INSIDE HOCKEY

The San Jose Sharks are in first place by 21 points in their division but make no mistake, the pressure is on in San Jose, or at least it will be come the spring.

The Sharks seem like a different team this season. They have a new head coach in Todd McLellan, who brought a new and more aggressive style of play modeled on the Detroit Red Wings. Evgeni Nabokov has provided excellent goaltending and the new defense is more mobile after the addition of Dan Boyle and Rob Blake. The Sharks have equal parts skill, speed and size. They are the type of team that can beat you by playing different styles of hockey if need be, and they have been dominant at home, losing only twice in regulation through February 6th.

But all of the regular season success means nothing if San Jose doesn't overcome its propensity for playoff failure. Every season since the lockout, the Sharks have been the darlings of hockey experts everywhere. For three straight years they have been favorites to emerge from the Western Conference and at least reach the Stanley Cup Finals and yet each time they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs in series they were ahead in and/or had some very good chances to win.

Prior to this season, GM Doug Wilson went out and acquired players with Stanley Cup rings like Boyle, Blake and later Claude Lemieux, in a clear attempt to lead his team deeper into the playoffs. If San Jose fails, then center Joe Thornton's reputation as a great regular season player who is soft in the playoffs will be cemented and he will not be considered a strong leader or a player you can legitimately build a franchise around.

The Sharks have established their regular dominance, but elite teams win when the Cup is on the line. In this modern era with salary caps and free agency, the window for a team to win is a lot smaller than it was years ago. If San Jose makes another early exit this spring, the team will almost certainly undergo significant changes, that may even mean exits for first line stars like Thornton or captain Patrick Marleau.

The Sharks play 14 of their next 20 games on the road, but that shouldn't and most likely won't shake up this team. The only issue left for Team Teal is if they can nail down the number one seed for the Western Conference playoffs. The regular season means next to nothing for San Jose. What happens in the playoffs, however, will mean everything.

The New Jersey Devils are another team that has disappointed in the postseason in recent years, but they may just be set for a long playoff run this season. The team just announced that Martin Brodeur's return is a little ahead of schedule and he should be back in action towards the end of this month. That will give the future Hall of Famer roughly six weeks to get his timing back and get ready for the postseason tournament.

Brodeur has been shaky in the playoffs the past few years and many experts believe it was due to his advancing age (he will be 37 in May) and his heavy work load during the regular season. The last time Brodeur played fewer than 70 regular season games was 1996-97 when he played in 67. This year, he will be lucky to appear in 30 regular season games. Exhaustion should not be a problem for Brodeur this season. In fact, he should be first hitting his mid-season form when the playoffs begin.

The Devils also have great depth at forward and a young and improving defense. They have more playoff experience than the other two division leaders in the Eastern Conference, Boston and Washington and having a three-time Stanley Cup winner in goal who is fresh and ready to go can't hurt either. New Jersey can't be considered the favorite in the East, but the ingredients of a long playoff run may just be falling into place.

The Ottawa Senators decision to fire Craig Hartsburg was not a surprise but it also won't cure what ails the Sens. While it would be tough to argue that Hartsburg deserved the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year, new head man Cory Clouston is going to face the same problems that Hartsburg had. The issue in Ottawa is the way the Senators are constructed. They have too much salary cap money tied up in their big three forwards, Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza. Their depth at forward is thin, their defense is average at best and their best goalies so far this season have been career backup Alex Auld and Brian Elliott, a rookie with promise, but exactly 10 games of NHL experience.

The Sens need to rebuild this franchise and it will take a little bit of time. Ottawa has totaled more than 90 points for the last nine seasons--a very impressive run, but it now appears that run is over. Trading at least one and more likely two members of their top scoring line to get younger players, draft picks and free up cap space, would be the wisest way to improve the Senators long term prospects.

The struggling New York Islanders finally have something to smile about and it's rookie forward Kyle Okposo. The 20-year-old St. Paul native who the Isles selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2006 Entry Draft, now appears to be finding his stride playing in the NHL.

The results have shown on the scoreboard as Okposo has five goals and six points in his last six games, but more importantly, he has shown a new level of confidence on the ice that has surprised even his coach, Scott Gordon.

"He's doing things that have opened my eyes, that I didn't know were in his repertoire," Gordon said after a recent game. "The deception he's putting into his play as far as changing speeds, pulling back and look-aways. I think a lot of it is the patience he's starting to show with the puck in finding holes and being deceptive."

Much of Okposo's success has come since being put on a line with fellow youngsters Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau. With nothing left to play for this year except pride, the Islanders are doing their best to develop some of their younger players. Okposo is one of the keys to the Isles future.

Fans who expected Mats Sundin to make an immediate impact in Vancouver have to be more realistic. Sundin will be 38-years-old next week and he hadn't played in an NHL game since April. His body is still in late training camp mode and at his age, it will take him a little longer to get back into shape. To make the kind of impact he made in Toronto, Sundin will need to play roughly 20 minutes a game. Thus far, the former Leafs captain has only three goals and five points in 10 games and is a minus-four. Canucks fans need to be a little more patient. Once he gets back into shape, there's little doubt Sundin can be a difference maker for Vancouver during the stretch drive to the playoffs.