DOH 223 – Don’t Just Sit There, PANIC
February 13th, 2013, 9:42 pm
The Sharks have now lost six straight, and nothing is going right. After three losses against teams under 0.500, the Sharks will play the next four against teams playing well. It’s not looking good. At least Doug and Mike have lots of listener emails to read.
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Hey guys, just wanted to clarify what my tweet meant.
Doug hit it right on the head. I’m worried about a player that isn’t really the problem getting moved to try and shake things up because you can’t move any of the core. As you stated this type of move would be a huge mistake going forward, even if it pays dividends in the short term.
Dudes,
We’re all there with you on how bad the Sharks play is right now. It’s really frustrating. Just to change the mood though I’m just gonna throw out one positive.
All last year we saw how important goaltending and the PK is. I’d say they’re two of the most foundational elements of a winning team. Right now they’re also the two bright spots on this team.
We’ve seen scoring slumps before and teams snap out of it. We rarely see a team snap out of bad penalty killing or bad goaltending though.
Right now I’m hanging my hopes on just that. I think the scoring CAN come around because the foundation of goaltending and the PK is very solid right now. I agree with Doug though too, they can’t waste the solid play that Neemo is putting out there each night.
Is it a stretch? Is it a false hope, maybe! But right now I still have hope and that’s why. If our PK still sucked and Neemo was in a bad stretch I’d of course be singing another tune.
Jamie McGinn just scored again for Colorado–I’m sure glad the Sharks traded him away for virtually nothing. Please someone tell me again why we traded him?
I am so glad that the Sharks are too soft to win against a tough tight-checking team and too slow to win against a fast highly skilled team.
In Pollack’s WTC column, he writes;
The last time the Sharks were in Chicago, McLellan was asked if the mounting losses could foreshadow a trade to shake things up. His response noted that everybody – players, coaches, trainers, managers – should be concerned about the team’s performance.
I believe including managers in that statement was very revealing.
Yep, I’d say that Doug Wilson is feeling some serious pressure this year. And perhaps McLellan might not be seeing eye-to-eye with his boss. And while I’m not a DW hater, I believe he should be held accountable for trading away many of SJ’s prospects and picks.
When a Worcester call up for forwards at this point is Matt Pelech, that speaks of the Sharks’ shallow development system. The Worcester Sharks depth is amongst the lowest rated in the entire league as a result of Wilson’s trades.
Here are some memorable ones:
McGinn + 2 forward prospects trade for Galiardi and Winnik + 7th rd pick was a waste of McGinn’s development while in teal. Galiardi… currently sits on the pine.
1st rd pick and Josh Gorges for Craig Rivet. Gorges is assistant captain and a great blueliner for Montreal now.
1st rd pick and prospect for Guerin. Guerin sucked in the playoffs for SJ. (1st rd pick later turned into David Perron)
1st rd pick + Steve Bernier for Brian Campbell who didn’t re-sign with SJ. (At least we got Boyle in the summer)
2nd rd pick for Niclas Wallin…. ha ha!
2nd rd pick for Dominic Moore. Oy.
Traded Devin Setoguchi and Charlie Coyle for Brent Burns. To be determined.
Heatley for Havlat – I don’t know how to gauge this trade… might be a wash. At least SJ saved some $$$ though.
Perhaps I’m just being negative. So read what the experts think.
Hockey’s Future
San Jose Sharks
NHL Team Rank # 24 (That’s the 24th WORST NHL Ranking)
Team Breakdown:
Strengths: The Sharks have a good variety of defensemen in the prospect system, led by Matt Tennyson, Taylor Doherty, and Dylan DeMelo. The Sharks have used good scouting at the NCAA level over the last few years and finally made the use of their full draft selections to improve their overall talent pool this past off-season.
??Weaknesses: The Sharks having been contenders for a long time in the Western Conference and have traded away many draft choices, leaving the organization lacking in high-end prospects. Among the forward prospects, only Tomas Hertl has impact potential. The rest of the forwards are possible role or depth players with some offensive talents and upside if they can develop into NHL talent. The Sharks have too many high risk to reward type prospects at every position that are still a few years away from possibly playing at the NHL level.
Top 5 Prospects: 1. Tomas Hertl C; 2. Freddie Hamilton, C; 3. Matt Nieto, RW; 4. Tommy Wingels, C; 5. Travis Oleksuk, C.
For DW fans, yes he has done some good things. Pulling off the Thornton trade for Primeau, Sturm and (then young d-man) Stuart was amazing. And it got the Bruins GM Mike O’Connel fired that everyone in the league universally agrees is perhaps the biggest boneheaded trade in the history of the NHL.
Of course, the Bruins have gone on to win the Stanley Cup. So we’re back to scrutinizing SJ’s own slick, smooth-talking GM Doug Wilson, once again.
But that’s just my opinion.
This is called “results-based decision making.” The Sharks had a window of, what, 7 years where they were in a position to compete for a Cup? If they meet expectations – even once – DW and his trades are “good.” The players choked, so his trades are “bad.”
You cherry-picked his worst trades, and with two exceptions (McGinn and Wallin), they really aren’t bad.
Did they lead to a lack of prospect depth? Yeah. And water is wet. When you have a Cup window open, you focus on making that team as good as possible. You don’t hoard picks so you can draft a late first rounder next spring who won’t play in the NHL for another 2-3 years.
Also, 24th WORST in the league means 7th best. You mean they’re 7th worst at #24…
edit: I neglected to note that Brent Burns was acquired for Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle, PLUS another First Round Pick. Burns might just be worth three 1st rounders. We all live in freakin’ hope.