The shock of watching the President’s Trophy winner exit the playoffs in the first round is still being felt around Sharkland. Expectations amidst the fan base are sky-high considering the arrival of Dany Heatley via trade and the fact that the first-round loss last season to the Ducks must be taken with a grain of salt: The Ducks finished the season strong and are a divisional foe.

Heatley skated on a line with Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi during the preseason. He was a bit behind in adapting to his new team’s system, but the club is serious about assembling that trio as its top line. Heatley may have not made any friends by making his trade request public earlier this summer, but he is still a two-time 50-goal scorer and regularly appears in all-star games.

The question surrounding Thornton now is whether he can show the mustard that he did late in the Ducks series (fighting Ryan Getzlaf after the opening draw impressed us), a lot earlier this playoff season. The Sharks should be right there come playoff time. Will they contend? Are they the best team this decade to not win a Cup? Thornton has this, and next, season left on his $7.2M per annum deal. Is this the last gasp for Thornton…and GM Doug Wilson (emphasis ours)? Certainly, Wilson, with the acquisition of Heatley, has gone the distance trying to build a winner.

The Sharks paid a reasonable price (Jon Cheechoo, Milan Michalek) for Heatley, managing to hang on to former captain Patrick Marleau, at least for now. Marleau, Heatley and Thornton amount to $21.5M worth of salary cap space, so look for Marleau, 30, to be swapped out so that the club can afford to extend Setoguchi’s deal, since the 22-year-old, selected eighth overall in the 2005 draft potted 31 goals in a breakthrough season.

For support, Joe Pavelski scored 25 goals, Ryane Clowe, 22, but during the playoffs only managed three points between them. With Michalek and Cheechoo gone, the heat will be on this pair like never before.

While the Heatley deal dominated headlines, the team has quietly made a few subtractions from the forward ranks, including the departures of LW Travis Moen, RW Mike Grier and centers Marcel Goc and Tomas Plihal. Jeremy Roenick retired.

Manny Malhotra comes over from Columbus to provide depth.

22-year-old Benn Ferriero, a free agent signee out of Boston College, contributed regularly during the preseason, and might just crack the lineup.

“Every night, (Ferriero)’s doing something that we like,” said coach Todd McLellan. "There's some players that we kind of penciled into certain positions. This guy's nipping at their butts right now.”

The Sharks chose Dan Boyle over Brian Campbell last season, and were rewarded with a tidy 16 goals from Boyle on the blueline. Rob Blake also returns. The team will have no trouble generating shots from the point, a feature that can separate contenders from also-rans. Steady, physical, Kent Huskins, 30, hopes for a full season’s health after being limited to 33 games. Marc-Eduard Vlasic and Doug Murray round out a defensive crew that was one of the league’s finest, finishing third in goals against. The team traded veterans Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich to Vancouver for two prospects, center Patrick White (U. of Minn.) and defenseman Daniel Rahimi (Manitoba, AHL).

The goaltending situation has the potential to be a problem as Brian Boucher, who backed up Evgeni Nabokov (62GP: 41-12-8; 2.44GAA; .910SV%) last season, signed with Philly for a third stint with the club that drafted him. It’s easy to forget that in 22 games, Boucher won 12, with a 2.18GAA and .917SV%. Will German Thomas Greiss, 23, be the backup that the club requires to keep Nabokov fresh? Greiss was excellent with Worcester (AHL), winning 30 games.

Hockeytalk sees the retooled Anaheim Ducks taking over the Pacific division title, the Sharks close behind.