Deals haven't helped smooth San Jose Sharks' road

San Jose Mercury News ^ | 3/11/2012 | David Pollak

[RitchieAprile]

EDMONTON, Alberta -- General manager Doug Wilson does not want to discuss how his struggling Sharks have come to be fighting for their playoff lives with 15 games left.

"To me there is nothing to be said other than just line up and play," Wilson said Sunday.

The Sharks aren't performing the way Wilson and his staff envisioned last May when they analyzed their elimination from the Western Conference finals and began building this year's team. Players came, players left.

Now time is getting short. A woeful 3-9-3 record over the past 15 games gives the Sharks only four weeks -- starting Monday against the Edmonton Oilers -- to make the playoffs and then hope their late-season surge carries them far.

Though the Sharks have multiple games in hand, things have gotten so bad that even on Sunday's off day they dropped two places to 11th in the Western Conference as the two teams that had been directly below them won.

For now, however, the team architect doesn't want to say anything that might be a distraction, including his assessment of the deals he has made.

"We can get to that at the end of the year," said Wilson, who went directly from Phoenix to this week's NHL general managers' meetings in Florida. "Right now it's what do we need to do to play the right way tomorrow, win that game and go on to the next one. You stay in the moment. This time of year, that's what it's really about."

Wilson's most noteworthy offseason moves sent Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi, prospect Charlie Coyle and a first-round draft pick to the Minnesota Wild for Brent Burns, Marty Havlat and a second-round pick.