DOH 220 – Two and Oh Gomez
January 23rd, 2013, 10:16 pm
The Sharks are off to a blistering start, scoring 10 goals in two games, and easily beating Calgary and Edmonton. And, as crazy as it might have sounded a week ago, Scott Gomez is now a Shark, but at a very reasonable price.
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Mike Mullins liked this on Facebook.
What’s the deal with Burns, hearing “off-ice” speculation. Hmmmmm. I don’t believe it, but seems weird how tight lipped they are.
I wanted to take minute and chime in on Marleau. I understand that he brings up a lot of frustration in the hockey world and that most Sharks fans aren’t level headed when discussing him… But in the face of alll the “I-told-you-so” and hindsight prognostication surrounding his recent on-ice success, I’d like to remind us all that I don’t think there is a single person on this blog that hasn’t been as equally frustated with Patrick Marleau.
I have at times myself on this blog simultaneously defended him – arguing for not trading him, quoting the Richards and Carter example in Philly and LA – and then also confirming that he disappears for streches too…
Ill say this, regarless of how you feel about Patrick Marleau, I don’t think there has even been a player for the Sharks that sumiltaneously encapsulates the utter frustration and also the utter awe of his talents, than Marleau. But I still think he’s capable of being a Conn Smythe player.
I looked and could not find it.. but I do remember David Pollak making a side comment on his blog that Marleau had been in fact been nursing some sort of injury over the offseason, one that WAS NOT mentioned after the end of the season last year.
At the end of the day who knows? Patrick Marleau is a hard guy to figure out. But overall the Sharks really look like a team that finally had a good length of time to recover mentaly and physically from all the games they’ve played over the last ten years – I believe more PO games than any team in the league since the 04 lockout if im not mistaken…
I’ve made the arguement in the past that injuries almost always had been the reason for his dropoffs in play. Last year that seemed to not be the case and I, like many others, were kind of done defending him. IMHO though, this whole team, not just Patty, looks like theyve finally gotten the much needed rest and time to heal that I think has hampered them in previous years.
I think that fact as much as anything else is contributing to the recent on-ice success of the Sharks and Patrick Marleau. Im reallly interested to see if they can sustain this and go much deeper in the PO’s than ever before.
My two cents…
The defensive zone coverage has been pretty atrocious so far this year. Who knows, maybe it’s always this bad early on and I’m just not as tuned in. But it certainly seems logical to chalk it up to the lack of training camp and preseason games.
Anyway, if there’s anyone who can make you pay for bad defensive zone coverage, it’s Joe Thornton. As teams get their act together, the opportunities Marleau has had are going to be tougher to come by. The good news is that he’s spending a lot of time in high-traffic areas, and he also looks a lot more active than usual in puck recovery. But three good games aren’t evidence that he’ll never again have a bad stretch.
The most pleasant surprise for me has been Havlat. I’ve really liked his creativity with the puck so far.
After what I thought was a subpar year last year, I was expecting a big bounceback from Clowe in a contract year. So far he looks a step slow…
Also, DISLIKE the Facebook likes showing up in the comment thread.
Yeah, that’s really gotta go
Agreed
Sorry about that, I already turned it off.
Patrick MARLEAU: 4 games. 8 goals. You two look like a pair of idiots.
Speaking of which . . . Brad Stuart is a total knucklehead. Why do you think he got DEALT the first time around. It’ll be a BLESSING if “BS” get’s sidelined . . . b4 he can shoot Team Teal in the foot w/ a Steve Bernier-esque fuck-up.
I have liked having Stuart on the blue line its made the absence of Burns mostly painless I don’t know if we’d be in as good of shape with out any off season additions and say Petrecki out there instead.
That hit by Stuart was the highlight of the night. It changed the game and pushed Colorado on their heels. Dirty or not I liked it. I’d rather see that and have to deal with suspensions than no one initiating physical play.
And I think you’re totally off base saying anyone here looks like an idiot. Pot meet kettle.
About Marleau..
Nothing they said about him made them look like idiots. Its all true. Marleau is up and down. We all know that he can have great streaks, otherwise he wouldnt have scored all the goals he have during his time in the NHL.. The questions that matters is if he can continue this during the WHOLE season, and if he can score 2 goals a game in the playoffs this year when it really matters?
no player in the NHL is going to score 2 goals a game. Marleau isn’t any more streaky than any other player in the NHL. He isn’t any more streaky than a robot you that could score on an expected distribution. I will say there are times when he doesn’t look like he’s playing at 100%, but I think that’s also true of nearly every star player in the NHL.
Ofcourse
I didnt mean that he should do that to be acceptable, but he should put in a goal now and then during the whole season to be considered a stable player.
If he suddenly dissapears for the last 20 games out of this 48 game season its a problem.
The main point is that it is the long run that counts and that even Murray have scored a hattrick, that doesnt mean that you should expect him to be like that the whole season.
Also.. Im not saying Marleau is a bad player.. Im just saying that the first 2, 4 or 10 games doesnt say how it will be if you put an average over the whole season.
Also.. He is a 30-40 goal scorer and should be expected to put up that amount of goals each season with the kind of contract that he has. (should be around 20-22 goals this season) He have started the season verry good, but havnt reached that goal yet.
Patrick, u said, “But three good games aren’t evidence that he’ll never again have a bad stretch.” Of course he’ll have bad stretches throughout the rest of his career. There isn’t a player in any sport who is immune to bad stretches. Aren’t all of you tired of hearing yourselves find only the negative in marleau? It’s so convenient, isn’t it? Well, the sharks are 4-0. Marleau has 8 goals in 4 games. He’s done something that hasn’t been done in almost 100 years. He’s playing with passion and fire. The whole league is talking about him. Yet, i wont be surprised when you guys throw him under the bus like usual. It’s laughable. Go sharks!
Bryan, for the record, that part of the post was tongue-in-cheek. I think Marleau is one of the most underrated superstars in the league, and he’s been my favorite player since I was a junior in high school (12 years ago).
Mike and Doug. I love the podcast. However, please tell me you were making a funny when you said that you would prefer Demers over Irwin. Don’t make me beg. If you don’t mind I’d like to quote you, “Matt Irwin has done fine in these first couple games. He’s not been embarrassing. Dan Boyle has been babysitting, basically…hopefully Demers will be back.” You couldn’t be further from the truth. Demers has always been a liability defensively with occasional offensive upside. Irwin is a better player, period.
You may be right about Irwin, but we can’t say that for sure after 4 games. History is riddled with players that play very well at first and tail off.