2006 – 07 San Jose Sharks season The San Jose Sharks 2006 – 07 season was the 15th 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 , Doug Wilson traded their top offensive defenceman in 2005 – 2006 , Tom Preissing , to the Ottawa Senators for centerman Mark Bell of the Chicago Blackhawks in a 3 - way trade involving Martin Havlat going from Ottawa to the Blackhawks . Wilson then traded underachieving winger Ekman to Pittsburgh . In August , to round off their flurry of trades , the Sharks signed veterans Mathieu Biron and Patrick Traverse . The Sharks also signed many players such as Graham Mink and Scott Ferguson for their AHL affiliate . 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 is playing in Russia . Regular season . The Sharks got off to a sizzling 20 – 7 – 0 start , the best in franchise history . Soon however , several key players missed a few games each with 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 the stacked Western Conference , their record was only good enough for the # 5 playoff seed , and they had to open the playoffs on the road . Unique to note is that the Sharks spent most of the season rotating their two goaltenders , Vesa Toskala and Evgeni Nabokov every other game . The only time either one has played for any 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 , even when Toskala returned from injury , Coach Ron Wilson retained Nabokov as the # 1 goalie to finish off the regular season and going 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 old , was not even expected to make the team , but he put together a stellar preseason 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 a game , and was arguably the Sharks ' most consistent defenceman the whole season . In the first round of the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs , the Sharks again 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 6 games . 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 Western Conference Semi - finals : vs . ( 1 ) Detroit Red Wings . Detroit wins series 4 – 2 References . < div class = " references - small " > Goaltenders : Defensemen • • • Forwards • • • • • • •