Campbell cleaning up with Sharks

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Brian Campbell is one of the smoothest skating defenseman in the league. "Soupy," as he is known to teammates, has a great feel for offense from the blue line, a trait that's hard to find.

Joe Thornton simply is the best passer in hockey. He seemingly can get any puck through any space to an open teammate. He is one of only three players who have managed consecutive 90-assist seasons. The other two are Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

There's no arguing the stature of these two San Jose Sharks – a pair of popular, outgoing, jovial All-Stars, who are just in the prime of their professional careers.

Not much is going to stop these two. Well, unless you count a washing machine.

Campbell has been staying at Thornton's home since his trade from the Buffalo Sabres late last month. And there they were during an off day the other night, fresh off the road and fresh out of clean clothes. And a new washer has the two totally befuddled.

Talk about airing dirty laundry.

"It's going good," Thornton said of the current living arrangement. "He lets me choose the TV channels.

"He might do some laundry for us today, too, so it might be an exciting day for us. We're looking forward to it," the team's alternate captain added with a broad smile.

While Campbell has yet to call on the Maytag repairman, he has helped to fix his new team's old problems. The Sharks have been looking for a puck-carrying defenseman since losing out on the Scott Niedermayer sweepstakes in the summer of 2005. While Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Christian Ehrhoff or Matt Carle may be that player some day, general manager Doug Wilson saw an opportunity to get that player right now and took advantage of it.

The "roomies" were more than pretty good Friday night. Campbell had a goal and an assist before the game was 13 minutes old. He and Thornton assisted Milan Michalek's goal 70 seconds after the opening faceoff, and Thornton fed Campbell for his seventh of the season later in the period. The Sharks hit the St. Louis Blues with a four-spot in the first 13:25 en route to an 11th straight victory.

"Since he got here we've had more shots on goal, more scoring chances, we've scored a few more goals and we haven't given up anything defensively at all," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "At the end of the day, that's the kind of team you want to go into the playoffs with."

San Jose would like to go into more than the playoffs with Campbell. The team would like to go into next season and several after that with the 28-year-old, who is due to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The Sharks took a gamble, trading young forward Steve Bernier along with a first-round pick in exchange for Campbell (and a seventh-round choice).

Campbell spent the first 391 games of his NHL career with the Sabres, who drafted him in the sixth round in 1997, the same draft in which Thornton went No. 1 and Sharks captain Patrick Marleau went No. 2. Campbell was prepared for a long-term stay in Buffalo, too, offering a hometown-discounted five-year deal last offseason. The Sabres waffled, and now Campbell probably will come out ahead financially, even if it was an emotional departure from his original team.

"This season is going to get played out," said Campbell, who appeared in his 400th game Friday. "It's nothing against nobody; I just need to be in the best frame of mind to play my best hockey, and by leaving that on the back burner is the best for me.

"It bothered me a lot in Buffalo – it just got to me so much that it affected my play," he added. "There's too much at stake, too much on the line, and it's not fair to me or the guys in the locker room probably. I haven't heard anything anyway."

He hasn't heard anything from the Sharks, but in this case actions speak louder than words. San Jose has had success keeping talent from wandering off. Vincent Damphousse, Mike Ricci, Scott Thornton and more recently Craig Rivet are all players who came from big markets to be pleasantly surprised by what San Jose has to offer. And now that it appears the team is ready to annually compete for the Stanley Cup, it only enhances the prospects.

Now throw in Thornton, who is acting as a master recruiter both on and off the ice, and the Sharks' chances to persuade Campbell to stay increase twofold.

"I've been treated really well here," Campbell said. "I really like the makeup of the team. I've said before it reminds me of what we had in Buffalo going into the lockout with a good mix of young guys and a good mix of veteran leaders.

"I was told earlier that every person who has come here has enjoyed playing here and has liked it. I've been very impressed with the home crowds. Obviously the city isn't too crazy big, which I kind of like. It's been a lot of fun. The guys have been really good to me. I can't say there have been too many negatives so far."

The relationship between Thornton and Campbell can be traced to their youth, when they would meet on the ice during a summer program each year since age 10. The two Ontario natives – Thornton from London and Campbell from Strathroy – grew up within a 30-minute drive of each other.

"Brian was always a defenseman and he could always skate like the wind," Thornton recalled. "That's not something he just picked up. He always had the gift being an excellent skater."

"Those were pretty good times," Campbell added. "A lot of us would even say we enjoyed playing that more than winter hockey in our hometowns.

"I can remember the one summer when he (Thornton) took off to become the elite player he is now. He was probably about 13 or 14 when he started to climb ahead of everybody."

Campbell and Thornton have combined to help the Sharks climb to the top of the Pacific Division. Campbell has two goals and eight assists in nine games with the Sharks, all resulting in victories. He's a plus-6, and he has led the team in average ice time in all but three games.

"Usually we're paired up with our defense and his line," Campbell said of Thornton's top line.

"That's an offensive defenseman's dream to get to play with him. So I do feel very fortunate. I think he's going to do great things for me, and I think I can help him out, too."

Or, to put it another way, it'll all come out in the wash.