What do you want to read?

[Craig Fischer]

Hey gang,

Last Sharks article, there were a few of you hardcore fans who were displeased with the coverage... While HF articles are meant for 'everyone', I want to try and cater to you guys and win you over. So as I'm currently writing and finishing up my research--what are some things that you guys specifically want from your HF Sharks prospect coverage? I can't promise I can do everything you suggest, but I'm going to make it my goal to win you guys over.

Craig

[hockeyball]

Definitely appreciate the thought/effort.

The difficulty with Sharks prospects (much like Red Wings prospects) is they are very often late bloomers. So what we tend to see is a player having a breakout season often ignored or ranked very poorly because the reviewer is using last seasons information about that player which is now out-of-date. Guys like Clowe, and Pavelski, Demers, Braun, even Nabakov etc all came from basically nowhere. Often times taking huge leaps in their development in a very short time and jumping up the prospect list very quickly.

So what happens is the article will come out, we will read it, and there is not even a mention of their current situation. We can immediately tell that the writer is basing their article on old information which means they are not only not providing us any useful new information (as we are all pretty voracious consumers of any and all Sharks info) they are actually often perpetuating a much poorer outlook of the Sharks prospect pool than is reality.

So, what can you do? Watch them play if you can, give us your impression of the player. Make sure and check their current stats and see if it conflicts with the information you have, if so, do a little digging. We also of course love to hear any new quotes from Sharks scouts/personnel if possible.

[landshark]

Thanks, Craig.

Looks like Hockeyball summed it all up. (as usual)

[TheJuxtaposer]

I want to hear from people who actually watch the guys play. For example, Doherty and Petrecki have been very unimpressive in their AHL careers, but the HF guys make it sound like everything's groovy.

[SJeasy]

Originally Posted by TheJuxtaposer

I want to hear from people who actually watch the guys play. For example, Doherty and Petrecki have been very unimpressive in their AHL careers, but the HF guys make it sound like everything's groovy.

Some of this could be cured by using the comparison theme. If I a guy has skating issues, pick another guy who has the same issues for a comparison. Same thing for thinking the game. Also, don't downplay deficits.

[Craig Fischer]

Thanks for your help dudes! I hope you'll enjoy the article when it comes out--I spent a ton of time on it just for you guys. Be gentle with your torches and pitchforks haha. ;D

[Kegsey]

It's not really your fault that our prospect pool isn't much to write home about.