th season played by the franchise.

Offseason

During the 2006 offseason, the San Jose Sharks made significant changes in order to bolster their defense and team grit. The Sharks signed Mike Grier from the Buffalo Sabres and former Shark Curtis Brown from the Chicago Blackhawks, two forwards noted for their defense prowess on both sides of the ice. After signing the two veterans, General Manager Doug Wilson traded their top offensive defenceman in 2005–06, Tom Preissing, to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for centre Mark Bell of the Chicago Blackhawks in a three-way trade involving Martin Havlat going from Ottawa to the Blackhawks. Wilson then traded underachieving winger Nils Ekman to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In August, to round off their flurry of trades, the Sharks signed veterans Mathieu Biron and Patrick Traverse. The Sharks also signed Graham Mink and Scott Ferguson to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Worcester Sharks. On October 2, 2006, the Sharks acquired Vladimir Malakhov and a first-round conditional draft pick in exchange for Jim Fahey and Alexander Korolyuk, who was playing in Russia at the time.

Regular season

The Sharks got off to a sizzling 20–7–0 start, the best in franchise history. Shortly after, however, several key players missed time due to injuries, and the Sharks continued to struggle with consistency as their results dropped off. At the end of February, they lost four games in a row, their longest losing streak of the season.

When the trading deadline approached, Wilson used some of his carefully acquired assets to address the team's areas of need, trading draft picks and prospects for Craig Rivet from the Montreal Canadiens and Bill Guerin from the St. Louis Blues. With Rivet playing quality minutes on defense and Guerin scoring goals on offense, the Sharks began winning at a torrid pace, finishing the last 16 games of the regular season with a record of 13–1–3. They concluded the regular season with a total record of 51–26–5 for 107 points, the most wins and points in franchise history. However, in a competitive Western Conference, their record was only good enough for the fifth playoff seed, and they had to open the playoffs on the road.

The Sharks spent the majority of the season rotating their two goaltenders, Vesa Toskala and Evgeni Nabokov, every other game. The only time either one played for an extended period of time was when the other was injured or otherwise unable to play. When Toskala injured his groin, Nabokov made 14-straight starts and played arguably the best hockey of his career, significantly contributing to the Sharks' late-season spate of victories. As a result, despite Toskala's return from injury, Head Coach Ron Wilson retained Nabokov as the number one goaltender to finish the regular season and enter into the playoffs.

The Sharks iced four rookies during the season: Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Matt Carle, Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski, with each making significant contributions to the team's success. Vlasic, at just 19-years-of-age, was not expected to make the team, but put together an impressive pre-season performance and was on the Sharks' opening night roster. He went on to play 81 games, leading all NHL rookie defensemen in average ice time at over 21 minutes per game, and was arguably the Sharks' most consistent defenceman the whole season.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Sharks met the Nashville Predators, and advanced to the second round after defeating them 4 games to 1 for the second-straight season. They then fell to the Detroit Red Wings in the semi-finals in six games.

Season standings

Pacific Division

No.	CR		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	2	Anaheim Ducks	82	48	20	14	258	208	110
2	5	San Jose Sharks	82	51	26	5	258	199	107
3	6	Dallas Stars	82	50	25	7	226	197	107
4	14	Los Angeles Kings	82	27	41	14	227	283	68
5	15	Phoenix Coyotes	82	31	46	5	216	284	67

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime/shootout loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; PIM = Penalties in minutes; Pts = Points
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Schedule and results

October

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
1	October 5	St. Louis	4 – 5	San Jose	OT	Toskala	17,496	1–0–0	2
2	October 7	NY Islanders	0 – 2	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	2–0–0	4
3	October 9	San Jose	4 – 1	Calgary		Toskala	19,289	3–0–0	6
4	October 12	San Jose	4 – 6	Edmonton		Nabokov	16,839	3–1–0	6
5	October 13	San Jose	6 – 4	Vancouver		Toskala	18,630	4–1–0	8
6	October 17	Dallas	0 – 2	San Jose		Nabokov	16,380	5–1–0	10
7	October 19	Detroit	1 – 5	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	6–1–0	12
8	October 21	Minnesota	4 – 1	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	6–2–0	12
9	October 23	San Jose	3 – 0	Columbus		Toskala	16,067	7–2–0	14
10	October 25	San Jose	1 – 2	Detroit		Nabokov	20,066	7–3–0	14
11	October 26	San Jose	3 – 4	Nashville		Toskala	13,436	7–4–0	14
12	October 29	San Jose	4 – 2	Tampa Bay		Nabokov	19,904	8–4–0	16
13	October 31	San Jose	2 – 1	Florida		Toskala	10,081	9–4–0	18

November

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
14	November 2	NY Rangers	3 – 1	San Jose		Nabokov	17,091	9–5–0	18
15	November 4	Pittsburgh	2 – 3	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	10–5–0	20
16	November 7	Minnesota	1 – 3	San Jose		Nabokov	17,233	11–5–0	22
17	November 9	San Jose	7 – 3	Los Angeles		Toskala	16,618	12–5–0	24
18	November 11	San Jose	2 – 1	Phoenix		Toskala	15,036	13–5–0	26
19	November 13	San Jose	2 – 4	Los Angeles		Toskala	16,667	13–6–0	26
20	November 15	San Jose	4 – 3	Colorado		Nabokov	18,007	14–6–0	28
21	November 18	Philadelphia	1 – 6	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	15–6–0	30
22	November 21	San Jose	0 – 5	Anaheim		Nabokov	15,013	15–7–0	30
23	November 22	Los Angeles	3 – 6	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	16–7–0	32
24	November 25	New Jersey	0 – 2	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	17–7–0	34
25	November 28	San Jose	2 – 0	St. Louis		Toskala	8,679	18–7–0	36
26	November 29	San Jose	2 – 1	Minnesota		Nabokov	18,568	19–7–0	38

December

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
27	December 2	San Jose	3 – 2	Detroit		Toskala	20,066	20–7–0	40
28	December 4	San Jose	0 – 1	Dallas		Nabokov	17,056	20–8–0	40
29	December 7	Colorado	5 – 2	San Jose		Toskala	17,039	20–9–0	40
30	December 9	Nashville	1 – 3	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	21–9–0	42
31	December 11	Phoenix	0 – 4	San Jose		Toskala	16,717	22–9–0	44
32	December 12	San Jose	3 – 1	Los Angeles		Nabokov	15,204	23–9–0	46
33	December 14	Los Angeles	4 – 2	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	23–10–0	46
34	December 16	Anaheim	3 – 4	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	24–10–0	48
35	December 21	Dallas	3 – 0	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	24–11–0	48
36	December 23	Calgary	1 – 4	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	25–11–0	50
37	December 26	Anaheim	4 – 3	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	25–12–0	50
38	December 28	Phoenix	3 – 2	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	25–13–0	50
39	December 30	San Jose	0 – 8	Phoenix		Nabokov	17,643	25–14–0	50
40	December 31	San Jose	4 – 2	Dallas		Toskala	18,584	26–14–0	52

January

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
41	January 4	Detroit	4 – 9	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	27–14–0	54
42	January 6	Columbus	2 – 5	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	28–14–0	56
43	January 10	Edmonton	3 – 2	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	28–15–0	56
44	January 11	San Jose	5 – 2	Los Angeles		Toskala	17,054	29–15–0	58
45	January 13	San Jose	4 – 1	Phoenix		Toskala	16,642	30–15–0	60
46	January 15	Colorado	1 – 3	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	31–15–0	62
47	January 18	Phoenix	2 – 5	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	32–15–0	64
48	January 20	St. Louis	1 – 0	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	32–16–0	64
49	January 26	San Jose	5 – 1	Edmonton		Toskala	16,839	33–16–0	66
50	January 28	San Jose	1 – 3	Vancouver		Nabokov	18,630	33–17–0	66
51	January 30	Dallas	3 – 2	San Jose	SO	Toskala	17,496	33–17–1	67

February

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
52	February 1	Dallas	4 – 2	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	33–18–1	67
53	February 3	Chicago	2 – 4	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	34–18–1	69
54	February 6	Anaheim	7 – 4	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	34–19–1	69
55	February 7	San Jose	3 – 2	Anaheim		Toskala	17,466	35–19–1	71
56	February 13	San Jose	6 – 5	St. Louis		Toskala	9,235	36–19–1	73
57	February 14	San Jose	0 – 5	Nashville		Toskala	13,836	36–20–1	73
58	February 16	San Jose	0 – 3	Columbus		Nabokov	16,045	36–21–1	73
59	February 18	San Jose	2 – 5	Dallas		Nabokov	17,849	36–22–1	73
60	February 21	San Jose	3 – 2	Washington	SO	Nabokov	13,622	37–22–1	75
61	February 22	San Jose	2 – 0	Chicago		Nabokov	10,125	38–22–1	77
62	February 24	San Jose	4 – 7	Calgary		Nabokov	19,289	38–23–1	77
63	February 26	Anaheim	3 – 2	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	38–24–1	77
64	February 28	Nashville	4 – 3	San Jose	SO	Nabokov	17,496	38–24–2	78

March

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
65	March 2	San Jose	1 – 3	Anaheim		Nabokov	17,174	38–25–2	78
66	March 4	San Jose	4 – 0	Dallas		Nabokov	18,002	39–25–2	80
67	March 6	San Jose	3 – 0	Minnesota		Nabokov	18,568	40–25–2	82
68	March 9	Vancouver	2 – 1	San Jose	OT	Nabokov	17,496	40–25–3	83
69	March 11	Edmonton	0 – 3	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	41–25–3	85
70	March 13	Chicago	1 – 7	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	42–25–3	87
71	March 15	San Jose	5 – 1	Phoenix		Nabokov	17,744	43–25–3	89
72	March 16	Columbus	0 – 3	San Jose		Toskala	17,496	44–25–3	91
73	March 18	San Jose	3 – 4	Colorado	OT	Nabokov	18,007	44–25–4	92
74	March 21	San Jose	4 – 1	Chicago		Nabokov	10,374	45–25–4	94
75	March 22	San Jose	5 – 1	Atlanta		Toskala	16,367	46–25–4	96
76	March 24	San Jose	4 – 6	Carolina		Toskala	18,763	46–26–4	96
77	March 27	Los Angeles	1 – 3	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	47–26–4	98
78	March 30	Phoenix	2 – 4	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	48–26–4	100

April

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
79	April 1	Los Angeles	2 – 6	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	49–26–4	102
80	April 4	San Jose	3 – 2	Anaheim	SO	Nabokov	17,440	50–26–4	104
81	April 5	Calgary	3 – 4	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	51–26–4	106
82	April 7	Vancouver	4 – 3	San Jose	OT	Nabokov	17,496	51–26–5	107

• Green background indicates win.
• Red background indicates regulation loss.
• White background indicates overtime/shootout loss.

Playoffs

The San Jose Sharks ended the 2006–07 regular season as the Western Conference's fifth seed.

Western Conference Quarter-finals: vs. (4) Nashville Predators

San Jose wins series 4–1

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Series
1	April 11	San Jose	5 – 4	Nashville	2OT	Nabokov	17,113	1 – 0
2	April 13	San Jose	2 – 5	Nashville		Nabokov	17,113	1 – 1
3	April 16	Nashville	1 – 3	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	2 – 1
4	April 18	Nashville	2 – 3	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	3 – 1
5	April 20	San Jose	3 – 2	Nashville		Nabokov	17,113	4 – 1

Western Conference Semi-finals: vs. (1) Detroit Red Wings

Detroit wins series 4–2

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Series
1	April 26	San Jose	2 – 0	Detroit		Nabokov	18,712	1 – 0
2	April 28	San Jose	2 – 3	Detroit		Nabokov	19,113	1 – 1
3	April 30	Detroit	1 – 2	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	2 – 1
4	May 2	Detroit	3 – 2	San Jose	OT	Nabokov	17,496	2 – 2
5	May 5	San Jose	1 – 4	Detroit		Nabokov	19,937	2 – 3
6	May 7	Detroit	2 – 0	San Jose		Nabokov	17,496	2 – 4

• Green background indicates win.
• Red background indicates loss.

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Joe Thornton C 82 22 92 114 44 24 10 0 5 Patrick Marleau C 77 32 46 78 33 9 14 0 9 Jonathan Cheechoo RW 76 37 32 69 69 11 15 0 5 Milan Michalek RW 78 26 40 66 36 17 11 0 9 Matt Carle D 77 11 31 42 30 9 8 0 1 Ryane Clowe RW 58 16 18 34 78 4 4 0 3 Mike Grier RW 81 16 17 33 43 -5 2 3 1 Christian Ehrhoff D 82 10 23 33 63 8 6 0 2 Steve Bernier RW 62 15 16 31 29 5 6 0 4 Joe Pavelski C 46 14 14 28 18 4 5 0 3 Marc-Edouard Vlasic D 81 3 23 26 18 13 2 0 0 Scott Hannan D 79 4 20 24 38 1 0 1 1 Patrick Rissmiller LW 79 7 15 22 22 1 1 0 0 Mark Bell C 71 11 10 21 83 -9 3 0 2 Curtis Brown C/LW 78 8 12 20 56 -2 0 2 3 Kyle McLaren D 67 5 12 17 61 10 1 0 0 Marcel Goc C 78 5 8 13 24 -2 0 1 0 Mark Smith C 41 3 10 13 42 -4 2 0 0 Bill Guerin RW 16 8 1 9 14 2 2 0 1 Craig Rivet D 17 1 7 8 12 8 0 0 0 Josh Gorges D 47 1 3 4 26 -3 0 0 0 Douglas Murray D 35 0 3 3 31 0 0 0 0 Vesa Toskala G 38 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 Ville Nieminen LW 30 1 1 2 14 -7 0 0 0 Rob Davison D 22 0 2 2 27 -2 0 0 0 Mathieu Darche LW 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Evgeni Nabokov G 50 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 Scott Parker RW 11 0 0 0 22 0 0 0 0 Tomas Plihal C 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L OTL GA GAA SO SA SV SV% Vesa Toskala 2142 38 26 10 1 84 2.35 4 915 831 .908 Evgeni Nabokov 2778 50 25 16 4 106 2.29 7 1227 1121 .914 Team: 4920 82 51 26 5 190 2.32 11 2142 1952 .911

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Joe Thornton C 11 1 10 11 10 2 0 0 0 Ryane Clowe RW 11 4 2 6 17 -2 0 0 1 Milan Michalek RW 11 4 2 6 4 3 0 0 1 Jonathan Cheechoo RW 11 3 3 6 6 1 1 0 1 Patrick Marleau C 11 3 3 6 2 -5 1 0 1 Matt Carle D 11 2 3 5 0 3 1 0 1 Craig Rivet D 11 2 3 5 18 -5 1 0 0 Mike Grier RW 11 2 2 4 27 1 0 0 0 Patrick Rissmiller LW 11 1 3 4 0 1 0 0 1 Kyle McLaren D 11 0 4 4 10 -2 0 0 0 Marcel Goc C 11 2 1 3 4 3 0 0 0 Curtis Brown C/LW 11 0 2 2 2 1 0 0 0 Christian Ehrhoff D 11 0 2 2 6 1 0 0 0 Bill Guerin RW 9 0 2 2 12 -3 0 0 0 Scott Hannan D 11 0 2 2 33 4 0 0 0 Joe Pavelski C 6 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 Steve Bernier RW 11 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 Marc-Edouard Vlasic D 11 0 1 1 2 5 0 0 0 Mark Bell C 4 0 0 0 2 -2 0 0 0 Evgeni Nabokov G 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mark Smith C 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO SA SV SV% Evgeni Nabokov 701 11 6 5 26 2.23 1 323 297 .920 Team: 701 11 6 5 26 2.23 1 323 297 .920

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

External links

• Official site of the San Jose Sharks

See also

• 2006–07 NHL Season

References

• Game log: San Jose Sharks game log on espn.com
• Team standings: NHL standings on espn.com
• Player Stats: San Jose Sharks 2006-07 Reg. Season Stats on espn.com
• Draft Picks: 2006 NHL Entry Draft
• Team Website: San Jose Sharks
• Team Info: San Jose Sharks Info on Yahoo Sports
• League Website: NHL.com