DOH 173 – Brian Elliot is Patrick Roy
October 19th, 2011, 8:48 pm
The Dudes try to keep their spirits and expectations up, despite a dismal 1-3 start.
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Tags: San Jose Sharks
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Mike and Doug,
Thanks for answering the question. I’m going to argue a little bit of Devils advocate here – cause let be honest, what else is there to talk about??
For one i think there is an ocean of difference between “doing nothing” and “trading away your all star forwards”… But I’m also realizing I might have oversold my position just a little.
Demers is actually someone I thought of. We do have extra D and I think he has not looked good.
I could see DW doing like a Demers (+\- a pick) for like Raffi Torres, or Teddy Pucell, or someone like that. Right now lack of scoring depth has hurt just as much as anything.
But again – I never claimed the time was now to make such moves. In fact an interesting tweet I saw floating around showed that of all the final four teams from last year they’re a combined 6 for 22… Ouch. Whatever the Sharks are struggling with seems to be found among the teams that played as long or longer into the post season. So, this road trip could be just what they need.
Tom,
Maybe a better way to explain my position would be to contrast doing something to address a genuine need, and doing something to make it look like you’re doing something. You see the latter in pro sports all too often; GMs turning the crank because they don’t want to appear idle. IMHO, doing anything in the first two or three months of the season, especially after all the offseason changes, would just be an instance of that.
But I could be wrong- I’m particularly interested in knowing when DW (or any GM, for that matter) could feel confident there’s a fundamental need that needs to be fixed, or just a slump that needs to be worked through.
Also, do you agree with us that T-Mac may be the first on the block?
Who is a realistic replacement for T-Mac? I think that’s more likely than a roster shakeup, given that a pretty dramatic roster shakeup happened in the offseason.
I think it would be absolutely ridiculous for anyone to be on the chopping block based on a 1-3 start. Demers hasn’t looked good (along with most of the rest of the team), but it’s a miniscule sample size. Just a few months ago he got knocked out of the playoffs and we were all lamenting his loss. Same guy, couple bad games.
I’m so sick of the “gain the zone then delay on the half wall” move that Marleau Thornton and Clowe all love so much. A stationary player is 10 times easier to defend than a moving player. Watching those Ducks games, Getzlaf and Perry gain the zone and then keep moving with the puck, either against the grain between the points, or toward the back of the net. They still have passing options but it continues to put pressure on the defense and opens up lanes for their teammates. Same for the Sedins. I never see them pull up and try a pass across the middle through a ton of sticks.
On offense you need to create time and space, and any time your feet (and the puck) are standing still, you’re helping the defense.
I think your question here about DW is great…. where does a GM or DW in this instance make that distinction. Which in essence is what I’m trying to understand too. At the end of the day I’m a hockey fan that doesn’t even know how to skate. I don’t know what’s best for this team… if I did I’d be a coach.
I’m always trying to process this team through how I think DW does because I think DW is an outstanding GM.
That said I don’t know where that line is for him. And I agree ten games might be too soon. But I have a hard time thinking that DW is going to sit on his hands and do nothing. I go off what I know DW has done in the past and what he has said.
With this core of players I’ve only seen and heard DW put accountability squarely on the players. So that would lead me to believe that Tmac isn’t on the block – but it’s such an easy thing to do I can’t discount it. It’s been successful with other clubs.
Good podcast again, dudes.
I believe Mike mentioned that Corsi numbers are sometimes skewed by teams that are behind in the game. Isn’t the thing that makes Corsi such a great stat is that teams that perform well in the stat generally correlate well with teams that have good winning percentages? It seems oxymoronic to me that teams that are losing in a game have good corsi numbers but teams that ultimately win have good Corsi numbers. However, I have heard this point made in other places.
As far as changes to be made, I think you guys hit it square on the head. Other than Demers, who no longer has the safety blanket that is Vlasic, I can’t think of a guy that would be traded (besides McGinn, maybe?). Canning TMac is something I haven’t thought of, and would smack of panic IMO. But I agree with Tom, there, in that is is an easy thing to do.
In the end, I just hope this all becomes a long forgotten dream come Christmas when the Sharks are leading the division, Burns and Boyle are battling for the Norris, and Couture is on pace for 40 goals.
They need to get Burns on the road to organize some team building activities, such as; watching Harry potter movies, handling poisonous snakes, and maybe a tattoo night!
“San Jose Sharks – Pasific Disisivion Champiars”
Clowe steps up to take the last shootout shot:
“Here it comes! THE BACKHAND. He’s gonna do it… it’s gonna happen, it’s coming! BACKHAND! He’s doing it! OMG yeah…. goal!!!!
(props to Randy for pointing out that Clowe can shoot forehand too, you could hear him smiling as he said it)
How every goalie in the league doesn’t know that’s coming, I don’t know. Clowe = magic.
Hedican in the post-game, “everyone in North America knew the backhand was coming.”
That Pronger injury sure did reboot the visor-issue pretty fast…