Honest talk about the San Jose Sharks.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Drew vs. Ray

So I saw this today after waking up and couldn't help, but talk about it here.

You cannot argue with Ray Ratto on this one.  He's right, but I think Drew was more miffed that it was a generalized statement.  Mainly, because you did see some guys showing emotions out there that looked like they were in for the win that never came.

Go ahead and watch it by clicking the link:
http://www.csnbayarea.com/pages/video?PID=uuEdZirOq7M9XXR_7kwpmW_xcAzvTx7r


Hope you enjoy it, but this is indicative of a team that is not performing and now the guys upstairs that are not in management are ruffling their feathers.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Down and out...for now.

So the Sharks ended up with the same lines they iced against the Ducks.  Can't blame Niemi for this one.  He made some good saves and only gave up 2.  That's completely reasonable and something the Sharks offense should be more than able to deal with.  In fact, I read earlier a quote from the CSNCA crew that McLellan has stated that their offense has been the issue on the road.  For whatever reason, they aren't scoring then.

I'll tell you something, there were moments when Marleau looked completely out of sync and simply deadpan.  Couture had a great opportunity he didn't put in.  He slammed his stick down on the ice in frustration.  That's the kind of stuff I want to see.  That shows heart.  It means something to him.  I'm not trying to piggy-back on the Jeremy Roenick bus, but he has a point.

I'll say it now, I want to see Marleau traded this summer regardless of the outcome of this season.  He's just not a fit and I'd rather have a legit winger in his stead (Nash anyone?).  Shoot, it doesn't have to be Nash as I hate his cap hit of 7.8 million.  That's high.  I wouldn't mind trading him for a high draft pick or prospect who could make the jump.  His value is plummeting and this is becoming a new post for the future.

That being said, the Sharks were not on their game.  I was watching it with family and my buddy who is now my sort of brother-in-law is getting into the game and he was noticing that the Sharks from the get-go looked like they were trying to do too much.  These are signs of an immature team in essentially a playoff situation as they are playing for the playoffs.  This is not indicative of a team that's gone to two straight Western Conference Finals.  Or is it?  Are they fatigued from so many long playoff runs?  I don't think so.

This is a team that has a serious identity crisis in the locker room.  I don't think there is any one malignant  cancer in the room, but there appears to be some who must be benign tumors that just need to be cut off so the rest of the team can function at their best.

Until next time and always,

Go Sharks!

Why not Greiss?

I have been defending Coach McLellan all season long in spite of the inconsistent play we've seen.  I think it has more to do with the players than him.  That being said, I don't understand why he keeps pushing Niemi out there night in and out.  Sure, Niemi is the starter, but he has struggled of late and Greiss has not been handed many starts of late.

Tonight, the Sharks are playing for the second straight night in a row.  So far, I'm seeing that Niemi is probable.  I'm calling for Greiss to start.  Niemi hasn't been getting it done, why not try the stud backup who is capable of performing in this type of situation?

If Niemi fails and lets in soft goals, I'm blaming McLellan for it.  He's a good coach, but he needs to stop babying Niemi.  Niemi played his best and won the Cup when he was wrestling away time from his counterpart.  He needs that kind of competition to stay on his toes.

Here's to hoping Coach Grey figures it out.

As always,

Go Sharks!

Ducks win the battle for the sea.

So the Ducks won last night if you didn't notice and won the regular season series with a pretty firm grip.  I hate to say it, but Hiller's comment about "owning" the Sharks is a bit too true.  He has owned them in the playoffs and in the regular season.

I did see that the lines were far more different than I thought last night.  Well, the bottom two lines were.

They were actually:

Desjardins-Winnik-Wingels
Galiardi-Mitchell-Moore

Those are some interesting lines, but I was surprised to see Mitchell separated from Winnik. They had been playing fairly well together.  So we'll see if the lines get mixed up for tonight's match against the Coyotes.

Speaking of the Coyotes, this is a team that keeps on impressing me.  They keep winning when everyone writes them off.  So perhaps we should stop doing that and start taking notes on them.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the top two lines get shuffled early on in tonight's game if the boys get behind early.

As always,

Go Sharks!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Galiardi says he's in the lineup tonight.

So this is going to be interesting.  I'm curious as to how the lines shakedown:

 Pavelski-Marleau-Thornton
Clowe-Couture-Havlat
Winnik-Handzus-Mitchell
Galiardi-Moore-Desjardins maybe.

I'm not sure how this rolls out.

A curious thing I noticed in their game against Colorado.

They listed Burns pairing as the 1st pairing over Boyle's.  That's fairly new as for most of the season Boyle has been getting the first shot at being on the point for the PP too, and I saw this switched as well.

I think Burns should have been on the 1st PP unit with Boyle and spread out the forwards more between the units.  Demers can handle the 2nd unit along with someone like Vlasic or Braun.  Hope to see this utilized in the future as I think it could really give us some serious longevity of power play greatness in the playoffs.

I'll post on this when I find out the actual lines.

Murky Waters

The Sharks find themselves back in 3rd place in the Western Conference race.  This is impressive considering just a week or so ago fans found their team as low as 12th place in the conference.  I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, I want this team to make the playoffs as they should, and maybe they'll surprise me and pull through to the Cup finals.  Stranger things have happened (Tampa anyone?).

On the other hand, I really don't think they will.  They have been too inconsistent this year to make me believe they can do it.  I really liked the trade with Colorado for Galiardi and Winnik.  These guys seemed like good solid depth forwards who could have the impact needed.  It isn't until now that the team is healthy again.

Then, if I had a third hand, which sadly I don't, I would say I don't want them to make the playoffs.  This is just a nagging feeling, but this team is built for now, and our future is very very unclear (hence murky waters).  The prospects pool is depleted and dried up.  What we need are more young guys and to start shipping out some of the older ones.  I'll name those later during the week or when playoffs finish.  I'm going to try to be objective and let this team that Doug Wilson has assembled play some more before I pass any more judgement on them.

Here's to hoping the Duck Hunt tonight goes well.

As always,

Go Sharks!