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.
===Season standings===
===Game log===
====October====
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
1 	October 5 	St. Louis 	4 – 5	San Jose 	OT	Toskala 	17,496 	1–0–0 	2
2 	October 7 	NY Islanders	0 – 2	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	2–0–0 	4
3 	October 9 	San Jose 	4 – 1	Calgary 	 	Toskala 	19,289 	3–0–0 	6
4 	October 12	San Jose 	4 – 6	Edmonton 	 	Nabokov 	16,839 	3–1–0 	6
5 	October 13	San Jose 	6 – 4	Vancouver	 	Toskala 	18,630 	4–1–0 	8
6 	October 17	Dallas 	0 – 2	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	16,380 	5–1–0 	10
7 	October 19	Detroit 	1 – 5	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	6–1–0 	12
8 	October 21	Minnesota 	4 – 1	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	6–2–0 	12
9 	October 23	San Jose 	3 – 0	Columbus 	 	Toskala 	16,067 	7–2–0 	14
10	October 25	San Jose 	1 – 2	Detroit 	 	Nabokov 	20,066 	7–3–0 	14
11	October 26	San Jose 	3 – 4	Nashville	 	Toskala 	13,436 	7–4–0 	14
12	October 29	San Jose 	4 – 2	Tampa Bay	 	Nabokov 	19,904 	8–4–0 	16
13	October 31	San Jose 	2 – 1	Florida 	 	Toskala 	10,081 	9–4–0 	18
====November====
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Pts
14	November 2 	NY Rangers 	3 – 1	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,091 	9–5–0 	18
15	November 4 	Pittsburgh 	2 – 3	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	10–5–0	20
16	November 7 	Minnesota 	1 – 3	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,233 	11–5–0	22
17	November 9 	San Jose 	7 – 3	Los Angeles	 	Toskala 	16,618 	12–5–0	24
18	November 11	San Jose 	2 – 1	Phoenix 	 	Toskala 	15,036 	13–5–0	26
19	November 13	San Jose 	2 – 4	Los Angeles	 	Toskala 	16,667 	13–6–0	26
20	November 15	San Jose 	4 – 3	Colorado 	 	Nabokov 	18,007 	14–6–0	28
21	November 18	Philadelphia	1 – 6	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	15–6–0	30
22	November 21	San Jose 	0 – 5	Anaheim 	 	Nabokov 	15,013 	15–7–0	30
23	November 22	Los Angeles 	3 – 6	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	16–7–0	32
24	November 25	New Jersey 	0 – 2	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	17–7–0	34
25	November 28	San Jose 	2 – 0	St. Louis 	 	Toskala 	8,679 	18–7–0	36
26	November 29	San Jose 	2 – 1	Minnesota 	 	Nabokov 	18,568 	19–7–0	38
====December====
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record 	Pts
27	December 2 	San Jose 	3 – 2	Detroit 	 	Toskala 	20,066 	20–7–0 	40
28	December 4 	San Jose 	0 – 1	Dallas 	 	Nabokov 	17,056 	20–8–0 	40
29	December 7 	Colorado 	5 – 2	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,039 	20–9–0 	40
30	December 9 	Nashville 	1 – 3	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	21–9–0 	42
31	December 11	Phoenix 	0 – 4	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	16,717 	22–9–0 	44
32	December 12	San Jose 	3 – 1	Los Angeles	 	Nabokov 	15,204 	23–9–0 	46
33	December 14	Los Angeles	4 – 2	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	23–10–0	46
34	December 16	Anaheim 	3 – 4	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	24–10–0	48
35	December 21	Dallas 	3 – 0	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	24–11–0	48
36	December 23	Calgary 	1 – 4	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	25–11–0	50
37	December 26	Anaheim 	4 – 3	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	25–12–0	50
38	December 28	Phoenix 	3 – 2	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	25–13–0	50
39	December 30	San Jose 	0 – 8	Phoenix 	 	Nabokov 	17,643 	25–14–0	50
40	December 31	San Jose 	4 – 2	Dallas 	 	Toskala 	18,584 	26–14–0	52
====January====
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record 	Pts
41	January 4 	Detroit 	4 – 9	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	27–14–0	54
42	January 6 	Columbus 	2 – 5	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	28–14–0	56
43	January 10	Edmonton 	3 – 2	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	28–15–0	56
44	January 11	San Jose 	5 – 2	Los Angeles	 	Toskala 	17,054 	29–15–0	58
45	January 13	San Jose 	4 – 1	Phoenix 	 	Toskala 	16,642 	30–15–0	60
46	January 15	Colorado 	1 – 3	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	31–15–0	62
47	January 18	Phoenix 	2 – 5	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	32–15–0	64
48	January 20	St. Louis	1 – 0	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	32–16–0	64
49	January 26	San Jose 	5 – 1	Edmonton 	 	Toskala 	16,839 	33–16–0	66
50	January 28	San Jose 	1 – 3	Vancouver 	 	Nabokov 	18,630 	33–17–0	66
51	January 30	Dallas 	3 – 2	San Jose 	SO	Toskala 	17,496 	33–17–1	67
====February====
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record 	Pts
52	February 1 	Dallas 	4 – 2	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	33–18–1	67
53	February 3 	Chicago 	2 – 4	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	34–18–1	69
54	February 6 	Anaheim 	7 – 4	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	34–19–1	69
55	February 7 	San Jose 	3 – 2	Anaheim 	 	Toskala 	17,466 	35–19–1	71
56	February 13	San Jose 	6 – 5	St. Louis 	 	Toskala 	9,235 	36–19–1	73
57	February 14	San Jose 	0 – 5	Nashville 	 	Toskala 	13,836 	36–20–1	73
58	February 16	San Jose 	0 – 3	Columbus 	 	Nabokov 	16,045 	36–21–1	73
59	February 18	San Jose 	2 – 5	Dallas 	 	Nabokov 	17,849 	36–22–1	73
60	February 21	San Jose 	3 – 2	Washington	SO	Nabokov 	13,622 	37–22–1	75
61	February 22	San Jose 	2 – 0	Chicago 	 	Nabokov 	10,125 	38–22–1	77
62	February 24	San Jose 	4 – 7	Calgary 	 	Nabokov 	19,289 	38–23–1	77
63	February 26	Anaheim 	3 – 2	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	38–24–1	77
64	February 28	Nashville	4 – 3	San Jose 	SO	Nabokov 	17,496 	38–24–2	78
====March====
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record 	Pts
65	March 2 	San Jose 	1 – 3	Anaheim 	 	Nabokov 	17,174 	38–25–2	78
66	March 4 	San Jose 	4 – 0	Dallas 	 	Nabokov 	18,002 	39–25–2	80
67	March 6 	San Jose 	3 – 0	Minnesota	 	Nabokov 	18,568 	40–25–2	82
68	March 9 	Vancouver 	2 – 1	San Jose 	OT	Nabokov 	17,496 	40–25–3	83
69	March 11	Edmonton 	0 – 3	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	41–25–3	85
70	March 13	Chicago 	1 – 7	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	42–25–3	87
71	March 15	San Jose 	5 – 1	Phoenix 	 	Nabokov 	17,744 	43–25–3	89
72	March 16	Columbus 	0 – 3	San Jose 	 	Toskala 	17,496 	44–25–3	91
73	March 18	San Jose 	3 – 4	Colorado 	OT	Nabokov 	18,007 	44–25–4	92
74	March 21	San Jose 	4 – 1	Chicago 	 	Nabokov 	10,374 	45–25–4	94
75	March 22	San Jose 	5 – 1	Atlanta 	 	Toskala 	16,367 	46–25–4	96
76	March 24	San Jose 	4 – 6	Carolina 	 	Toskala 	18,763 	46–26–4	96
77	March 27	Los Angeles	1 – 3	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	47–26–4	98
78	March 30	Phoenix 	2 – 4	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	48–26–4	100
====April====
# 	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record 	Pts
79	April 1	Los Angeles	2 – 6	San Jose	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	49–26–4	102
80	April 4	San Jose 	3 – 2	Anaheim 	SO	Nabokov 	17,440 	50–26–4	104
81	April 5	Calgary 	3 – 4	San Jose	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	51–26–4	106
82	April 7	Vancouver 	4 – 3	San Jose	OT	Nabokov 	17,496 	51–26–5	107
*Green background indicates win. 
*Red background indicates regulation loss. 
*White background indicates overtime/shootout loss. 
==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
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT 	Decision	Attendance	Series
1	April 11	San Jose 	5 – 4	Nashville	2OT	Nabokov 	17,113 	1 – 0
2	April 13	San Jose 	2 – 5	Nashville	 	Nabokov 	17,113 	1 – 1
3	April 16	Nashville	1 – 3	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	2 – 1
4	April 18	Nashville	2 – 3	San Jose 	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	3 – 1
5	April 20	San Jose 	3 – 2	Nashville	 	Nabokov 	17,113 	4 – 1
====Western Conference Semi-finals: vs. (1) Detroit Red Wings====
Detroit wins series 4–2
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	OT	Decision	Attendance	Series
1	April 26	San Jose	2 – 0	Detroit 	 	Nabokov 	18,712 	1 – 0
2	April 28	San Jose	2 – 3	Detroit 	 	Nabokov 	19,113 	1 – 1
3	April 30	Detroit 	1 – 2	San Jose	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	2 – 1
4	May 2 	Detroit 	3 – 2	San Jose	OT	Nabokov 	17,496 	2 – 2
5	May 5 	San Jose	1 – 4	Detroit 	 	Nabokov 	19,937 	2 – 3
6	May 7 	Detroit 	2 – 0	San Jose	 	Nabokov 	17,496 	2 – 4
*Green background indicates win. 
*Red background indicates loss. 
==Player stats==
Regular season	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Scoring 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable sortable"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Player 	Pos 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	C 	82	22	92	114	44 	24 	10 	0 	5
 	C 	77	32	46	78 	33 	9 	14 	0 	9
 	RW 	76	37	32	69 	69 	11 	15 	0 	5
 	RW 	78	26	40	66 	36 	17 	11 	0 	9
 	D 	77	11	31	42 	30 	9 	8 	0 	1
 	RW 	58	16	18	34 	78 	4 	4 	0 	3
 	RW 	81	16	17	33 	43 	-5 	2 	3 	1
 	D 	82	10	23	33 	63 	8 	6 	0 	2
 	RW 	62	15	16	31 	29 	5 	6 	0 	4
 	C 	46	14	14	28 	18 	4 	5 	0 	3
 	D 	81	3 	23	26 	18 	13 	2 	0 	0
 	D 	79	4 	20	24 	38 	1 	0 	1 	1
 	LW 	79	7 	15	22 	22 	1 	1 	0 	0
 	C 	71	11	10	21 	83 	-9 	3 	0 	2
 	C/LW	78	8 	12	20 	56 	-2 	0 	2 	3
 	D 	67	5 	12	17 	61 	10 	1 	0 	0
 	C 	78	5 	8 	13 	24 	-2 	0 	1 	0
 	C 	41	3 	10	13 	42 	-4 	2 	0 	0
 	RW 	16	8 	1 	9 	14 	2 	2 	0 	1
 	D 	17	1 	7 	8 	12 	8 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	47	1 	3 	4 	26 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	35	0 	3 	3 	31 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	38	0 	3 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	30	1 	1 	2 	14 	-7 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	22	0 	2 	2 	27 	-2 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	50	0 	0 	0 	6 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	11	0 	0 	0 	22 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
Playoffs	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Scoring 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable sortable"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Player 	Pos 	GP	G	A 	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
 	C 	11	1	10	11 	10 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	11	4	2 	6 	17 	-2 	0 	0 	1
 	RW 	11	4	2 	6 	4 	3 	0 	0 	1
 	RW 	11	3	3 	6 	6 	1 	1 	0 	1
 	C 	11	3	3 	6 	2 	-5 	1 	0 	1
 	D 	11	2	3 	5 	0 	3 	1 	0 	1
 	D 	11	2	3 	5 	18 	-5 	1 	0 	0
 	RW 	11	2	2 	4 	27 	1 	0 	0 	0
 	LW 	11	1	3 	4 	0 	1 	0 	0 	1
 	D 	11	0	4 	4 	10 	-2 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	11	2	1 	3 	4 	3 	0 	0 	0
 	C/LW	11	0	2 	2 	2 	1 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	11	0	2 	2 	6 	1 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	9 	0	2 	2 	12 	-3 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	11	0	2 	2 	33 	4 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	6 	1	0 	1 	0 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	RW 	11	0	1 	1 	2 	2 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	11	0	1 	1 	2 	5 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	4 	0	0 	0 	2 	-2 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	11	0	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	C 	3 	0	0 	0 	4 	0 	0 	0 	0
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T/OT = Ties/Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage; 
==Transactions==
====Trades====
====Free Agents Acquired====
====Free Agents Lost====
====Waiver Losses====
====Draft Picks====
==External links==
*Official site of the San Jose Sharks
==See also==
*2006–07 NHL Season
==References==
*Game log: San Jose Sharks game log on espn.com
*Team standings: NHL standings on espn.com
*Player Stats: San Jose Sharks 2006-07 Reg. Season Stats on espn.com
*Draft Picks: 2006 NHL Entry Draft
*Team Website: San Jose Sharks
*Team Info: San Jose Sharks Info on Yahoo Sports
*League Website: NHL.com
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Category:San Jose Sharks seasons
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