Nostra Grier Returns for Weekend Sharks Predictions
October 17th, 2008, 9:21 am
A great start at 4-0, despite some injuries to some key role players, the Sharks have been a buzz saw so far, plowing through their competition by a combined score of 13-4. Some things to consider as the Sharks head into the weekend matchups against the Ducks on the road and back home to host the Flyers.
– The Sharks are 4-0…but have they played three bad teams? Is the best start in franchise history a mirage? I say, no, Columbus is a quality side, the Ducks will bounce back and….well, the Kings suck. I think that the Sharks are in no uncertain terms better than these three teams and they should beat them on a regular basis – so to me this is a great sign. Beat the middle teams, beat them badly at home and that will spell playoff success.
– On that note, the Sharks are facing a desperate Ducks team tonight who, if they lose to the Sharks, will be ten points behind the Sharks and facing an early season slide that could spell the end of their Pacific Division hopes. Defensively the Ducks have been a disaster, but I think their game of “rock ’em/sock ’em” hockey might win out tonight. The Sharks lose in Anaheim tonight 3-1 and I will blame it all on Semenov being in the line up.
– The Sharks will return home and take out their frustrations on the Flyers. Philly is a team scrambling to figure out what to do without any defense. They’ve coughed up 17 goals in four games and should cough up about five to the Sharks on Saturday night. Sharks win 5-1 at home vs. the Flyers.
So, we’ll see how it goes. I hope I’m wrong about the road game tonight. Oh..and one more thing. The firing of Savard after four games was classless by the Blackhawks, in my opinion. It’s been no secret that Savard was a dead man walking after the hiring of Quenneville as a “Scout”, but they should have made the move in the offseason. Now, the Hawks could continue to struggle while putting in a new system. I’m not a big coach Q guy anyways…and I’m sure glad he didn’t land in San Jose, right Sharks fans?
Loading ...
A big, “hell yeah,” to being glad that Quenneville didn’t become the coach for SJ.
I hate to say it, but the Sharks’ start is a mirage. Their two biggest problems last season were:
1. offense from the defense, shots from the point to give the forwards more room, good breakout passes, powerplay quarterbacks, etc. That has been addressed.
But their biggest problem last year was goalscoring. How many times how we sharks fans heard “well the sharks are outshooting their opponent 37 to 15 right now but they’re down a goal because “insert opposition goaltender’s name here” has been playing incredibly.” News flash, it’s not the oppositions goaltender. The Sharks are probably the worst shooting team in the league. No one on their team can put the puck in the net. They didn’t even have one 30 goalscorer last year. Cheechoo’s 56 goal year was a fluke. Thornton was less obese and faster/better/less predictable and he set Cheechoo up with about 40 open net goals that year, and Cheechoo got a handful on his own on top of that and he got the Richard trophy, which makes you wonder how many goals an actual skilled goalscorer like Kovalchuk, Semin, or Gaborik (two of whom will be available soon for trade) would get next to Thornton. 80 maybe? Sounds crazy but Kovalchuk would score 80 next to Thornton I have no doubt.
Anyway, Doug Wilson has addressed the offensive defensemen problem to an extent. Boyle replaces Campbell and is a bit better, but Campbell by himself last year wasn’t nearly enough, and Boyle isn’t that much better. As for Blake, he is no better than Rivet right now. I had high hopes but all he really adds is a hard shot, which is only as useful as how often the sharks use it. But their defense really isn’t that much better than it was at the end of last season. Ehrhoff and Vlasic have improved so that helps, but they’re without Carle now, and Murray is still not good at all.
Their defense is marginally better, but their biggest problem, as demonstrated tonight, is that they have no forwards who can dangle and put the puck in the net in a highlight fashion. Look at the teams that win stanley Cups. Last year with Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Franzen scoring highlight reel goals. Anaheim is the worst example but they had Selanne. Look at Tampa Bay when they beat Calgary. Almost every goal they scored was some crazy highlight real goal with great dekes and top corner shots by either St. Louis, Richards, or Lecavalier. You look at the teams that repeated, like Detroit’s team with Yzerman and Federov, or the team with Lemieux or Jagr. The real good teams all have players who can control the puck in a phone booth and deke it through their legs and around two guys and around the goalie and do all sorts of crazy great things, yet the sharks have absolutely no one who can do that. Look at the two teams who made the finals last year. Malkin and Crosby could do that. The Flyers who made the conference final had Richards and Briere who can stickhandle better than anyone on the Sharks. Washington has Semin, Ovechkin, and Greene who can ALL stickhandle better than anyone on the Sharks, and once they get some defensemen with defensive ability on that team they will be better than the Sharks. The worst thing about it isn’t the stanley cup to us spectators though. The worst thing is that the sharks are so boring compared to those teams. See, the sharks wanted more shots on goal from the defense, which was a good idea, but now they’re abusing that idea. now that’s all they’re doing. no creative play, no creative passing from the defense, no creative stickhandling (granted they dont have anyone who except to a small extent Boyle and JT sometimes, Seto rarely). that’s how they scored all their goals this season. the shots from teh point werent even good enough to go in cleanly most of the time. but they’d shoot from the point, and the rebound would go to a forward, and he’d someone manage to still not put the puck in the net, but instead he’d hit the out of position goalie as if he was aiming at the goalie instead of the net, but then on the third rebound they’d put it in. but in the games where you don’t get lucky and the rebound doesn’t just come straight to your stick, you have to be able to create those pretty highlight reel crazy deke top corner goals, and the sharks’ players dont have that ability, which is why they are one of the most boring teams to watch in the nhl this season, and which is why they won’t win the stanley cup
Wow. Thanks for the comments, Max….but for you to say the Sharks are boring? Did you watch the first three home games? Anything but boring, if you ask me. Last night, the Sharks hit a buzzsaw in a desperate Ducks team, but I didn’t think their effort was all bad.
I look for a bounce back win tonight, at home where the Sharks will continue to dominate all season long. The Flyers are reeling, the Sharks will be out to prove a point – and that spells trouble for Philly and their blueline. Do you think Marleau and Big Joe are nervous about Steve Eminger and Ossi Vaananen? Sharks win 5-1 in a penalty filled affair.
Lots of stuff there to comment on, but let me say one thing- I think you’re overestimating the power of stickhandling. In the NHL it’s about body position and now with the ‘new’ rules, speed. Sure, you see the highlight reels of guys putting the puck through opponents legs or going around somebody (like Boyle did last night), but those times are highlights because they are extremely rare. Defensemen keep their stick in the lane and play the body- all the puckhandling in the world won’t help you when a guy is pacing you and square with you. AO is a friggin bull, a very good skater, with a great release. That’s why he scores, not because he can touch the puck 10 times in 2 seconds.
First very well written Max. Although I may not agree with everything you said I can appreciate the point of view. I thought the Sharks outplayed the Ducks for the first two periods before finally rolling over in the 3rd. The only game that I found kind of hard to watch was the game in LA,which probably had more to do with watching it in the eastern time zone after a long day. Other then that I have really enjoyed watching the Sharks play this year and can think of a bunch of teams off the top of my head I’d rather not watch for boring style. Sure it may be too soon to plan the parade but its at the same time to early to plan a parade for another team, the exception to this probably being the wings :(.