same ol' same ol'

[sjrules99]

Sharks big problems last year:
1. too top heavy (no threats on bottom 6)... yep, still there.
2. bipolar leaders jumbo and patty.... yep, still there.
3. streaky PP that totally disappears for long stretches. yep still there.
4. D cant get good shots through... yep, still there.

The only difference between this year and last is that the PK is fixed. Thats a big big difference, but until they jettison the enormous steaming pile of AHLers on the bottom six, this team is going nowhere. Wingels, desi, galiardi, sheppard, zues, burish, etc. are no gunna cut it.

The sharks have 5 total forwards with goals in 9 games. By far, that's the lowest in the NHL. Shut down line one and its an auto-win for any opponent. Sharks woulda been better off taking the entire year off so they could ditch murray, clowe and zues, and take their nearly 9M per year and add two legit scorers.

If dougie doesnt bring in some talent on the bottom 6, they might as well trade all the vets for picks and young guys and start the rebuild qhile the stock is still high.

 

[SJVP408]

About the scoring depth.. Perhaps the days of bad drafting are really catching up to them. Trading away 1sts and not hitting on their higher picks are the root of these problems. Not much in the pipeline in terms of scoring potential either Otherwise they'd be up here helping out.

 

[Likewall32]

Honestly im just glad this didnt go into a shootout... 4 shootout games in a row would be pretty pathetic IMO... They needed a regulation loss to make them realise they are NOT as good as that record states

 

[Cmon_WTF]

Meh, it's more the mix of skill sets thats causing the issue than it is overall talent. You put Wingels and Galiardi on a team with line mates who better compliment their skill set and they will be productive offensively. With Sheppard it's just a matter of time and confidence. He's meshed well everywhere he's been put.

The Sharks are lacking a 3rd line center. Handzus has been tremendous in many areas of the game but he is an anchor offensively. He should be centering Desjardins and Burish on the fourth line where their offensive contributions come from driving the play out of the defensive zone not from scoring goals. Clowe has also been holding his line mates back offensively. IMO it's not the talent level of the complimentary players thats the issue its a poor mix of skill sets and misuse of those skills.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

It is pretty simple. No Boyle equals no PP.

 

[sjrules99]

Meh, it's more the mix of skill sets thats causing the issue than it is overall talent. You put Wingels and Galiardi on a team with line mates who better compliment their skill set and they will be productive offensively. With Sheppard it's just a matter of time and confidence. He's meshed well everywhere he's been put.

The Sharks are lacking a 3rd line center. Handzus has been tremendous in many areas of the game but he is an anchor offensively. He should be centering Desjardins and Burish on the fourth line where their offensive contributions come from driving the play out of the defensive zone not from scoring goals. Clowe has also been holding his line mates back offensively. IMO it's not the talent level of the complimentary players thats the issue its a poor mix of skill sets and misuse of those skills.

In the words of the great lumburgh... "Yeah, Im gunna have to go ahead and disagree with you there... mmhmm...."

Sheppard hasnt produced offensively in the NHL ever. Even in the AHL, he was far from dominant. He is a very very long shot to make any kind of impact and in the early going, Ive seen very little to boost my confidence that he will suddenly produce regularly. Wingels is AHL fodder on a deeper franchise. He is kinda quick, kinda physical, but takes bad penalties and is sorta a poor man's torrey mitchell, and that's saying something. Galiardi showed flashes in Colorado like 3 or 4 years ago, but has been terribad or worse since. I have seen nothing from him to assume that he is going to revert to a 15 goal scorer. He too takes bad penalties and is as much a negative as positive.

A 3rd line center is step one. However, Gomez was kinda supposed to be that. Tmac has decided to shuffle it up a bit putting gomer with cooch, but the sharks need at least one serious scorer added to this team, especially in light of the clear decline of clowe from a legit threat to a borderline top 6 forward and more so a 3rd line grinder now.

Gomez was a very good start, but I would say they need at least one, but preferably two real top 9 forwards.

 

[sjrules99]

how about trying to pry ribeiro out of washington. Maybe ribeiro for clowe and a Dman (braun and/or murray)? the caps need some young de and to me, irwin looks a whole lot alike to braun and when burns gets back the D corps will be a bit overcrowded. Trading clowe hurts the morale a ton, but ribeiro is the kind of player the sharks need to add.

 

[Cmon_WTF]

Rules, you ever notice how every player in the Sharks bottom six flourishes after leaving San Jose and those who have done well on other teams regularly fail once getting to San Jose? Goc, McGinn last year, Moen, Winnik, etc. You made these same claims with all of them at one point or another yet all of then excelled outside of San Jose. At what point do we stop blaming the player and realize its a much bigger issue?

 

[Cbrower91]

You have to wonder why they stopped doing that high low cycle off the boards also, I don't think the players chose to abandon that. I mean they were unstoppable on it then they just stop with it. Makes no sense, even if teams went away from a collapsing box to man to man coverage that cycle would still work.

 

[SJVP408]

Meh, it's more the mix of skill sets thats causing the issue than it is overall talent. You put Wingels and Galiardi on a team with line mates who better compliment their skill set and they will be productive offensively. With Sheppard it's just a matter of time and confidence. He's meshed well everywhere he's been put.

The Sharks are lacking a 3rd line center. Handzus has been tremendous in many areas of the game but he is an anchor offensively. He should be centering Desjardins and Burish on the fourth line where their offensive contributions come from driving the play out of the defensive zone not from scoring goals. Clowe has also been holding his line mates back offensively. IMO it's not the talent level of the complimentary players thats the issue its a poor mix of skill sets and misuse of those skills.

Interesting point about the clash of skillsets. Can you elaborate a bit more? Does it have to do with how some are grinding cycling type players, while others are faster players that excel when attacking off the rush?

I can't help but think that had the Sharks drafted (or been able to draft) some quality forward prospects that they'd be in San Jose giving youth and scoring touch to the lineup.

I can see your point about how the chemistry on the lines are not good. Clowe slows everything down, as does Handzus, that's their game. Sheppard, Gomer, Havlat want to go quick and stay away from the grinding game. Wingels seems stuck in the middle having to adjust to his linemates, whoever they are that night. Desjardins and Galiardi can crash the net and play a simplified game.

 

[Cmon_WTF]

You have to wonder why they stopped doing that high low cycle off the boards also, I don't think the players chose to abandon that. I mean they were unstoppable on it then they just stop with it. Makes no sense, even if teams went away from a collapsing box to man to man coverage that cycle would still work.

They seemed to drop it early on in the 1st Anaheim game when they struggled a bit under the Ducks heavy back pressure from the forwards. I also get the impression McLellan doesn't trust any forward outside of the top line to cover for pinching dmen and he doesn't trust the young defense to make good choices on when to pinch.

 

[Cmon_WTF]

Interesting point about the clash of skillsets. Can you elaborate a bit more? Does it have to do with how some are grinding cycling type players, while others are faster players that excel when attacking off the rush?

I can't help but think that had the Sharks drafted (or been able to draft) some quality forward prospects that they'd be in San Jose giving youth and scoring touch to the lineup.

I can see your point about how the chemistry on the lines are not good. Clowe slows everything down, as does Handzus, that's their game. Sheppard, Gomer, Havlat want to go quick and stay away from the grinding game. Wingels seems stuck in the middle having to adjust to his linemates, whoever they are that night. Desjardins and Galiardi can crash the net and play a simplified game.

Take Scott Gomez for instance, many people figured he was brought in to be the offensive catalyst as a 3rd line center but he needs players with certain skill sets for him to be effective offensively. Gomez's strength's are moving the puck through the neutral zone with speed and offensive zone entries both extremely valuable skills to have. He's a very good passer but lacks the ability to create the time and space needed to make most of those plays once the play is in the offensive zone. Gomez needs a linemate who can control the puck in the offensive zone for his offensive abilities to be used to their maximum potential. He needs a Havlat type player. Someone who's strong on their skates with good hands who'll open up space for him. The 3rd player on the line can't be just some banger who does nothing but go to the front of the net. It needs to be someone like Sheppard. A player with enough offensive accumen to know where the soft spots in a defense are and get there at the right time.

 

[Cbrower91]

They seemed to drop it early on in the 1st Anaheim game when they struggled a bit under the Ducks heavy back pressure from the forwards. I also get the impression McLellan doesn't trust any forward outside of the top line to cover for pinching dmen and he doesn't trust the young defense to make good choices on when to pinch.

They have to learn sometime, better now then in the playoffs. Pretty stupid to shut down something that was that dominate because your afraid of a high turnover. Guys are in constant motion so getting back is easier then a guy standing there

 

[Cmon_WTF]

They have to learn sometime, better now then in the playoffs. Pretty stupid to shut down something that was that dominate because your afraid of a high turnover. Guys are in constant motion so getting back is easier then a guy standing there

You're preaching to the choir, Korky. For the first five games I finally saw the speed on offense I've been asking for for a couple years now. Quick offensive transition, quick puck movement, fast and controlled zone entires, nonstop movement away from the puck. All of it disappeared in what seems like less then a period of hockey.

 

[Cbrower91]

You're preaching to the choir, Korky. For the first five games I finally saw the speed on offense I've been asking for for a couple years now. Quick offensive transition, quick puck movement, fast and controlled zone entires, nonstop movement away from the puck. All of it disappeared in what seems like less then a period of hockey.

So basically coaching to not lose his job which means its already gone