Confirmed with Link: Evgeny Svechnikov signed to 1 year two way deal.

[weastern bias]

Scott Reedy is Joe Pavelski 2.0 don't @ me

@Pavelski2112

 

[Hodge]

I don't think it's unrealistic to tank with Hertl and Meier on the team but it's not worth arguing over. We're going to find out pretty quickly here. This team had Hertl and Meier on it when they finished with the 3rd overall pick that went to Ottawa. All it would take is for Meier to sag even just a little bit for the team to have significant issues up front to where they can go from the 7th and 11th overall picks they've had in the past couple seasons back down to 3rd or worse. Besides, if they finish in the bottom three where Chicago and Arizona end up worse, those are significantly better odds for them than the previous couple seasons. I'd much rather have 11.5% odds where the team with the best odds is at 18.5% than 3.5% or 6.5%. All I care about moving forward is putting themselves in the best possible position to get a foundational piece to build around for their next generation of competitive teams. That piece that they don't have now and need to get to even begin to pretend like we have a chance at competing. Until then, it's just spinning their wheels and ending up in mediocrity repeatedly.

They also had a .895 team SV% (very unlikely Reimer/Kahkonen are that bad), Meier was nowhere near as good as he is now and, most importantly, there weren't multiple teams actively trying to tank for 1st overall the way Arizona, Chicago and Montreal are doing this season. Even if the Sharks are as bad as they were in 19-20 they will almost certainly finish higher in the league standings.

 

[TheBeard]

They also had a .895 team SV% (very unlikely Reimer/Kahkonen are that bad), Meier was nowhere near as good as he is now and, most importantly, there weren't multiple teams actively trying to tank for 1st overall the way Arizona, Chicago and Montreal are doing this season. Even if the Sharks are as bad as they were in 19-20 they will almost certainly finish higher in the league standings.

Tough to say. Buffalo, Anaheim, Detroit and Ottawa all finished lower in the standings and should be significantly better. Seattle too could show major gains. Same with NJ. I don't see many of the fringe teams last year having dramatic falls.

 

[Pavelski2112]

@Pavelski2112

whack

 

[Hodge]

Tough to say. Buffalo, Anaheim, Detroit and Ottawa all finished lower in the standings and should be significantly better. Seattle too could show major gains. Same with NJ. I don't see many of the fringe teams last year having dramatic falls.

We will finish in the bottom ten for sure, all I'm saying is 1st or 2nd overall is out of reach barring a long shot lottery win and there's nothing Grier could have done from when he took over to close the gap on Arizona/Chicago/Montreal and change that.

 

[TheBeard]

We will finish in the bottom ten for sure, all I'm saying is 1st or 2nd overall is out of reach barring a long shot lottery win and there's nothing Grier could have done from when he took over to close the gap on Arizona/Chicago/Montreal and change that.

Maybe traded Timo at the draft.

 

[hohosaregood]

The alternative would have been to tank for the generational talent that is coming in next year's draft, this is the best year to tank since the McDavid sweepstakes and the organization decided that a better option would be to compete for the 10th seed

I think you're seriously overrating this team. We have one above average NHL defenseman and 3 top 6 forward. There's no way that's good enough for the 10th seed

 

[Hodge]

Maybe traded Timo at the draft.

That's a really difficult trade to pull off just 48 hours into having the job so I can't blame him for not going that route. It would also make for a very tough conversation with Hertl, essentially admitting a player three years younger than him is too old to build around months after signing him to an 8 year extension.

We are still not bad enough to be a bottom three team. It will happen but it's going to take another year or two after the inevitable Meier trade and (further) age related decline from Hertl, Couture and Karlsson.

 

[Pavelski2112]

I keep saying it, but the Sharks are gonna overachieve and end up picking 16OA, because that's the actual worst case scenario for this franchise

 

[Pinkfloyd]

They also had a .895 team SV% (very unlikely Reimer/Kahkonen are that bad), Meier was nowhere near as good as he is now and, most importantly, there weren't multiple teams actively trying to tank for 1st overall the way Arizona, Chicago and Montreal are doing this season. Even if the Sharks are as bad as they were in 19-20 they will almost certainly finish higher in the league standings.

It's very easy for goaltending to turn in such performances. The defense is still not good and all it really takes is one injury to either guy and things get very shaky in the goaltending department very quickly. I'll never trust goaltending when we're talking about two guys that are not dependable starting goaltenders but are instead really 1B types sharing the load because one is unproven in that regard and the other hasn't been able to hold down a job like that in quite some time now.

 

[one2gamble]

I keep saying it, but the Sharks are gonna overachieve and end up picking 16OA, because that's the actual worst case scenario for this franchise

its very easy to see this happening.

New Staff Bump
Stable Bottom Six
Stable Goaltending
Terrible Conference

 

[weastern bias]

I think you're seriously overrating this team. We have one above average NHL defenseman and 3 top 6 forward. There's no way that's good enough for the 10th seed

I meant that's as high as this roster could possibly aspire to finish

I agree, we're worse than last year, and last year we really sucked

Unfortunately there are some teams that have thrown this season in the dumpster from the jump (Arizona and Chicago most notably), we're about to see some next level tanking this year, I don't think we can compete with the bottom tier of cellar dwellers in this particular environment, IN THIS ECONOMY?!

 

[hohosaregood]

I meant that's as high as this roster could possibly aspire to finish

I agree, we're worse than last year, and last year we really sucked

Unfortunately there are some teams that have thrown this season in the dumpster from the jump (Arizona and Chicago most notably), we're about to see some next level tanking this year, I don't think we can compete with the bottom tier of cellar dwellers in this particular environment, IN THIS ECONOMY?!

Arizona, Chicago, and Montreal are the only 3 teams that i could see realistically finishing below us this season. Philly sucks too but their roster is more of a mediocre spin their wheels roster. Basically, I think we'll be like Seattle last year in that we aren't going to be good but the team is going to work their butts off and end up at 4th. We may not get Bedard but we are for sure getting Mitchkov, Fantilli, Dvorsky, or Carlson.

I just don't see any sort of mediocrity with this team. This team has already finished in the bottom third of the league for the 3rd year in a row. Anybody thinking we're going to toil in mediocrity is just hoping for a worst case scenario but it's not realistic with how bad this team is

 

[TheBeard]

That's a really difficult trade to pull off just 48 hours into having the job so I can't blame him for not going that route. It would also make for a very tough conversation with Hertl, essentially admitting a player three years younger than him is too old to build around months after signing him to an 8 year extension.

We are still not bad enough to be a bottom three team. It will happen but it's going to take another year or two after the inevitable Meier trade and (further) age related decline from Hertl, Couture and Karlsson.

Fair about the turnover for trade. For Hertl, even he had to see the shape of the team when he re-signed. It was a different regime and it’s clear especially after the Burns dump that the team is retooling. I don’t even see why Timo would want to stick around anyways.

 

[weastern bias]

Arizona, Chicago, and Montreal are the only 3 teams that i could see realistically finishing below us this season. Philly sucks too but their roster is more of a mediocre spin their wheels roster. Basically, I think we'll be like Seattle last year in that we aren't going to be good but the team is going to work their butts off and end up at 4th. We may not get Bedard but we are for sure getting Mitchkov, Fantilli, Dvorsky, or Carlson.

I just don't see any sort of mediocrity with this team. This team has already finished in the bottom third of the league for the 3rd year in a row. Anybody thinking we're going to toil in mediocrity is just hoping for a worst case scenario but it's not realistic with how bad this team is

I hope you're right

 

[Anomie2029]

Even if that’s true the 2/3rds of GMs who aren’t terrible at their job also decided not to offer Dahlen a contract. He sucks, get over it.

Svechnikov was not given a qualifying offer by Detroit AND Winnipeg. Neither of which are particularly deep rosters. On top of that, he signed a 2-way deal in September. This is not a solid player.

Dahlen screwed himself with reports that he wants a one-way deal and if he isn't in the NHL he will play in Sweden. It may be financially better for him to do that, but it won't help him break into the NHL.

 

[DG93]

We will finish in the bottom ten for sure, all I'm saying is 1st or 2nd overall is out of reach barring a long shot lottery win and there's nothing Grier could have done from when he took over to close the gap on Arizona/Chicago/Montreal and change that.

The one thing that may lead to a true bottom-5 finish is Reimer regressing to his useful average self and Kahkonen not standing on his head. And that's because of this defense, which may be the worst blueline group I have seen the Sharks ice since the 2014 Kings series after Vlasic went down. They have a two legit good top-4 defensemen in Karlsson (if healthy) and Ferraro, 2 solid 3rd pairing defensemen in Benning and Nuutivaara (if he stays healthy), and a bunch of garbage (Simek, Vlasic, Megna) + Merkley who is a disaster on defense. That blue line alone might net them a bottom-5 pick regardless of the depth that Grier added up front (this is assuming that the goalies don't significantly overachieve again like last year).

 

[Shark Finn]

I keep saying it, but the Sharks are gonna overachieve and end up picking 16OA, because that's the actual worst case scenario for this franchise

Please, tell us something new.

 

[Jargon]

Scott Reedy is Joe Pavelski 2.0 don't @ me

Except for his shot, tipping ability and incredible elite hockey IQ and general skill level, he’s almost exactly like Pavelski.

 

[Jargon]

I keep saying it, but the Sharks are gonna overachieve and end up picking 16OA, because that's the actual worst case scenario for this franchise

I totally agree. I think the new guys are going to help defensively which will allow some of the offensive guys to produce more and win a few extra games. I can also see Karlsson taking off without Burns.

It’ll ultimately lead to a weird season where we don’t get into the playoffs but finish too high for it to help the future.

 

[Freaky Styley]

I might be wrong, but I see a little Nichuskin-lite in Svechnikov, I think he'll be a good player for you guys. Not a defensive beast (if he took a page out of Nukes book he'd really establish himself in this league) but just in the same way that he is a solid player not getting many opportunities and can make the most of them when given the ice time. Makes you wonder if there's some off-ice thing going on here, because he didn't look out of place when playing with guys like Dubois and Schiefele in WIN, With the SJ roster I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a look next to the top talented guys and him lock down a spot in camp in the top 6 as a big bodied, talented guy that can play with talent.

If Couture & Meier are a duo, would like to see what he could do next to Hertl.

 

[themelkman]

I might be wrong, but I see a little Nichuskin-lite in Svechnikov, I think he'll be a good player for you guys. Not a defensive beast (if he took a page out of Nukes book he'd really establish himself in this league) but just in the same way that he is a solid player not getting many opportunities and can make the most of them when given the ice time. Makes you wonder if there's some off-ice thing going on here, because he didn't look out of place when playing with guys like Dubois and Schiefele in WIN, With the SJ roster I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a look next to the top talented guys and him lock down a spot in camp in the top 6 as a big bodied, talented guy that can play with talent.

If Couture & Meier are a duo, would like to see what he could do next to Hertl.

I think if he plays that high we have a serious talent evaluation problem considering all the money spent on "depth" this summer