GDT: Sharks vs Sabres in Buffalo 4:30pm PDT

[hockfan1991]

I don't think home ice is going to make a huge difference. They will get rest up get practice. They will be a little bit better but as I said earlier I just think they're a 500 team a little bit better. This team is not fun to watch. We've always been spoiled with at least good regular seasons. I have no desire to go to a game at this point. Except for the stadium series which I'm already committed to

 

[hohosaregood]

I don't think home ice is going to make a huge difference. They will get rest up get practice. They will be a little bit better but as I said earlier I just think they're a 500 team a little bit better. This team is not fun to watch. We've always been spoiled with at least good regular seasons. I have no desire to go to a game at this point. Except for the stadium series which I'm already committed to

It's been a while since we've really been spoiled. 2013-2014, they played pretty well but Stuart and Hannan were awful and Boyle was a shadow of himself. But 2011-2012, that team nearly missed the playoffs because they sucked and basically got swept except for Joe Thornton dragging the team through one game. 2013, that team would've absolutely sucked if DW didn't somehow manage to hand of Murray and Clowe.

 

[Shark Finn]

Didn't expect anything less. Actually I predicted a 4-1 loss just like against Florida, but when I DON'T post a SNOG, it comes true! :haha:

But seriously, a question to the people who actually watch the Sharks: what is the problem with them?

 

[hohosaregood]

Didn't expect anything less. Actually I predicted a 4-1 loss just like against Florida, but when I DON'T post a SNOG, it comes true! :haha:

But seriously, a question to the people who actually watch the Sharks: what is the problem with them?

I'm gonna say bad lineup decisions and inconsistency. A lot of problems could be mitigated with better deployments. The really concerning thing for me is that one night, the Sharks can look like one of the best teams in the league and be completely defensively stifling and nights like these, the defense could just fall apart.

 

[Bowie22]

TMac's words don't mean much when nothing will change.

Sabres have 3 regulation wins... 2 of them are against the Sharks...

 

[Juxtaposer]

Didn't expect anything less. Actually I predicted a 4-1 loss just like against Florida, but when I DON'T post a SNOG, it comes true! :haha:

But seriously, a question to the people who actually watch the Sharks: what is the problem with them?

Top line has no speed, Marleau and Couture are nowhere to be seen, the Burns pairing sucks defensively, and the bottom pair sucks at everything no matter who's playing.

I've been happy with Vlasic, Wingels, Nieto, Kennedy (small sample size), and Braun. Goaltending is not great but passable. That's it.

 

[magic school bus]

Didn't expect anything less. Actually I predicted a 4-1 loss just like against Florida, but when I DON'T post a SNOG, it comes true! :haha:

But seriously, a question to the people who actually watch the Sharks: what is the problem with them?

The gm didn't want us to win, so we're not going to win.

 

[WTFetus]

Sounds like McLellan subtly called out Marleau too. "Individuals who only scored on the power-play in the last 15-16 games".

It's been 17 games since he scored an even-strength goal, and he only has two total. Sucks since he was very consistent for the majority of last season.

Every year needs to be an Olympic/contract year.

 

[boylerroom]

The Todd will respond. I guarantee it.

By "changing up the lines". ��

Wash rinse repeat. At this point its clear this org thinks we're all stupid.

 

[hohosaregood]

Top line has no speed, Marleau and Couture are nowhere to be seen, the Burns pairing sucks defensively, and the bottom pair sucks at everything no matter who's playing.

I've been happy with Vlasic, Wingels, Nieto, Kennedy (small sample size), and Braun. Goaltending is not great but passable. That's it.

Personally, I've thought Thornton's looking like a younger version of himself lately. There are some shifts where he straight up dominates. So my list of good would be your list plus Thornton. Also to certain extents, Sheppard.

 

[Linkster]

Top line has no speed, Marleau and Couture are nowhere to be seen, the Burns pairing sucks defensively, and the bottom pair sucks at everything no matter who's playing.

I've been happy with Vlasic, Wingels, Nieto, Kennedy (small sample size), and Braun. Goaltending is not great but passable. That's it.

Personally, I've thought Thornton's looking like a younger version of himself lately. There are some shifts where he straight up dominates. So my list of good would be your list plus Thornton. Also to certain extents, Sheppard.

I'd add Sheppard to this list too. But, he's always on "danger watch" for regression along with Burish and Kennedy.

With Thornton, he can still dominate a 5-on-5 shift but every opponent in the league has seen it and knows how to contain it.

My Thornton frustration is the powerplay situation, and that's not really all his fault. The first unit is where all good hopes go to die right now, and the coaches seem content to just mow the grass on top of the graves.

 

[Barrie22]

I'd add Sheppard to this list too. But, he's always on "danger watch" for regression along with Burish and Kennedy.

With Thornton, he can still dominate a 5-on-5 shift but every opponent in the league has seen it and knows how to contain it.

My Thornton frustration is the powerplay situation, and that's not really all his fault. The first unit is where all good hopes go to die right now, and the coaches seem content to just mow the grass on top of the graves.

Again people are complaining about a top 10 (7th) power play in the league. If that doesn't tell you where some peoples expectations are then i don't know what will.

 

[hohosaregood]

I'd add Sheppard to this list too. But, he's always on "danger watch" for regression along with Burish and Kennedy.

With Thornton, he can still dominate a 5-on-5 shift but every opponent in the league has seen it and knows how to contain it.

My Thornton frustration is the powerplay situation, and that's not really all his fault. The first unit is where all good hopes go to die right now, and the coaches seem content to just mow the grass on top of the graves.

From my POV, the Thornton we're seeing right now is more like 2010-2012 Thornton rather than the 2012-2014 Thornton. The second Thornton got extremely predictable and seemed more nonchalant but the first Thornton was way more dangerous from my memories.

 

[Coily]

Sounds like McLellan subtly called out Marleau too. "Individuals who only scored on the power-play in the last 15-16 games".

It's been 17 games since he scored an even-strength goal, and he only has two total. Sucks since he was very consistent for the majority of last season.

Every year needs to be an Olympic/contract year.

He should call out Nieto, Couture, Marleau, Thornton, Yes I'm going to list the entire team.

 

[hohosaregood]

I like Vlasic interviews.

 

[Kcoyote3]

Irwin in the lineup: 4 wins, 7 losses
Hannan in the lineup: 8 wins, 6 losses

Irwin hasn't had a game yet where he's ended up a positive player. He's been minus or even in every game he's played and is currently -9.

Hannan may be just as bad, but he's played more games and his +/- is not close to a -9. The third line sucks, but Irwin sucks harder.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Irwin in the lineup: 4 wins, 7 losses
Hannan in the lineup: 8 wins, 6 losses

Irwin hasn't had a game yet where he's ended up a positive player. He's been minus or even in every game he's played and is currently -9.

Hannan may be just as bad, but he's played more games and his +/- is not close to a -9. The third line sucks, but Irwin sucks harder.

They both are a pile of flaming garbage.

 

[hohosaregood]

They both are a pile of flaming garbage.

Too bad they probably won't do anything about them until like halfway through the homestand because they'll just blame the fatigue.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Too bad they probably won't do anything about them until like halfway through the homestand because they'll just blame the fatigue.

TMac can't really do anything about it until DW notices the shortcomings of either player. Easy to blame the coach but he has to play one or the other.

 

[tahoesharksfan]

Man this team can be frustrating to follow....

 

[sr228]

Personally, I've thought Thornton's looking like a younger version of himself lately. There are some shifts where he straight up dominates. So my list of good would be your list plus Thornton. Also to certain extents, Sheppard.

Yep, Thornton has been fantastic. Sheppard and TK have both been good since they've come back as well.

TMac can't really do anything about it until DW notices the shortcomings of either player. Easy to blame the coach but he has to play one or the other.

I'm not a fan of the line up decisions / deployment but you're right, McLellan can only work with the players he's been given.

It usually takes a while for DW to "admit" to mistakes he's made but I think it would help quite a bit if he'd just bite the bullet on guys like Burish, Hannan/Irwin and replace them with players that aren't just likely to be upgrades but players with upside.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Yep, Thornton has been fantastic. Sheppard and TK have both been good since they've come back as well.



I'm not a fan of the line up decisions / deployment but you're right, McLellan can only work with the players he's been given.

It usually takes a while for DW to "admit" to mistakes he's made but I think it would help quite a bit if he'd just bite the bullet on guys like Burish, Hannan/Irwin and replace them with players that aren't just likely to be upgrades but players with upside.

I agree. We'll see.

 

[do0glas]

Tmac could have easily called in two different dmen and three capable forwards from woostah while we were out east.

The fatigue was clearly there, so guys like fedun/KA/Hayes/Hamilton/tierney should've cycled in/out as needed.

To me that's a Tmac thing. Maybe the cap was restrictive in these cases, but part of that is those bad contracts that no one thinks are bad because they don't amount to much.

 

[Sleepy]

Doug Wilson let go of two of his top four last year and tried to warn you of the consequences of that act.

Also Doug Wilson is not a green lantern who can just will defensive depth into existence. Plus I still think Burns is a large part of the problem and I wouldn't call him depth.

Yes, but warning "we're gonna suck" doesn't make it ok and doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

Wilson has brought this on himself. He has plenty of underutilized assets he could move to address the defensive depth. He also would have plenty of cap space to address defensive depth if he hadn't blown it on wasted space like Burish, TK, and Brown or wasted roster spots like Scott. But that brings us to the second DW shortcoming, that he's just as terrible at acquiring defensive depth as he is forward depth, often overpaying for dead weight. I don't even need to list all the terrible contracts and acquisitions we've done for defensemen and the assets we've given up for them.

It's not all on DW, but the team has 2 NHL defense-first defensemen right now (MEV, JB) and 1 guy who hasn't played D in years (Burns), a guy who might never figure it out (JD), a guy who's learning and is in the NHL due to team need (MM), and AHL caliber players (MI, SH). Seeing Burns score so many goals from the blue-line highlights how lacking the blue-line offensive talent has been recently.

This team may turn a corner once they get a homestand going. But if the blue-line isn't fixed in addition to TM/The Players figuring out exactly how to succeed together it may be the end of the DW/TM era.

 

[sr228]

Tmac could have easily called in two different dmen and three capable forwards from woostah while we were out east.

The fatigue was clearly there, so guys like fedun/KA/Hayes/Hamilton/tierney should've cycled in/out as needed.

To me that's a Tmac thing. Maybe the cap was restrictive in these cases, but part of that is those bad contracts that no one thinks are bad because they don't amount to much.

In order for someone to be re-called someone else would have to come off the roster. McLellan doesn't make those decisions, Wilson does.

The cap isn't an issue at all, roster space is.