The San Jose Sharks are horror-bad

[krutovsdonut]

As you are a Canucks fan, I hope you guys continue your rise because my best friend is a Canucks fan, but as it pertains to you, given your trolling, I hope you live in the fear and insecurity that plagues most Canucks fans.

lighten up francis. i thought you were being sincere with your first post and my follow up was meant to be humorous. i have no need to troll a sharks fan nor should it be possible to do so at this point since to troll you, you would need to believe the dead cat bounce comment is an insult instead of an accurate summation of what has just happened.

good luck with getting past the denial stage and on to acceptance. sharks had an amazing run there for many years with your geezers defying father time, but the collapse was long overdue and bound to be catastrophic with your cap structure. fwiw, i am impressed with greer getting rid of so many anchor deals so fast, but it comes at the cost of not being able to retool at all and hence losing your team identity and enduring a keystone cops stage of futility.

 

[Frosty415]

Sharks should be adding at the deadline rather than shipping out rentals. There is a certain point of suckage that you can't really cross without having devastating long term effects, a-la Buffalo, Ottawa, and dare I say the Ducks. Everyone wants to tank for high draft choices, but I think after close to two decades of teams "rebuilding" it seems like the teams that really find success are the ones who have the injection of elite youth to go along with a solid veteran structure. The Sharks are a complete mess from top to bottom and throwing your kids into the fire is never a good idea.

The Leafs-Sharks game last night was as close to an NHL vs AHL game as I think I've ever seen. Rebuilding shouldn't mean tearing it down until a magic moment, it means building along the way when opportunities present themselves. And building your reputation, team's self-respect and a winning culture are mandatory at all stages.

The sharks have NEVER drafted first overall, in their entire history

Let us have one bud.

 

[BB79]

Reminds me of when the Sharks came into the league. The Sens too for that matter. Both were atrociously bad. The Sens were the butt of many jokes among hockey fans among my classmates in school. 10-70-4 and only 1 road win. LOL. Ironically they won their first game against Montreal, who won the cup later that season. Good memories

 

[LeafGrief]

The sharks have NEVER drafted first overall, in their entire history

Let us have one bud.

My dude, I think you guys could add a 25 year old Scott Niedermayer tomorrow and still get the 1st OA this year. You're more than welcome to dead last and I totally get building through the draft. My argument is less that you shouldn't tank, and more that trading your rentals this year would be doing more damage than good. A handful of third round picks isn't going to make or break anything in terms of your rebuild, and I'm sorry to say that your team already sucks enough to earn those coveted #1 lottery odds.

"Stop, Stop! He's already dead!"

 

[weastern bias]

I didn't take the dead cat bounce comment as a troll, it's basically correct, the biggest difference that lead to the Sharks run of "success" over an 18 game span was shooting luck

In their 9 wins these are the save percentages by opposing goaltending:

89.47%
83.33%
85.71%
81.81%
91.30%
70.58%
86.48%
83.33%
93.75%

They have won 2 games this year when the opposing goaltender posts a 90% sv% or better

This all comes in an 18 game run of "success" where the team had a .500 record and was playing at a 91 point pace, still below the playoff line in most years

This team is genuinely awful, it takes a run of luck for them to perform at a level most would consider below average, there are only 2 or 3 teams in the league that shouldn't be ashamed to lose to them on any given night

 

[weastern bias]

My dude, I think you guys could add a 25 year old Scott Niedermayer tomorrow and still get the 1st OA this year. You're more than welcome to dead last and I totally get building through the draft. My argument is less that you shouldn't tank, and more that trading your rentals this year would be doing more damage than good. A handful of third round picks isn't going to make or break anything in terms of your rebuild, and I'm sorry to say that your team already sucks enough to earn those coveted #1 lottery odds.

"Stop, Stop! He's already dead!"

You actually said the Sharks should add, which is nonsensical

Even still, Grier is making what I would call "soft adds" by trading marginal picks for young players with upside

Thrun, Addison, Studnicka and waiver claims and unqualified UFAs like Emberson and Zadina, he's not just sitting on his hands

What would make NO sense is if he traded any future assets of substance for veteran players, those guys won't want to be here which is it's own problem, and those draft picks will have been bled as assets when those players inevitably walk in free agency, it wouldnt be helpful in the slightest

As you've pointed out, we could add an elite piece and not move the needle, we had a 100 point defenseman and a winger who scored 30 goals before the trade deadline last year and we finished last in wins, unfortunately we banked too many loser points so we picked 4th instead of top 3, that's what we're trying to avoid this year, adding a veteran to this group at the cost of a draft pick wouldn't make us win more, and even it did that wouldn't help us in the long run

 

[coooldude]

lighten up francis. i thought you were being sincere with your first post and my follow up was meant to be humorous. i have no need to troll a sharks fan nor should it be possible to do so at this point since to troll you, you would need to believe the dead cat bounce comment is an insult instead of an accurate summation of what has just happened.

good luck with getting past the denial stage and on to acceptance. sharks had an amazing run there for many years with your geezers defying father time, but the collapse was long overdue and bound to be catastrophic with your cap structure. fwiw, i am impressed with greer getting rid of so many anchor deals so fast, but it comes at the cost of not being able to retool at all and hence losing your team identity and enduring a keystone cops stage of futility.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply (sincerely). Most of us Sharks fans on this thread are fully into acceptance, and many of us were past denial and into anger/acceptance back in 2020 before ownership/last regime dragged their feet in their own denial.

It's gonna be a dark road. I don't agree it was simply a dead cat bounce (to me, the shooting% uptick was because of better play leading to better chances, opinion formed having watched the games... better play doesn't mean good, 9-7-2 is likely going to be the best stretch of the year), and I do agree this is keystone cops stage. Personally I expect that stage to last another year, and then 2 more of "still bad". I don't think we sniff the playoffs until 2028 earliest, 6 years after we finally admitted we needed a rebuild.

 

[Drytoast]

It really doesn't matter so long as they draft high. That's the goal.

 

[Cas]

lighten up francis. i thought you were being sincere with your first post and my follow up was meant to be humorous. i have no need to troll a sharks fan nor should it be possible to do so at this point since to troll you, you would need to believe the dead cat bounce comment is an insult instead of an accurate summation of what has just happened.

good luck with getting past the denial stage and on to acceptance. sharks had an amazing run there for many years with your geezers defying father time, but the collapse was long overdue and bound to be catastrophic with your cap structure. fwiw, i am impressed with greer getting rid of so many anchor deals so fast, but it comes at the cost of not being able to retool at all and hence losing your team identity and enduring a keystone cops stage of futility.

I mean, our team identity is "we suck." That's what it was before Grier came along and what it remains now.

 

[Legend123]

Building through the draft also means building through the season

 

[krutovsdonut]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply (sincerely). Most of us Sharks fans on this thread are fully into acceptance, and many of us were past denial and into anger/acceptance back in 2020 before ownership/last regime dragged their feet in their own denial.

It's gonna be a dark road. I don't agree it was simply a dead cat bounce (to me, the shooting% uptick was because of better play leading to better chances, opinion formed having watched the games... better play doesn't mean good, 9-7-2 is likely going to be the best stretch of the year), and I do agree this is keystone cops stage. Personally I expect that stage to last another year, and then 2 more of "still bad". I don't think we sniff the playoffs until 2028 earliest, 6 years after we finally admitted we needed a rebuild.

i am sure your players can play better than they are playing right now in a better situation or for a brief period of time before they get demoralized again. the problem is that you don't have a lineup with the mental toughness of a brendan gallagher. you have the slow horses and i see no gary oldman around.

 

[Sheppy]

Holy shit, they're -90

LOL

 

[weastern bias]

i am sure your players can play better than they are playing right now in a better situation or for a brief period of time before they get demoralized again. the problem is that you don't have a lineup with the mental toughness of a brendan gallagher. you have the slow horses and i see no gary oldman around.

This isn't a mental fortitude problem, it's a talent problem

We have 0 top-4 quality D men on the roster, our forward core isn't a total catastrophe but they constantly get hemmed in their own zone and once they do collect the puck no one can break it out

Tomas Hertl is a great player who is responsible in his own zone and has shown the mental toughness to return from debilitating injuries, the problem is no one can spring him for a breakout so he never has sustained possession in the offensive zone

 

[krutovsdonut]

This isn't a mental fortitude problem, it's a talent problem

i think it's both. given enough brendan galllaghers you could overcome the talent issue and get the most out of what you have. given enough talent you could overcome the lack of stubborn doggedess. given you have a surplus of neither, the team is only going to sustain play to its own potential in short bursts. thomas hertl is only going to get into position for the correct breakout pass and not receive it so many times before he misses it when it actually comes.

 

[weastern bias]

i think it's both. given enough brendan galllaghers you could overcome the talent issue and get the most out of what you have. given enough talent you could overcome the lack of stubborn doggedess. given you have a surplus of neither, the team is only going to sustain play to its own potential in short bursts. thomas hertl is only going to get into position for the correct breakout pass and not receive it so many times before he misses it when it actually comes.

Guys are definitely down on themselves, but if the team iced an NHL caliber defensive core they wouldn't be dead last behind the corpse of the Chicago Blackhawks

Give us Montreal's D core and we don't have multiple double digit losing streaks

 

[krutovsdonut]

Guys are definitely down on themselves, but if the team iced an NHL caliber defensive core they wouldn't be dead last behind the corpse of the Chicago Blackhawks

Give us Montreal's D core and we don't have multiple double digit losing streaks

this feels like the stages of grief playing out in front of me.

being not as bad as the chicago blackhawks and aspiring to have a defence as good as the 26th ranked d-corps in the league are really weird aspirations for a fanbase. neither of those things have any value compared to the improved draft position you secure by not doing them.

 

[Cas]

i think it's both. given enough brendan galllaghers you could overcome the talent issue and get the most out of what you have. given enough talent you could overcome the lack of stubborn doggedess. given you have a surplus of neither, the team is only going to sustain play to its own potential in short bursts. thomas hertl is only going to get into position for the correct breakout pass and not receive it so many times before he misses it when it actually comes.

Adding a few Brendan Gallaghers (say two forwards and two defenseman) would double the talent level on this team. Of course we would be a lot better.

The problem is that we probably can't ice a starting lineup where everybody is at least as good as Brendan Gallagher.

 

[PaulD]

Reminds me of when the Sharks came into the league. The Sens too for that matter. Both were atrociously bad. The Sens were the butt of many jokes among hockey fans among my classmates in school. 10-70-4 and only 1 road win. LOL. Ironically they won their first game against Montreal, who won the cup later that season. Good memories

Reminds me of when the Sharks came into the league. The Sens too for that matter. Both were atrociously bad. The Sens were the butt of many jokes among hockey fans among my classmates in school. 10-70-4 and only 1 road win. LOL. Ironically they won their first game against Montreal, who won the cup later that season. Good memories

And both teams beat the Leafs to the finals.
Habs 93

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

The team just sucks and will suck for at least a few more years before Grier or whoever will be in charge can even attempt to do anything about it. Not enough assets to turn the franchise around in a meaningful way. Maybe they could dump all their picks and spend to the cap to only be 20th worst? Then what? An even worse version of the current situation.

Even with Burns, Karlsson, Meier, and Couture, this was a lottery team that was spending to the cap.

 

[JPeeper]

Didn't realize they were on another huge losing streak, thought they were kinda middling, then saw L11 in there streak. LMAO

I don't think Grier will steer the ship either, almost no experience and I just don't see him turning the team around, they'll be awful for a looooong time.

 

[weastern bias]

this feels like the stages of grief playing out in front of me.

being not as bad as the chicago blackhawks and aspiring to have a defence as good as the 26th ranked d-corps in the league are really weird aspirations for a fanbase. neither of those things have any value compared to the improved draft position you secure by not doing them.

Congrats on your pop-psych degree, I'm sure it's the same qualifications that allow you to read the Sharks' body language so well

Lol, stages of grief, I've been calling out how bad this team is for years now, maybe read the posts in context and realize I've been advocating for a tank and am arguing against people who have, in this very thread, said the Sharks should be ADDING to prevent a "culture of losing" (it'd be a little late for that by now)

I'm not "clamoring" for a better defense, I'm making the self-evident observation that, with better talent, the team would play better

Better talent may arrive through draft picks, hence the obvious tank job

 

[BB79]

And both teams beat the Leafs to the finals.
Habs 93

true!

 

[PaulD]

i am sure your players can play better than they are playing right now in a better situation or for a brief period of time before they get demoralized again. the problem is that you don't have a lineup with the mental toughness of a brendan gallagher. you have the slow horses and i see no gary oldman around.

caught the highlights of last night's 7-1 loss.
Sharks have right goalie tanking.

 

[PaulD]

Didn't realize they were on another huge losing streak, thought they were kinda middling, then saw L11 in there streak. LMAO

I don't think Grier will steer the ship either, almost no experience and I just don't see him turning the team around, they'll be awful for a looooong time.

Hextall like

 

[Pavelski2112]

this feels like the stages of grief playing out in front of me.

being not as bad as the chicago blackhawks and aspiring to have a defence as good as the 26th ranked d-corps in the league are really weird aspirations for a fanbase. neither of those things have any value compared to the improved draft position you secure by not doing them.

They're not aspirations, we're glad we're bad because at least that'll get us something in the long-term.