# 2011–12 San Jose Sharks season

The 2011–12 San Jose Sharks season was the team's 21st season in the National Hockey League (NHL).

## Offseason

The Sharks, disappointed in their playoff results, traded away two major players of their team to the Minnesota Wild. Devin Setoguchi was traded for Brent Burns, and Dany Heatley was traded for Martin Havlat. Burns was targeted to fill a hole on the Sharks as a shut-down defensive presence. Heatley was traded after posting disappointing playoff results.

## Season recap
### Regular season

The preseason was successful, ending in a 5–1–0 record with the only loss came to Phoenix.
The Sharks started the season rather slowly; they gained a win at their opener at home against Phoenix but then lost three straight. Afterwards, the Sharks won the first five games on their six-game road trip. The win against the Devils came on a shootout, with Joe Thornton participating in his 1000th NHL career game, and the win against the Islanders by a sudden-death goal from Brent Burns, so the Sharks won both games that went into overtime. They ended this road trip with a loss against the Rangers before heading back home for a six-game stand. The first one was a win after shootout against the Penguins before losing the first game after overtime to the Predators before the next two games were won. The home stand ended with five wins and only one loss, coming against the Coyotes. The Sharks took over the first position in the Pacific Division in November and had 13 wins in the books after 20 games. After that, the Sharks lost four out of five with the only win vs. the Canadiens by a shootout. The Sharks just won one of the next five games, before they went on a four-game winning streak to take the top spot in the Pacific Division over Christmas. December was finished with two losses to the Ducks and Canucks.
The new year started with two wins on the road, another one at home and the number 1 spot in the division. After an away overtime loss vs. the Wild the Sharks captured their second shutout victory in a 2–0 win over the Jets. January was ended with two shutouts by Antti Niemi and at top of their division. February included an unsuccessful nine-game road trip.
The Sharks clinched a playoff spot on the fifth of April, their 81st game of the regular season.
The Sharks were the most disciplined team during the regular season, with only 225 power-play opportunities against.

### Playoffs

In the playoffs, the Sharks faced the St. Louis Blues, a number 2 seed, in the first round, the conference quarterfinals in a best-of-seven series. The Sharks won Game 1 by a score of 3–2 after double overtime by a goal from Martin Havlat who scored twice, with Andrew Desjardins sent this game into overtime with his goal five minutes before the end of regulation. Game 2 was won by the Blues, who scored once every period, 3–0. The Blues continued their dominance by posting a 4–3 victory in Game 3, with two of the three goals by the Sharks coming in the waning minutes of the third period. The Blues then won a second straight game in San Jose, in Game 4, by a score of 2–1. The Blues led the series 3–1. With coming back over to St. Louis, the Sharks went into the third period with a lead, courtesy of a goal from Joe Thornton. The Blues, however, answered with two quick goals in the middle of the last period and scored another goal late in the game to capture the series in five games.

## Standings

Pacific Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Phoenix Coyotes | 82 | 42 | 27 | 13 | 36 | 216 | 204 | +12 | 97 |
| 2 | x – San Jose Sharks | 82 | 43 | 29 | 10 | 34 | 228 | 210 | +18 | 96 |
| 3 | x – Los Angeles Kings | 82 | 40 | 27 | 15 | 34 | 194 | 179 | +15 | 95 |
| 4 | Dallas Stars | 82 | 42 | 35 | 5 | 35 | 211 | 222 | −11 | 89 |
| 5 | Anaheim Ducks | 82 | 34 | 36 | 12 | 31 | 204 | 231 | −27 | 80 |
Western Conference :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | NW | p – Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 51 | 22 | 9 | 43 | 249 | 198 | +51 | 111 |
| 2 | CE | y – St. Louis Blues | 82 | 49 | 22 | 11 | 45 | 210 | 165 | +45 | 109 |
| 3 | PA | y – Phoenix Coyotes | 82 | 42 | 27 | 13 | 36 | 216 | 204 | +12 | 97 |
| 4 | CE | x – Nashville Predators | 82 | 48 | 26 | 8 | 43 | 237 | 210 | +27 | 104 |
| 5 | CE | x – Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 48 | 28 | 6 | 39 | 248 | 203 | +45 | 102 |
| 6 | CE | x – Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 45 | 26 | 11 | 38 | 248 | 238 | +10 | 101 |
| 7 | PA | x – San Jose Sharks | 82 | 43 | 29 | 10 | 34 | 228 | 210 | +18 | 96 |
| 8 | PA | x – Los Angeles Kings | 82 | 40 | 27 | 15 | 34 | 194 | 179 | +15 | 95 |
| 9 | NW | Calgary Flames | 82 | 37 | 29 | 16 | 34 | 202 | 226 | −24 | 90 |
| 10 | PA | Dallas Stars | 82 | 42 | 35 | 5 | 35 | 211 | 222 | −11 | 89 |
| 11 | NW | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 41 | 35 | 6 | 32 | 208 | 220 | −12 | 88 |
| 12 | NW | Minnesota Wild | 82 | 35 | 36 | 11 | 24 | 177 | 226 | −49 | 81 |
| 13 | PA | Anaheim Ducks | 82 | 34 | 36 | 12 | 31 | 204 | 231 | −27 | 80 |
| 14 | NW | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 32 | 40 | 10 | 27 | 212 | 239 | −27 | 74 |
| 15 | CE | Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 29 | 46 | 7 | 25 | 202 | 262 | −60 | 65 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

* Green background indicates win (2 points).
* Red background indicates regulation loss (0 points).
* White background indicates overtime/shootout loss (1 point).
2011–12 Game Log: 43–29–10 (Home: 26–12–3; Road: 17–17–7) :

### Playoffs

The Sharks clinched a playoff spot and made their eighth consecutive appearance in the playoffs.
2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Updated April 21, 2012.
Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Joe Thornton | 82 | 18 | 59 | 77 | +17 | 31 |
| Logan Couture | 80 | 31 | 34 | 65 | +2 | 16 |
| Patrick Marleau | 82 | 30 | 34 | 64 | +10 | 26 |
| Joe Pavelski | 82 | 31 | 30 | 61 | +18 | 31 |
| Dan Boyle | 81 | 9 | 39 | 48 | +10 | 57 |
| Ryane Clowe | 76 | 17 | 28 | 45 | −5 | 97 |
| Brent Burns | 81 | 11 | 26 | 37 | +8 | 34 |
| Martin Havlat | 39 | 7 | 20 | 27 | +10 | 22 |
| Jamie McGinn$^‡$ | 61 | 12 | 12 | 24 | +1 | 26 |
| Michal Handzus | 67 | 7 | 17 | 24 | −6 | 18 |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | 82 | 4 | 19 | 23 | +11 | 40 |
| Torrey Mitchell | 76 | 9 | 10 | 19 | −6 | 29 |
| Andrew Desjardins | 76 | 4 | 13 | 17 | +4 | 47 |
| Jason Demers | 57 | 4 | 9 | 13 | −8 | 22 |
| Justin Braun | 66 | 2 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 23 |
| Brad Winchester | 67 | 6 | 4 | 10 | −5 | 88 |
| Tommy Wingels | 33 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −1 | 18 |
| Benn Ferriero | 35 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Dominic Moore$^†$ | 23 | 0 | 6 | 6 | −8 | 6 |
| Daniel Winnik$^†$ | 21 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 10 |
| Colin White | 54 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −5 | 21 |
| Douglas Murray | 60 | 0 | 4 | 4 | +3 | 31 |
| Jim Vandermeer | 25 | 1 | 3 | 4 | +3 | 33 |
| Andrew Murray | 39 | 1 | 3 | 4 | +3 | 4 |
| TJ Galiardi$^†$ | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 6 |
| John McCarthy | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 10 |
| Frazer McLaren | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Joe Thornton | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | +2 | 2 |
| Logan Couture | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 0 |
| Martin Havlat | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −1 | 8 |
| Ryane Clowe | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −3 | 0 |
| Dan Boyle | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Brent Burns | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 4 |
| Colin White | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Torrey Mitchell | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Daniel Winnik | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 6 |
| Andrew Desjardins | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 |
| Tommy Wingels | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 7 |
| Michal Handzus | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrick Marleau | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
| Douglas Murray | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 19 |
| Brad Winchester | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dominic Moore | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 5 |
| Joe Pavelski | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 5 |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |
| TJ Galiardi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 6 |
| Justin Braun | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 15 |
| Jason Demers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |

### Goaltenders

GP = Games played; MIN = Time On Ice in minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; SV = Saves; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; G = Goals; A = Assists; PEN = Penalty Time in minutes
Regular season :
| Player | GP | MIN | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Antti Niemi | 68 | 3936 | 34 | 22 | 9 | 159 | 2.42 | 1865 | .915 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Thomas Greiss | 19 | 1043 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 40 | 2.30 | 472 | .915 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Antti Niemi | 5 | 318 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 2.45 | 151 | .914 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Sharks. Stats reflect time with the Sharks only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards, records, milestones
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | NHL Second Star of the Week | November 21, 2011 |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Tommy Wingels | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | October 8, 2011 |
| Joe Thornton | 1,000th Career NHL Game | October 21, 2011 |
| Joe Thornton | 700th Career NHL Assist | October 25, 2011 |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | 400th Career NHL Game | November 3, 2011 |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | 100th Career NHL Assist | November 20, 2011 |
| Andrew Murray | 200th Career NHL Game | November 23, 2011 |
| Patrick Marleau | 800th Career NHL Point | January 10, 2012 |
| Tommy Wingels | 1st Career NHL Goal | January 15, 2012 |
| Brent Burns | 200th Career NHL Point | January 17, 2012 |
| Logan Couture | 100th Career NHL Point | January 23, 2012 |
| Dan Boyle | 800th Career NHL Game | January 31, 2012 |
| Brent Burns | 500th Career NHL Game | January 31, 2012 |
| Douglas Murray | 400th Career NHL Game | January 31, 2012 |
| Joe Pavelski | 400th Career NHL Game | February 8, 2012 |
| Michal Handzus | 900th Career NHL Game | February 21, 2012 |
| Patrick Marleau | 1,100th Career NHL Game | March 8, 2012 |
| Dan Boyle | 500th Career NHL Point | March 26, 2012 |
| Joe Pavelski | 300th Career NHL Point | March 26, 2012 |
| Ryan Clowe | 100th Career NHL Goal | April 3, 2012 |
| Daniel Winnik | 100th Career NHL Point | April 3, 2012 |

## Transactions

The Sharks have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011–12 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 24, 2011 | To Minnesota Wild Charlie Coyle Devin Setoguchi 1st-round pick in 2011 | To San Jose Sharks Brent Burns 2nd-round pick in 2012 |
| June 25, 2011 | To Florida Panthers 2nd-round pick (59th overall) in 2011 3rd-round pick in 2012 | To San Jose Sharks 2nd-round pick (47th overall) in 2011 |
| June 25, 2011 | To Winnipeg Jets 4th-round pick in 2011 | To San Jose Sharks 5th-round pick in 2011 7th-round pick in 2011 |
| July 3, 2011 | To Minnesota Wild Dany Heatley | To San Jose Sharks Martin Havlat |
| August 7, 2011 | To Minnesota Wild 3rd-round pick in 2013 | To San Jose Sharks James Sheppard |
| January 26, 2012 | To Florida Panthers Sean Sullivan | To San Jose Sharks Tim Kennedy |
| February 16, 2012 | To Tampa Bay Lightning 2nd-round pick in 2012 | To San Jose Sharks Dominic Moore 7th-round pick in 2012 |
| February 27, 2012 | To Colorado Avalanche Jamie McGinn Mike Connolly Michael Sgarbossa | To San Jose Sharks TJ Galiardi Daniel Winnik 7th-round pick in 2013 |
| June 10, 2012 | To Detroit Red Wings Andrew Murray Conditional 7th-round pick in 2014 | To San Jose Sharks Brad Stuart |
Lost via retirement
Player
Player signings
PlayerDateContract terms
Freddie HamiltonMay 27, 20113 years, $1.945 million entry-level contract
Devin SetoguchiJune 23, 20113 years, $9 million
Andrew DesjardinsJune 27, 20111 year, $540,000
Alex StalockJune 27, 20111 year, $625,000
Jamie McGinnJune 30, 20111 year, $680,000
Frazer McLarenJune 30, 20111 year, $575,000
Thomas GreissJuly 6, 20112 years, $1.175 million
Sean SullivanJuly 6, 20111 year, $525,000
Benn FerrieroJuly 8, 20111 year, $605,000
Brent BurnsAugust 1, 20115 years, $28.8 million contract extension
Logan CoutureAugust 26, 20112 years, $5.75 million contract extension
Konrad AbeltshauserApril 13, 20123 years, $1.9 million entry-level contract
Dylan DeMeloApril 20, 20123 years, $1.975 million entry-level contract :

## Draft picks

San Jose's picks at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minnesota.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 2 | 47 (from Montreal) | Matt Nieto | LW | United States | Boston University (Hockey East) |
| 3 | 89 | Justin Sefton | D | Canada | Sudbury Wolves (OHL) |
| 5 | 133 (from Carolina) | Sean Kuraly | C | United States | Indiana Ice (USHL) |
| 6 | 166 (from NY Rangers) | Daniil Sobchenko | C | Russia | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL) |
| 6 | 179 | Dylan DeMelo | D | Canada | Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (OHL) |
| 7 | 194 (from Calgary) | Colin Blackwell | C | United States | St. John's Preparatory School (USHS-MA) |