What's Next: San Jose Sharks

Epic Fail.

That's really all that needs to be said about the San Jose Sharks season after a first round exit in the playoffs. The best team in the league is now golfing and there's questions abound about what to for a team who is always inept when it comes to the playoffs. They have only once made it past the second round and always seem to have more to offer than what they have put up on the score sheet.

There's one thought that the team needs to be blown up and started from scratch. One guy who was under the microscope and failed to perform was Joe Thornton, who seems to be destined for playoff failure. Thornton would have decent numbers for a second or third line grinder, but he has not put up more than a point-per-game in any of his playoff appearances. For someone with great stats in the regular season, you'd expect it to translate into the playoffs. Another leader, Patrick Marleau, also failed to step up to the task and was a disappointment when the playoffs came around.

Evgeni Nabokov is also another culprit to not stepping up to the task. A man who was so tough to beat in the regular season seemed to be full of holes in the post-season. I thought that Jonas Hiller was the Swiss one in that series. Nabokov should have been given the hook after game two and allow for Brian Boucher to take the reigns and see what he could do. Hindsight being what it is, it seems like a good idea looking back.

Defensively, while Rob Blake and Dan Boyle were scoring, they forgot to play defensive as they were a combined -6, while the other defensemen were very non-existent when all was said and done. For a defense that was +35 for the season, you'd think they'd be a little more tighter when it comes to the most pinnacle time of the season.

For a first-year coach, Todd McLellan did a great job to manage the team to the top-spot, but his inexperience showed when it came to the playoffs and nailing down a first round victory. Whether it was not able to outcoach his counterpart, Randy Carlyle or if it was just not being about to command the best out of his players when it counted the most, it didn't show off the greatness he was able to achieve while in the previous 82 games.

There's only so many ways you can dissect the season for the Sharks and how much that they failed when it came to the post-season. This is a team that should have done a lot more with the talent they have in the line-up, but they could not live up to the task. Questions will be mounted from the top to the bottom of this organization and it could bring about mass changes or more of the status quo. However, something needs to be done in order to get this team over the hump and become the elite team they have hinted at for the longest time now.