NEW: Our Sharks' Roster Reaction!

[weastern bias]

Nope you are now enshrined in the same category as kurz. Mortal enemy to any fan on a message board.

This is the meanest thing anyone has ever said about anyone else

 

[hohosaregood]

I just hope we don't re-sign Kunin in perpetuity. Feels like there's a sneaky chance of him signing 2x2s forever

 

[CHALUPA]

None of them fill the same niche as Kunin, which at this time still appears to be basically just vibes

I mean, someone needs to report to Jumbo. Not a fan of giving the Director of Vibes position if he’s the only one in the department.

 

[Hodge]

I just hope we don't re-sign Kunin in perpetuity. Feels like there's a sneaky chance of him signing 2x2s forever

God forbid we pay a guy who can score 10-15 goals a season, PK and fight $2 million of a soon to be $100+ million salary cap.

 

[Cas]

I just hope we don't re-sign Kunin in perpetuity. Feels like there's a sneaky chance of him signing 2x2s forever

I feel like resigning him for just one year at his QO figure indicates that Grier knows he's not actually very good and just wanted to keep him for a year (or less) as filler depth and maybe trade bait. I'm not concerned about Kunin sticking around.

That doesn't mean I enjoy watching him flail and fail.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

People complain about Kunin because he misses grade A chances created by others notably Eklund last year.

What people are missing is that he was in position for the scoring chance and didn’t execute. Many in the NHL can’t identify those chances in the first place.

While it would not be a defensive shutdown line I would like to see a 3rd line of Gushchin, Wennberg, and Kunin.

Yeah pretty much. Seeing him whiff those is a little frustrating. He's a fine bottom 6er and honestly should be geared for 4th line minutes. Him sniffing the top 6 out of necessity was.... pain

 

[weastern bias]

God forbid we pay a guy who can score 10-15 goals a season, PK and fight $2 million of a soon to be $100+ million salary cap.

He's a terrible penalty killer and a terrible fighter but his 16 goals and 31 points in 108 games as a Shark is where the REAL value lies, you just can't let that go, a rare talent, this one

 

[Hodge]

He's a terrible penalty killer and a terrible fighter but his 16 goals and 31 points in 108 games as a Shark is where the REAL value lies, you just can't let that go, a rare talent, this one

It's almost like he tore his ACL two months into his Sharks career after averaging 17 goals per 82 games the 3 seasons before that.

 

[weastern bias]

It's almost like he tore his ACL two months into his Sharks career after averaging 17 goals per 82 games the 3 seasons before that.

Cool, glad he's turning the corner and suddenly good now, no one has ever declined long term due to injury before, everything's coming up Milhouse!

 

[Hodge]

Cool, glad he's turning the corner and suddenly good now, no one has ever declined long term due to injury before, everything's coming up Milhouse!

He's still only 26 years old and it can take 18 months to 2 years to fully recover from ACL surgery. Let's see what he can do fully healthy and playing with a talented center like Wennberg.

Even if he doesn't regain his previous form Kunin is still a perfectly reasonable use of $2 million/year with the rising cap.

 

[weastern bias]

He's still only 26 years old and it can take 18 months to 2 years to fully recover from ACL surgery. Let's see what he can do fully healthy and playing with a talented center like Wennberg.

Even if he doesn't regain his previous form Kunin is still a perfectly reasonable use of $2 million/year with the rising cap.

My problem with Kunin isn't his contract but his role on the team

He's a perfectly capable 13th forward/energy guy/injury replacement and we treat him like a secondary scorer and a leader, his only real value is in giving maximum effort on every shift and on a good team he would be playing 8 minutes a night, here he wears a letter and gets second line minutes in a pinch, it's painful to watch

 

[CupfortheSharks]

I just watched the replay of the final pre-season game against Vegas. Posters here went on and on about how Gushchin single handedly willed us to win that game. Gushchin definitely had a great game but we don’t win that game without Kunin. He scored the 4th and 5th goals to tie the game by being parked right in front of Hill.

 

[Hodge]

My problem with Kunin isn't his contract but his role on the team

He's a perfectly capable 13th forward/energy guy/injury replacement and we treat him like a secondary scorer and a leader, his only real value is in giving maximum effort on every shift and on a good team he would be playing 8 minutes a night, here he wears a letter and gets second line minutes in a pinch, it's painful to watch

Kunin getting second line minutes after half our roster had either been traded or injured and we were actively tanking is not an indictment of Kunin.

Giving a shit who wears an 'A' during road games on this team is one of the stupidest things I can imagine getting mad about.

 

[Cas]

I just watched the replay of the final pre-season game against Vegas. Posters here went on and on about how Gushchin single handedly willed us to win that game. Gushchin definitely had a great game but we don’t win that game without Kunin. He scored the 4th and 5th goals to tie the game by being parked right in front of Hill.

Honestly, Kunin is good in front of the net (unless that's just confirmation bias speaking for me). The problem is that's the only time he's good - already set up in the offensive zone and able to take the net front - and he's terrible at actually getting the puck into the offensive zone, breaking out of the defensive zone, cycling the puck, etc.

He's basically only useful on the PP with four people who can actually do the work, while he screens and cleans up rebounds, but because he's otherwise dead weight, you wouldn't really want to use him there because if you're in any way a decent team, you have plenty of other people you want on the PP instead. There is real value there, but it's overwhelmed by the negative value Kunin provides in literally every other situation.

 

[weastern bias]

Kunin getting second line minutes after half our roster had either been traded or injured and we were actively tanking is not an indictment of Kunin.

Giving a shit who wears an 'A' during road games on this team is one of the stupidest things I can imagine getting mad about.

The organizational leadership structure is indicative of how the team views their hierarchy

Luke Kunin is one of the lowest value contributors in the entire league and his coaches and managers constantly talk him up as some example of leadership and work ethic, it's a great example of the kind of double talk a tank team will do when they grasp at straws to sell a false bill of goods to the fans

The problem is that the tank is supposed to be over and Kunin is the type of flotsam you jettison when you're trying to reset the culture and actually hold people accountable for their results rather than their effort, the fact that they not only re-signed him but also let him be a representative of the team as a noted "leader" is an ominous omen for the future of this rebuild

We're supposed to be past platitudinal pandering, that was fine when we were losing on purpose, now that we have young players that matter and the long term results matter Luke Kunin is a bad presence to have on this team

I can't wait until he teaches our young talents how to score at a 23 point pace while being bad at defense, that's the kind of leadership money just can't buy

 

[Alaskanice]

Honestly, Kunin is good in front of the net (unless that's just confirmation bias speaking for me). The problem is that's the only time he's good - already set up in the offensive zone and able to take the net front - and he's terrible at actually getting the puck into the offensive zone, breaking out of the defensive zone, cycling the puck, etc.

He's basically only useful on the PP with four people who can actually do the work, while he screens and cleans up rebounds, but because he's otherwise dead weight, you wouldn't really want to use him there because if you're in any way a decent team, you have plenty of other people you want on the PP instead. There is real value there, but it's overwhelmed by the negative value Kunin provides in literally every other situation.

If you watched the plays for a bit before the goals, Kunin actually turns the puck over so Goose can get possession and get the shot off, that Luke deflects from in front of the net, after fighting against defenders to get to that area.

 

[gaucholoco3]

My problem with Kunin isn't his contract but his role on the team

He's a perfectly capable 13th forward/energy guy/injury replacement and we treat him like a secondary scorer and a leader, his only real value is in giving maximum effort on every shift and on a good team he would be playing 8 minutes a night, here he wears a letter and gets second line minutes in a pinch, it's painful to watch

Kunin will not come close to 2nd line minutes even in a pinch. Last year was a clear tank season so who cares that he got 2nd line minutes. It is a new year with new players. He will be adequate for his role as bottom 6 depth.

 

[gaucholoco3]

The organizational leadership structure is indicative of how the team views their hierarchy

Kunin is one of the only players with more than 3 years experience in the league that played on the team last season. They already gave letters to 2 players who are new to the team. The only other options that have more than 3 year’s experience are Rutta or Sturm. Sturm also was very openly critical of the staff last season so he would not be a good fit.

Kunin having a letter is more a product of having a very young roster and turning over almost half of it.

 

[weastern bias]

Kunin having a letter is more a product of having a very young roster and turning over almost half of it.

We could also just not have 5 alternate captains and leave him off the list, Ferraro, Granlund, Toffoli and Goodrow is more than enough, I've never been a fan of the rotating "A"s, it feels very "participation trophy, gold star" to me

Kunin will not come close to 2nd line minutes even in a pinch. Last year was a clear tank season so who cares that he got 2nd line minutes. It is a new year with new players. He will be adequate for his role as bottom 6 depth.

I hope this is true, but he's already on our 3rd line when he's a 5th line talent and we will have injuries at some point, I won't be shocked to see him pushed up at some point because we still lack a lot of depth at forward (well, everywhere really)