So you go over to the ESPN stats site right now, and you’ll see that Douglas Murray (can’t I call you Doug?) is tied for the league lead in plus-minus, at +15, tied with Chris Phillips. Holy God! That’s a pretty amazing stat, given that the Sharks are +10 overall (including PP) while the Sens are +20.

I’ve never put a huge amount of stock in plus-minus as a purely defensive measure, because lots of things can skew it. I did an analysis once that showed that teams with a poor power play generally have players with a higher +/- than teams with a good power play. It makes sense. If you don’t score on the PP, that means a higher percentage of your goals must come on even strength (ES), which boosts your +/-. Only ES and short handed goals count as a plus. And only ES and SH goals against count for a minus.

In my view, when you’re rating a defensive defenseman, you really want only half of what the +/- stat give you. You want ES goals against only, because a defenseman’s job is to prevent goals, not score them. If Larry gives up 20 ES goals, but they score 21 when he’s on the ice, he’s +1. And if Pete gives up no goals, and scores 1, he’s +1, just like Larry. But Pete is a much better defensemen than Larry.

So let me start with a little factoid: Douglas Murray has not been on the ice for a even strength goal against since October 18th vs. Detroit. That means, he’s been perfect for 10 games, over a month. Unbelievable.

The NHL doesn’t publish this information exactly (you’d have to pore through the game logs) but luckily there are some good stats sites out there, and I turned to hockeynumbers.com. They have a stat called EH-, which is defined as “Goals against average while on ice @ even strength”. They don’t publish the formula, but I’m assuming it’s goals per 60 minutes of time. Murray is the best on the Sharks, with an EH- of 0.3. If that means what I think it means, that’s pretty astounding. Just for the record, and unsurprisingly, Alexei Semenov is the worst with an EH- of 4.1 (Kaspar is technically worse, but he only played 3 games).

So I went overboard, as I usually do, and made a spreadsheet. Here’s the list of the top 10 defensemen in the NHL this year (who have played over 10 games) in EH- (and I have no idea why there’s a big gap here):

Murray leads the league. Chris Phillips, the man who is tied with Murray at +15, is not in the top 20 (1.6). There are other factors that can skew this stat, like strength of linemates and strength of opposition, but this is a better raw stat than regular +/-. Douglas Murray has been one of the best two or three defensive defenseman in the NHL this year.

Like last year, the Sharks-Ducks matchup seems to have a little extra ‘oomph’ than many of the other regular season games. These teams are clearly measuring themselves against each other, and like the other meeting between the two this season, they came out pretty even. I’m sure it was frustrating for the Sharks during the first half of that game because for the most part, the Ducks were shutting the Sharks down defensively.

But the Sharks didn’t panic, and this is where I think the last four wins came in handy. They continued to press, didn’t overskate or overpursue, and got a nice little redirect from Torrey Mitchell to tie the game at 1. Other than a couple of heart-dropping giveaways by the Sharks, it stayed pretty deadlocked. And the shootout is the shootout- the Sharks suck compared to everybody else.

So what did we learn? Not much. The Sharks and Ducks are pretty closely matched, which is what most (reasonable) people expected. When (I no longer say ‘if’) Niedermayer and Selanne re-join the team, that may no longer be the case. However, although both teams are a little banged up, I’d say the Sharks were more so than the Ducks, with Rivet, Michalek, and Clowe out. Ducks were missing Schnieder and Bertuzzi. Schneider hurts, but Bertuzzi is a 3rd or 4th liner now, and of limited utility.

quoting myself:

Speaking of the Ducks, they waived their backup, Ilya Bryzgalov, this morning. Grier and I agree that this is definitely a cap-clearing move for them. Given the number of other teams with goalie issues (the Coyotes among them)...

Ok, maybe it wasn’t a cap-clearing move, but I love it when I’m right. And I have to point it out, since it happens so infrequently.

Y’know when you get into a new relationship, pretty soon you have to have that, “so what the hell are we doing?” talk. I call it the “state of the relationship” address, or SOR for short. I’m an tech guy, and three letter acronyms (TLAs, of course) dominate my daylight conversations in my corner of the cube farm.

I’m not gonna get all ‘feely’ with you about the blog or anything, but Girl with a Puck just did a long post about the state of hockey blogs in the raging sea of hockey journalism. And Sleek at BoC had a post on it as well. Since we at Shaved Ice are just a dingleberry on the ass of the hockey world, I figured I’d throw in my 2 cents, especially since we weren’t asked.

First of all, I think hockey journalism is about informing people, and hockey blogs are about (or should be about) entertaining people. C’mon, are you going to find a dingleberry reference on tsn.ca? I’m sure that my obsession with reading hockey blogs and news does occasionally yield a post where a few of our readers learn about some story or another, but that’s just luck. Largely, blogs are about analysis and opinion. Regurgitiating news is boring, and that’s what RSS feeds are for.

So why the hell are you here? Most probably because you know me or Grier personally, or through some other blog. Maybe you even read us a lot, because it’s pretty obvious that we both care a lot about hockey, and we care about the Sharks. I’d like to think we both have more hockey knowledge than the casual fan, and can level a critical eye at the team and the sport. We’re fanboys in that we want the Sharks to do well, but we’re not in that we don’t mindlessly support everything the Sharks do or don’t do.

And we take your crap. Journalism is inching slowly towards a more interactive model (like David Pollak’s blog), but here we say what we think, and you can blast us in the comments. We always read them, and 9 times out of 10 respond back to you. If you want to click back to the go-go days of the Detroit series last year, it got a bit heated. But that’s what sports fandom is all about- arguing.

To me, hockey blogs provide a jumping off point for further hockey discussion, because it’s often a matter of opinion or analysis. That kind of stimulation doesn’t spring from your regular hockey articles, like “Team x beat team y”, or “so and so got traded”. Good hockey blogs have good writing and insightful points. They make you question your assumptions about teams, players, and the game.

Or they just make you laugh through strategic use of profanity.

So the Sharks completed their third beatdown of the Coyotes in a week, and the prognostication that JR’s 500th goal would set off a Sharks resurgence is bearing fruit. Although keep in mind that they’ve played only 4 games since then, three against the worst team in hockey, and a 4th where they almost lost by coughing up 2 third-period goals.

But this last game was really something to behold. Other than Semenov doing his wooden indian impression yet again and almost getting scored on, the Sharks played a near-perfect game. Some thoughts:

• It’s weird, but having Michalek and Clowe out of the lineup might have helped this team. The guys like Rizz and JoePa and Bernier have to think to themselves in the locker room, “Ok, now WE have to make something happen, we can’t wait around for the stars to win the game for us.” I’ve had a similar experience in my games. Our two top scorers are out, and we play a much better as a team with everyone pitching in.
• Howsa bout that Doug(las) Murray? He’s really shaping up to be a very good player, far exceeding my expectations. In my estimation, he’s ahead of Semenov, Ehrhoff, and (though it pains me to say it) Carle in the depth chart right now.
• I’m very excited that the Sharks have decided to move their feet on the power play. Pavelski’s second PP goal last night should be on a continuous loop in the locker room, so they all get the message.
• Cheech is still trying hard, but he seemed to go a bit backwards in this game. I think he’ll pick it up against the Ducks- he’s killed them in the past.

Speaking of the Ducks, they waived their backup, Ilya Bryzgalov, this morning. Grier and I agree that this is definitely a cap-clearing move for them. Given the number of other teams with goalie issues (the Coyotes among them), the fact that they didn’t trade him is telling. I do wonder why they didn’t try to get draft picks for him. Either way, I’d now put the chances of Selanne and Niedermayer re-joining the Ducks this season at over 90%.

Just a quick hit on the waiving of Breezy by the Ducks. They clearly could have dealt him, but in my opinion the Ducks didn’t want to take anything in return so they could clear the cap space for Neidermeyer to return in December…..

Maybe that was Yogi Berra. No matter. The Sharks did manage to salvage two points against the Stars after playing only 20 real minutes of hockey, and for that, they are to be commended. I can’t help thinking we’d be off the bandwagon if they lost in the shootout (to the historically best shootout team in the NHL), but then I think of the title. Ends justify the means, right?

Glad to see that Marleau is trying to seize his own chances again- his goal was a beaut, and he drove in towards the net another couple of times, each of which could have resulted in a goal. And I have to give Ron Wilson props- Marleau is historically awful in the shootout (0-6 before last night), but putting him in there took some onions. It may seem like a no brainer to do that since Patty scored, but think of it like this- you put a guy that’s brutal in the shootout against possibly the best shootout goalie, and if he comes up short, you cough up a point in a game that should have been won? Not a slam dunk choice anymore.

Winning tonight against Phoenix will be tough, because they will be ready (they haven’t played since Monday), but then I picked the Sharks to lose both games to the Yotes, so what the hell do I know?

Let the good times roll! The Sharks get another division victory deflating the Dallas Stars after they dominated play in the 3rd period. Marleau won the game with his shootout heroics, stepping up and playing like the Captain he hasn’t been all season. The Sharks are on a roll and when things are going good, everything falls into place – including the ever difficult shootout victory. These are games that good teams win and the fact that the Sharks didn’t crumble after Dallas roared back shows that they are confident again. An important win tonight and a solid test of mental toughness.

I would expect that Rivet and Mitchell might be out tomorrow night, neither of them saw time in the 3rd period. No news after the game on their injuries. Expect Carle to return so Rivet can get a night off.

I’m predicting Patzold gets his first start of the season tomorrow night with the big showdown against Anahiem looming on Saturday. They have to let him play sometime….right?

How good is the Gooch? Mikey should be nervous about our bet because Devon is Joe’s new favorite target. At this pace, Rookie of the Year isn’t an unreasonable thought….Look out Kane and Toews. If Thunder Joe keeps feeding the Gooch, he could score 40.

Can you say four in a row? Let’s punk Phoenix tomorrow boys.

There was a sense of relief at the Tank on Monday night. The fans were high fiving, smiling and gave the Sharks multiple standing ovations. The team was smiling too, playing their trademark style we were so used to seeing last season. They dominated Phoenix in the third period, cycling at will and embarrassing Gretzky’s boys. It was so many weeks in the making but oh so worth it. The Sharks, my friends, appear to be back.

Bernier is growing up before our eyes on the 4th line, doing the dirty work he avoided when on the 2nd line. He drew two fighting majors and really got under Phoenix’s skin with his physical play. Cheechoo and Marleau both had a point, with Cheech playing noticeably better last night. Nabby was solid, the D held up and the Sharks dominated play when it mattered most. As I said before, Phoenix is not good. They are young and play hard every night, and with an experienced blue line, they will stay in most games, but up front they are severely lacking. We should beat them 5-0. And finally, we did.

The chance to go on a run is finally upon us. The Sharks need to recognize the opportunity to pull away from Anahiem now before Neidermeyer and Selanne return in the New Year, as I suspect they both will. Could we win all three games this week vs. Dallas, Phoenix and Anahiem? Sure. Am I being greedy? Probably.

Could we not only have witnessed history on Saturday night in JR’s 500th goal, but did we perhaps see the turning point of the Sharks early season woes? His passionate response to his milestone had an effect on the entire team’s effort, which was solid from the drop of the puck. The Sharks needed something good to happen to them after weeks of bad calls, dumb luck and lackluster effort. Saturday night could be their chance to turn the corner. We’ll see if they keep it up tomorrow night because Phoenix, though lacking in talent, plays with tons of heart and hustle.

A few other thoughts

– Thank you for pulling Semenov. He adds nothing on the ice but a chance for us to make jokes at his expense. Ehrhoff went from a healthy scratch to playing the 2nd most minutes on the team. I think they may have got his attention, whether he stays or is trade bait.

– I liked Bernier on the 4th line. He played more physically than I’ve noticed this year, which is the major part of his game that is lacking right now. I thought the fact that RW didn’t juggle the lines much meant he was happy with the overall play and he may have found a great 3rd line in Roenick/Mitchell/Grier.

– Carcillo’s play for Phoenix further proves my point that we need an agitator on our club. He goated Rismiller into a penalty. We don’t have a player like that right now.

– Marleau showed some flashes of life in the 2nd and 3rd period…….

Mike and I have a wager on who will score more goals by season’s end – Setoguchi or Cheechoo. I have Gooch and Mike has Cheech. The bet is off is either is traded or if Gooch is somehow sent to the minors. Right now they are tied at three apiece. Who do you think will score more goals?