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- Jul 3, 2009
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He has good chemistry with Smith, Michkov could have potentially brought some bad vibes, so can't really complain how it all shook out for the Sharks the last 2 drafts
The potential of the San Jose Sharks
- Thread starter Stringer Bell
- Start date
do you have evidence of that? he claims he never vetoed any team, but also, his agent said that he had no desire to go to washington or arizona. Based on this, and the fact that he was a pretty clear-cut at least number 2 talent in the draft but fell to 7, it doesn't seem unreasonable to infer that there's some possibility he may have strongly suggested to some teams that they should not draft him.
Fantomas
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- Aug 7, 2012
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- Jul 25, 2007
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Ah yes, the classic @Fantomas (and other Michkov Mafia posters) bleeding the Michkov topic into every possible thread.
FWIW, he definitely said he wanted to play in a "Hockey Market," (that's the primary source, here's the secondary source) and told Briere he specifically wanted Philly. At the time in 2023, many, many posters speculated the "hockey market" bias (which did leak pre draft) might indicate he would not try as hard to get out of his contract to play for ANA, CBJ, or SJS, a.k.a. the 2-4 picks in 2023.
Grier didn't comment specifically, but he tersely said "we spoke to every player we wanted to speak to" when asked specifically about interviewing Russians and Michkov. That's a rorschach test.
After the draft it became explicit that Michkov didn't want to play for PHX or WSH, nobody can deny that.
So yes, there was definitely evidence pre and post draft that he had a preference.
Now, please, return to any other Michkov thread on HFB.
FWIW, he definitely said he wanted to play in a "Hockey Market," (that's the primary source, here's the secondary source) and told Briere he specifically wanted Philly. At the time in 2023, many, many posters speculated the "hockey market" bias (which did leak pre draft) might indicate he would not try as hard to get out of his contract to play for ANA, CBJ, or SJS, a.k.a. the 2-4 picks in 2023.
Grier didn't comment specifically, but he tersely said "we spoke to every player we wanted to speak to" when asked specifically about interviewing Russians and Michkov. That's a rorschach test.
After the draft it became explicit that Michkov didn't want to play for PHX or WSH, nobody can deny that.
So yes, there was definitely evidence pre and post draft that he had a preference.
Now, please, return to any other Michkov thread on HFB.
Fantomas
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- Aug 7, 2012
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On whom is the onus of proof? Want to re-read what you posted?
Smith doesn't touch Michkov. As I said, missed opportunity by the Sharks.
I'm not saying you're wrong, I just asked if you had any additional evidence. It could well be the sharks just passed, but if you had a source to put the speculation to rest that would be helpful. The sentence I posted also still makes sense upon second reading.
Not outright, but Mike Grier wasn't impressed by the answers he was giving during the combine.
One of those questions pertained to him seeing himself with the organization for a long period of time.
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lol what? Toronto gave him every opportunity to run with it and everytime he failed. The stink?
Patty Ice
Mighty Luca
Especially since he was under contract in the KHL. A rebuilding club wouldn't be too keen playing the waiting game for him.
Don't get me wrong, he was my choice despite that but also my job isn't on the line.
He was my choice as well --- and pretty much every scout had him and bedard as the two most talented in the draft. I was disappointed when we didn't make the obvious play and take him at 4. But because *so many* teams passed on this obvious gamebreaking talent, it seems reasonable to conclude it was either the timing, or, Matvei himself signaling that he didn't want to be picked by specific teams.
All a bit of a mystery.
TheNewEra
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- Jul 10, 2013
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celebrini, smith, eklund, dickinson, askarov is a solid group of young players/prospects
i also like how grier has somehow made that defense group decent by making cheap moves
the sharks dont seem to have trouble scoring goals (11th in the league), they just have trouble giving up goals as they goaltending has been meh and team defense needs work
they need to see what they have with askarov, add at least one more young dman (probably through the draft this year) and then add a defense first forward or two. I expect them to make a decent jump next year
i also like how grier has somehow made that defense group decent by making cheap moves
the sharks dont seem to have trouble scoring goals (11th in the league), they just have trouble giving up goals as they goaltending has been meh and team defense needs work
they need to see what they have with askarov, add at least one more young dman (probably through the draft this year) and then add a defense first forward or two. I expect them to make a decent jump next year
The goaltending more often than not gives them a chance to win but their team defense can be so bad that they're regularly allowing tons of zone time to the other team. They have the center depth to be alright on the team defense side of things but their blue liners are largely inadequate on that side of things and their wingers aren't really anything special defensively. Askarov will get his opportunity eventually. Blackwood seems the most likely to be dealt since it looks like he's been drawing interest compared to Vanecek. If someone forks over a 2nd round pick and an AHL goalie, they'll run with Askarov and Vanecek to finish the season. They eventually need to get Mukhamadullin an NHL opportunity but they've been taking their time due to his injury to start the season. I think they'll snag a couple forwards externally and look to bring back Blackwood if he doesn't work out with whoever ends up renting him.
Making a bold prediction: San Jose is going to make the playoffs this season.
- Jul 25, 2007
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Need 70 in 54 just to get 95 points and make the playoffs in a weak year. 0.648 points%. Would be good for 8th best so far this season.
Not likely. Glad they're putting up a fight though.
one2gamble
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- Dec 24, 2007
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Ah yes. This is 1000% true after each has played 1/4 of a season. Players’ careers are decided at 19 years old after 20-25 games.
While it looks like Michkov is better than Smith so far, just a tad early to proclaim that.
There were all kinds of people proclaiming Laine was going to be better than Matthews after a few months. Matt Murray was going to be a perennial vezina candidate after his first season.
We will never know what conversations were had and what the body language was like. Not to mention the political situation that existed at the time. I think Michkov will be the better player for sure, but Smith has great potential and was “safer” in some regards.
You look at the trajectory especially if you remove the first 10 games when Celebrini was injured, they are a much better team than their record suggests. I actually don't think this is very bold at all tbh.
Goaltending really hasn’t been the issue IMO, really bad team defense has been the driving factor. There has been a ton of player turnover-over, but there seems to have been more “not being on the same page defensively” than makes sense for a pro team.
The only goal for the Caps tonight came from 2 players covering the same guy and leaving the goal scorer totally uncovered. Stats watchers will ding Blackwood but he had no chance on the back door one-timer.
Edit: adding link to video of the goal.
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qc14
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- Jul 1, 2024
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I was very impressed with SJS and especially Celebrini last night. Still think they're two forwards and two defenseman not in the system away, but I very much like their core and their strategy of "have good pro scouting" (especially compared to ANA, CHI, DET).
Stewie Griffin
What the deuce
It's funny too because all of the people were ripping on Grier for things like
"he should've retained more on Erik Karlsson"...even though we ended up with Granlund (who's been better and cheaper, and can be moved this year) and Dickinson (eventually).
Or "He should've demanded Holtz in the Meier trade" even though he got Zetterlund, Musty, Muhkamdulin etc. back in that trade.
"It's embarassing how bad of a roster he constructed"...well yeah that resulted in Macklin Celebrini, and he finally cleared us of tons of bad contracts
And there's still all of these people crapping on the sharks for taking Smith over Michkov, even though 6 other teams did as well.
Very happy with everything he has done. Maybe the Burns return never became anything but he was an old dman making 8M...it happens.
one2gamble
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- Dec 24, 2007
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potential really doesn't matter much as every sharks fan already knows. Grier has created the opportunity for success a lot faster than anyone had thought.
