from James A. Conley of Shnarped,
The Sharks have posted franchise valuation increases in every season since 2006 and hold the league’s second-longest playoff appearance streak at 10 seasons and counting.
The hockey is good in San Jose, and the fans are good as well — better than 97 percent attendance in 2013-14 for a franchise that is among hockey’s newest in a market that is one of its most unproven.
Like Pittsburgh, San Jose has a good product on the ice (if one that doesn’t always live up to expectations). But now, like Pittsburgh, the Sharks could be entering a period of turmoil off the ice.
It took a few years of viable hockey to turn Pittsburgh’s business model into a good one. Over the last decade, few teams can match the Sharks’ level of sustained success.
So if the on-ice product in San Jose is good (and it is), why are the Sharks suddenly in danger of being swept up by the NHL’s business undertow?
Certainly, a poorly negotiated television deal can’t be the straw that’s breaking the Sharks’ back?
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