GDT: Game 7: Sharks @ Ducks 7:15 NBCSCA

[BaileyMacTavish]

Was at the game last night, some thoughts:

The Good:

1) Walman is so much fun to watch in person. His skating and edgework is phenomenal. He glides all over the ice and never seems to be out of position. I hope the Sharks hang onto him long enough to pair him with an actual NHL defenseman.

2) Granlund and Eklund. By far the two best forwards. Both got a little gassed as the game went on, and it would be nice if one of them didn't have a muffin for a shot, but they controlled play for long stretches. Played with a bit of an edge too.

3) Blackwood. Lost count of how many great saves he made, especially through traffic.

The Bad:

1) The D, outside of Walman was as bad as advertised. Made a mediocre Duck teams look elite, they were cycling at will, especially from the second period on. Walman is also the only one who can make an outlet pass. Thrun was particularly disappointing, he looked lost and uncomfortable.

2) The team badly needs a shooter. Toffoli can rip it, but he has trouble creating his own shot.

3) The refs. I was praying that the second Ducks goal wouldn't hold up, because it came from a terrible tripping call. Thrun was also high-sticked twice in a short period of time (possibly in the same shift) without a call.

The OK:

1) Smith. I paid close attention to him all game, since he was the guy I wanted to watch the most with Mack out. He had some bad giveaways and got knocked off the puck several times, but the talent is there, and for a 19-year-old in the NHL, I don't think he looked out of place. I honestly don't have a good answer on whether or not he should be sent down. The emotional part of me wants to see him learn at the NHL level, but at the same time he's not going to get points and build confidence playing alongside offensive black holes like Goodrow and Dellandrea. I hope the Sharks leave him in the lineup for an extended period with Mack healthy, before making that decision.

Grier pretty much said Smith is gonna stay up in the NHL for the reasons you stated. He'll be taking his lumps but he got better every game as a 19 year old in the NHL.

 

[TheBigDrunkPanda]

Uhh Patty's rookie year was coming off a team that finished last in the league.

You can't act like he's the first highly touted C prospect we've had step into a terrible team when he's living with a guy who literally had that same story and fared much better (so far) in a much lower scoring era.

This is fact

Why are some dumping on Smith when most the team played like crap?

Because all his mistakes led to all goals against

 

[Sharksfan66]

How’d they finish in his rookie season? Think this team can come close to that?

Serious question, what other highly touted C prospect, besides Patty have we dropped onto not just the worst team in the league, but the worst team in the salary cap era?

I don’t care if Smith’s play hurts the team here and there. There’s an argument for developing him up or down, I don’t care as long as he develops. It’s been 7 games, let’s give him at least a dozen more.

I actually argued throughout the summer that this team could make the playoffs, using Patty's rookie season (as well as the 93-94 Sharks and 16-17 Leafs) as support. Looks like I was pretty wrong about that.

And to your serious question, the Sharks had a 2 decade run of dominance, so of course we haven't brought any other highly touted C prospects onto the worst team in the league since Patty. There just hasn't been a chance for that.

And I'm with you in not caring if Smith's play hurts the team this year. I think we probably agree this season is all about developing the kids. I just think that if we hurt Smith's development by playing him too far over his head, that will be a loss. Maybe we could agree to check back in at the 20 game mark to see if a trip to the A is warranted at that point?

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

That being said, it's amazing that one injury made this season go from watchable to very hard to watch. It's so hard to be excited when it's a rerun of last season except they work harder but we don't have our 1oa to watch

 

[Le Grand Quebecois]

In Patty's rookie season the Sharks replaced something like 20 players on the roster from the last place team the season before. If the Sharks are going to finish in 4th in the Pacific and unlock that secret Patty sauce that worked almost 2 decades ago, they will need GMMG to move a few more players around.

 

[Cas]

I think cherry-picked individual-to-individual comparisons are not meaningful. You have to compare Smith to the set of 19-year-old NHL forwards, not two-three guys who happened to be Sharks.

You also can't make any meaningful statistical comparisons yet anyway. The sample size is a joke.

 

[OrrNumber4]

And to your serious question, the Sharks had a 2 decade run of dominance, so of course we haven't brought any other highly touted C prospects onto the worst team in the league since Patty. There just hasn't been a chance for that.

And I'm with you in not caring if Smith's play hurts the team this year. I think we probably agree this season is all about developing the kids. I just think that if we hurt Smith's development by playing him too far over his head, that will be a loss. Maybe we could agree to check back in at the 20 game mark to see if a trip to the A is warranted at that point?

Going back to when the Sharks weren't good, and looking at forwards:

1) Ray Whitney came over in his D+1 season and looked good. But the season before he was a very dominant player for Kansas City in the IHL. He was a full-time NHLer by D+2 and did not look out of place. I don't think I thought very highly of him, but that's probably because he was overshadowed by
2) Fat Balloon looked like a top-6 forward from the jump. Friesen and Hertl (though D+1) are the only young Sharks who looked that good from the start (if in a different way), though Celebrini was trending that way.
3) Kozlov came over a few years after he was drafted. I don't think he ever particularly wowed in a SJ uniform. He also had a very slow start.
4) Jeff Friesen looked like a top-6 forward on a shortened schedule.
5) Sturm was very polished and well-rounded, but never really wowed offensively.

Surm and Friesen aren't good comparables to Smith, who's more offensively inclined. However, in terms of trend, he looks more like Kozlov than Falloon or Whitney. Again, not a great comparison just looking at former Sharks, but there aren't that many players I've watched enough hockey of!

 

[fasterthanlight]

That being said, it's amazing that one injury made this season go from watchable to very hard to watch. It's so hard to be excited when it's a rerun of last season except they work harder but we don't have our 1oa to watch

There are some fun folks to watch (Eklund, Smith, Zetterlund) but yeah, it's an unfortunate time with Celebrini's injury. I think we are on the right track though (even though it sucks).

If we don't win a single game this year we still:
- Burn the final year of burns retention; burn a year of jones buyout, karlsson retention, hertl retention: these add up to over 8M of cap
- Burn a year of Vlasic+Couture+Kunin+Goodrow contracts
- Get another very high pick

If we make basic good asset management decisions we have the potential to get future value for: Vanecek, Blackwood, Ceci, Rutta, Sturm, Granlund. None have super high value, but they could add up.

I think the only big fail this year possible would be injury or ruined development for Eklund, Celebrini, or Smith