Game #4 Blues vs Sharks 7:30pm

[Ray_Dogg]

As much as I dislike Colin White, sadly he has been the best guy on D this series. That speaks volumes. Why we stayed with Boyle and Vlasic as a tandem I will never understand. It will be a long time before I can stop picturing the Blues forwards skating circles unmolested around those two.

 

[sjrules99]

I've also alluded to this in the past. Todd stepped into a very tough situation as an NHL rookie head coach. He was in charge of getting a team that has underachieved and had high expectations. He's taken them to two conference finals where they got beat by better teams, easily beaten.

When I watch the Sharks, I don't see a lot of offensive creativity on the rush, and zero aggressiveness on defense. I'm sick of the passive defense and the lack of scoring off rushes. On a rush, Sharks forwards are instructed to pull up on the wing and wait for a trailer. Guess what, most of the time the late trailer is an offensively inept defenseman. There is no criss crossing, no aggressive drives to the net when there is an even man rush (2 on 2, 3 on 3), always pull up short of the half boards and wait for a trailer. Todd also leaves it up to the players to motivate themselves which is the wrong move with this roster.

I'm done with (in order):
1. this coaching staff: terrible schemes, lack of motivational skills
2. Patty: nuff said
3. Murray: too slow. A shitty PK also takes away his aggressiveness.
4. Clowe: Sharks have Thornton, no need for another playmaker that likes to hang out on the perimeter. Would definetly miss his ornery attitude, but let's get some speed and two way play in this spot.
5. Demers: coach him up or trade him. He is a trainwreck in the defensive zone.

100% agreed, though Im not sure about demers. He was very effective all year last year. one of the sharks better Dmen, for sure. This year, his confidence was shot and he rode the pine half the year. Tmac clearly did not do a strong job with him. I think a new, better coach can recreate him.

Absolutely on all the others. its time for a change of culture into a much more aggressive and quick team. I would be OK with adding pavs to that list since he has the greatest value of anyone on the roster given the age and excellent contract.

In terms of personnel, the sharks need 3 solid forwards, and one more top pairing Dman. They have the trade bait, so it's a matter of making the moves. I actually think dougie knows all of this and may pull a trigger.

Subban is somewhat maligned in Montreal, so maybe patty for him straight up. He'd add some personality to this team and save lots of cap space

Toronto is desperate for a #1C. patty might fit that bill for them nicely and since RW is gone, the coast is clear. Franson and Bozak might be a reasonable return there to get younger at both forward and D and save significant cap space as well.

I feel like good deals are out there, if dougie has the guts to go for it.

 

[23sharks]

I really do feel bad for Jumbo, Burns, and Nemo...they were playing good solid playoff hockey in my opinion while everyone else wasn't quite there. There is a good chance Jumbo will be our shot leader (currently 3rd), face off leader, +/- leader, TOI (of forwards) leader, and point leader in the playoffs (however short that may be). I know this board loves to rip on people, but I have been really happy with Joe's play.

Agreed, those 3 have played well this series. Not many others have shown up. The thing that killed me about last night, was that I didn't sense any desperation what so ever. I was there, and it seemed like this was just another regular season game. They should have been fighting every inch of the way to save their playoff lives. Doesn't seem like this team has that in them.
Guys who showed up last night: The 3 you mentioned above, Wingels was terrific, Winchester and Handzus played well especially when you consider they have been out for a while, Winnik was solid. The bottom six actually did well, but the top 6 produced squat. White played well again too.

 

[23sharks]

If making 3 final fours in seven years and never missing the PO's gets you fired, then you'd have a whole lot of GM turnover. I think you gotta have at least 2 1st round bowouts or missed PO's to get fired. If they fired dougie, what would a new GM do?

Nah, dougie has done a fine job given his lack of high draft picks. He has traded away a few too many, but he's also traded for a few key ones that he didnt have, like cooch. He has managed to bring in some key future guys like burns without totally destroying the now as well. Restocking without the aid of high draft choices is extremely tough, unless you have scouts who hand you zetterbergs and datsyuks on a silver platter late in the draft. The sharks have very solid late round drafting in the last 7 years, but you get guys like braun, wingels, demers, joslin, bonino, or mitchell, not legit top 6 forward or top 4 D. Since the sharks have much more human scouts, dougie has had to maintain competitive without those kind of picks.

Besides which of his impact trades has been so bad prior to this year? Heater wasnt bad given the salary cap was a wash and heater> michalek+cheech over those years by far. Boyle wasnt bad at all. havlat was hurt, but it was a good deal given that heater needed to go and havlat's salary is reasonable. hell, he's the main reason we got into the PO's or got even a win vs. the blues. Going back further, the jumbo deal was a clear good one since the team was realllly floundering and stuey+sturm+primeau all pretty much suck. What else? the deadline deals were solid, even if they didnt work,. they needed a clear scorer so they got guerin. Need a top Dman? add campbell. Picking up wellfed off waivers was a great move.

This year was awful, Zues, moore, galiardi were all disaster deals. no argument there. But, that's really it, so I saw give him the opportunity to clean up his mess and I bet the sharks can be contenders again next year.

I agree with Rules. Wilson has always made good moves, up until some of the ones made this year.
Don't forget that he tried to sign guys like Vrbata and Jagr too, but they turned him down.
I think he just got desparate and took a shot at Moore, and thought that trading McGinn for Galiardi and Winnik would net him 2 starters for 1. Those obviously didn't pan out.
They need another good D-man, like Stuart, and need a couple of solid 3rd line guys. He should be able to get that done.

 

[CJdublé]

Agreed, those 3 have played well this series. Not many others have shown up. The thing that killed me about last night, was that I didn't sense any desperation what so ever. I was there, and it seemed like this was just another regular season game. They should have been fighting every inch of the way to save their playoff lives. Doesn't seem like this team has that in them.
Guys who showed up last night: The 3 you mentioned above, Wingels was terrific, Winchester and Handzus played well especially when you consider they have been out for a while, Winnik was solid. The bottom six actually did well, but the top 6 produced squat. White played well again too.

I was there too, I thought there was some desperation at times, but they would just get shots and shots and shots and then lose all desperation. Wingles had a pretty good game, lots of hustle and created some chances. Handzus & Winnik solid as well. Didn't really notice Winchester a lot, but that could be a good thing. And White played well too. I am curious if they will change the d pairings in the 5th game, boyle can't play 30 minutes.