GDT: Sharks at Canes, 2PM PST

[Gene Parmesan]

Yep. 20th game in 39 days. 15th road game.

They tired. December and January they'll get plenty of rest and days with the family.

Hence why I'm not freaking out about this start.

 

[Zeroz]

Busy weekend with the in-laws, missed both games. :/ Great to see those highlights from todays game though. Glad to see another WI boy do well on the Sharks Just realized he grew up two counties away from me and one year difference. wow small world.

 

[Clarkington III]

So when Stalock is healthy and we are sputtering around 8th still, we can trade Niemi and run the young ones the rest of the season so see if we have a starter for next season?

 

[WantonAbandon]

You can stop your ridiculous loaded questions because of your lazy assumptions. Three of the four forward lines are not constructed the same as last year so to say they're about the same is simply laughable.

They are the same players... Who are they missing? Bracken Kearns? Every forward who played at least 60 games for the Sharks last season was in the lineup against the Canes. Plus the Sharks have a healthy Hertl as a bonus. The forwards who weren't in the line up who broke the thirty game mark last season are: Mike Brown, John McCarthy, and Martin Havlat. Who is this catalyst/lynchpin the Sharks are missing? I'm putting my money on Mike Brown

 

[Levie]

They are the same players... Who are they missing? Bracken Kearns? Every forward who played at least 60 games for the Sharks last season was in the lineup against the Canes. Plus the Sharks have a healthy Hertl as a bonus. The forwards who weren't in the line up who broke the thirty game mark last season are: Mike Brown, John McCarthy, and Martin Havlat. Who is this catalyst/lynchpin the Sharks are missing? I'm putting my money on Mike Brown

Burns at forward changed the entire dynamic of the offense. Different lines different chemistry. Thornton-Burns were dominant last season until after the olympic break.

 

[MrCowGod15]

So awesome to see a goalie steal a game for US than the other way around... which happens far too much.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

They are the same players... Who are they missing? Bracken Kearns? Every forward who played at least 60 games for the Sharks last season was in the lineup against the Canes. Plus the Sharks have a healthy Hertl as a bonus. The forwards who weren't in the line up who broke the thirty game mark last season are: Mike Brown, John McCarthy, and Martin Havlat. Who is this catalyst/lynchpin the Sharks are missing? I'm putting my money on Mike Brown

More lazy arguing because of you not reading and instead making your assumptions. If your statement of them being the same players is at all relevant, how then does it happen that three of the four lines have been changed from last year to this year? Maybe it has something to do with their utilization? It's great that 10 players up front last year are here this year. One problem is that one of their top wingers is now a defenseman. The other problem is that two of their current top wingers are 2nd year players that are going to run into bouts of inconsistency. The other problem is that their bottom six is essentially a revolving door of plugs right now. Kennedy was always all over the lineup last year. Burish, McGinn, and Goodrow all were not guys that played a lot last year. Sheppard isn't exactly the model for consistency either especially when they're trying to shift him back to center AND putting him in a spot where he's outmatched.

Just go ahead and find a few games from last year and compare their lines with the lines from this year. It's not the same and trying to argue that it's even in the realm of the same is lunacy.

 

[OrrNumber4]

More lazy arguing because of you not reading and instead making your assumptions. If your statement of them being the same players is at all relevant, how then does it happen that three of the four lines have been changed from last year to this year? Maybe it has something to do with their utilization? It's great that 10 players up front last year are here this year. One problem is that one of their top wingers is now a defenseman. The other problem is that two of their current top wingers are 2nd year players that are going to run into bouts of inconsistency. The other problem is that their bottom six is essentially a revolving door of plugs right now. Kennedy was always all over the lineup last year. Burish, McGinn, and Goodrow all were not guys that played a lot last year. Sheppard isn't exactly the model for consistency either especially when they're trying to shift him back to center AND putting him in a spot where he's outmatched.

Just go ahead and find a few games from last year and compare their lines with the lines from this year. It's not the same and trying to argue that it's even in the realm of the same is lunacy.

Well, it depends on if you are looking from the end of last season, or the beginning of it. Anyway you look at it, the major differences are not in the personnel, but in the way they are being deployed.

The forward group is still Thornton-Marleau-Couture-Pavelski. Other than Burns being moved back to D, there is no significant change affecting the forwards, especially now that Tierney is in the AHL.

Compared to the end of last year, the lines are eerily similar. Pavelski on the first, Thornton-Hertl together, Nieto-Couture-Marleau, Sheppard on the third line, Desi on the fourth. Yes, Burish is drawing in more, Goodrow, Kennedy on the third line, but its mostly the same. From the beginning of last year, there has been more change. Hertl, Sheppard, and Nieto earned a lot more responsibility throughout that season.

This team lost Havlat (a player who was pretty much absent anyway), a declining Boyle, a god-awful Brad Stuart, and moved their top power-forward to D, where he is killing it. That is pretty much it. Additions like Scott are just window-dressingIt really is very close to last year's team.

 

[Alwalys]

I'll say this about the game ... this didn't feel like the kinds of games opposing goalies steal from the Sharks. In those games, flat out sure goals are either flubbed, saved or otherwise inexplicably don't go in. This game I didn't really feel like there were many, if any, places where the Canes truly had us beat and it was purely the goalie or blind luck it didn't go in. Yes there were a few scrambles that often end up in goals. But I actually felt we had the better quality chances, and by a large margin.

This isn't just Scrivens minus 14 shots ... that game was ten-bell chances galore.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Well, it depends on if you are looking from the end of last season, or the beginning of it. Anyway you look at it, the major differences are not in the personnel, but in the way they are being deployed.

The forward group is still Thornton-Marleau-Couture-Pavelski. Other than Burns being moved back to D, there is no significant change affecting the forwards, especially now that Tierney is in the AHL.

Compared to the end of last year, the lines are eerily similar. Pavelski on the first, Thornton-Hertl together, Nieto-Couture-Marleau, Sheppard on the third line, Desi on the fourth. Yes, Burish is drawing in more, Goodrow, Kennedy on the third line, but its mostly the same. From the beginning of last year, there has been more change. Hertl, Sheppard, and Nieto earned a lot more responsibility throughout that season.

This team lost Havlat (a player who was pretty much absent anyway), a declining Boyle, a god-awful Brad Stuart, and moved their top power-forward to D, where he is killing it. That is pretty much it. Additions like Scott are just window-dressingIt really is very close to last year's team.

I agree with the utilization being the issue. I disagree with it being really close to last year's team based on that utilization. Burns was a catalyst up front. There is no denying that. Not replacing in some manner what he brought is a contributing factor to their issues right now. Hertl and Pavs never played with each other last year and Hertl himself is going to run into consistency issues that he didn't really get a chance to run into last year. Nieto didn't really get into that 2nd line spot until late last season and will have the same issues that Hertl does with consistency. Those are two very key spots. The bottom six has been significantly different than last year since half of it is different personnel.

Hence why saying the forward lineup is about the same is a crock.

 

[tahoesharksfan]

Grosenick had his eye on the puck the whole game. Great job staying with all 45 SOGs!
He got a little bit of help from guys sweeping rebounds but great performance and a night I'm sure he'll remember.

The bottom lines have really contributed in the last few games, which is nice, they just need to find the net a bit more often.

Good to see Toemash getting back in a groove even if last night's goal wasn't very pretty.

Hopefully we can keep from bending over in front of the Sabres again (although we do seem to have a problem with teams who are "down in the standings").
After that we're finally going to get a nice little home stretch after so many games on the road!

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Hence why I'm not freaking out about this start.

Honestly, I have no issues with the start.

With the "homestands" being 1-2-2 games long so far, it's essentially a 21-game road trip to open the season. Being at least a game over .500 isn't bad at all.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Honestly, I have no issues with the start.

With the "homestands" being 1-2-2 games long so far, it's essentially a 21-game road trip to open the season. Being at least a game over .500 isn't bad at all.

That and more often than not it takes a truly elite team to be gangbusters on the road especially in this type of frequency. 18 out of a possible 30 points thus far on the road is acceptable. The only reason why it isn't to certain people is the expectations placed on them AND who they've dropped those possible points to. But with all the early traveling, you're going to have games you're just not going to have legs for and this team just isn't an elite team. With all the young players in prominent positions, consistency is going to be hard to have and maintain especially on the road.

 

[Kcoyote3]

I enjoy having as many points as the Kings even though they've played 11/18 games at home while the Sharks have played 5/20.

 

[matt trick]

If teams win their games in hand, the Sharks are still around 4-8 points away from most of the western playoff teams, but given the number of road games, this is pretty acceptable. I feel the team has played mediocre, but no one has really broken away from the pack in the west either. Given the schedule difficulty, the team's actually in pretty decent position.

Also, while both players have had some really, really questionable decisions, Kennedy and Sheppard have added a nice element since returning from injury.

Once we're dressing 6 of Tierney, Wingels, Kennedy, Sheppard, Desjardins, McGinn, Torres, and Goodrow in the bottom six, I think we'll look a lot better. Just need to move Scott to the permanent press box and get rid of least one of Burish/Brown.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

That and more often than not it takes a truly elite team to be gangbusters on the road especially in this type of frequency. 18 out of a possible 30 points thus far on the road is acceptable. The only reason why it isn't to certain people is the expectations placed on them AND who they've dropped those possible points to. But with all the early traveling, you're going to have games you're just not going to have legs for and this team just isn't an elite team. With all the young players in prominent positions, consistency is going to be hard to have and maintain especially on the road.

The consistency can be improved by repetition and assimilation into the Sharks system. Hard to do when you've only had a handful of practices with this specific roster since October. They've done an admirable job learning on the fly.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

If teams win their games in hand, the Sharks are still around 4-8 points away from most of the western playoff teams, but given the number of road games, this is pretty acceptable. I feel the team has played mediocre, but no one has really broken away from the pack in the west either. Given the schedule difficulty, the team's actually in pretty decent position.

Also, while both players have had some really, really questionable decisions, Kennedy and Sheppard have added a nice element since returning from injury.

Once we're dressing 6 of Tierney, Wingels, Kennedy, Sheppard, Desjardins, McGinn, Torres, and Goodrow in the bottom six, I think we'll look a lot better. Just need to move Scott to the permanent press box and get rid of least one of Burish/Brown.

I would keep Brown over Burish until Torres shows he can get on the ice, stay on the ice, and play the way he needs to in order to be effective. Until then, Brown is the only one in the bottom six that will play the actual game of hockey with a physicality that is noticeable and creates energy for the team. Wingels and Desjardins play physically but it's not in a manner that sparks the team.

The consistency can be improved by repetition and assimilation into the Sharks system. Hard to do when you've only had a handful of practices with this specific roster since October. They've done an admirable job learning on the fly.

You are correct that it can but I don't think it's really that fair to expect the younger players like Hertl, Nieto, or the rookies to get that even with the practices and the like. That kind of thing doesn't all come together in a snap or even in just one or two seasons. But it's something to account for when evaluating line combinations and the team as a whole.

 

[SJSharksfan39]

I've been disappointed in some of the teams efforts in some games, but I don't think I've been disappointed in the overall play, if that makes any sense. There were games, like Vancouver where they were just beat, and there were games, like Buffalo and Florida where the effort left a lot to be desired. There were also games like yesterday where the team looked tired and relied on an AHL goalie to have the game of his life. When you think about all the road games they've had so far and playing every other day except for that week where they actually did have 4 days off, I'm happy with where the Sharks are at.

I'm looking forward to Thursday where not only am I going to the game, but it will be a stretch of games where the Sharks can actually stay home for a bit. The schedule can only get easier and I'm still thinking the team we see in February is going to be different from the team now and I'm not talking about releasing players or trading them. However, I would like to see Irwin and Burish on the bench more than they actually play, but there are times when the criticism against those two are a little on the harsher side.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I've been disappointed in some of the teams efforts in some games, but I don't think I've been disappointed in the overall play, if that makes any sense. There were games, like Vancouver where they were just beat, and there were games, like Buffalo and Florida where the effort left a lot to be desired. There were also games like yesterday where the team looked tired and relied on an AHL goalie to have the game of his life. When you think about all the road games they've had so far and playing every other day except for that week where they actually did have 4 days off, I'm happy with where the Sharks are at.

I'm looking forward to Thursday where not only am I going to the game, but it will be a stretch of games where the Sharks can actually stay home for a bit. The schedule can only get easier and I'm still thinking the team we see in February is going to be different from the team now and I'm not talking about releasing players or trading them. However, I would like to see Irwin and Burish on the bench more than they actually play, but there are times when the criticism against those two are a little on the harsher side.

I wouldn't put too much expectations on that game on Thursday. It's in some manners a continuation of the road trip since it's two days after Buffalo and flying across the country back. I can't imagine there being much practice time in there after such an exhausting trip. But Saturday and especially the time between the Arizona game and Wednesday's Calgary game, the team should be seeing an improvement in their execution.

 

[SJSharksfan39]

I wouldn't put too much expectations on that game on Thursday. It's in some manners a continuation of the road trip since it's two days after Buffalo and flying across the country back. I can't imagine there being much practice time in there after such an exhausting trip. But Saturday and especially the time between the Arizona game and Wednesday's Calgary game, the team should be seeing an improvement in their execution.

I'm not putting any expectations into the game on Thursday except for 1. The Sharks return home and this insane start to the season full of Road games will be over. Thursday feels like the start of a more balanced schedule, home and away.

 

[tahoesharksfan]

I think we're sitting pretty well given the point in the season, the fiddling of the roster/lines, the long road schedule and everything else.
Getting to play games mostly in teal for awhile now (12 of 18 at home, all but 3 of those 18 in California) should be helpful!!
I'll be interested to see where we stand at the beginning of the year...

 

[SJeasy]

I agree with the utilization being the issue. I disagree with it being really close to last year's team based on that utilization. Burns was a catalyst up front. There is no denying that. Not replacing in some manner what he brought is a contributing factor to their issues right now. Hertl and Pavs never played with each other last year and Hertl himself is going to run into consistency issues that he didn't really get a chance to run into last year. Nieto didn't really get into that 2nd line spot until late last season and will have the same issues that Hertl does with consistency. Those are two very key spots. The bottom six has been significantly different than last year since half of it is different personnel.

Hence why saying the forward lineup is about the same is a crock.

A couple of things. I think you hit it on the head with Burns and usage. Compared to last year possession is significantly down and Burns/JT were the possession monsters last year. I did notice that they are using cross ice a lot more to exit the zone; it's been spotty on execution. It will also tend to lessen possession but it is a change that I am glad to see as it should enhance clean entries.

I am also not too concerned with standings points. They are a bit lower than I anticipated; I figured 25 points to be on pace for my prediction of 100 for season's end. 25 in 21 is specifically low to be on pace but it was my tip of the cap to the schedule. 100 should get them in the playoffs comfortably, 94 is iffy for the playoffs. A significant injury (>15 games) to a significant player (Vlasic, Braun, Burns, JT, Marleau, Couture, Pavs) could take them to the 94 range. The Sharks don't really have the depth to sustain one significant injury.

I am concerned about practice around battling and faceoffs. I really want to hear about them practicing passing execution in all aspects not just the PP.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

A couple of things. I think you hit it on the head with Burns and usage. Compared to last year possession is significantly down and Burns/JT were the possession monsters last year. I did notice that they are using cross ice a lot more to exit the zone; it's been spotty on execution. It will also tend to lessen possession but it is a change that I am glad to see as it should enhance clean entries.

I am also not too concerned with standings points. They are a bit lower than I anticipated; I figured 25 points to be on pace for my prediction of 100 for season's end. 25 in 21 is specifically low to be on pace but it was my tip of the cap to the schedule. 100 should get them in the playoffs comfortably, 94 is iffy for the playoffs. A significant injury (>15 games) to a significant player (Vlasic, Braun, Burns, JT, Marleau, Couture, Pavs) could take them to the 94 range. The Sharks don't really have the depth to sustain one significant injury.

I am concerned about practice around battling and faceoffs. I really want to hear about them practicing passing execution in all aspects not just the PP.

Well the schedule should soften up so that they have more of an opportunity to practice. I don't think they've had a real practice in two weeks. And before that, likely not since the season just got underway. I'm honestly surprised they haven't gotten hit by the injury bug more than they have with the amount of games and travel in such a short time.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Also film sessions will help the young guys as well. Just seeing the mistakes in positioning and bad angles they've taken on the forecheck etc. It'll help everyone actually. Tape don't lie as they say.

 

[SharksFan1]

I enjoy having as many points as the Kings even though they've played 11/18 games at home while the Sharks have played 5/20.

The Kings have also play 2 less games. The Sharks have actually played the most games in the league at this point in the season.