I was there. Packed house, probably the most packed I've seen the tank in years. Gotta say though, Mack and Eklund were amazing. The team played fine, but two horrendous turnovers sealed the deal. Smith didn't have a great game at all but the 4th line was something that doesn't work and Warsofsky is trying way too hard to make that line work: 11-2-23 doesn't work. Seems like there are duos that we can't break up: 72-71, 21-73. I really want to try Granlund with Smith again but with Zetterlund but who knows at this point. Smith being a 19 year old that currently isn't an NHLer but really doesn't belong in the AHL either makes lineups difficult
I agree that Smith and Granlund would be interesting together, but after tonight I don’t know if Warsofsky will go that direction right away. I really love this duo of 72-71 but I wouldn’t say 21-73 is untouchable, they are alright together but nothing exciting.
I saw this, is stuck with Sudbury now that the deadline in the OHL has passed. A 10-6 win is probably what he was referencing when he sat out earlier this year. Just about doing what he can in the situation he’s in now, and 5 points is obviously great.
Hagens or Martone? Which would fit better with this prospect pool? Hagens looks like he would fit with Celebrini and Smith from what I saw from WJC highlights but Martone has size on him.
@@professorhockeyCould you see a world where Chicago takes Haggens at first to try and get Bedard some help? Considering they took Levshunov last year.
Hey Professor, Definitely liked the compete level the Sharks showed in this game. Generally speaking up and down the line up not too many passengers. I can understand why the Sharks went for volume of shots rather than quality shots because when your struggling consistently to generate offense AND the game before you went almost 20 minutes in the middle of the game where you got no shots on net this sort of makes sense that you task your guys with putting shots on net and stop trying to make high skilled plays that we really struggle to make. Fleury has had a remarkable career and if he does hang 'em up after this season at age 40 I won't be sad to see him go as I am tired of seeing him stone the Sharks every time we face him. I think given how undermanned the Wild were they opted to play a more road type of game since you don't have pressure from the home fans when you are on the road to create offense. With the exception of their top line pretty much everybody else for the Wild just played it safe mostly. That top line was just too much for us even without Kaprisoff. The size, skill and chemistry of those 3 players created problems for us every time they were on the ice. We lack for the most part big, strong defensemen like Brendan Dillon who can match bigger forwards and push them away from the net or pin them against the boards. Our guys with the exception of Ceci and Walman are just not physically strong enough to deal with big bodies like that. I thought the general approach by the Wild was to play suffocating defense and mostly they did. As you noted we struggled to even get shots on net of any kind owing to the quality of their defensive play and they did force us away from the high danger areas. Right now we lack players capable of fighting for that ice in the slot and in front of the crease. It takes someone like Timo or Hertl to do that and the only guys we have who seems reasonably decent at doing this are Tafoley, Wenberg and Kunin. Zettrland has the strength though not really the size to bull his way in there and fight for ice. Nobody did this better in the time I have followed hockey than retired Redwing Thomas Holmstrom. I grew to hate that guy. He was impossible to move and great at tipping or picking up rebounds and just causing the worst possible screens for the goalie to try to see past. I am sure as we continue to reshape the roster into the team Mike Grier envisions those type of players will fill our roster but, not really right now. Among our many needs we can add that one to the list. hahaha Cheers Professor! Pete Clovis, CA
At least we got the better of Fleury when it mattered a few years ago. Holmstrom was definitely a beast in front of the net, probably would have had some goalie interference challenges on some of his goals if he played these days haha
@@professorhockey Totally agree. Holmstrom was really effective at getting as close as possible to the crease without standing in it but, his big back side was right in the goalies face!
I think we had quite a few high danger chances, quite a few jam chances in front of the net. I think the problem more so is that we give up so many high danger chances in yhe form of odd man rushes and bad turnovers compared to the bettrr teams and so that skews our view a bit. In a battle between good teams i think the chance quality distribution generally looks pretty similar to what we had tonight
Interesting that you say that you were pleased with the Ferraro/liljegren line. I was actually the opposite. To me, it seemed like most of the defensive breakdowns actually, especially at the blue line of the offensive zone, came from this line
I personally felt many of the breakdowns occurred with Thrun/Rutta on the ice, they also had the highest expected goals against amongst all Sharks players. There were moments where Ferraro/Liljegren may have lost the zone but I don’t think it usually led to great chances against.
Celebrini already proving he’s the Sharks top forward. The Calder should be coming his way (knock on wood) and Askarov will be the best goalie we’ve had since Nabokov who’s overseeing his development (imo). Will Smith should spend the rest of the year in the AHL, at this point he needs a lot of seasoning
I still think Celebrini is the favourite for the Calder, but there is a lot of time left. Hopefully this game is the start of a hot streak and hopefully the Sharks can actually start scoring some goals here
@ Thank you for all your content my friend. What’s your opinion on Will Smith at this point? Are his weaknesses showing more than his occasional offensive prowess and upside or is it more a result of playing a bottom 6 role?
I think his weaknesses are definitely showing, but I don’t see that as a huge problem. I’m looking more so for his strengths to be on display, which has been the case in some games, others not so much (like tonight)
@ Agreed. I should have asked specifically (my bad), do you think he’s better served playing the rest of the year in the big leagues or should they drop him to the Cuda to play some meaningful games?
@@benwilson6559 At this point, let him finish the year out with the Sharks, hes come this far with them so I think that's what they'll do. If they were considering sending him down, it would have happened months ago. Once the Sharks' year finishes however, there is a chance he goes to play playoff hockey with the Barracuda, it will depend on his fatigue level and all that though.
I think Smith will need to get out of his comfort zone. For now, he is trying to get by on skill if the other team makes a mistake. He does not show any compete level on 50/50 pucks. He will go after it if he has the advantage of space, but hopefully over the years he will realize he's not made of glass and that when it comes to the most important times (playoffs) the game ratchets up to a whole different level and that he will disappear with the effort level he gives. I've noticed all year that his passes are often wildly inaccurate. This may possibly because he is rushing his plays to avoid contact/conflict. All of this being said, he is still a great and very exciting prospect that has a few years to grow into the league. It is a shame that they have to try to let him develop in the show instead of the AHL, but I think (like Goodrow) he was assured, in his case, that he'd be up all year. I'm encouraged by what I've seen of Graf. His offense may or may not come to the fore in the future, but I think he's been pretty solid and hasn't looked terribly out of place. If his offense develops he could be a solid middle 6 forward.
I don’t think he’s necessarily more inaccurate than Celebrini on passes, I just think he doesn’t have the highs of Celebrini’s game, so it stands out more. Right now, a big problem is that when he does get into 50/50 battles, they become more like 75/25 because he doesn’t have the strength to compete against most NHL players. To succeed like that, he needs to play with more speed which he just doesn’t really have, so I think for his game to really improve, he needs to get stronger, like a Draisaitl type.
I was there. Packed house, probably the most packed I've seen the tank in years. Gotta say though, Mack and Eklund were amazing. The team played fine, but two horrendous turnovers sealed the deal. Smith didn't have a great game at all but the 4th line was something that doesn't work and Warsofsky is trying way too hard to make that line work: 11-2-23 doesn't work.
Seems like there are duos that we can't break up: 72-71, 21-73. I really want to try Granlund with Smith again but with Zetterlund but who knows at this point. Smith being a 19 year old that currently isn't an NHLer but really doesn't belong in the AHL either makes lineups difficult
I agree that Smith and Granlund would be interesting together, but after tonight I don’t know if Warsofsky will go that direction right away. I really love this duo of 72-71 but I wouldn’t say 21-73 is untouchable, they are alright together but nothing exciting.
Musty 2G, 3A in 1st game back from injury
I saw this, is stuck with Sudbury now that the deadline in the OHL has passed. A 10-6 win is probably what he was referencing when he sat out earlier this year. Just about doing what he can in the situation he’s in now, and 5 points is obviously great.
Hagens or Martone? Which would fit better with this prospect pool? Hagens looks like he would fit with Celebrini and Smith from what I saw from WJC highlights but Martone has size on him.
I’ve been thinking Misa or Schafer, I’m also assuming we won’t get #1 two years in a row.
Neither. Schaefer helps us the most.
Schaefer is my pick, after that I’d probably say Hagens but I haven’t looked into that much because it’s Schaefer or bust for me haha
@@professorhockeyCould you see a world where Chicago takes Haggens at first to try and get Bedard some help? Considering they took Levshunov last year.
I think they might, I should have a video in a couple weeks about the draft where I’ll go into more detail
Hey Professor,
Definitely liked the compete level the Sharks showed in this game. Generally speaking up and down the line up not too many passengers. I can understand why the Sharks went for volume of shots rather than quality shots because when your struggling consistently to generate offense AND the game before you went almost 20 minutes in the middle of the game where you got no shots on net this sort of makes sense that you task your guys with putting shots on net and stop trying to make high skilled plays that we really struggle to make.
Fleury has had a remarkable career and if he does hang 'em up after this season at age 40 I won't be sad to see him go as I am tired of seeing him stone the Sharks every time we face him.
I think given how undermanned the Wild were they opted to play a more road type of game since you don't have pressure from the home fans when you are on the road to create offense. With the exception of their top line pretty much everybody else for the Wild just played it safe mostly. That top line was just too much for us even without Kaprisoff. The size, skill and chemistry of those 3 players created problems for us every time they were on the ice.
We lack for the most part big, strong defensemen like Brendan Dillon who can match bigger forwards and push them away from the net or pin them against the boards. Our guys with the exception of Ceci and Walman are just not physically strong enough to deal with big bodies like that.
I thought the general approach by the Wild was to play suffocating defense and mostly they did. As you noted we struggled to even get shots on net of any kind owing to the quality of their defensive play and they did force us away from the high danger areas. Right now we lack players capable of fighting for that ice in the slot and in front of the crease. It takes someone like Timo or Hertl to do that and the only guys we have who seems reasonably decent at doing this are Tafoley, Wenberg and Kunin. Zettrland has the strength though not really the size to bull his way in there and fight for ice. Nobody did this better in the time I have followed hockey than retired Redwing Thomas Holmstrom. I grew to hate that guy. He was impossible to move and great at tipping or picking up rebounds and just causing the worst possible screens for the goalie to try to see past.
I am sure as we continue to reshape the roster into the team Mike Grier envisions those type of players will fill our roster but, not really right now. Among our many needs we can add that one to the list. hahaha Cheers Professor!
Pete
Clovis, CA
At least we got the better of Fleury when it mattered a few years ago. Holmstrom was definitely a beast in front of the net, probably would have had some goalie interference challenges on some of his goals if he played these days haha
@@professorhockey Totally agree. Holmstrom was really effective at getting as close as possible to the crease without standing in it but, his big back side was right in the goalies face!
I think we had quite a few high danger chances, quite a few jam chances in front of the net. I think the problem more so is that we give up so many high danger chances in yhe form of odd man rushes and bad turnovers compared to the bettrr teams and so that skews our view a bit. In a battle between good teams i think the chance quality distribution generally looks pretty similar to what we had tonight
Now that you remind me though, yes that period of time we had them pinned in you would expect a dangerous chance or a penalty
Interesting that you say that you were pleased with the Ferraro/liljegren line. I was actually the opposite. To me, it seemed like most of the defensive breakdowns actually, especially at the blue line of the offensive zone, came from this line
I personally felt many of the breakdowns occurred with Thrun/Rutta on the ice, they also had the highest expected goals against amongst all Sharks players. There were moments where Ferraro/Liljegren may have lost the zone but I don’t think it usually led to great chances against.
Maybe we can get some better luck calling up more Barracudas. They've been doing pretty well as a team. We need some of that energy. Some fresh faces
I think they’re hoping not to disrupt the flow of the Barracuda, they’ve been struggling recently as is.
I'm hoping the team will buy out Goodrow's contract this summer.
Celebrini already proving he’s the Sharks top forward. The Calder should be coming his way (knock on wood) and Askarov will be the best goalie we’ve had since Nabokov who’s overseeing his development (imo).
Will Smith should spend the rest of the year in the AHL, at this point he needs a lot of seasoning
I still think Celebrini is the favourite for the Calder, but there is a lot of time left. Hopefully this game is the start of a hot streak and hopefully the Sharks can actually start scoring some goals here
@ Thank you for all your content my friend. What’s your opinion on Will Smith at this point? Are his weaknesses showing more than his occasional offensive prowess and upside or is it more a result of playing a bottom 6 role?
I think his weaknesses are definitely showing, but I don’t see that as a huge problem. I’m looking more so for his strengths to be on display, which has been the case in some games, others not so much (like tonight)
@ Agreed. I should have asked specifically (my bad), do you think he’s better served playing the rest of the year in the big leagues or should they drop him to the Cuda to play some meaningful games?
@@benwilson6559 At this point, let him finish the year out with the Sharks, hes come this far with them so I think that's what they'll do. If they were considering sending him down, it would have happened months ago. Once the Sharks' year finishes however, there is a chance he goes to play playoff hockey with the Barracuda, it will depend on his fatigue level and all that though.
I think Smith will need to get out of his comfort zone. For now, he is trying to get by on skill if the other team makes a mistake. He does not show any compete level on 50/50 pucks. He will go after it if he has the advantage of space, but hopefully over the years he will realize he's not made of glass and that when it comes to the most important times (playoffs) the game ratchets up to a whole different level and that he will disappear with the effort level he gives. I've noticed all year that his passes are often wildly inaccurate. This may possibly because he is rushing his plays to avoid contact/conflict. All of this being said, he is still a great and very exciting prospect that has a few years to grow into the league. It is a shame that they have to try to let him develop in the show instead of the AHL, but I think (like Goodrow) he was assured, in his case, that he'd be up all year. I'm encouraged by what I've seen of Graf. His offense may or may not come to the fore in the future, but I think he's been pretty solid and hasn't looked terribly out of place. If his offense develops he could be a solid middle 6 forward.
I don’t think he’s necessarily more inaccurate than Celebrini on passes, I just think he doesn’t have the highs of Celebrini’s game, so it stands out more. Right now, a big problem is that when he does get into 50/50 battles, they become more like 75/25 because he doesn’t have the strength to compete against most NHL players. To succeed like that, he needs to play with more speed which he just doesn’t really have, so I think for his game to really improve, he needs to get stronger, like a Draisaitl type.
@@professorhockey when he goes into battles he has a tendency to "reach" for the puck, which really doesn't work in the NHL