Speculation: 2023-24-25 Sharks Roster Discussion

[coooldude]

Cool interview with Mario. He seems to have a positive attitude about everything so this isn't exactly surprising but still interesting to hear that he enjoys being part of trade rumors because it proves other teams want him (he did also say he wants to be a Shark for life and win in SJ).

ONE HOUR????

Mario's super likeable. I'm on the side of those of us who think he'd be a great #4 on a deeper team and an excellent bottom pair guy.

 

[weastern bias]

He's just such a likable guy, I can see the value management sees in keeping him around, it's hard to stay so positive on such a bad team

 

[Hodge]

ONE HOUR????

Mario's super likeable. I'm on the side of those of us who think he'd be a great #4 on a deeper team and an excellent bottom pair guy.

It's actually worth watching/listening to. I guess he was UMass teammates with the interviewer so the answers were pretty entertaining.

 

[mogambomoroo]

Cool interview with Mario. He seems to have a positive attitude about everything so this isn't exactly surprising but still interesting to hear that he enjoys being part of trade rumors because it proves other teams want him (he did also say he wants to be a Shark for life and win in SJ).

I kinda feel bad always putting him on all of the trades possible. He is such a good human being!

I think this interview really shows how much he has matured, he is much calmer and has a very good situational awareness about the team and his own play. Hopefully he can bring the whole team energy up and they start winning more games with the kids. Mario would be a perfect player to see on a winning team, he would bring so much joy to the whole squad.
If he is a forever Shark and can find a good role with the next regime, I'm all for it. Just need to start to seeing it on the ice too, I believe he is one of the coolest players to have on the same team.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Ferraro is perfectly good to keep. He can eat the top minutes for us while some other guys develop. And if Muk really figures it out, Ferraro can slot in on the second pairing well enough with the right partner. I’d only move him if a 1st is coming back.

 

[tahoesharksfan]

What does it say about Anaheim that their stable of young (potential) stars - many of whom aren't that young anymore - got outscored by Vatrano?

I'm just so vexed by that team. Do they ever intend on getting better?

No, their management doesn’t care. They are not allowed to spend to the cap, only to what they convince someone will show some level of return. They are all about the money, very little about product…

 

[DG93]

Ferraro is perfectly good to keep. He can eat the top minutes for us while some other guys develop. And if Muk really figures it out, Ferraro can slot in on the second pairing well enough with the right partner. I’d only move him if a 1st is coming back.

Or traded as part of a package for an important piece

 

[knu]

It sucks that the Goodrow-Sturm-Kunin is probably the best 4th line that we've ever iced as an organization and would have probably won a Cup had we had that caliber 4th line during the Thornton/Marleau prime years.

Like compare that to running Zubrus-Spaling-Wingels in 2016 or Haley-Goodrow-Melker in 2019 against the rough and tumble Blues.

That said, I'd go slightly different on the lineup:
Eklund-Celebrini-Toffoli
Granlund-Smith-Zetterlund
Kostin-Wennberg-Dellandrea
Goodrow-Sturm-Kunin

Could see Granlund float a bit as a spare center with Celebrini and Smith throughout the season (or until Couture is back). The comments on trying to have a couple of centers to take some burden off the young guys on some faceoffs and defensive assignments makes me think Granlund will almost exclusively be on the wing until Couture is back.

Love those lines

 

[OrrNumber4]

It sucks that the Goodrow-Sturm-Kunin is probably the best 4th line that we've ever iced as an organization and would have probably won a Cup had we had that caliber 4th line during the Thornton/Marleau prime years.

Like compare that to running Zubrus-Spaling-Wingels in 2016 or Haley-Goodrow-Melker in 2019 against the rough and tumble Blues.

People love to shit on fourth-liners; if the Sharks make the playoffs with Goodrow-Sturm-Kunin they would get lambasted as well. Can't change the core so blame what can be changed.

Colorado won with Cogliano-Helm-O'Connor; Panthers with Lomberg-Stenlund-Okposo. Vegas had the best of the lot with Carrier-Howden-Kolesar. Putting Wingels's playoff failures aside, how are those much better than Nieto/Zubrus-Spaling-Wingels or Haley-Goodrow-Karlsson?

Don't get me wrong, I like this fourth line because of the potential. If Goodrow bounces back to his pre-2023 form, Kunin takes the next step in his game, and Sturm can maintain his play, that's a league-leading fourth line.

 

[DG93]

People love to shit on fourth-liners; if the Sharks make the playoffs with Goodrow-Sturm-Kunin they would get lambasted as well. Can't change the core so blame what can be changed.

Colorado won with Cogliano-Helm-O'Connor; Panthers with Lomberg-Stenlund-Okposo. Vegas had the best of the lot with Carrier-Howden-Kolesar. Putting Wingels's playoff failures aside, how are those much better than Nieto/Zubrus-Spaling-Wingels or Haley-Goodrow-Karlsson?

Don't get me wrong, I like this fourth line because of the potential. If Goodrow bounces back to his pre-2023 form, Kunin takes the next step in his game, and Sturm can maintain his play, that's a league-leading fourth line.

Guys like Cogliano, Stenlund, Kolesar, Carrier, etc. are all legit 4th liners. Wingels, Zubrus, Spaling, and Haley never belonged on an NHL roster.

 

[CupfortheSharks]

Guys like Cogliano, Stenlund, Kolesar, Carrier, etc. are all legit 4th liners. Wingels, Zubrus, Spaling, and Haley never belonged on an NHL roster.

Wingels played for 4 NHL teams.
Zubras played for 6 NHL teams.
Spaling played for 4 NHL teams.
Haley played for 4 NHL teams.

 

[DG93]

Wingels played for 4 NHL teams.
Zubras played for 6 NHL teams.
Spaling played for 4 NHL teams.
Haley played for 4 NHL teams.

Zubrus when he was younger was solid but not the 2015-2016 Zubrus. Wingels also wasn't the same after one good season, and I don't think him playing for other teams changes that. Same goes for Spaling and Haley who were never NHL caliber forwards.

 

[Hodge]

The versions of Zubrus and especially Spaling on that 2016 team were dogshit.

But our issue wasn't the 4th line so much as the quality of Doug's 3rd lines typically being indistinguishable from the 4th.

 

[Pavelski2112]

The versions of Zubrus and especially Spaling on that 2016 team were dogshit.

But our issue wasn't the 4th line so much as the quality of Doug's 3rd lines typically being indistinguishable from the 4th.

Tierney was not a quality 3C and the 4th line was not effective whatsoever.

 

[Shark Finn]

Guys like Cogliano, Stenlund, Kolesar, Carrier, etc. are all legit 4th liners. Wingels, Zubrus, Spaling, and Haley never belonged on an NHL roster.

A guy who didn't belong in the NHL still managed to play 1293 regular season and 106 playoff NHL games in his career.

 

[Pavelski2112]

A guy who didn't belong in the NHL still managed to play 1293 regular season and 106 playoff NHL games in his career.

Zubrus was barely an NHLer by the time he got to the Sharks. He had a handful of good games but was ultimately a replacement-level 4th liner at best

 

[STL Shark]

People love to shit on fourth-liners; if the Sharks make the playoffs with Goodrow-Sturm-Kunin they would get lambasted as well. Can't change the core so blame what can be changed.

Colorado won with Cogliano-Helm-O'Connor; Panthers with Lomberg-Stenlund-Okposo. Vegas had the best of the lot with Carrier-Howden-Kolesar. Putting Wingels's playoff failures aside, how are those much better than Nieto/Zubrus-Spaling-Wingels or Haley-Goodrow-Karlsson?

Don't get me wrong, I like this fourth line because of the potential. If Goodrow bounces back to his pre-2023 form, Kunin takes the next step in his game, and Sturm can maintain his play, that's a league-leading fourth line.

Easiest way for me to talk about how bad our bottom 6's were is that only Nieto and Goodrow ever played real NHL roles after leaving the Sharks. Wingels was out of the league 1 year after leaving SJ. Zubrus never played another NHL game. Spaling never played another NHL game. James Sheppard never played an NHL game following his last season in San Jose. Melker Karlsson never played an NHL game after leaving San Jose.

Do you see the theme about why our bottom 6 guys were rightfully lambasted? There were not real NHL players on those lines for most of the 2010's as evidenced by the fact that when those guys became available for league minimum as UFAs, nobody in the league wanted them.

 

[Hodge]

Easiest way for me to talk about how bad our bottom 6's were is that only Nieto and Goodrow ever played real NHL roles after leaving the Sharks. Wingels was out of the league 1 year after leaving SJ. Zubrus never played another NHL game. Spaling never played another NHL game. James Sheppard never played an NHL game following his last season in San Jose. Melker Karlsson never played an NHL game after leaving San Jose.

Do you see the theme about why our bottom 6 guys were rightfully lambasted? There were not real NHL players on those lines for most of the 2010's as evidenced by the fact that when those guys became available for league minimum as UFAs, nobody in the league wanted them.

We're seeing a similar thing play out right now as the window has closed on Labanc, Barabanov, Hoffman or Zadina getting one-way NHL contracts this season or perhaps ever again. Only Grier intentionally constructed a tank roster while Wilson was ostensibly trying to win a Cup.

 

[Juxtaposer]

A guy who didn't belong in the NHL still managed to play 1293 regular season and 106 playoff NHL games in his career.

Are you being purposely obtuse? Zubrus was in the twilight of his career at this point. He obviously was a good player for a long time, but he wasn’t an NHL-quality player in 2016.

 

[STL Shark]

Are you being purposely obtuse? Zubrus was in the twilight of his career at this point. He obviously was a good player for a long time, but he wasn’t an NHL-quality player in 2016.

So much so that he was on a PTO to play under DeBoer because of their history together in New Jersey. Nobody else in the league was signing him, and even the Sharks weren't certain about it until a little while into the season.

 

[Lebanezer]

 

[Hodge]

It's still crazy to think about how much input Wilson gave DeBoer on the roster.

Boedker, Spaling and Zubrus were brought in because DeBoer had coached them previously. They were all horrible on the Sharks.

Meanwhile we lost Nieto and Carpenter, two youngish legit bottom six forwards, on waivers because PDB refused to play them.

 

[Cas]

I have to know the context of this.

 

[landshark]

I had such a mancrush on Andre Dawson when I was a child. I think it happened when I saw him throw someone out at first from right field on a wouldbe single.

 

[Lebanezer]

I have to know the context of this.

It was a State Farm commercial from many years ago.