2006–07 San Jose Sharks season


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 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

Schedule and results

October

#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPts
1October 5St. Louis4 – 5San JoseOTToskala17,4961–0–02
2October 7NY Islanders0 – 2San JoseNabokov17,4962–0–04
3October 9San Jose4 – 1CalgaryToskala19,2893–0–06
4October 12San Jose4 – 6EdmontonNabokov16,8393–1–06
5October 13San Jose6 – 4VancouverToskala18,6304–1–08
6October 17Dallas0 – 2San JoseNabokov16,3805–1–010
7October 19Detroit1 – 5San JoseToskala17,4966–1–012
8October 21Minnesota4 – 1San JoseNabokov17,4966–2–012
9October 23San Jose3 – 0ColumbusToskala16,0677–2–014
10October 25San Jose1 – 2DetroitNabokov20,0667–3–014
11October 26San Jose3 – 4NashvilleToskala13,4367–4–014
12October 29San Jose4 – 2Tampa BayNabokov19,9048–4–016
13October 31San Jose2 – 1FloridaToskala10,0819–4–018

November

#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPts
14November 2NY Rangers3 – 1San JoseNabokov17,0919–5–018
15November 4Pittsburgh2 – 3San JoseToskala17,49610–5–020
16November 7Minnesota1 – 3San JoseNabokov17,23311–5–022
17November 9San Jose7 – 3Los AngelesToskala16,61812–5–024
18November 11San Jose2 – 1PhoenixToskala15,03613–5–026
19November 13San Jose2 – 4Los AngelesToskala16,66713–6–026
20November 15San Jose4 – 3ColoradoNabokov18,00714–6–028
21November 18Philadelphia1 – 6San JoseToskala17,49615–6–030
22November 21San Jose0 – 5AnaheimNabokov15,01315–7–030
23November 22Los Angeles3 – 6San JoseToskala17,49616–7–032
24November 25New Jersey0 – 2San JoseNabokov17,49617–7–034
25November 28San Jose2 – 0St. LouisToskala8,67918–7–036
26November 29San Jose2 – 1MinnesotaNabokov18,56819–7–038

December

#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPts
27December 2San Jose3 – 2DetroitToskala20,06620–7–040
28December 4San Jose0 – 1DallasNabokov17,05620–8–040
29December 7Colorado5 – 2San JoseToskala17,03920–9–040
30December 9Nashville1 – 3San JoseNabokov17,49621–9–042
31December 11Phoenix0 – 4San JoseToskala16,71722–9–044
32December 12San Jose3 – 1Los AngelesNabokov15,20423–9–046
33December 14Los Angeles4 – 2San JoseToskala17,49623–10–046
34December 16Anaheim3 – 4San JoseNabokov17,49624–10–048
35December 21Dallas3 – 0San JoseToskala17,49624–11–048
36December 23Calgary1 – 4San JoseNabokov17,49625–11–050
37December 26Anaheim4 – 3San JoseNabokov17,49625–12–050
38December 28Phoenix3 – 2San JoseToskala17,49625–13–050
39December 30San Jose0 – 8PhoenixNabokov17,64325–14–050
40December 31San Jose4 – 2DallasToskala18,58426–14–052

January

#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPts
41January 4Detroit4 – 9San JoseToskala17,49627–14–054
42January 6Columbus2 – 5San JoseToskala17,49628–14–056
43January 10Edmonton3 – 2San JoseNabokov17,49628–15–056
44January 11San Jose5 – 2Los AngelesToskala17,05429–15–058
45January 13San Jose4 – 1PhoenixToskala16,64230–15–060
46January 15Colorado1 – 3San JoseNabokov17,49631–15–062
47January 18Phoenix2 – 5San JoseToskala17,49632–15–064
48January 20St. Louis1 – 0San JoseNabokov17,49632–16–064
49January 26San Jose5 – 1EdmontonToskala16,83933–16–066
50January 28San Jose1 – 3VancouverNabokov18,63033–17–066
51January 30Dallas3 – 2San JoseSOToskala17,49633–17–167

February

#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPts
52February 1Dallas4 – 2San JoseToskala17,49633–18–167
53February 3Chicago2 – 4San JoseToskala17,49634–18–169
54February 6Anaheim7 – 4San JoseToskala17,49634–19–169
55February 7San Jose3 – 2AnaheimToskala17,46635–19–171
56February 13San Jose6 – 5St. LouisToskala9,23536–19–173
57February 14San Jose0 – 5NashvilleToskala13,83636–20–173
58February 16San Jose0 – 3ColumbusNabokov16,04536–21–173
59February 18San Jose2 – 5DallasNabokov17,84936–22–173
60February 21San Jose3 – 2WashingtonSONabokov13,62237–22–175
61February 22San Jose2 – 0ChicagoNabokov10,12538–22–177
62February 24San Jose4 – 7CalgaryNabokov19,28938–23–177
63February 26Anaheim3 – 2San JoseNabokov17,49638–24–177
64February 28Nashville4 – 3San JoseSONabokov17,49638–24–278

March

#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPts
65March 2San Jose1 – 3AnaheimNabokov17,17438–25–278
66March 4San Jose4 – 0DallasNabokov18,00239–25–280
67March 6San Jose3 – 0MinnesotaNabokov18,56840–25–282
68March 9Vancouver2 – 1San JoseOTNabokov17,49640–25–383
69March 11Edmonton0 – 3San JoseNabokov17,49641–25–385
70March 13Chicago1 – 7San JoseNabokov17,49642–25–387
71March 15San Jose5 – 1PhoenixNabokov17,74443–25–389
72March 16Columbus0 – 3San JoseToskala17,49644–25–391
73March 18San Jose3 – 4ColoradoOTNabokov18,00744–25–492
74March 21San Jose4 – 1ChicagoNabokov10,37445–25–494
75March 22San Jose5 – 1AtlantaToskala16,36746–25–496
76March 24San Jose4 – 6CarolinaToskala18,76346–26–496
77March 27Los Angeles1 – 3San JoseNabokov17,49647–26–498
78March 30Phoenix2 – 4San JoseNabokov17,49648–26–4100

April

#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPts
79April 1Los Angeles2 – 6San JoseNabokov17,49649–26–4102
80April 4San Jose3 – 2AnaheimSONabokov17,44050–26–4104
81April 5Calgary3 – 4San JoseNabokov17,49651–26–4106
82April 7Vancouver4 – 3San JoseOTNabokov17,49651–26–5107

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
#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceSeries
1April 11San Jose5 – 4Nashville2OTNabokov17,1131 – 0
2April 13San Jose2 – 5NashvilleNabokov17,1131 – 1
3April 16Nashville1 – 3San JoseNabokov17,4962 – 1
4April 18Nashville2 – 3San JoseNabokov17,4963 – 1
5April 20San Jose3 – 2NashvilleNabokov17,1134 – 1

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

Detroit wins series 4–2
#DateVisitorScoreHomeOTDecisionAttendanceSeries
1April 26San Jose2 – 0DetroitNabokov18,7121 – 0
2April 28San Jose2 – 3DetroitNabokov19,1131 – 1
3April 30Detroit1 – 2San JoseNabokov17,4962 – 1
4May 2Detroit3 – 2San JoseOTNabokov17,4962 – 2
5May 5San Jose1 – 4DetroitNabokov19,9372 – 3
6May 7Detroit2 – 0San JoseNabokov17,4962 – 4

Playoffs----------
Scoring----------

Transactions

Trades

Free agents acquired

Free agents lost

Waiver losses

Draft picks

San Jose's draft picks at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft held at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Round#PlayerNationalityCollege/Junior/Club Team
116Ty WishartPrince George Cougars
236Jamie McGinnOttawa 67's
498James DeLoryOshawa Generals
5143Ashton RomeKamloops Blazers
7202John McCarthyBoston University
7203Jay BarriballSioux Falls Stampede

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