J0e Th0rnton Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 We have reached near the halfway mark of the season, or close enough at 40 games. Time for some grades and speculation. The cons: -Sharks suck at home. To put it mildly, they are the worst home team in the NHL -Backup goaltending. Stalock has been putrid -Key Injury. Losing Couture for most of the season has seriously hurt. Not many teams can lose a 65 point shutdown center and NOT feel the burn. -Penalty Kill: At 17th in the NHL, I am not happy -Paul Martin and Brendan Dillon on Left D, Demelo and Tennyson on Right D. Martin has at times looked good, and less often so has Dillon. But they have not been strong on the left side. Demelo and Tennyson rotate that bottom RD and neither can lock down the role. -The bottom 6 has been a wreck. Nieto and Wingels regressing. Good chance one of them moves at the deadline. Smith also does not seem to be a Deboer favorite. The Pros: - Sharks PP is 6th in the league -Sharks are the best road team in the NHL, balancing out the putrid home games. Set a franchise record 6-0-0 on the eastern road trip. -Couture is back, and with him in the lineup this year, the Sharks are 7-3-1 -Brent Burns. Seriously folks. He is on pace for 36-38 goals and 75-80 points. A few defensive gaffs here and there, but not putrid. -Vlasic and Braun on pace for 40ish points. Vlasic is the best defensive Dman in the NHL, and Braun is like Vlasic-lite, but Deboer has them activating from the point and they are scoring well. - The jumbo Joe + Pavelski line is as strong as ever. Ward and Marleau seem to compliment each other nicely. With Couture's return, Hertl has been returned to Jumbo's wing the past 2 games and looks at home. - Jones has been better than Niemi and has shown flashes of brilliance Outlook: - Thank god the rest of the division sucks. The west is typically much stronger than the east and that holds true. But it is all in Central this year. - Team is back to full strength. Couture's return is a huge positive -Deboer. PLEASE Stop playing Brown and Zubrus. We have a boatload of better options. - Wilson, please get on picking up another NHL caliber right side Dman. ill settle for serviceable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 IMHO the biggest boon for the Sharks is the insane season that Burns is having. Just a coming of age season. Joel Ward has been a steadying presence on the middle six forwards, he is not a star and never will be but he is a pro who plays solid minutes. Getting kids such as Donskoi and Tierney minutes is important and they have not embarrassed themselves. A 4th line that kills penalties is a must, playing kids with Zubrus is not cutting it. A penalty killing veteran forward, preferably a center seems to be a desperate need. Trusting a combo of inexperienced players and old veterans who have lost a step at that critical portion of the game is not a good idea. Overall, the Sharks seem to be in transition, vets are still around but they are playing more kids especially among the forwards than in years past. Most of these kids have not excelled at the AHL level and are not really that highly rated but they bust butt and sometimes a player like that can surprise like an Abdelkader in Detroit for instance. I would much rather find out if Karlsson, Goodrow or a Nieto or even Goldobin can play or not than run a never ending series of washed up players as they have done the past several years. Let them play, sort it out from there. Overall I like the season the Sharks are having. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 On 2016-01-19 at 10:49 AM, yave1964 said: IMHO the biggest boon for the Sharks is the insane season that Burns is having. Just a coming of age season. Joel Ward has been a steadying presence on the middle six forwards, he is not a star and never will be but he is a pro who plays solid minutes. Getting kids such as Donskoi and Tierney minutes is important and they have not embarrassed themselves. A 4th line that kills penalties is a must, playing kids with Zubrus is not cutting it. A penalty killing veteran forward, preferably a center seems to be a desperate need. Trusting a combo of inexperienced players and old veterans who have lost a step at that critical portion of the game is not a good idea. Overall, the Sharks seem to be in transition, vets are still around but they are playing more kids especially among the forwards than in years past. Most of these kids have not excelled at the AHL level and are not really that highly rated but they bust butt and sometimes a player like that can surprise like an Abdelkader in Detroit for instance. I would much rather find out if Karlsson, Goodrow or a Nieto or even Goldobin can play or not than run a never ending series of washed up players as they have done the past several years. Let them play, sort it out from there. Overall I like the season the Sharks are having. He was playing pretty damn well last year too, but TMac kinda culls and limits the ability of Dmen to get involved. Deboer has given guys a lot of freedom to jump into the play, and it is helping a lot of them. Burns obviously, but moreso Vlasic and Braun, who always had the tools, but play a much more stay at home style. Vlasic is actually on pace for 45+ points and is still playing rock solid defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 5 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said: Just hope you guys never meet the Sabres in the Cup finals. If the Sabres ever make the playoffs, then they would adjust accordingly. It is aggravating, but when the Sharks play weaker teams like the sabres, they play down to competition and act like it is a day off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted March 1, 2016 Author Share Posted March 1, 2016 On 2016-02-28 at 2:10 PM, Hockey Junkie said: They lost to us when we won the Presidents trophy also. Do not sit there and tell me we are always bad. We got rid of a GM and coach that had the longest tenure in the league They cleaned house. So the turn around has gone pretty darn well considering the choices. I like the chore we have acquired. You can make your excuses but we own the Sharks Yawn 45 years and no Stanley cup in Buffalo. We have only been in the league 25 years. Gonna take awhile to live up to that failure. And Thornton is about to pass Gilbert Perreault on the all time point list. Which he would have done already if he played in Perreault's easy scoring era, flashy guy Perreault, but not that great in the grand scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 On 28/02/2016 at 3:57 AM, J0e Th0rnton said: If the Sabres ever make the playoffs, then they would adjust accordingly. LOL. Feel the burn. On 01/03/2016 at 4:35 PM, J0e Th0rnton said: Yawn 45 years and no Stanley cup in Buffalo. We have only been in the league 25 years. Gonna take awhile to live up to that failure. LOL. Someone get the SPF 50. Burn x 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 Perreault was a flashy guy. But at his best? 3rd highest scorer in the league. And with good linemates. 70's 80's were the highest scoring era of all time, and 113 is the best he could come up with. Big whoop. Thornton is about to surpass him on the all time points list and playing in a much lower scoring era. Sabres are still licking the bottom of the barrel. Your "chore" is better than ours? Your chore is watching that Sabres team. Would be a chore for anyone. Eichel can shine all he wants. He is still going to be second (or third, or 10th) fiddle to McDavid his whole career. McDavid is better in every way. Oh, and yeah, the Sharks will win the cup first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 On 06/03/2016 at 7:15 PM, J0e Th0rnton said: Clearly, Shawn Michaels has never held the Stanley Cup. I'm pretty sure he's doing it wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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