Quote:
Originally Posted by BonkTastic
If I'm Couture's agent, and the Sharks decide to move Logan off the Sharks second line and onto the THIRD line in favor of adding a 34 year old, didn'y-play-in-the-NHL-last-year Sergei Freaking Samsonov, you'd better bet the next contract negotiations are gonna be a doozy.
If I'm a Shark fan, seeing Couture moved to the 3rd line as a result of adding Samsonov is probably going to spoil my month.
Almost any proposal that sees Couture as the 3rd line center is inherently faulty, IMO. If you're adamant in moving Marleau off Thornton's wing and moving him to center, he'd drop to the #3C spot, IMO. Or he'd be Couture's winger on the 2nd line.
Also: your left wing depth chart would be Wingels / Samsonov / Clowe? Wingels as your 1st line LW? TOMMY Wingels? I can't imagine a better way to alienate Clowe and lose him as a UFA.
|
Logan Couture has shown time and time again to give up personal goals for the team. He took a very healthy cut on the extension he signed last season because he knew that with Thornton and Marleau up front, the team would need him to take less to keep the team competitive. He also knows that those two (and Boyle) will be off the books when it's time for his next extension, and that he'll get paid then.
As a Sharks fan, I would love to see Couture or Pavelski or Marleau, I don't even care, as the third line center.
Personally, I'm sick of people, especially non-Sharks fans, acting like Couture is jesus. The reality is that he's just not that good. He's not on the level of Thornton or Marleau and he just isn't talented enough to ever be on their level, and he knows it.
We're probably going to lose Clowe, anyway, because I think he'll price himself out of our interest, so might as well gear up for one last serious run. And I think you severely underestimate Wingels. His underlying numbers last season were fantastic, just that he was the victim of poor linemates and bad luck, otherwise he'd have much better counting stats. I have no trouble believing he'd get 20 goals on JT's wing. He also has the defensive capabilities and mental awareness to stay with Thornton and Pavelski and allow them to keep taking the difficult shutdown matchups. Then have Marleau take the secondaries, and let Clowe and Couture dominate soft competition.
I like the plan personally. We don't need Samsonov to be a big bruiser. We have Clowe/Thornton/Marleau/Wingels as strong guys up front.