Speculation: 2023-24-25 Sharks Roster Discussion

[STL Shark]

The debate around the 2014 team is crazy because personally I remember pretty much everyone other than Couture, Vlasic, and Marleau having bad years. Our left side after Vlasic was Matt Irwin, Scott Hannan, and Brad Stuart (all #7D at that point), Boyle was cooked, Thornton wasn’t at his best in the second half, Burns was a chronically unhealthy forward, our bottom-6 was LOL, and Antti Niemi made me cry on a regular basis.

Doesn’t mean I’m the one remembering right, but the spectrum of our memories is crazy. I remember that team as being held together by duct tape, the Marleau-Couture duo, and Vlasic’s shot-suppression statistics. Some people remember it as being better than the 2016 team. Wild.

The start to that season was one of the best times I can remember as a Sharks fan. Hertl-Thornton-Wookie line wrecking people. The NCAA line of Nieto-Pavelski-Wingels was the best 3rd line in the league. Then Boyle got run over by LaPierre, Hertl got kneed by Dustin Brown, and the depth of the team was shot because Pavelski got moved up to the top line and exposed our bottom 6 (though James Sheppard had an awesome playoff series with 6 points in 7 games).

 

[Shark in Hockeytown]

I wouldn't go as far as saying getzlaf outplayed thornton. When he was carrying around dead weight in marleau (3 points in 6 games), and pavelski (1 point in 6 games)

That was my recollection of the series, but it was 15 years ago. Getzlaf (2g, 6a, +5) did outscore Thornton (1g, 4a, -3) in the series. I do recall the Sharks pumping lots of outside shots at Hiller, which he ate up.

 

[gaucholoco3]

I think those were two separate injuries, but maybe not, Havlat was a tragic figure during his Sharks tenure, some new exciting ailment felled him every other day

I do distinctly remember hearing the phrase "pelvic floor reconstructive surgery" in regard to him, and, well, f***, but also, God damn

I believe it was Bieksa that destroyed his pelvis with the most brutal cup check I have ever seen.

I searched and couldn’t find video. Does anyone else remember that?

 

[STL Shark]

I believe it was Bieksa that destroyed his pelvis with the most brutal cup check I have ever seen.

I searched and couldn’t find video. Does anyone else remember that?

It was him trying to go over the boards for a shift and destroying it that really did him in.

 

[weastern bias]

I believe it was Bieksa that destroyed his pelvis with the most brutal cup check I have ever seen.

I searched and couldn’t find video. Does anyone else remember that?

I believe you sight unseen, just because you said it was Bieksa, what a piece of shit that guy was

 

[Juxtaposer]

The start to that season was one of the best times I can remember as a Sharks fan. Hertl-Thornton-Wookie line wrecking people. The NCAA line of Nieto-Pavelski-Wingels was the best 3rd line in the league. Then Boyle got run over by LaPierre, Hertl got kneed by Dustin Brown, and the depth of the team was shot because Pavelski got moved up to the top line and exposed our bottom 6 (though James Sheppard had an awesome playoff series with 6 points in 7 games).

Right, the team was great at he beginning of the year when Burns was fresh, Hertl was healthy, and Pavs was 3C. But all of those things were gone by the playoffs, making it a weak team as far as I’m concerned.

The 2016 team was the opposite, where they were pretty crap the first 30 games (I want to say there was a time in like December where we were bottom-5 in the standings), but we’re absolutely unstoppable from January on. And I define a team by how they look going into the playoffs, not at the beginning of the year.

 

[gaucholoco3]

I believe you sight unseen, just because you said it was Bieksa, what a piece of shit that guy was

I found the video.

 

[weastern bias]

I found the video.

What a dickhead

 

[Hodge]

BU alum Joel Farabee would be a nice pickup. Flyers will need to move a winger now that they have Konecny and Tippett locked up long term in addition to Michkov and Foerster.

 

[Barrie22]

BU alum Joel Farabee would be a nice pickup. Flyers will need to move a winger now that they have Konecny and Tippett locked up long term in addition to Michkov and Foerster.

No real rush to trade on phillys end.

 

[Chinaski89]

Right, the team was great at he beginning of the year when Burns was fresh, Hertl was healthy, and Pavs was 3C. But all of those things were gone by the playoffs, making it a weak team as far as I’m concerned.

The 2016 team was the opposite, where they were pretty crap the first 30 games (I want to say there was a time in like December where we were bottom-5 in the standings), but we’re absolutely unstoppable from January on. And I define a team by how they look going into the playoffs, not at the beginning of the year.

2019 should have been the Sharks year. I hate the Blues and their elbows and Karlsson’s groin.

 

[Hodge]

2019 should have been the Sharks year. I hate the Blues and their elbows and Karlsson’s groin.

...and the worst goaltending in the league and not having a legit 1C and Vlasic falling off a cliff and a mediocre bottom six and a system designed to give up the most egregious scoring chances imaginable.

That team had to get so absurdly lucky just to make it out of the first round. They never had a chance to win the Cup.

 

[timorous me]

...and the worst goaltending in the league and not having a legit 1C and Vlasic falling off a cliff and a mediocre bottom six and a system designed to give up the most egregious scoring chances imaginable.

That team had to get so absurdly lucky just to make it out of the first round. They never had a chance to win the Cup.

Boo this man!! Boooooo!!!!!

 

[OrrNumber4]

...and the worst goaltending in the league

Fair

and not having a legit 1C

Playoffs!Couture and Hertl count

and Vlasic falling off a cliff

Not in the playoffs.

and a mediocre bottom six and a system designed to give up the most egregious scoring chances imaginable.

Sharks outscored their problems that year.

 

[Saskatoon]

2019 should have been the Sharks year. I hate the Blues and their elbows and Karlsson’s groin.

I really wanted DW to pick up an average goalie at the trade deadline that year

Not sure if it gets them over the hump with all the injuries though

 

[Juxtaposer]

I really wanted DW to pick up an average goalie at the trade deadline that year

Not sure if it gets them over the hump with all the injuries though

Ironically, other than 2019 Jones was pretty good in the playoffs.

 

[sharski]

2019 should have been the Sharks year. I hate the Blues and their elbows and Karlsson’s groin.

The league absolutely should have rigged those playoffs for the sharks to cheat their way to a cup after #handpass

But they are extremely incompetent and can't see it when a perfect heel turn that would instantly draw nuclear heat league wide and boost ratings falls into their lap

 

[Hodge]

Fair

Playoffs!Couture and Hertl count

Not in the playoffs.

Sharks outscored their problems that year.

Clearly they didn't outscore them by enough considering they didn't win the Cup.

"Outscoring your problems" is not a real strategy in hockey. Not enough goals to go around especially in the playoffs. There's a reason the Florida Panthers won the Presidents Trophy then completely overhauled their roster, coaching staff and system. You win Cups by playing the way they did over the past two seasons not the way they did in 21-22.

 

[Shark in Hockeytown]

That team had to get so absurdly lucky just to make it out of the first round. They never had a chance to win the Cup.

Luck is a funny thing. Almost all Cup winners get good luck in the year they win; that's the nature of the Stanley Cup playoffs which are very random.

The Sharks were also unlucky in some ways. In game 2 of the first round, Vegas scored three goals in the first period, but the Sharks roared back with three in two minutes late in the first. They scored a fourth goal, but the refs called it back and gave Couture a goalie interference penalty (and Stone scored the tie-breaking goal on the resulting power play). If that goal had stood, I think Vegas would have collapsed and the Sharks win the series in four or five games. A short first round means a healthier team in the later rounds and a better chance to win it all.

 

[Sharkz4Fun]

Happy Mike Grier day everyone

 

[landshark]

Happy Mike Grier day everyone

I'm down with Mike G. Man, he ain't no bologna. The real, not phony, or I'm eating Rice-A-Roni.

 

[TheBigDrunkPanda]

Ironically, other than 2019 Jones was pretty good in the playoffs.

And that offseason he should’ve been traded

 

[Juxtaposer]

And that offseason he should’ve been traded

He should have been let go after his first contract with the Sharks ended.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

He should have been let go after his first contract with the Sharks ended.

I would need to know what my options are with Jones at the time before I could say for sure what I'd do. Jones gave a lot of what you'd want out of a goalie those first two seasons and playoffs. He was consistent in giving them a chance to win during the season and upped his play quality in the playoffs. It's hard not to re-invest in someone like that after you feel he vindicates you trading a 1st to get him. I don't think I'd extend him a year out from his deal expiring and I don't think I'd give any goalie more than four years unless the contract is structured in a way that makes a buyout favorable. But I'd have a hard time letting him go after that first contract given his play to that point.

If Jones was adamant about six years, I would've traded him in 2017 and dealt with the fallout as needed. Though the options that year externally in net were largely garbage, you never know what trade is on the table when Jones at his peak is there.

 

[Hodge]

On the contrary, Jones should never have been bought out.

He would be off the books by now instead of staining our cap sheet for three more seasons.

It's not like he has performed any worse since leaving the Sharks than the parade of losers we got to replace him like Reimer and Kahkonen.