Sharks/Ducks Tonight and a few random predictions
December 11th, 2008, 9:50 am
The pole position is here. Grudge match 2008 is on tonight, with the Ducks I’m sure wanting to make a major statement and the Sharks steadfastly defending their ground as Top Water Dwelling Animal in the Pacific Division. Could the reason why the Sharks have been a little slow the last two games be that they’ve been looking forward to tonight? Probably not…but it’s an interesting thought. I am hopeful that Lukowich is in the line up tonight, I think if he is physically able, he will lace them up. The trade off of Luko for Frank-N-Beans could be fatal for the Sharks. Can we keep it real for a second here. Check this out.
Sharks record with Semenov in the line up. 5-2-2
Sharks record with Frankenstein back in the laboratory 16-1-0
So Semenov has been on the ice for four of the Sharks five losses? WOW.
Other keys tonight will be the Sharks sticking to their guns and not getting caught up in the Ducks bullying and defending against their kryptonite, the low cycle. The Sharks should win, but I have no illusions that it will be easy. I smell overtime.
In other NHL news, I thought I might take a quick stab at predicting a trade here, since I’m on a roll. I watched Ottawa play Chicago last night and the Senators looked listless and the blueline is a shambles. They have no one to initiate offense and its their top line against the world. Who could solve this mess for them? Well, how about Jay Bouwmeester? They could offer Florida, who has the 2nd worst offensive in the NHL with only 67 goals, a genuine top flight center in Jason Spezza. So, here’s how I would outline this deal.
To Ottawa: Jay Bouwmeester (without extension, 1 year 4.9M) and Stephen Weiss (5 years, 3.1M)
To Florida: Jason Spezza (7 years, 7M) and Alexander Picard (two years, 800k)
The money lines up and it solves both teams problems. Is it a gamble for Ottawa? Sure, if Bouwmeester leaves – but then they have more cap room to pursue someone else. We’ll see…
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I hate Semenov as much as you dudes do and I’ve long claimed he’s the worst Russian currently playing in the NHL. But come on. Was it him or was it Jiggy, Voucon, Ellis and Roloson all playing their best games of the season? Sharks had 188 shots in those four games. That’s close to averaging 50 shots a game. I don’t think keeping Semenov out of the lineup is our way to go undefeated the rest of the season.
Good idea on that Ottawa trade. Tampa also looks helpless on the blue line, and I won’t be shocked to see them trade a big name to acquire a puck moving defenseman. I think they are beginning to see what getting rid of Boyle cost them. So I’ll make a similar prediction – St Loius for Kaberle and bunch of picks.
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I think grier is just pointing out an interesting correlation, neither of us is saying that he is responsible for the losses. Not to mention that 5 games is an absurdly low sample size. But it does fit with our observations and perceptions.
The real question to consider is, would we hate Semenov that much if he didn’t cost us a game a year ago against the Ducks? Or if he wasn’t this odd looking?
[…] Sharks. Most times we’ve been able to chalk it up to coincidence, like this time below where we wrote about a certain interesting Semenov stat, then it appeared someplace else a couple of days […]