-By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks finished the regular season with a little bit of everything: an improbable and awful shutout loss to the Predators, a frustrating loss to the Ducks, a lopsided victory over the Avalanche, and a win with some high points against the Coyotes. What does this portend about the 2014 playoffs? Not much for certain, but there are clues.

The team has a roster to make fans hopeful. Tomas Hertl is back, Raffi Torres should be soon. Martin Havlat’s scoring engine is sparking to life. A hat trick against Colorado threw some light on that. Add these pieces to a team that has been very successful without them, and the roster looks pretty hot.

The absence of those pieces gave others a chance to shoulder the burden through the 2013-14 season. Matt Nieto, Tommy Wingels and James Sheppard all increased their public profile considerably this season. They did more than fill holes. They each thrived and grew their games, developing into legitimate scoring threats and versatile, reliable members of the team.

The usual suspects, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture all pulled their weight and more. Joe Pavelski hit the 41 goal mark to end the regular season. If the final game in Phoenix left something to be desired, at least it provided that bonus. Pavelski had a career season, can the team follow suit?

The team has young veteran defensemen, if one can call them that. Players like Jason Demers and Marc-Edouard Vlasic are both younger than their NHL records suggest. They play beyond their years. More recent arrivals in San Jose like Justin Braun and (even more recent) Matt Irwin bolster that good mix of youth and experience.

With Dan Boyle playing more like his old self, the Sharks defense looks dangerous. If Brad Stuart and/or Scott Hannan are healthy enough, they fill out the blue line more smoothly than players who might be called up.

Antti Niemi had a bad game and a couple of good ones this week. If he can  benefit from the added rest he has had, he should regain playoff form. If he is not in top form, the team has a backup that the coaching staff has confidence in.

The team appears more healthy than an NHL playoff contender is expected to be when the regular season ends. The Sharks are as ready to face the Los Angeles Kings as they could be. Well, they might have been more ready in the second round but there is no point in crying over lost points.

Let the games begin.