GDT - WCF (Game 2) Sharks at Canucks - 6:00PM

[rares]

I mean, don't get me wrong, Ehrhoff hasn't been that great and he missed like 3 open nets tonight with his "booming shot" (anywhere BUT on net), but Heatler has been sooooo completely worthless that it's pathetic, really...

 

[Likewall32]

To me, the only bright spot about tonight was Jumbo. I thought he was the best player on the ice for either team. Some of the Dmen had alright games, Marleau had a few good shifts, Logan had a nice goal, Niemi stood pretty tall until the house fell down around him.

Lets be real though, this loss was not a 7-3 loss. If the Sharks (ehem, Eager) don't lose discipline in the 3rd, the too many men on the ice call is not made, and the refs call a high stick or two, then this is a MUCH different game.

Correction, dont say "the to many man call not made" go with, the if Logan didnt make a halfass skate to the furthest side of the bench to get off the ice, while thornton had a breakaway... The call was the right call, the players switching were slow & stupid...

High stick calls, and defensive breakdowns of the 3rd goal were the difference here...

 

[Nimesis23]

4 guys who have completely disappeared in the lat 6 Conference Finals games.

Okay, maybe Logan has had a couple moments where he has fit in, but overall, these 4 have been the difference in the Sharks losing games like Sunday and tonight, and winning them.

I mean you can scapegoat them if you want, but I don't think they're to blame. The defense is fucking awful. Without those 4 guys, the Sharks wouldn't have made it this far, and if we have any chance in the future, they are going to be the core. Is that even debatable? Couture is also only 21 years old...

 

[Likewall32]

I mean, don't get me wrong, Ehrhoff hasn't been that great and he missed like 3 open nets tonight with his "booming shot" (anywhere BUT on net), but Heatler has been sooooo completely worthless that it's pathetic, really...

I thought what had happened was, SJ gave big contract to blake, and over payed for Wallin so they got rid of Ehrhoffs contract... I dot think adding Heatley was the reason for dumping him, it was DWil throwing out money to a less talented Dman, and paying blake a hefty sum for his resume...

 

[Ties5o11]

Correction, dont say "the to many man call not made" go with, the if Logan didnt make a halfass skate to the furthest side of the bench to get off the ice, while thornton had a breakaway... The call was the right call, the players switching were slow & stupid...

High stick calls, and defensive breakdowns of the 3rd goal were the difference here...

I agree. Logan has to hustle. He is making rookie mistakes. His turnover on the PK in the neutral zone led to the first goal as well.

Still, Ive seen that call not made a lot more than it is made. But that does not excuse Logan. Great kid, heck of a player, but is showing some rookie colors right now.

 

[Likewall32]

I mean you can scapegoat them if you want, but I don't think they're to blame. The defense is fucking awful. Without those 4 guys, the Sharks wouldn't have made it this far, and if we have any chance in the future, they are going to be the core. Is that even debatable? Couture is also only 21 years old...

Couture is the future... The kid is a fucking stud... Marleau, you been the face of the franchise long enough, time to move on... Dont forget to put fighting on your resume :boxing:

 

[Likewall32]

I agree. Logan has to hustle. He is making rookie mistakes. His turnover on the PK in the neutral zone led to the first goal as well.

Still, Ive seen that call not made a lot more than it is made. But that does not excuse Logan. Great kid, heck of a player, but is showing some rookie colors right now.

It was made cause of the breakaway and scoring chance most likely, even tho it didnt effect the breakawy. if its the same play with nothing going on they prob get away with one. If that makes any sence haha

 

[Ties5o11]

I mean you can scapegoat them if you want, but I don't think they're to blame. The defense is fucking awful. Without those 4 guys, the Sharks wouldn't have made it this far, and if we have any chance in the future, they are going to be the core. Is that even debatable? Couture is also only 21 years old...

I am not skapegoating them... outside of Jumbo (and maybe Nemo), everyone has to be better. But those 4 guys have been flat out BAD in the last 6 Conference Finals games. Period. They must be better if the Sharks are going to win this series.

 

[Yoshi]

Unlike the past couple years with these playoff disappointments, even if we lose this series I'm still more hopeful about the future than I have been in the past. If they build around the nucleus of Couture, Clowe, Pavelski, and Setoguchi, as long as they get some help on the back end this team should be a contender for the next decade still, with reinforcements hopefully coming in with Coyle and whatever other prospects pan out in the future.

Thing about Clowe is that he has a growing laundry list of injuries and at soon to be 29 years of age, you gotta wonder how much he has left in the tank.
Player Bio - Ryane Clowe

Granted, his point total this season is a career high as well as his +/-. Would love to keep him around for a bit with the other players you mentioned. but with the lack of depth this team has (as evidenced with Eager apparently playing game 3 barring a suspension by the NHL), makes you wonder.

 

[puckhead]

p.s. it seems like Vancouver will be just like Chicago, they may or may not win the cup and then have to dismantle their team quite a bit with all the FAs...still if they have the cup who cares?!?!

we actually aren't that bad for the summer. we may lose Ehrhoff or Bieksa to UFA, but we have a kid in the minors who is NHL ready now (Tanev) to replace one of them. bear in mind our depth on D is pretty sick right now... we have a $4.2 million Ballard as a healthy scratch - and he hasn't really been playing very poorly.
the top two lines are basically all locked up long term, and it's just a matter of replacing / re-signing a couple of 3rd and 4th liners. we have no bonus penalties like Chicago did, and no retarded cap hits (Hossa / Campbell) to handicap us.
but you are right.... if we have the silverware, I wouldn't give a shit if we had to start from scratch again.

:squeeze: <--- I assume you guys caught that action?

 

[caliraftdude]

Wow - fucking ouch. It sucks to do all that flying to get home and realize what a bad finish this was again.

1. The refs really fucked us. We should have had 2 minutes for the high stick on seto and 4 for the high stick on Jumbo.. and the one on jumbo - well, if its any closer to the ref he would have got the stick in his eye. Our PK is obviously not very impressive right now but we are scoring on the PP. That's potentially 1-2 goals and momentum that we should have had.

2. Discipline. Marleau coasts on his back-check (but I like the balls in dropping the gloves.. good for him). Logan coasts on a line change and isn't paying attention. Eager - <sigh>.. fuck dude, how about switching to DECAF?!! Bad penalties and mistakes probably cost us 4-5 goals tonight.

3. We dont have an answer for their 3rd line. The PAV line looks as ineffective as it did against CHI last year, even with improved play this year. I am not saying they are not working, but the VAN line just dominates in our zone.

4. The last penalty on Eager - clearly he was being a douche in the game... however it looked to me like Robert-asscrack was clamping on his foot. No way they don't throw that call the way he has been playing though.

5. Really miss demers... he is a critical loss.

6. Once again, no finish in the 3rd.

Its a long series but the Sharks look outmatched thus far. However, in periods 1&2 (both games) it looks like they can stay with VAN - but these meltdowns in the 3rd are killing us. Joe is looking every bit a stud and there are others - but we need a whole team to show up.

Sweeping in SJ is going to be key... the only way I see that is either VAN making a lot of mistakes or SJ playing mistake free hockey and getting some bounces... not sure I like the odds either way.

 

[RaiderZar]

Is Mashinter that bad that he can't replace Eager or Mayers? We need some physicality on the ice. I like Fairy-O's speed & skills, but he's just another smurf out there. Someone needs to take Bieksa out to the wood shed.:boxing:

 

[sjrules99]

One of the worst players on the ice? Joe pavelski. He looks like a midget B player trying to keep up with NHLers. As much as it pains me to say it, he clearly cannot handle playing the speed game. Of course, it doesnt help playing with an AHLer like torrey mitchell who is so bad its hardly funny. Can you believe we all thought he might actually be worth a roster spot late in the season?

Simply put, the sharks are just too slow to keep up. The sharks D with Murray, Wallin and Huskins are so incredibly slow and throw in pickles and there are virtually no offensive threats with the disappearance of Ian White. It's 3 on 5 in the Offensive zone. Contrast that with the far superior D of Chicago... oops... I mean vancouver and the difference between the teams is so clear. The sharks simply dont have the horses to win this race.

In the offseason, dougie needs to get a whole lot more skill on the back end. We need 1 top pairing Dman and another top 4 guy if we hope to compete at the next level. Right now, even with demers, the sharks D is just not good enough. it wasnt on day 1 and it's not on day 200.

 

[sjrules99]

Didnt signing Blake to a big 1 year deal & giving someone else an overpriced contract have to do with the Ehrhoff contract dumping?? Im getting my years mixed up I think...

LOL tho, it always cracked me up how the ESPN board ripped Ehrhoff apart tho... he was one of the handful of undeserved scape goats from these forums...

ehrhoff is crap. he isnt the reason the nucks are doing anything. All he has done is fan on every chance. Bieksa, Edler, hamhuis on the other hand...

heatley sure has disappointed big time. I was high on the guy when they got him and I loved the deal, but he cant handle the speed game. He is just too slow and in the new NHL, speed is everything.

Dougie's fatal mistake was Wallin not heatley. I would still be just as happy with heater as I would michalek, cheechoo and ehrhoff. The problem is the defense. Wallin and Huskins are a disaster and the sharks have failed to draft a good two-way dman arguably in their history. Stuart, Ehrhoff, carle, and Bozo are all solid players but none of them are legit top pairing dmen. A big part of the sharks problems is that they have no homegrown equivilents to seabrook, Keith, Bieksa, Edler Weber, Suter...So, if they cant home grow 'em they have to add em, and dougie just hasnt quite done that enough. Boyle was a good start, but they need another 1 or 2 of him.

Before completely throwing doug under the bus, you have to give him credit for couture. He got him for basically vesa toskala. There arent too many GM's that can swing that.

 

[sjrules99]

This offseason is a super key one. the key cogs are getting older and older. Here is my dream: (assumes the cap rises by 2M to 61.4M)

1. heater to toronto for phaneuf or to CGY for bouwmeester. not sure if the sharks can get rid of him without taking on a big unwanted salary in return. Saves 1M in cap hit, and while I know phaneuf or bouwmeester is risky, they are still young and are a big upgrade over what we got on D.

2. marleau and Vlasic to NYR for staal and Callahan. saves another 3M on the cap and adds a legit up and coming 2 way Dman and a solid top 6 forward.

3. resign white at 3M per for 4 years. Resign seto at 2 yrs, 4M. Resign Wellwood at 2 yrs 2M. That leaves them with 7.5M left on the cap.

4. Bury or trade Mitchell somewhere. Bury or trade niity somewhere. leaves 11M on the cap

5. Sign Richards for 4 yrs 32M. 8M per should just about do it. If they cant achieve this, then at least land a few solid wingers on the cheap like gagne, ryder, Upshall, Tanguay, Higgins... Still richards would be really key here.

6. Fill in the rest with whoever they can afford with the remaining 2.5M on the cap (stalock/griess, ferriero, wingels, mashinter, desjardins, Viedensky, Varone, Sgarbossa, Macintyre... Have a little healthy competition for a few roster spots. Most years, someone emerges out of the pack. Maybe the sharks can get lucky with one of those guys)

Top 8 Forwards would be: Thornton, Richards, Couture, Setoguchi, Clowe, Pavelski, Callahan, Wellwood. I feel there is enough firepower there to score sufficient goals especially given the expected jump in production from the D with phaneuf, staal, and Braun replacing Vlasic, wallin and Huskins.

top 6 D would be: Boyle, Phaneuf, Staal, White, Demers, Murray. (braun as the #7 Dman). Now that is a Defense that would scare some people with 5 of the 6 being legit scoring threats and murray as the shut down man. Good speed, good shots from the point. massive upgrade.

Goalies would be Nemo and Stalock/griess. It doesnt really matter that much who backs up nemo because he will play 65-70 games.

obviously, whats actually going to happen is that dougie will resign white, seto, and wellwood. Allow wallin and huskins to walk. Replace them just by calling up braun, and go at it with basically the same team once again, hoping for different results...

 

[RaiderZar]

Someone jump in here. Rules is talking to himself again...

 

[Heathbar012]

Someone jump in here. Rules is talking to himself again...

True and funny, but he is definitely stating logical things. I learned more about hockey reading those three posts than the decades worth of playoffs that I've watched. Next year, I'm definitely going to watch more regular season hockey. I'm tired of the NBA, which is good timing given their CBA-woes.

 

[caliraftdude]

Someone jump in here. Rules is talking to himself again...

lol.. thats great.

That being said, I like those ideas better than the ones I have been seeing on a bed of platitudes...

 

[Cmon_WTF]

I agree. Logan has to hustle. He is making rookie mistakes. His turnover on the PK in the neutral zone led to the first goal as well.

Still, Ive seen that call not made a lot more than it is made. But that does not excuse Logan. Great kid, heck of a player, but is showing some rookie colors right now.

Refs are forced to make that call because of the scoring chance it would have led to. Had Thornton just dumped the puck in they probably don't call it.

 

[rares]

Yeah, really have no beef with the too-many-men call... Logan should have paid attention and hopped on the bench (or at the very least hug the boards trying to hop over) closer to the Sharks zone when he saw Jim come out the other side.... pretty sure they wouldn't have called it then.

But anyway, not a big deal...

What IS a big deal is that the Sharks are now 1-5 in the last 6 games and that is fucking terrible and NOT very uhhh... confidence inspiring?