At this moment I agree that the Sharks wont make the playoffs. If they do make the playoffs- it will be a 7-8 seed, and a quick 1st round exit. So perhaps its better they dont make it cause DW will be pissed a little bit more and get rid of Patty once and for all.
Looks like Les Nessman dropped another deuce of inane stats in this thread. But for those of you who actually watch the games, figure this. If, over the final 24 games of the season, the Sharks match their record in the last 24 games played since the first of the year, they will finish with 96 points, which would have missed the playoffs last year and may just squeak in the 8th spot this year. Given our horrible play of late, the injuries, the obvious crisis of confidence in our starting goaltender and the fact that we will be playing a lot of these remaining games against teams fighting us for the last playoff positions in the West, do you think we're more likely than not to go better than 12-9-3 down the stretch? If so, based on what? What is going to magically make us play better down the stretch? A few more home games?
Watching the Sharks right now, they do not appear to be playing anywhere near the level they were playing during the first half of the season. Unless there is a huge improvement in play or a deal or an injury return that sparks the team, I think there is a very real danger of the Sharks not making the playoffs. And if the Sharks don't get at least 2 points out of the last two games of this road trip...
In the first half of the year, they suffered through an extended slump as well. How were things looking in late November and into December when they went 2-5-2 in a certain 9 game stretch? They magically got better after that. Anybody who thinks that there won't be a huge improvement in play when it is indeed the players that are struggling is just a drama queen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sjshrky27
At this moment I agree that the Sharks wont make the playoffs. If they do make the playoffs- it will be a 7-8 seed, and a quick 1st round exit. So perhaps its better they dont make it cause DW will be pissed a little bit more and get rid of Patty once and for all.
Yeah because Marleau with his full NMC is going to give into this suddenly so upset DW that will be taking his anger out on Marleau who isn't even in the top five of problems for this team right now.
"Your team sucks and your Mom dresses you funny. This team will never amount to anything and should be aborted. Trade everybody for Corey Perry and a pizza roll!"
In the first half of the year, they suffered through an extended slump as well. How were things looking in late November and into December when they went 2-5-2 in a certain 9 game stretch? They magically got better after that. Anybody who thinks that there won't be a huge improvement in play when it is indeed the players that are struggling is just a drama queen.
Yeah because Marleau with his full NMC is going to give into this suddenly so upset DW that will be taking his anger out on Marleau who isn't even in the top five of problems for this team right now.
I was being sarcastic, but I bet if DW asked Marleau to waive it he would cause he is a softie
Guys as pissed as I am about this slump, its just a slump, nothing more. The team is just not playing well right now, Tmac will talk some sense into them and they'll figure it out and find a way to get past this. Niemi and the defense especially have to be better though, the forwards could be better too. Our PK is once again haunting us, but our PP seems okay right now. Also it would help if crankshaft and Havlat were back but there's nothing we can do about that. I can see DW making a few moves to do something about our offense before the trade deadline, I wonder if he's actually gonna be able to get Nash. If he does I want Marleau, Thornton, Pavelski, Couture, Boyle, Vlasic all to remain. I actually wouldn't mind seeing Clowe go, because he just shows like the other night, that whenever a game is going bad he lets the other team get under his skin and makes it worse, and the Sharks can't afford that to happen.
As for the original question, I'm really not sure what would happen, I think some big changes of course, but what? I don't know. I hope that DW doesn't try and do some stupid complete rebuild though.
In the first half of the year, they suffered through an extended slump as well. How were things looking in late November and into December when they went 2-5-2 in a certain 9 game stretch? They magically got better after that. Anybody who thinks that there won't be a huge improvement in play when it is indeed the players that are struggling is just a drama queen.
Yeah because Marleau with his full NMC is going to give into this suddenly so upset DW that will be taking his anger out on Marleau who isn't even in the top five of problems for this team right now.
So what do you tink the top 5 biggest holes are for the Sharks?
If the Sharks miss the playoffs it would be because goal-tending failed them. So after the Todd was fired the goal tending situation would be Wilsons immediate concern. I don't see Niemi on the roster
So what do you tink the top 5 biggest holes are for the Sharks?
If I had to point at particular individuals, I'd probably look at Niemi first. While he is not the biggest reason the team has suffered recently, he has had the longest individual slump as far as I'm concerned. After that, I'd probably look at Colin White as he has been the guy that has gotten burned the most in this slump. Brent Burns has been sloppy since the road trip started defensively. The third and fourth lines have not stepped up and played to their capabilities on either side of the ice. If you take Mitchell, McGinn, Moore, Handzus, Winchester, and Desjardins, they have combined in the last five games for one goal, seven assists, and a minus 13. If you need more than that, you can look up Ryane Clowe's production recently and see he only has two assists on this road trip that is six games in. This also overlooks the fact that not having guys like Murray and Havlat in hurts the team's depth overall and the guy that ends up being tossed around more than anyone to help whoever needs it is Marleau. Yet he still manages to put up four points in the last five and be even in that game against Columbus.
Please don't turn into the franchise that cheers for defeat. This is a LOSING STREAK. Every great team in history has had one. Get over it. There's a lot of season left. Sharks usually play their best hockey late in the regular season anyways. Remember the 14 wins in 15 games streak around when they got Brian Campbell? Immediately before that the boys lost 5 in a row. That passed, and so will this.
If I had to point at particular individuals, I'd probably look at Niemi first. While he is not the biggest reason the team has suffered recently, he has had the longest individual slump as far as I'm concerned. After that, I'd probably look at Colin White as he has been the guy that has gotten burned the most in this slump. Brent Burns has been sloppy since the road trip started defensively. The third and fourth lines have not stepped up and played to their capabilities on either side of the ice. If you take Mitchell, McGinn, Moore, Handzus, Winchester, and Desjardins, they have combined in the last five games for one goal, seven assists, and a minus 13. If you need more than that, you can look up Ryane Clowe's production recently and see he only has two assists on this road trip that is six games in. This also overlooks the fact that not having guys like Murray and Havlat in hurts the team's depth overall and the guy that ends up being tossed around more than anyone to help whoever needs it is Marleau. Yet he still manages to put up four points in the last five and be even in that game against Columbus.
I wasn't disagreeing with you regarding Marleau, I just wanted to hear top 5 list of problem areas. That really is uggly when you outline the problems in that way though. You can also add to the list the PK has gone back to being horrendous durring the raod trip. If we go by your list, there are roughly 12-15 players that aren't pulling their weight right now out of a 20 man roster.
Anyone else think a mistake was made in breaking up the Winchester-Desjardins-Murray 4th line? That line was solid and anchored many a game while the top lines sorted themselves out. Murray may not have had a lot of production but he didn't make a lot of mistakes either.
Anyone else think a mistake was made in breaking up the Winchester-Desjardins-Murray 4th line? That line was solid and anchored many a game while the top lines sorted themselves out. Murray may not have had a lot of production but he didn't make a lot of mistakes either.
I completely agree. That line was pure money and had chemistry to spare. Not sure exactly why they decided to break them all up.
I completely agree. That line was pure money and had chemistry to spare. Not sure exactly why they decided to break them all up.
Well I think there was some issue with certain people having to pass through waivers if they were to get sent down again, so Murray was kind of the odd man out. That plus they added Moore, so it pushed someone down to the 4th line.
Anyone else think a mistake was made in breaking up the Winchester-Desjardins-Murray 4th line? That line was solid and anchored many a game while the top lines sorted themselves out. Murray may not have had a lot of production but he didn't make a lot of mistakes either.
Dropping Murray from the line was fine. It was moving Desjardins and Winchester into other lines that has been the problem. When the two play together, they still have that chemistry. However, when separated, they don't bring as much to the table helping other lines. I think they need to just run with Winchester-Desjardins-Mitchell as their fourth line and fill the holes elsewhere with whatever they need.
Please don't turn into the franchise that cheers for defeat. This is a LOSING STREAK. Every great team in history has had one. Get over it. There's a lot of season left. Sharks usually play their best hockey late in the regular season anyways. Remember the 14 wins in 15 games streak around when they got Brian Campbell? Immediately before that the boys lost 5 in a row. That passed, and so will this.
heh sounds like you are onto something there. Maybe Rick Nash coming to SJ. heh.
I wasn't disagreeing with you regarding Marleau, I just wanted to hear top 5 list of problem areas. That really is uggly when you outline the problems in that way though. You can also add to the list the PK has gone back to being horrendous durring the raod trip. If we go by your list, there are roughly 12-15 players that aren't pulling their weight right now out of a 20 man roster.
They are doing a tweak on the 1-1-2 with all pairs except Pavs/Marleau. It's like a sequel to those slasher flicks . . . horror show.
In the first half of the year, they suffered through an extended slump as well. How were things looking in late November and into December when they went 2-5-2 in a certain 9 game stretch? They magically got better after that. Anybody who thinks that there won't be a huge improvement in play when it is indeed the players that are struggling is just a drama queen.
I'm not looking at any 10 game span or the recent 5 games. I'm looking at the way we've played in the New Year, i.e., the last 24 games. We have 24 games left, we have injuries and our goaltending is shaky to put it mildly. Given we will have to play better over the next 24 than we did the last 24 in order to make the playoffs, what specifically about this team right now gives you confidence that we will do so? That's all I was asking. I see it as a coin flip at the moment. The only thing that is tilting me into the 'we make it' camp is the home/away mix of the remaining games.
Looks like Les Nessman dropped another deuce of inane stats in this thread. But for those of you who actually watch the games, figure this. If, over the final 24 games of the season, the Sharks match their record in the last 24 games played since the first of the year, they will finish with 96 points, which would have missed the playoffs last year and may just squeak in the 8th spot this year. Given our horrible play of late, the injuries, the obvious crisis of confidence in our starting goaltender and the fact that we will be playing a lot of these remaining games against teams fighting us for the last playoff positions in the West, do you think we're more likely than not to go better than 12-9-3 down the stretch? If so, based on what? What is going to magically make us play better down the stretch? A few more home games?
