Friday, November 21, 2014

Pole, of the Quarter Variety

Okay, so it's time for the all to common Quarter Pole evaluation of the San Jose Sharks and their play as of late.

First off It's completely assinie that the NHL would schedule 16 of 21 games to start off the season away from home. Not to mention 4 separate occasions of 3 games in 4 nights, 1 day of practice in the span of a 7 game stretch, and the list of egregious scheduling go's on. So before making any kind assessment we need to stop and realize this team is tired.

Through the first 5 games of the season the Sharks held a 4-0-1 record, pretty respectable considering the competition. Goals for and goals against were good, depth scoring was good, and goaltending was above average. Some cracks in the armor did appear early though, the 6-5 win against the Washington Capitals showed that the Shark defensemen were vulnerable to strong wingers and strong board play. In addition, the Sharks made mental mistakes characterized by 6 giveaways and 12 Washington takeaways for a total of 18 possession changes against. This game was a sign of play to come, in the span of the next 7 games the Sharks went 2-4-1 (2 losses coming from Buffalo and Columbus at home) and had some pretty miserable outings. In the next 10 games the Sharks went 4-5-1 (with 5 losses between Buffalo, Columbus and Florida), in these games it became apparent that fatigue had started to affect their game with a marked increase in D-zone turnovers, lackadaisical play and poor goaltending.

The Sharks now stand at 10-9-3, 5th in the Pacific Division. Considering their current play and stretch of away games we should count ourselves lucky we are where we are now.

So how do you go about fixing the Sharks?

Well first things first, get Joe Pavelski down to the 3rd line centering Wingles and Nieto; we first saw this trio last year and saw them push possession time in the opposing end. Second, quit dicking around with Brent Burns as a D-man, move him back to forward with Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl to reunite a line that had all kinds scoring opportunities. It's blatantly clear that Burns is to unpredictable on the blueline for a D partner to make up for, he's played with Muller, Hanan and Vlasic with no improvement. Third, trade for a puck moving, defensively responsible defenceman who can be a true successor to Dan Boyle. I wanted to see Michael Del Zotto be extended a 1 Million Dollar offer, however in the management's opinion that money was better spent on John Scott, Adam Burish and Mike Brown (facepalm).

Lastly, the elephant in the room, what should be done with Todd McLellan? At the end of last season I had a mixed reaction to the job security of T-Mac, on the one hand I liked the stability of having him on the bench amidst the turmoil of collapse and on the other hand I was furious of his mismanagement of players. After the first 22 games of the season, I think we know what he brings to the table and i'm not interested in leftovers anymore. This team needs a new direction, a unified force in the coaching staff and someone who can be a dictator yet be a strong motivator. If I had a chance at any of the staff of any team I would take Mike Babcock, however he's not available and I think we maybe stuck with what we have. So in that case I might bench a couple of the Star players of this team to find some kind motivation for the locker room, right now this team looks like it may have stopped playing for the coach.  

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