Attempt at season wrap-up

[Mr. T]

Coaching staff: saddled with lack of talent, but still hasn't shown any great ability

Core players:

Meier and Hertl, just fantastic years considering their supporting cast. Hertl finally looks 10x more tough and durable, from a guy who used to get knocked down, and injured, all the time

Reimer best Sharks re-tread ever? MVP, if they don't have him they lose another 10 games

Couture: finally looking old and beat up. I'd say the warning signs are there for the decline to start, but hey, Pavs was another smallish, slow player who has taken many hits and kept going so maybe he'll keep it up

Karlsson: injured way too often, plays carelessly way too often

Burns: great career, still very respectable performance at his age, but the offense is fading

Ferraro, their best D to build around

There is really little of note after that. Barabonov is OK, but he should avoid contact, not seek contact, as he gets rung up pretty regularly. Merkeley also OK

The Cogliano and Bonino experiments weren't great

Stalock was a joke of an idea. Kakhonen looks at least promising. Hill is terrible and was a terrible deal. He simply isn't athletic enough, and doesn't skate well enough, for today's game

I actually appreciated having some grit, although it doesn't win many games. Guys like Viel, Maloche, and the now-departed Middleton put in good efforts

The future is pretty bleak, although Eklund and Bordelaeu might boost the scoring next year, we'll see. They looked very good in the games they played, but have to also weigh their additions with further decline of old core players. The team was like 3rd worst in scoring and desperately needs skill up front. On the blue line Hattaka looked interesting

[googz]

On Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at 12:35:30 PM UTC-7, Mr. T wrote:
> Coaching staff: saddled with lack of talent, but still hasn't shown any great ability
>
> Core players:
>
> Meier and Hertl, just fantastic years considering their supporting cast. Hertl finally looks 10x more tough and durable, from a guy who used to get knocked down, and injured, all the time
>

Meier is a keeper but will command somewhere around $8m/year. yikes

> Reimer best Sharks re-tread ever? MVP, if they don't have him they lose another 10 games
>
> Couture: finally looking old and beat up. I'd say the warning signs are there for the decline to start, but hey, Pavs was another smallish, slow player who has taken many hits and kept going so maybe he'll keep it up
>
> Karlsson: injured way too often, plays carelessly way too often
>

recent reports say they tried to trade him. only thing is that he has the NTC - but I think he would be persuaded if the Sharks formally use the "Rebuild" word.

> Burns: great career, still very respectable performance at his age, but the offense is fading

I believe Burns, of all skaters on the team, earns his keep. I think everyone can envision him playing at a high level through the duration of his contract. He may have to reduce his TOI average but he's worth the money IMO

>
> Ferraro, their best D to build around
>
> There is really little of note after that. Barabonov is OK, but he should avoid contact, not seek contact, as he gets rung up pretty regularly. Merkeley also OK

Barabonov is a good compliment to the Meiers/Hertl pairing, but he's not worth more than $3M/year

>
> The Cogliano and Bonino experiments weren't great

Cogliano, Bonino, Nieto, Weatherby, Dahlen, and others are redundant, interchangeable, <30points roster fillers

Bonino had a terrible year for 3/4ths of the season and somehow lit the lamp in the last 20 or so games. Just not a good year at all for him.

>
> Stalock was a joke of an idea. Kakhonen looks at least promising. Hill is terrible and was a terrible deal. He simply isn't athletic enough, and doesn't skate well enough, for today's game

Agreed. Kakhonen looks pretty good. Although with a name like his, shouldn't he have played for the Kraken?

In general, i didn't understand any of the signings other than Kakhonen. They signed Hill, Kakhonen, Stalock, and recently Strauss while already having Sawchenko and Emond. Why?

>
> I actually appreciated having some grit, although it doesn't win many games. Guys like Viel, Maloche, and the now-departed Middleton put in good efforts
>

> The future is pretty bleak, although Eklund and Bordelaeu might boost the scoring next year, we'll see. They looked very good in the games they played, but have to also weigh their additions with further decline of old core players. The team was like 3rd worst in scoring and desperately needs skill upfront. On the blue line Hattaka looked interesting

You're right. the biggest issue was lack of offense, but they also had a sub-par GAA. They need to address both. They're porous defensively as a team - too many odd-man rushes, they defend the crease well, not enough pressure on the points, and they never really sustained much offensive pressure (too many neutral zone takeaways or just clear-the-zone giveaways). I think a lot of that is team culture due to poor coaching. Could also just be lack of talent up front.