Greetings to all Sharks fans. What a great first round match-up.
In this day and age of the NHL, all series are up for grabs IMO.
Looking at the Sharks, I am most concerned with 2 lines that have the ability to put the puck in the net at any time. Our young D have their work cut out for them. On defense, I am most concerned with Boyle. (obviously) I do think our group of D is better, but if the Sharks can use their size and cycle the puck, any defense can get worn out. There is always someone who steps up for teams that win a series and I believe Torrey Mitchell can be that guy for the Sharks.
As far as the Blues go, our late season funk has me worried. We look tired. Hitch is going to have to get this team to find another gear. We aren't the most explosive team offensively, but we do have 2 great goaltenders. We are going to need Elliot and Halak to come up big.
Overall, the Sharks have better forwards, but I think the Blues D and goaltenders are better. My prediction is Blues in 7, but I would not be surprised if the Sharks win in 6. I'll be mad, but not surprised.
Good luck to your Sharks, and I look forward to friendly, yet intense banter during the series.
Greetings to all Sharks fans. What a great first round match-up.
In this day and age of the NHL, all series are up for grabs IMO.
Looking at the Sharks, I am most concerned with 2 lines that have the ability to put the puck in the net at any time. Our young D have their work cut out for them. On defense, I am most concerned with Boyle. (obviously) I do think our group of D is better, but if the Sharks can use their size and cycle the puck, any defense can get worn out. There is always someone who steps up for teams that win a series and I believe Torrey Mitchell can be that guy for the Sharks.
As far as the Blues go, our late season funk has me worried. We look tired. Hitch is going to have to get this team to find another gear. We aren't the most explosive team offensively, but we do have 2 great goaltenders. We are going to need Elliot and Halak to come up big.
Overall, the Sharks have better forwards, but I think the Blues D and goaltenders are better. My prediction is Blues in 7, but I would not be surprised if the Sharks win in 6. I'll be mad, but not surprised.
Good luck to your Sharks, and I look forward to friendly, yet intense banter during the series.
Love the post, should be a good series....but the part in bold has me rolling on the floor laughing...taco torrey isn't the guy sharks fans see as coming up big in the playoffs.
Love the post, should be a good series....but the part in bold has me rolling on the floor laughing...taco torrey isn't the guy sharks fans see as coming up big in the playoffs.
My point is, there always seems to be a guy you don't expect to step it up in the playoffs. I just think Torrey could be that guy.
For the Blues, I think Chris Stewart could come up big for us. He has played like crap all year. If he wants a good contract for next year, he needs to elevate his game.
My point is, there always seems to be a guy you don't expect to step it up in the playoffs. I just think Torrey could be that guy.
For the Blues, I think Chris Stewart could come up big for us. He has played like crap all year. If he wants a good contract for next year, he needs to elevate his game.
torrey most likely gone next season. i think a more intangable pick would be wingels or desjardins. or say....ferriero again?
My point is, there always seems to be a guy you don't expect to step it up in the playoffs. I just think Torrey could be that guy.
For the Blues, I think Chris Stewart could come up big for us. He has played like crap all year. If he wants a good contract for next year, he needs to elevate his game.
The reason that it won't be Stewart is that he hasn't just not put up numbers, he also has crappy advanced numbers. He's the only forward on the Blues that gets outshot at even strength.
Last edited by SpinTheBlackCircle: 04-09-2012 at 11:15 AM.
Reason: no need
The reason that it won't be Stewart is that he hasn't just not put up numbers, he also has crappy advanced numbers. He's the only forward on the Blues that gets outshot at even strength.
Holy crap. My mind can't comprehend a stat like that. Like I said, there is always one guy that steps up that you least expect. Can't wait. Should be a fun physical series. One more prediction......the refs will suck. As long as we can limit Owen Nolan's red line shots, we have a chance.
Holy crap. My mind can't comprehend a stat like that. Like I said, there is always one guy that steps up that you least expect. Can't wait. Should be a fun physical series. One more prediction......the refs will suck. As long as we can limit Owen Nolan's red line shots, we have a chance.
You'll have to be careful of Boyle's red line shots this time around.
No, no, no. I think he may be right.... As a matter of fact, I think St. Louis should play their top defense against Tacos line. Don't worry about Jumbo's, he's the Tinman.
My point is, there always seems to be a guy you don't expect to step it up in the playoffs. I just think Torrey could be that guy.
For the Blues, I think Chris Stewart could come up big for us. He has played like crap all year. If he wants a good contract for next year, he needs to elevate his game.
More like Moore, Galiardi, or Wingels for the Sharks. It won't be Winnik, Desjardins or Mitchell. Not sure on the Blues; it won't be Nichol.
I said this a week ago, I think Galiardi could be Moore's Bergenheim this season.
Previous playoff performance or lack thereof. It is surprisingly consistent. Every now and then a player has one glorious year, but it is very much the exception rather than the rule. What is interesting is that both Langenbrunner and Arnott had those glorious years early and fell off the deep end.
Galiardi has that total lack of playoff experience that makes him a wild card and I do hope he takes the Bergenheim role to Moore doing his thing.
Previous playoff performance or lack thereof. It is surprisingly consistent. Every now and then a player has one glorious year, but it is very much the exception rather than the rule. What is interesting is that both Langenbrunner and Arnott had those glorious years early and fell off the deep end.
Galiardi has that total lack of playoff experience that makes him a wild card and I do hope he takes the Bergenheim role to Moore doing his thing.
Galiardi was very noticeable in the Avalanche / Sharks series. He fell off later, as did the rest of the Avs, but his play in that series was impressive to my eye. That's why I was excited to get him, originally.
I would argue that Desjardins had a good playoffs last season by eye, although I haven't seen the numbers and it's an awfully small sample size (3 games, I believe).
Galiardi was very noticeable in the Avalanche / Sharks series. He fell off later, as did the rest of the Avs, but his play in that series was impressive to my eye. That's why I was excited to get him, originally.
It is usually the skaters that pop up, not all but a few. PF types almost never step up. IMO, the reason is that they get a lesser matchup and they can put the moves on. And they are usually going up against veteran third pairing slow guys. Taking a couple of Isles who would play third line if on the Sharks, Okposo likely wouldn't pop up, Grabner might. Or put Clowe on the third line and his production plummets.
Greetings to all Sharks fans. What a great first round match-up.
In this day and age of the NHL, all series are up for grabs IMO.
Looking at the Sharks, I am most concerned with 2 lines that have the ability to put the puck in the net at any time. Our young D have their work cut out for them. On defense, I am most concerned with Boyle. (obviously) I do think our group of D is better, but if the Sharks can use their size and cycle the puck, any defense can get worn out. There is always someone who steps up for teams that win a series and I believe Torrey Mitchell can be that guy for the Sharks.
As far as the Blues go, our late season funk has me worried. We look tired. Hitch is going to have to get this team to find another gear. We aren't the most explosive team offensively, but we do have 2 great goaltenders. We are going to need Elliot and Halak to come up big.
Overall, the Sharks have better forwards, but I think the Blues D and goaltenders are better. My prediction is Blues in 7, but I would not be surprised if the Sharks win in 6. I'll be mad, but not surprised.
Good luck to your Sharks, and I look forward to friendly, yet intense banter during the series.
Holy crap. My mind can't comprehend a stat like that. Like I said, there is always one guy that steps up that you least expect. Can't wait. Should be a fun physical series. One more prediction......the refs will suck.
