The Sharks are literally off to the races

[SactoShark]

If they were skating around the rink, it would go

Marleau -> Havlat -> Couture -> Thornton -> Pavelski -> Marleau -> Havlat -> Clowe

Couture wins after everyone in front of him pulls up at the blue line.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

Interesting.. Apparently durning Practice the players raced by category.

David Pollak ‏@PollakOnSharks

Goalies yet to go, but rest of #SJSharks off to the races here. Marleau fastest top 6, Burish fastest bottom 6 and Vlasic top d.



Personally I think Greiss smokes Nemo

The sudden interest in ranking by speed may be worth noting.

This worries me for Burns future.

 

[Alwalys]

This worries me for Burns future.

Meh. He's not 100% guaranteed. To my eye he's still a great skater out there.

 

[GodHatesTheSharks]

Burns has only played 4 games after missing 10 months.

Chill out. He will be fine.

 

[Coily]

Braun looks faster than Vlasic but the tale of the tape I guess.

 

[JodyShelleysNo1Fan]

This worries me for Burns future.

Why would this worry you at all?... Burish being the fastest bottom 6 player should tell you something.

 

[WTFetus]

Why would this worry you at all?... Burish being the fastest bottom 6 player should tell you something.

Not even that. Burish is a pretty quick skater, he just can't do anything with it. The entire bottom-6 aside from Handzus is pretty fast, and even Handzus looks faster (he's still slow, but he's not Clowe or Murray slow this season).

 

[do0glas]

I'm surprised wingels didn't take this.

 

[pappaf2]

Murray Grimlock! Grimlock no bozo, he king!

Well played.


I would like to see a Clowe vs Murry head to head race though.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Not even that. Burish is a pretty quick skater, he just can't do anything with it. The entire bottom-6 aside from Handzus is pretty fast, and even Handzus looks faster (he's still slow, but he's not Clowe or Murray slow this season).

Maybe...I'd consider Wingels and Sheppard to be part of our third line, and both players are average speed-wise. The fourth line is plenty-fast, with Burish, Desjardins, and Gomez all above-averageish....

 

[dwood16]

Maybe...I'd consider Wingels and Sheppard to be part of our third line, and both players are average speed-wise. The fourth line is plenty-fast, with Burish, Desjardins, and Gomez all above-averageish....

Wingels is fast. Above average.

 

[SJeasy]

No, I agree with you. Several of the skills that made him a good top-4 defenseman have vanished in the past two seasons.

1) Positioning. He used to make up for foot speed with strong positioning and the ability to recognize when he needed to haul ass before the opposing player got going.

2) Choosing when to hit. The thing I used to love about Murray is that he never sacrificed defensive positioning to make a hit. He'd rarely get caught stepping up to make a hit when the puck wasn't there. Now, he chooses terrible times to step up.

3) Outlet passing. He used to have a pretty good outlet pass that made up for a lot of his offensive deficiencies. Somehow, he forgot how to get the puck out of the zone overnight.

When Murray was outletting well, he would not only win the battle but would supershield the puck while he could decide the outlet. He was good in the sense of not missing, but he wasn't quick about it. With what you and sry10 are saying, I suspect his ability to battle has slipped and he isn't getting the step on the superprotection he would have on the puck and stick.

 

[Boy Hedican]

There is not a chance in hell Pav's is slower than Clowe. Only Murray and maybe Handzus are slower than Clowe.

I would expect forward wise something like:

Marleau > Kennedy > Burish > Havlat > Wingels > Galiardi > Desjardins > Sheppard > Thornton > Couture > Pavelski > Handzus > Clowe

And Defense:

Burns > Vlasic > Boyle > Braun > Demers > Stuart > Murray

I think your bottom 3 are a wash. Honestly. Pavelski is incredibly slow. There's times Clowe skates hard on the forecheck and looks faster than Pavs. Pavs just never, ever looks fast unless we're talking about his quick shot, which we're not.

 

[one2gamble]

When Murray was outletting well, he would not only win the battle but would supershield the puck while he could decide the outlet. He was good in the sense of not missing, but he wasn't quick about it. With what you and sry10 are saying, I suspect his ability to battle has slipped and he isn't getting the step on the superprotection he would have on the puck and stick.

The shielding of the puck actually makes sense, I couldnt figure it out because it just seems like hes holding on to the puck way longer than he should but he might not be getting any separation in order to make the pass.

 

[SJeasy]

I think your bottom 3 are a wash. Honestly. Pavelski is incredibly slow. There's times Clowe skates hard on the forecheck and looks faster than Pavs. Pavs just never, ever looks fast unless we're talking about his quick shot, which we're not.

A couple of years ago, I caught a dead equal standing start for Clowe and Pavelski. They were equal after 3 strides. IMO, Pavs is a tad faster now. Pavelski has always been more nifty than Clowe.

 

[WTFetus]

A couple of years ago, I caught a dead equal standing start for Clowe and Pavelski. They were equal after 3 strides. IMO, Pavs is a tad faster now. Pavelski has always been more nifty than Clowe.

Yeah. The last two seasons, Pavelski and Couture have looked a lot faster. Clowe is clearly a step below them.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

It's crazy that 6'4 240lbs Thornton is faster than Couture and Pavelski.