sharks review part goaltenders as the sharks season came to a close tonight i will start a series of posts trying to revisit the players the trades the moves etc that went through for the sharks for the past season if you are uninterested since i will have the words sharks review in the subject heading in these postings you can kill them i will first try to evaluate how the players did these ratings of course are subject to my own biases but i hope that i can try to be as objective as possible i will evalute players who finished the season with the sharks and or did not play for another nhl team this season thus then let s go to the goaltenders brian hayward season th acquired from minnesota in dispersal draft grade p d it is sad that his career has to come to this dim an end a career that featured sharing three jennings trophies with patrick roy in and it would indeed be unfair for me to do anything but give him a passing grade and skip the letter grading but he had simply been awful on ice this year save for a bright spot or two and even if he had been healthy he would not be any more than the rd string goalie but hayward was a classy individual who also figured in on the sharks first ever victory the rd game of the season last year against the calgary flames as he retires the fans will remember what a good guy he was jeff hackett season rd acquired from n y islanders in expansion draft grade c hackett after deservedly winning the team mvp honors last season simply wasted the year other than a few good spots saves against los angeles almost shutout against tampa bay etc hackett finishing with save percentage and a gaa watched his status go from the team s goalie to bench decoration at the end of the season he was expected early to carry the team along instead he apparently became frustrated but the an early injury that forced him to miss games may have been a contributing factor but upon return he simply wasn t up to the task he may not return next year wade flaherty season st still eligible as rookie acquired signed as undrafted free agent grade i a it is pretty hard to evaluate a goaltender on just one game alone thus the incomplete grade but yet in the one start that he did get against the calgary flames flaherty was nothing but sharp for at least two periods he started the season poorly in kansas city but finished strong prompting the blades owner ron parker to comment that he should be a candidate for the ihl mvp honors the upcoming ihl playoffs would be a major challenge for him as he tries to make it into the nhl last year he was a capable backup for arturs irbe in the throughout the season and in the turner cup playoffs picking up all star honors along with irbe now it s time for him to show that he can share the job with irbe next year because with prospects dan ryder trevor robins and scott cashman coming along if he doesn t make it next year he may not ever arturs irbe season st acquired from minnesota in dispersal draft grade b i may yet be overly critical of irbe in a year that he clearly established that he s a bona fide nhl goaltender perhaps a bona fide goaltender he has provided most of the little highlight footage that the sharks team had getting the team s first ever shut out against the los angeles kings on december he has been fearless in and out of the net aggressively playing the puck and making passes reminding people of a young ron hextall except of course the goonism yet he still needs to develop more consistency which is hard to do with such a bad defense in front of him but if the sharks are to challenge for a playoff spot next season irbe s the key as he demonstrated in being named as a star of the game times in starts go calgary flames al macinnis for norris gary roberts for hart and smythe go edmonton oilers go for playoffs next year stay in edmonton nelson lu claudius leland stanford edu rec sport hockey contact for the san jose sharks
