OffThePost.org

Ya he's not terribly expensive, just a poor value. Bad enough value that you can't trade him, and takes enough cap space that you can't bring in someone else. They need Greiss or Stalock to come up and take his job. They have some Finnish guy too who is supposed to be good Hari Sateri or something?

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If the moon was made of spare ribs, would ya eat it?

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

Nice to see that at least initially, the Avs completely hoodwinked the Sharks in that Galiardi/Winnik/McGinn deal, espcially since Winnik signed with the Ducks.

Hot start has led to an absolutely frigid 2nd month for the Sharks. Not surprising that coincided with Marleau's offense suddenly disappearing.

I think if the Sharks want to have a shot, they need to ask the question of whether they should go forward with a team built around Marleau/Thornton, or Couture/Pavelski. This is assuming of course they get good pieces to surround the latter with if they end up trading the former.

SJ's window of opportunity is nearly closed. I imagine they'll just blame the coach, fire him, and try again, but I don't think that'll solve matters.

Too old and slow, won't even make the playoffs.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Niemi is their best player so far this year, Marleau's hot start notwithstanding.

The D is very strong:

Boyle-Vlasic
Burns-Stuart
Murray - Braun

Can't be too many better top-6 in the league.

They just can't score lately.

Havlat sucks.

Adding Gomez was one of the stupidest moves I could possibly imagine - who thought the Sharks needed another heartless oldie?

Clowe has yet to score a goal - what the hell? He's always streaky though it would be great for his floodgates to open and have him carry the team out of this funk.

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Perhaps, I don't see them very often and perhaps you know better but to me even 2 years ago Boyle looked slowish, still very good but no longer elite. I can't see how at 37 he can still be your top Dman. That tells me your D is not that good.

I'm probably wrong but they looked pretty mild last year at the end of the season like a team on the way down. Curious where you think they have improved this season so that they will be better than last and how that improvement offsets their being another year older?

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Ya Boyle is not elite anymore, but still solid. Burns has flashes of being a #1 guy but is not consistently that guy. The strength in SJ's D is that they have 5 very solid, experienced guys and Braun who can hold is own.

They are improved on D with the addition of Stuart to a solid group, and Niemi is playing better in net. For the forwards the year older helps Pavelski and Couture as they develop, probably hurts Thornton and Marleau but I'm hoping the short season helps that. Clowe and Havlat sucking are making the forwards as a whole look worse than they are.

It is the same Sharks story of inconsistency - the first 7 games they looked invincible, now they look like shit. If the good Sharks show up in the playoffs they can hang with anybody.

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I think Wilson's done an extraordinary job, but IMO he screwed up big-time with his last two big trades. McGinn and possibly Sgarbossa (hell, maybe even Connolly) would be providing the forward depth the Sharks were so desperate for they signed a broken-down Scott Gomez. That trade would've been fine if they'd kept Daniel Winnik, who would've provided them with a solid checking forward (another thing they don't really have right now). I don't know what happened to Galiardi, but after two fairly serious elbow injuries, he's gone from a solid utility man to a guy who's barely NHL-worthy. It could also be that he was carried by two talented forwards on hot streaks when he was on the same line with Stastny and Stewart. Either way, McGinn is developing into a solid role player, and maybe more. Sgarbossa might not end up being anything, but when your prospect base is completely depleted, you shouldn't be giving up ANY of them for marginal returns. I'm fairly confident Sgarbossa will be a viable NHLer though--he's put up good numbers at every level he's played so far.

The deal for Burns was a good one initially since it gave the Sharks a top-tier defender, but all that talent does you no good if he's injured all the time, which is the reason why the Wylde traded him in the first place. Even with Stuart in the mix, Boyle's being asked to do too much.

Imagine Charlie Coyle on this team now...I think he'd be playing regular minutes and making Clowe look expendable.

Bottom line, they keep trying to surround new pieces around Thornton/Marleau, and now Thornton and Marleau are getting old (and that makes ME feel old since I clearly remember both breaking into the league). I think they might have a shot at a quick rebuild if they trade some of their aging stars and keep Burns/Vlasic/Pavelski/Couture, but if they continue to stick with a formula that hasn't worked for years now, they're going to be the next Flames soon enough.

Pretty sure McLellan's goose is cooked, but he isn't the problem.

As a wise man once said when things were going well, "Let's not all go around sucking each other's dicks just yet." Things weren't super amazing fantastic when the Sharks were riding high and things aren't DEAR GOD IT'S OVER now, either. Crazy extremes in results, but as long as this team is in a playoff spot they're about where they should be.

I really can't understand how anyone can justify giving Michal Handzus 15 minutes a night in 2013, but every coach in the NHL makes dumb roster decisions it seems. Hitting the panic button seems about as logical as sucking each other's dicks after a great first 7 or 8 games did.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

Ug, just saw that the Sharks have the lowest scoring D in the league, so looks like Fogghorn is right.

Burns being injured so much does not help, I probably view him as what the Sharks thought they were getting, not what he has actually done. I still think Boyle, Vlasic, Burns, Stuart and Murray probably make most teams top-5 D but none are elite.

I would also note that the Sharks were the hottest team in the league before they signed Gomez!

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Wait, what? There's no way. The Avs' D didn't score a singly frickin' goal until a third of the way into the season almost.

Solution: Add Tim Kennedy and Bracken Kearns to your top six.

http://www.mercurynews.com/sharks/ci_22 ... ce-injured

Wow that was a stinker last night. Might be time for Mclellan to go. I was early on the fire Ron Wilson bandwagon but am getting on this one late.

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I think Wilson has played himself out as well. Marleau is now on his third coach, Thornton his 2nd, and yet we're still seeing the same results. It has reached the point of diminishing returns.

The Sharks are very much the modern day edition of the 1970s Sabres, aren't they?

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

Oh Lordy...it's gotten THAT desperate in Silicon Valley:

http://www.mercurynews.com/sharks/ci_22 ... t-burns-at

Burns playing forward on the third line because they simply have no one else to do it.

You'll have to explain this one to me--my hockey history gets a bit foggy pre-1995.

I know the Sabres had the French Connection back then along with Danny Gare. Beyond that I haven't a clue.

I had assumed you played hockey since you were a kid and thus always followed it. Did you just start playing hockey after the Nordiques relocated as well?

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"