"Levshunov has a lot of question marks -- his PPG is good but a lot of folks aren't sold, me included."
Dude, you're being an asshole.
Smith might not be Celebrini but he still has lots of potential. BC is a top-ranked program and Smith IMO has more offensive creativity than anyone else on the team.
Not saying the draft is rigged, but based on how corruption usually plays out it would be more likely the NHL would bribe a lower-level EY employee to do the dirty work without the leadership of EY knowing.
I'm already mentally ready to re-name this thread to either:Not saying the draft is rigged, but based on how corruption usually plays out it would be more likely the NHL would bribe a lower-level EY employee to do the dirty work without the leadership of EY knowing.
When the Sharks eventually pick 3rd in the upcoming draft I’ll blame the hockey gods hating them not the NHL
What makes San Jose such a market that would be needed to keep afloat?
Has anyone checked to make sure it's not Ernest and Young and it's actually this guy running things behind the scenes?
I think the league might even be happy if the Sharks get Celebrini. They could market the junior shark part of it quite a bit.
The Bay Area is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the US. We are also home to some of the biggest companies in the world and have one of the highest median incomes in the world. That means a whole lot of discretionary spending money. If Hasso decides the team needs a new arena and gets push back from local government, then moving the team becomes a possibility. Until then, the Sharks are in no danger of relocating no matter how bad the team plays.
Like I said, it won't happen unless Bettman believes they're really in trouble. Historically that has been shown to help the teams in ruin (Penguins, Blackhawks, Thrashers, Panthers). Anaheim didn't have nearly as bad attendance issues but the Sharks have been struggling franchise-wide with no luck for years now so I'd imagine he hasn't seen this as an issue to this point and hoped that they'd gradually get better but maintain engagement similar to Anaheim. But, if there is a year to rig it for the Sharks, it would be this one for the players history, but being serious now, more importantly is that if they do win the lottery I would take it as an indicator to be concerned. Not even the Coyotes got to having an attendance problem level like the Sharks currently have, also factoring in they have by far the AHL's lowest attendance in a brand new arena I think majorly built around them.
The draft isn't necessarily "rigged against the Sharks." I see it as more of a "favors certain teams very heavily over others". I think how Celebrini shows up until the draft factors in and who the teams are along with the Sharks at the bottom also get factored in. All I'm saying is don't be surprised if Chicago/Edmonton or another OG6/Moneymaker who drops down randomly wins #1 if Celebrini continues to prove better and better. That's why I've seen people in Columbus tell eachother to stop going to games so they stop getting screwed in the draft as well
Chicago sans Hall and Perry is still better than we are. We're going to struggle to get 30 points, Chicago is going to finish around 45-50. We'll be fine.
Remains to be seen if there are any lingering effects from the hit on Hertl...
Sharks don't have Couture/Barabanov or the 2/3 AHL forwards/defensemen better than their counterparts. Sharks also are intentionally tanking by storing their younger hungrier players in the AHL and giving a guy like Ferraro close to 24 minutes a night where Chicago is playing literally everyone they can in their organization they think might keep them afloat.
