Heading into 2011-12, the new-look San Jose Sharks looked for all the world like the team to beat.

The additions of all-star Martin Havlat, as well as center Michal Handzus and defenseman Brent Burns appeared to give the Sharks sufficient depth to weather the loss of fan-favorite Dany Heatley.

The San Jose faithful were even warming to net minder Antti Niemi in his second year with the club after he vanquished the Sharks with an impressive performance in the 2010 Western Conference Championship Series, which included 44 saves in Game 1 of a series his Chicago Blackhawks swept.

But to those who followed Team Teal’s recent nine-game road trip, it’s obvious the squad is not on solid ground.

During that stretch, the Sharks compiled a 2-6-1 record and looked like they were out-skated during every match. They dropped out of first place in the Pacific Division, falling behind Phoenix, which is 9-0-1 in its last 10.

Niemi was terrible, especially Saturday at Nashville, allowing two goals on the Predators’ first two shots. He was replaced by Thomas Greiss at the 15:58 mark after giving up his third score.

Niemi has been hit-or-miss in the last few months. His .911 save percentage puts him among the worst starting goalies in the game. While he certainly has the talent to turn his season around and prove to head coach Todd McClellan he deserves the starting position heading into a hypothetical postseason, he needs to start looking more comfortable in the crease.

The Sharks even tried to include him in an unsuccessful trade with Philadelphia Sunday, in which San Jose attempted to acquire star left-winger James van Riemsdyk ahead of today’s trade deadline.

This would seem like a good idea at first glance, but it would have left San Jose with Greiss as their primary goalie. Greiss is 8-7-1 on the season and doesn’t inspire much confidence.

The Sharks did manage to improve Monday in perhaps their area of biggest need: the penalty kill.

Against the power play, the Sharks rank 28th out of 30 teams, surrendering a goal 32.6 percent of the time. Although San Jose takes the most shots per game of any team in the league, a hole in the defense that big could mean the difference between a playoff berth and watching the postseason from the couch.

In an attempt to pump up the penalty kill, the Sharks traded away forward Jamie McGinn to the Colorado Avalanche for Daniel Winnik and T.J. Galiardi. Winnik played a key role in Colorado’s penalty kill this year, as he ranked second on the team in short-handed time on the ice in the season’s first 63 games.

Galiardi hasn’t seen as much playing time this year, and seems mainly to have been included for the sake of added depth. No doubt it will help ease the sting of losing a staple like McGinn.

Having lost their position as the leader of the Pacific Division, the Sharks find themselves clinging to top eight by just a point. They head home from the train-wreck of a road trip to play at HP Pavilion for a four-game set which should help them regain their footing.

They’ll need Niemi to step up and regain his confidence and the new additions to the penalty kill to turn a failing special-teams squad around. Otherwise, the Sharks could find themselves missing the postseason for the first time in the McClellan era.

Alex Grotewohl can be reached at [email protected].