DOH 266 – New #1 Seed?
March 26th, 2014, 8:16 pm
The Sharks, in beating the Ducks and taking a point against Calgary and Edmonton, have launched themselves into the #1 seed in the Pacific, although the Ducks have games in hand. The Dudes ponder the #2 scorer in the NHL, and the resurgence of the bottom 6.
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Tags: San Jose Sharks
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Regarding “Niemi most wins in the league”:
That just means that he have played a lot on a good team. Only Mike Smith in Phoenix have played more.
I dont think that that is a stat like that is anything to bother to much about in a goalie.
Regarding the Stalock situation:
Right now he needs to play in ALL 8 games for the rest of the season. (If I havnt calculated it wrong)
I dont think that that will happen though.
I’m growing increasingly worried about Torres… With so little news, it makes me think he has injured himself again. I beat this drum a while back, that he role in the lineup is SO IMPORTANT, that I thought it FOOLISH for DW to bank on him being healthy and having an impact in this lineup.
FTF tweeted this earlier: “Since the Olympic break, the Sharks are 6-0-0 against teams that are currently in a playoff spot and 4-3-3 against teams that aren’t.”
Clearly, the Sharks are struggling with playing down to their opponent, AND I think the lack of Torres in the lineup causes this. If anything his lack of presence doesn’t help matters.
I still think DW made a mistake by not going out and getting another impact third line player at the deadline, like a Steve Ott… These pts matter and home ice in the first two round is everything. If we get knocked out early of the PO’s because we couldn’t take these points against inferior opponents – I’M GOING TO BE PISSED. And I will trace it all back to not valuing enough the role and necessity for players like Torres in this lineup.
I hope I’m wrong and Torres comes back healthy for a nice long cup run… But I just can’t shake the fact that given how important he is to this squad’s performance, the Sharks did little to try and mitigate the impact it has when he ISN”T in the lineup. IMHO, the Sharks haven’t done nearly enough.
/rant
Great post. It drives me crazy how little info the Sharks release about injured players, i.e. Havlat and now Torres.
Sorry to say I think the dudes are overly optimistic about the Sharks cup chances. After years of fans bemoaning the status of the 3rd line, the Sharks are still a 2-line team. They are not as deep at forward or D as teams like Chicago, LA, and St. Louis. And if Torres isn’t playing come playoff time, and if Doug is correct that Mike Brown won’t crack the lineup, who’s going to play the physical game?
Wingels, Desjardin, Sheppard, Thornton, Burns, Stuart…
I’m not entirely sure what Brown brings over any of those guys.
If they ever get healthy enough to play add Burish and Torres to that mix. The only teams more rough and tumble than the Sharks are St. Louis and Boston.
If grit is so important why are you concerned at all about Chicago? They don’t have any beyond Bickell.
I don’t think we had the cap space to do anything meaningful…
And Torres isn’t so valuable because he plays a gritty game, its because he plays a gritty game and a .5 PPG player. Steve Ott would have been another Adam Burish, if not worse like a Mike Brown. Joel Ward wasn’t exactly available.
The 3rd line seems pretty good to me. Havlat-Sheppard-Wingels was the best line in the Colorado game. They are getting a bit sheltered, but clearly contributing.
If the Sharks are healthy, they are one of the best teams in the league. I agree with Tom that it will be unfortunate if the Sharks match up with the Kings in the 1st round, one of the 4 teams that I think match up with them (Bos, Stl, Chi), but they will match up with LA in one of those first two rounds anyways and Stl/Chi in the 3rd barring some very good luck. They will have an easier matchup in the other round. With the Sharks having some extra rest these next 2 weeks, maybe its better they get the Kings first when they are fresher. Maybe it wont matter at all. But every objective measure suggests that the Sharks are built for the playoffs.
The lack of ANY news about Hertl and Torres is really really frustrating… I realize this isn’t Toronto but damn. I’ve bugged Pollack and Kurz today, maybe we can get SOMETHING… ARGH.
Kurz and Pollak ask about those two constantly and the Sharks just give them nothing. There isn’t much they can do, the Sharks don’t tell anybody anything about injuries.
I’m not sure that’s accurate… I rarely hear either say they asked and got nothing in response… Either way I think it’s BS. All I’m looking for is an acknowledgement he is injured and expected to come back or NOT. I think it unacceptable that an org in the NHL cannot provide that basic level of info. And I think it partially lies on the shoulder of the media to push back on them a little harder.
Not that I expect that from Kevin Kurz. Those were just two names that I personally reached out to.
The NHL doesn’t require teams to say anything more than upper or lower body. Kurz and Pollak both have to work with the Sharks on a daily basis, antagonizing the team isn’t going to help them do their job and they’re not going to get any more info out of the Sharks. What are they possibly going to do? they have a limited media time, the more they ask a question they won’t get an answer to the less time they can ask about other information that they can write stories about.
As far as weather they’re coming back or not, Hertl has no “official timetable for return” so not any time soon, and Torres they want to make sure he’s not going to reinjure himself, so they’re taking it day by day, hopefully we have him for the playoffs or sooner.
I was optimistic about taking 1st, I mean we had a lot of games against bad teams.
I forgot for a moment I root for the Sharks, and should have known better. Carry on.