Speculation: 2023-24-25 Sharks Roster Discussion

[Alaskanice]

The vast majority of his time this year was with Benning, who is a better puckmover than anyone save Karlsson on last year's team. Benning also took the physical role and allowed Vlasic more room. Last year, Vlasic was shifted among several partners - mostly Meloche, Simek, and Merkley, who I guess could make up a mediocre AHL defensive corps.

Vlasic got more minutes (with Burns gone, there was no one else), and picked up a few more secondary assists - frankly, because of Benning. I suppose, in a way, that is a bounce back. It also doesn't represent anything positive about Vlasic himself - merely that, when paired with a 7D like Matt Benning, he manages to get back up to 7D status, which is where he's topped out for the last five years. He's not good, he wasn't good last year, he won't be good this year - if it wasn't for his contract, he'd have been out of the league three years ago, because he's a poor defensive player who is utterly hopeless offensively.

The Vlasic extension might be the worst contract in the entire NHL over the last five years, and we still have three more years of it.

Honestly, he’s not THAT bad. I won’t contest he’s not what he used to be but as you agreed, he did, noticeably, play better last season. Whatever the reason.

 

[Hodge]

The vast majority of his time this year was with Benning, who is a better puckmover than anyone save Karlsson on last year's team. Benning also took the physical role and allowed Vlasic more room. Last year, Vlasic was shifted among several partners - mostly Meloche, Simek, and Merkley, who I guess could make up a mediocre AHL defensive corps.

Vlasic got more minutes (with Burns gone, there was no one else), and picked up a few more secondary assists - frankly, because of Benning. I suppose, in a way, that is a bounce back. It also doesn't represent anything positive about Vlasic himself - merely that, when paired with a 7D like Matt Benning, he manages to get back up to 7D status, which is where he's topped out for the last five years. He's not good, he wasn't good last year, he won't be good this year - if it wasn't for his contract, he'd have been out of the league three years ago, because he's a poor defensive player who is utterly hopeless offensively.

The Vlasic extension might be the worst contract in the entire NHL over the last five years, and we still have three more years of it.

I don't get how someone can write this and still claim that Matt Benning is a "7D" with a straight face.

 

[jarr92]

Yeah, Knyzhov is better in every way compared to Vlasic at this stage in Vlasic career. Muk and Thrun are interchangeable up and down those pairings as we don’t have a clearl top pairing on D. I really hope that Blackwood can have a Renaissance in his career but for right now I’m going with the younger more talented guy in Makiniemi. Also, I don’t know exactly how likely this is but don’t sleep on Robins or Ozzy making this team in our bottom six potentially making 2 bottom six veteran wingers expendable.

I'd expect Knyzhov to be much better next season, but he was objectively worse than Vlasic in stats last year (small sample size though).

 

[hohosaregood]

Personally, I didn't see much out of Knyzhov this year that makes me think he's a lock for the NHL lineup. I liked him before his injuries but he was raw back then and lost nearly 2 years of development time. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up with the Cuda for a good chunk of this year.

 

[Sendhelplease]

I don't get how someone can write this and still claim that Matt Benning is a "7D" with a straight face.

I find this forum has a weird bias against Matt Benning. People talk about him like he is a terrible player when in reality he was our second best puck moving defenseman while being a right handed shot and a good PKer. He is probably a good #5 defenseman on a contender and I think is a valuable part of the team.

 

[Cas]

I find this forum has a weird bias against Matt Benning. People talk about him like he is a terrible player when in reality he was our second best puck moving defenseman while being a right handed shot and a good PKer. He is probably a good #5 defenseman on a contender and I think is a valuable part of the team.

Being the second-best puck-moving defenseman on the 22-23 Sharks is like being the fastest runner at the morgue. It doesn't mean all that much. Benning doesn't appear to be all that good at it, he's just better at it than guys like Vlasic and Simek and Ferraro.

Being a good PKer is nice but a good penalty kill is systemic, not personal. The Sharks have put up a nice PK over the last few years, despite having a stable of defensemen who are terrible at 5v5, because we have a good penalty kill system (probably Boughner's influence - as much as he was incompetent elsewhere). I'm not terribly interested in giving Benning a whole lot of credit there as an individual (especially as the PK was somewhat worse last year than in the previous three years).

Being right-handed is nice, but come on.

Benning is slow and prone to collapsing under pressure - probably because he can't move fast enough to keep up with opposing forwards as much as he should. He's all right defensively outside of that - not especially physical but its not a weakness, too slow to get into prime defensive position all the time but mostly plays conservatively to minimize that risk. That's fine, but if he's your 5D and you're a contender, your third pairing is going to get eaten up because he just can't keep up with good offenses and someone worse than he is shouldn't be playing on a contender.

Calling him a 5D on a contender isn't justified by who the actual 5-6D were on the teams that made the playoffs or nearly made it. I'm not convined Benning would beat out as many as half of the 6D. Basically, based on the NHL today, he's a 6-7D on a contender. The only reason he isn't in San Jose is that we really just suck. There's a reason he's paid so little and couldn't stay on in Edmonton or Nashville.

 

[Pavelski2112]

Benning got better as the year went on, but his start was atrocious. Constantly with terrible reads in the defensive zone that led to goals against, and some absolutely baffling plays.

 

[timorous me]

Personally, I didn't see much out of Knyzhov this year that makes me think he's a lock for the NHL lineup. I liked him before his injuries but he was raw back then and lost nearly 2 years of development time. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up with the Cuda for a good chunk of this year.

Honestly, as much as I'm pulling for Knyzhov, I also feel like a decent amount of Sharks fans have overrated him. I see the tools, but I just haven't seen a particularly impactful defenseman, and he's always been a little soft in his zone, easy to beat.

We'll see how things go in training camp, but I wouldn't be surprised if Gawanke beat out Knyzhov for a spot in the top six, and honestly, I thought Thrun at the end of last season, while not some lights-out performer, showed a level of maturity and defensive smarts that put him ahead of Knyzhov on my personal depth chart.

Like I said, I'm really rooting for Knyzhov, but it feels like sometimes fans have been guilty of propping him up partly because he wasn't present (because he was injured) during some of the team's worst times, which meant he looked better by comparison (by simply being absent).

 

[Jargon]

We honestly have SO many players competing for roles I have no clue how this is going to go. There are rookies who may steal spots, veterans who might be fighting for their last chance to show something, etc etc.

That opening night roster will be interesting, to say the least.

 

[Anomie2029]

Benning definitely improved as the season went on, and from an analytics perspective he was pretty solid. However, when he messed up the puck usually ended up in the back of the Sharks' net. It made his poor plays really noticeable.

As for Knyzhov - I really liked what I saw when he started. However, he was a raw talent with two years of injury impacting his development. I hope I'm wrong and it hasn't impacted his play, but logic dictates the expectations shouldn't be high. However, clearly the organisation sees something in him, otherwise he wouldn't have got the extension that he did.

 

[Pavelski2112]

I don't think anyone expects Knyzhov to be the next Vlasic or anything, but he has the potential to be a steady complimentary top-4 defenseman, which is valuable in its own right, especially on a team with one of the worst d cores in the NHL, if not the worst.

 

[mogambomoroo]

Agree, and for Knyzhov's 2020-21 run he had Karlsson as a partner and it wasn't really hard to shine when there is no defensive competition, since Burns and Karlsson were known for offensive contributions. I think Knyzhov can be 6th-7th D realistically.
Benning looks okay for us in the situation Sharks are in, but for his price I think he has done a good job. All in all we need almost a complete overhaul to our defence, and it's good to see there is at least some potential in some prospects we have.

 

[one2gamble]

the only reason anyone thinks Knyzhov can be anything is Vlasic keeps getting 18 minutes a night

 

[OrrNumber4]

Perhaps the optimism around Knyzhov is due to the fact that so many rookie defenseman have surprised fans these past few years. Simek (strangely not mentioned much), Ferraro, Knyzhov himself, Thrun...that certainly hasn't happened for the forward group!

 

[LadyStanley]

Heard an interesting stat.....

Only about 1 in 10 PTOs result in signed contract.

 

[Messanjah]

Which sj defenseman will be on pp1?

 

[Cas]

Which sj defenseman will be on pp1?

We don't know and it hardly matters.

My guess is Matt Benning. Maybe Henry Thrun.

Just avoid Sharks for fantasy purposes.

 

[landshark]

Some new season clean-ups with pre-season starting soon.

Speculation: - 2022-23 Sharks Roster Discussion Part II

https://forums.hfboards.com/threads/2022-23-sharks-roster-discussion-part-1.2892267/ Continue.

forums.hfboards.com

Looks a little weird on the board.

 

[Hodge]

I would accept a 2nd rounder for taking Joseph tbh. He's still only 26 and at worst a very good 4th liner. He'd come off the books the same time as Vlasic too.

 

[Desert Eagle]

View attachment 746517I would accept a 2nd rounder for taking Joseph tbh. He's still only 26 and at worst a very good 4th liner. He'd come off the books the same time as Vlasic too.

Ottawa`s 2nd will be in 46-50 range. IMO, it`s too low price for one more bottom player, especially with our logjam. He will block the slot for prospect on 3 years. Let Wiesblatt, Cardwell or Raska play instead.

 

[Xirik]

Whats Mukhamadullin's Nickname?

There’s “Muk”, pronounced “Muck” or “Mook”. GM Mike Grier called him “Shak” recently, pronounced “Shack”.


And none of those are even my favorite. I’ve also heard “Baby Shak”, which is clever on multiple levels, as a play on “Baby Shark” or “Baby Shaq”.

Sounds like The Shark's Board needs to do a poll to make a nickname official.

 

[mogambomoroo]

I think Quinn has indicated he is going to put Eklund - Granlund - Kunin as a 3rd line, which sounds good, since Eklund needs to slowly get used to the NHL grind and it's better with a little less minutes and he is still getting the PP time for sure where he is going shine.

 

[landshark]

Whats Mukhamadullin's Nickname?

There’s “Muk”, pronounced “Muck” or “Mook”. GM Mike Grier called him “Shak” recently, pronounced “Shack”.


And none of those are even my favorite. I’ve also heard “Baby Shak”, which is clever on multiple levels, as a play on “Baby Shark” or “Baby Shaq”.

Sounds like The Shark's Board needs to do a poll to make a nickname official.

Hammy!

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[Saskatoon]

We don't know and it hardly matters.

My guess is Matt Benning. Maybe Henry Thrun.

Just avoid Sharks for fantasy purposes.

In a deep draft someone like Benning might be a sleeper because of PP1 time