MediterraneanGrocery Wholesalers in San Jose, CA

Editor's Note: Sheng Peng will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.

When you’re the worst team in the NHL, there’s a lot wrong with you.

But if I were to start with one thing for the San Jose Sharks to focus on this offseason, after they ended their year with a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames?

Besides drafting Macklin Celebrini.

According to SPORTLOGiQ, the Sharks are both the league’s worst in both Offensive Zone Possession Time For and Against.

For the record, they averaged 5:17 OZ Possession Time For a game, well short of the 6:45 median and 7:55 NHL best. They surrendered 8:56 OZ Possession Against a game, much worse than the 6:45 median and 5:09 league-best.

So San Jose had a significant problem with both sustaining and killing plays.

How do they take steps toward fixing that this off-season, getting harder to play against?

It’s not easy to find players who truly excel at sustaining or killing plays – but usually, improving defense is easier than improving offense.

We’re going to get more into it this week, but how strange has this Flames season been?

Rookie head coach Ryan Huska is a staunch promoter of strong starts and strong finishes to each game. That concept didn’t quite translate on a macro level to the season as a whole.

October 10-31: 2-6-1 (31st) November 1-March 7: 29-20-4 (14th) Post-trade deadline March 8-April 18: 6-13-0 (27th)

Again, lots of analysis to come on it, but there has been so many twists and turns this season. Each month has had a distinct theme. Stay tuned for a compelling post mortem. Let’s do tonight’s game first.

Calgary Flames (37-39-5, 73 pts) vs San Jose Sharks (19-53-9, 47 pts)

Last Ten: Calgary (4-6-0) San Jose (3-6-1)

Time: 7:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.

TV: Sportsnet West, NBC Sports California, ESPN+

High Notes It’s a bit of a silly stat, but the Sharks are 3-7-0 in games immediately following a loss by five or more goals. That’s not five goals total, but a differential of five or more. The fact that they’ve lost ten games by at least five goals likely says more than the stat itself.

The Sharks happen to be coming off one of the aforementioned dire losses. Edmonton shellacked San Jose 9-2 on Monday night. It’s likely that the Sharks will be sticking to system hockey tonight.

Likewise, the Flames are coming off a bad one. A 4-1 loss to the Canucks on Tuesday in a game where Calgary was simply beat by the better team. Vancouver looks ready to go on a deep run. Good for them and their fans.

A Fair Fight Unfortunately for Flames fans, they’re simply not the team that got within arms reach of a playoff position this season. As mentioned above, they’re 6-13-0 since the trade deadline. 12 points out a possible 38 spells “rebuilding”.

The Sharks are clearly a worse team both on paper and in reality, but their record isn’t far off over the same span. 4-13-2 gives them ten points.

You know what’s great about 6-13-0? That final digit. After 17 spirit-breaking overtime losses — each worse than the last — in 2022-2023, it’s just nice to not have that to deal with.

Editor’s note: Im 34, so I’ll refer to the commenters. Can you remember a season more miserable to watch than last year? I imagine seeing Nieuwendyk sit out is up there.

California Showdown A great find by former HockeyBuzz writer Sheng Peng. Los Gatos (San Jose greater area) native Logan Cooley will take on Gilroy native Dustin Wolf tonight. Gilroy just 40 minutes south of San Jose.

Sheng’s work at SJHN is unrivalled. Definitely worth a look.

Calgary Flames Projected Lineup Update coming at warmups. Coleman is back in, so there will likely be Klapka or Coronato eating popcorn tonight.

Pospisil-Kadri-Kuzmenko Sharangovich-Backlund-Coleman Huberdeau-Zary-Hunt Mangiapane-Rooney-Coronato

Weegar-Miromanov Kylington-Andersson Solovyov-Pachal

Wolf Markstrom

San Jose Sharks Projected Lineup Eklund-Granlund-Zetterlund Kostin-Kunin-Graf Bordeleau-Sturm-Gushchin Smith-Studnicka-Carpenter

Ferraro-Burroughs Vlasic-Thompson Thrun-Addison

Cooley Romanov

When you’re the worst team in the NHL, there’s a lot wrong with you.

But if I were to start with one thing for the San Jose Sharks to focus on this off-season, after they ended their year with a 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames?

Besides drafting Macklin Celebrini.

According to SPORTLOGiQ, the Sharks are both the league’s worst in both Offensive Zone Possession Time For and Against.

For the record, they averaged 5:17 OZ Possession Time For a game, well short of the 6:45 median and 7:55 NHL-best. They surrendered 8:56 OZ Possession Against a game, much worse than the 6:45 median and 5:09 league-best.

So San Jose had a significant problem with both sustaining and killing plays.

How do they take steps toward fixing that this off-season, getting harder to play against?

It’s not easy to find players who truly excel at sustaining or killing plays – but usually, improving defense is easier than improving offense.

So if I were to pick one thing to start to fix the Sharks? More players who can kill plays.

“That’s a big, big problem for us. We need to defend harder in our one-on-one situations. We need to end plays,” San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn conceded. “Right now, it’s a little too easy to get the puck away from us. And it’s very, very difficult for us to get the puck away from the other team.”

The hockey cliché is build from the goal out.

From there, perhaps San Jose can start to improve the rest of their game, one zone at a time?

In Mackenzie Blackwood, perhaps the Sharks have found their answer in goal, at least for now.

Next zone is defensive, where San Jose is hoping to kill more plays next season, lower their OZ possession time against, perhaps with some additions via trade or free agency.

“We’re anticipating a big summer and we’ll be better next year,” Quinn said.

One good play leads to another.

Kill a play, maybe you’re in a better place to initiate a clean breakout. A smoother breakout, you have a better chance of gaining the zone with clear possession or establishing a forecheck. Start with the puck in the offensive zone, have more OZ possession time.

It’s all connected.

Or at least it should be. Wait ‘til next year?

David Quinn reflects on the Sharks' season pic.twitter.com/DeuVQNBmqk

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) April 19, 2024

Quinn, on the San Jose Sharks’ inability to kill plays:

Yeah, that’s a big, big problem for us. We need to defend harder in our one-on-one situations. We need to end plays. Right now, it’s a little too easy to get the puck away from us. And it’s very, very difficult for us to get the puck away from the other team.

We’re anticipating a big summer and we’ll be better next year.

"I hope we continue to see more guys from the Bay Area make the NHL."

Devin Cooley reflects on making NHL history with Flames goalie Dustin Wolf pic.twitter.com/VDAfxAzw1O

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) April 19, 2024

Cooley, on the significance, as a Los Gatos native, of playing Gilroy native Dustin Wolf tonight:

I don’t know him personally, but I’ve been following him for a while, obviously in the American League. He’s had a great career so far.

It’s really awesome to see how far youth hockey has come in Northern California and the Bay Area and it was really cool to be able to play against him tonight.

I hope we continue to see more more guys from the Bay Area make the NHL, and at some point in the future, it’s to be expected. It’s no longer surprising.

No longer a cool thing, but like I’m making the NHL from the Bay Area, it’s like no surprise there, it’s a hockey hotbed.

Cooley, on a tough last two games to close this season:

That Edmonton game definitely took a hit on my confidence. That showed tonight. I think I reverted back to a lot of old habits tonight. Wasn’t me out there. Trying to battle through and trying to stay positive and tell myself like it’s gonna be fine and I just couldn’t beat the mental side of things tonight.

I thought I played small. I played on my heels. I was sitting back. Old habits, that’s not my game anymore.

"He's doing everything for our teammates, which is what a leader does."

Fabian Zetterlund praises Luke Kunin's leadership pic.twitter.com/ou72wQIhtg

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) April 19, 2024

Zetterlund, on Luke Kunin showing his compete to the last minute, standing up for Romanov:

I think we need more of that. Especially beginning of the games, a game is a full 60 minutes. I don’t remember the last time we played a full 60.

Zetterlund, on being the only San Jose Sharks player to play 82 games this season:

It’s nice. I feel fresh every game, try to stay in shape. Ready to go every night. That was my goal before the season, and yeah, I made it.

Burroughs, on Georgi Romanov:

Georgi is great. He’s been good for us, he’s made big saves. He’s came in, in kind of a tough position. But he’s stood tall.

He’s a pretty mellow guy. He’s funny.

Burroughs, on Mikael Granlund reaching 60 points:

He was our MVP, our MVP for a reason. Heart-and-soul guy that’s got a lot of talent, got a lot of other skills that we need up front.

He’s meant a lot. I think he’s gonna build on this. I’m sure we’ll see a better version of him next year as well.

CPKC Stadium will be the backdrop on Saturday for two teams who have shown ambition very early on in their existence.

The Current, which is in its fourth season in Kansas City, will welcome Bay FC in the midst of the visitors’ inaugural season.

While the Current has certainly shown its ambition on and off the field, Bay FC started with a bang in constructing its first roster this offseason.

Current coach Vlatko Andonovski, who has coached in the league through a multitude of expansion teams, noted how differently Bay FC has approached its first season in the NWSL

“Back in the days when Houston came in or Orlando, they were a bit different,” Andonovski said. “Where now with Bay FC, they’re immediate contenders.”

Kansas City fans will most likely recognize Alex Loera, who broke out in the first two years of her career with the Current. Names that will be well known in the broader global women’s soccer circle should be just as exciting.

Asisat Oshoala, Racheal Kundananji and Deyna Castellanos are players who have starred at the international level with Nigeria, Zambia and Venezuela, and in the European game as well.

Oshoala played for Barcelona before coming to the United States, scoring 85 goals in a little over 100 games. During her career, she was also a star for the Nigerian national team.

Kundananji is 23 years old and played with Madrid CFF where she scored 33 goals in 43 matches the last two seasons. Bay FC paid a reported $787,000 transfer fee, a world record for a women’s soccer player.

The rest of Bay FC’s roster is loaded with NWSL vets to complement the star power at the top. Hence, Andonovski’s labeling them as an immediate contender.

Building a contender-level roster doesn’t come without ambition, which the Bay FC ownership group has clearly set forth. There are parallels, too, to the Current.

The club’s ambition has manifested through investment in facilities unlike any other professional women’s sports organization. And the Current has a talented roster and a big-name coach to boot.

One of the Current’s big-name additions this offseason was Bia Zaneratto, Brazil’s star number 9, who arrived in a transfer from Palmeiras. In four games, she has two goals and two assists. She says the competitiveness of the NWSL drew her to the league.

“What caught my attention most of all was the organization, the intensity of the 90 minutes,” Zanerrato said on Friday through a translator.

It’s a sign of the times in the NWSL. The Current is coming off a road trip to Gotham FC, the defending league champions. Gotham FC broke its attendance record and has a roster loaded with U.S. women’s national team members.

Now, the Current returns home to its own mostly self-funded stadium, filled with players of international pedigree, hosting an expansion team with an equally impressive and ambition-laden roster.

Saturday’s game (set for 6:30 p.m.) should provide some fireworks on the field.

Kansas City leads the league in goals scored (12), and Bay FC is tied for third (7). On the flip side, the Current concedes the third-most goals (8), while Bay FC concedes the fourth-most (7).

Andonovski joked that the game could look something like the Current’s season-opening win against Portland, which ended 5-4.

“We are gonna stick to what we do and how we do things,” Andonovski said. “Not because of Bay FC, it’s because we believe we’re getting better, and we’re gonna keep getting better not only on the attacking side but also defensively.”

It's been almost 37 years since he retired from the game, but Sunil Gavaskar continues to get tremendous recognition both in India and abroad. The cricket legend, who first stormed the cricketing world with a magnificent show with the bat in his debut series against the West Indies in 1971, has a massive fan following across the cricketing world and beyond.

It's been almost 37 years since he retired from the game, but Sunil Gavaskar continues to get tremendous recognition both in India and abroad. The cricket legend, who first stormed the cricketing world with a magnificent show with the bat in his debut series against the West Indies in 1971, has a massive fan following across the cricketing world and beyond. In recognition of his yeoman service to cricket for the last 50 years and more, the Bruhan Maharashtra Mandal (BMM) in the USA has chosen him for the Jeevan Puraskar, an award that will be conferred upon him at a four-day function in San Jose, California from June 27 to 30. The BMM represents 54 marathi organisations in North America. In a video bmm have posted on Instagram, Gavaskar says, “I’m delighted to know that I’m being honoured with the Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar at the BMM convention in San Jose between June 27-30. Its also a wonderful opportunity for me to meet up with the Maharashtrian community in the USA, as well as the neighbouring countries, and to be able to interact with them about my life and my career. Hopefully, it will also be a double celebration of sorts, with India winning the T20 World Cup in USA in June, and so, it should be great fun there. I hope to catch up with you, look forward to see you all at the convention in San Jose.” Since he quit the game as a player, Gavaskar has virtually become the voice of India cricket through his peerless commentary. The 74-year-old is involved with charity work, mainly through the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital, and also helps needy sportspersons through his CHAMPS foundation .The BMM’s biennial event in California is likely to be attended by prominent personalities from India and people from Maharashtra who have settled in the USA. During the four-day gathering, Gavaskar, who will be in the USA to commentate in the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup in New York and Florida, will give a speech and interact with the audience in Marathi and English.