Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

This Concerns Me

(Said in my best Tim Gunn voice)

Many goals. Not so many games. That's not good.

While I still feel like there are a number of things to feel really good about with the Sharks, some of the more significant problems are coming to the forefront. Only one of them is a carryover from the Ron Wilson Sharks (which is kinda strange when you think about it considering the makeup of the team); fortunately, they're all kinks that can be worked on if both the coaches and the players are smart about it.

1) Penalty kill: Get the puck out of the zone. Please. Sweet jebus. Didn't we see this enough from Ron's Sharks, especially in the playoffs? Maybe Todd McLellan needs to have an entire practice session focused on effectively clearing the puck using the glass rather than dumping it right to the freakin' point man.

2) Odd-man breakdowns: Ok, I get that we're all trigger happy now with this active defense system. That's good stuff, but please, people, how about we take it one step at a time rather than have every blueliner on the team suddenly think they're Bobby Orr. I'm not sure if it's just bad luck (blocked shots kicking out for odd-man breakdowns), if the responsible forward isn't paying attention when a defenseman pinches in, or if the D aren't properly communicating out there. In any case, Nabby facing two-on-ones all the time isn't a good game plan.

3) Joe Thornton: Joe's "lower-body injury" from the preseason is a groin issue but we don't know how bad it might be -- or how much it's affecting his game. I'm guessing that having him play differently from his "Joe commands the half-boards" position takes some getting used to but I'm also guessing he doesn't have full strength in his legs to protect the puck like he can. If he's hurting, I'd sit him out in at least one of the two Florida (the state, not the team) games. You don't want those lingering groin injuries to carry forward into the season.

(Turning back on the Tim Gunn voice) Make it work, people!

On a different note, I got a sneak peak at what the scrapped BlackArmor (TM) third-jersey ideas are. They're posted over here at my Kukla blog.

6 comments:

Earl Sleek said...

Dude, Marleau as a hard drive looks way way too natural.

Very nicely done, though.

It's kind of funny how us losing teams are preaching positivity, while the nervous griping is coming from the 6-1 Sharks. But hey, I'd be doing the exact same thing with a good start, too.

RudyKelly said...

When Frolov hurts his groin, his ability to control the puck along the boards was the aspect of his game that was affected most.

And Earl, you're surprised that Sharks fans can find a cloud in that rainbow?

Interviewer: Excuse me, random Sharks fan, your team just won the Stanley Cup! How do you feel?

Sharks Fan: OK, I guess. I mean, the Stanley Cup is really heavy and what if one of the guys falls and hurts himself? And then there's the fact that they might get complacent and not win next year, and even though he won the Conn Smythe there was that one play in game 2 where Marleau half-assed it and...

Joe said...

It's ok Mike, you're not the only one out there who secretly gets a huge kick out of Project Runway. I think its absolutely hilarious.

sfguy said...

I agree with you completely, the bad news is the Sharks have the SAME problems as they did last year. The good news is the Sharks have the SAME problems as they did last year...and not new ones (see Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars). Let's do the math: same problems as last year + improved offensive firepower + it's only October = lots of time to fix things.

Ang said...

Yes, but in watching the games, and wehn you can so easily can see how it could have gone against the Sharks ...

well maybe you have a point

...

but still!!

Miss. Scarlett said...

Mike, when one channels Tim Gunn, one can do no wrong.