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Are the Sharks Bait?


yave1964

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351336343235_1.jpg  This could be the year that the Sharks hit the wall.

 

  Last year is looking more and more like the Sharks last best chance to win a cup or at least make the Cup finals, after being up on the Kings 3 games to nil and then blowing the series the summer of the teams discontent ended without the significant overhaul the team so desperately needed and now, well, they sit in 10th place in the West with less than a month to go needing to leapfrog at least two teams to even make the postseason including possibly the hated Kings.

  If as is appearing more and more likely they do not make it, coach Todd McClellan is almost certainly a goner, although he can hardly be faulted for not spinning silk out of the sows ear that is the Sharks bottom six forwards or the defense that is indefensible.

First the good, the usual suspects, JoePa, Big Joe, Burns, Couture have all been rock steady, Marleau has only 15 goals but has not been that bad, Wingels has hit everything that moves and Vlasic has been solid. The bad is pretty much everything else.

mf1Olkq5lGYH62AW74ysKhw.jpg Tomas Hertl has been out of sorts. Antii Niemi has been inconsistent and his backup Stalock has played poorly. Lots of kids have been given ice time among the top 9 forwards with at best mixed results, Karlsson has been good at times and so has Nieto but most of the others, Tierney, Goodrow, Hayes, have played like inconsistent rookies. Listen to this carefully, not  asingle offseason acquisition has worked out.

  Niemi is gone for certain. McClellan likely as well. Braun is an UFA at years end. And they still have the full no trade deals for both Marleau and Thornton. They may be forced to consider moving Pavelski to fill holes in spite of the fact that he is their best player. Just an ugly year in San Jose.

 

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Boy, things are definitely looking bleak for this Sharks group as currently constructed.

 

And it's not even so much that they are behind (4 points isn't insurmountable), but the fact that this group IS behind and that they don't seem to have consistency to their game....other than to be consistently inconsistent.

 

They can look like top notch SC contenders some games (such as in recent wins against the Canucks and Canadiens).....or look like complete also rans without much offense to back them up.

Also, the penalty kill has been a problem for this team not only this year, but I always felt, for a few seasons now.

 

It's not like the team doesn't have good players.

On paper at least, the team seems to have that mix of vets and younger players that everyone in the league seems to aspire to have....yet for some reason, the Sharks can't quite get the pieces to fit or work together quite like they should.

 

Maybe this team really IS in need of that undisputed number one guy in net so that he can steal a game or two here and there thus giving the rest of the team the confidence to just play, play, play...and not worry about what is going on behind them.

Or maybe the Sharks need that one good shut down defenseman to limit the quality scoring chances, thus making the goalie's job easier...no matter who that may be.

 

This team is just hard to figure out on many nights.

But at the end of the season, they've got a handful of contracts that are either UFA's or RFA's.....some smart decision making will need to be in order.

 

San Jose didn't give extensions to guys like Marleau and Thornton to just 'rebuild' or coast on any past glories....the team wants to win now.

Maybe a couple of off season trades...giving up a portion of the future...for a deal that could bring them a bona fide number one goalie or shut down defenseman (maybe both) in deals that could finally put this team over the top for the here and now and then they could worry about the future later on?

 

But for this year, they aren't out of the playoffs by any stretch....but man, with the way this team goes up n down, and given how well some of the teams in front of them have played, 4 points does seem like a lot.

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351336343235_1.jpg  This could be the year that the Sharks hit the wall.

 

  Last year is looking more and more like the Sharks last best chance to win a cup or at least make the Cup finals, after being up on the Kings 3 games to nil and then blowing the series the summer of the teams discontent ended without the significant overhaul the team so desperately needed and now, well, they sit in 10th place in the West with less than a month to go needing to leapfrog at least two teams to even make the postseason including possibly the hated Kings.

  If as is appearing more and more likely they do not make it, coach Todd McClellan is almost certainly a goner, although he can hardly be faulted for not spinning silk out of the sows ear that is the Sharks bottom six forwards or the defense that is indefensible.

First the good, the usual suspects, JoePa, Big Joe, Burns, Couture have all been rock steady, Marleau has only 15 goals but has not been that bad, Wingels has hit everything that moves and Vlasic has been solid. The bad is pretty much everything else.

mf1Olkq5lGYH62AW74ysKhw.jpg Tomas Hertl has been out of sorts. Antii Niemi has been inconsistent and his backup Stalock has played poorly. Lots of kids have been given ice time among the top 9 forwards with at best mixed results, Karlsson has been good at times and so has Nieto but most of the others, Tierney, Goodrow, Hayes, have played like inconsistent rookies. Listen to this carefully, not  asingle offseason acquisition has worked out.

  Niemi is gone for certain. McClellan likely as well. Braun is an UFA at years end. And they still have the full no trade deals for both Marleau and Thornton. They may be forced to consider moving Pavelski to fill holes in spite of the fact that he is their best player. Just an ugly year in San Jose.

Braun is not UFA. he signed an extension :P

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