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Eh I'll take the wait and see approach, believe it or not the Preds are a top 5 team in the league now and the sharks are not 2-1 loss not the end of the world. Contour is a massive loss when your next 3 forwards behind him only produce half his numbers. It screws up the PP and PK. Also no Ralphie no Melker that's 3 of your top 12 out and they are still putting a competive team on the ice.
Marleau and Thornton are 36 and they can no longer carry the team and Pavelski can't do it on his own and he needs couture.
Marleau was a first line player on any team, now he's where he should be on the second line. That being said I'm over Neito package him with Dillion to land competent #5 dman. Wingels overall body of work gives him a few outs, he's having a slow start it happens. Hertls doing fine, once he can drop back down to the 3rd line he's going to take off. Melker as long as he keeps doing what he did he will be good for 20/20 40 pntsIts true that 3 solid top 9 forwards are out (I would say torres, melker and cooch are all better than the stardard 4th liners). That said, their D depth lacking is glaring. I had high hopes for nieto, wingels, and hertl (as well as karlsson) and so far none are doing too much. This is a Huge year for all 4 as last year, none of them hit so far as 20 goals, which is a reasonable 3rd line player. Wingels had 16 goals, then 15 goals, so if he is a 15goal, 35 pt player, then hes an average 3rd liner and nothing more. Nieto had 10 goals in each of the last two years, and if he continues that, then he is arguably not even a 3rd line talent. Hertl started amazing, but he is now 1.5 yrs from the injury and still looks like a fragment of the old hertl. Better than last year, but far from dominant. melker had a solid 13 goals last year, but still hasnt played yet, so the jury is out. if those young players dont get better than the potential of 4 top 9 (or possibly top 6) forwards fizzles into a few mediocre 3rd liners.
btw, they havent just failed to develop good forwards. They also havent developed much on D. Vlasic is the best they've done, probably ever and with all due respect to pickles, he's a great defensive Dman but nowhere near a true star capable of being a top pairing on a good team. The sharks have literally never created a top pairing Dman in the NHL in their history. Bozo was the closest but he was nowhere near norris caliber.
Also, they have likely never created a single to-be-hall of famer. Patty is the closest, but all due respect to him, he is a minus player in the thornton era and was nothing much until jumbo arrived on the scene. He is really not a real 1st line player either and really belongs on a 2nd line on a good team. pavs is good, but HOF is a major stretch.
Basically, they have never created internally a star. I would have to check but I would guess that no internal candidate has ever been in the top 10 for MVP voting or top 10 for the Norris. that's piss poor.
Marleau was a first line player on any team, now he's where he should be on the second line. That being said I'm over Neito package him with Dillion to land competent #5 dman. Wingels overall body of work gives him a few outs, he's having a slow start it happens. Hertls doing fine, once he can drop back down to the 3rd line he's going to take off. Melker as long as he keeps doing what he did he will be good for 20/20 40 pnts
So let me get his straight Pavelski riding shot gun with Thornton is a bona fide first liner but when it's patty not so much lol
1. Pavelski has better EV numbers than patty averaging .52 over the last 5 years (43EVP/82)
2. Pavelski is superior in other aspects of the game:
-he's career +80 and has never had a minus season. Ever.
- Since 2010-11, when pavs really started playing with jumbo, he's +69, patty is -15 over the same span. Cooch, who has not played with jumbo at all at EV is +43. Those arent simply matchups or a few bad line changes, that's a difference of 84 goals or 17 goals per season between pavs and patty. That's a huge number and probably translates to at least 5+ more wins (10+ more points.). last year especially was a +12 for pavs vs. -17 for patty. that's 29 goals difference, which is probably around 8-10 wins, or on the low end of 16 points difference. that's the difference between making and missing the PO's last year.
- pavs has heart. Its unquestionable. he gives it his all, every game. every shift. he is the "swiss army knife", the guy everyone talks about wanting on their team. patty, on the other hand, floats around alot, is called gutless not just by JR, but around the league he's been highly questioned many times. He's not known at all for his heart or his effort. He's got better size, speed, and raw skill than pavs hands down, but pavelski is captain now (about two years too late) because he has heart and patty does not.
Anyways, I am not saying that Patty is a bad player. He's just not the 1st liner that everyone thinks he is or that his overall numbers can suggest at a glance. He is a reasonable 2nd liner with some defensive holes, who is a sniper on the PP. His PP work is not useless as a PP goal counts the same as EV, so I am not saying that he is worthless at all. Just that he is not really a 1st liner on his own right. I think pavs is and pavs can carry a line on his own, much like jumbo can, but patty cannot.