Speculation: 2017-18 Sharks roster discussion II

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Sorry, I should have clarified: I meant scoring upside.

Even then I don't know. Maybe better at getting assists on the power play. Maybe in terms of overall points that could close the gap for the rest of this stuff. Meier is 16th in the NHL in 5v5 ixGF, right ahead of the reigning Maurice Richard Trophy winner and right behind JVR who is a 30-30 guy on pace for a little more than 30 goals this year. Meier skates around a player and creates a partial break for himself every single game. He's got 15 goals and 7 assists in his last 39 games - only 2 goals and 1 assist on the power play. I have very little doubt that if he is healthy next year, he will score 30 goals. Meier has 1 less goal in his last 39 games than LaBanc has in his 115 game NHL career.

Meier also has the highest ixGF/60 on the power play, which tells me that he may be able to produce more on the PP if given the opportunity.

 

[Lebanezer]

Even then I don't know. Maybe better at getting assists on the power play. Maybe in terms of overall points that could close the gap for the rest of this stuff. Meier is 16th in the NHL in 5v5 ixGF, right ahead of the reigning Maurice Richard Trophy winner and right behind JVR who is a 30-30 guy on pace for a little more than 30 goals this year. Meier skates around a player and creates a partial break for himself every single game. He's got 15 goals and 7 assists in his last 39 games - only 2 goals and 1 assist on the power play. I have very little doubt that if he is healthy next year, he will score 30 goals. Meier has 1 less goal in his last 39 games than LaBanc has in his 115 game NHL career.

Meier also has the highest ixGF/60 on the power play, which tells me that he may be able to produce more on the PP if given the opportunity.

Speaking of Meier on the power play I would at some point like to see him blast some one timers like he did in juniors.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Even then I don't know. Maybe better at getting assists on the power play. Maybe in terms of overall points that could close the gap for the rest of this stuff. Meier is 16th in the NHL in 5v5 ixGF, right ahead of the reigning Maurice Richard Trophy winner and right behind JVR who is a 30-30 guy on pace for a little more than 30 goals this year. Meier skates around a player and creates a partial break for himself every single game. He's got 15 goals and 7 assists in his last 39 games - only 2 goals and 1 assist on the power play. I have very little doubt that if he is healthy next year, he will score 30 goals. Meier has 1 less goal in his last 39 games than LaBanc has in his 115 game NHL career.

Meier also has the highest ixGF/60 on the power play, which tells me that he may be able to produce more on the PP if given the opportunity.

Right, that’s fine. Meier is awesome, we agree. But I think Labanc has another level offensively to reach. I’m not saying he will, just that I think it’s there.

 

[Jaleel619]

I THINK sharks are capable of scoring 70-80 goals this playoffs and we'll only lose 3 games.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Right, that’s fine. Meier is awesome, we agree. But I think Labanc has another level offensively to reach. I’m not saying he will, just that I think it’s there.

What type of production do you think he can reach? Since a lot of production has to do with other factors like usage, teammates and competition, what kind of player do you see LaBanc becoming if he hits his potential?

 

[Juxtaposer]

What type of production do you think he can reach? Since a lot of production has to do with other factors like usage, teammates and competition, what kind of player do you see LaBanc becoming if he hits his potential?

Obviously it's not a likely scenario, but I can see Labanc hitting 70 points if he gets serious. This assumes top PP time, a good center, and not playing on a shutdown line.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I genuinely believe we will move Labanc and Dillon for a better LHD or Labanc and Braun for a better RHD. There’s just no room for Labanc anymore if we get Tavares and resign Thornton

I don't understand how signing two centers means there's no room for Labanc a winger. If signing those two pushes Hertl/Couture to wing, you still only have Meier, Pavelski, Couture, Hertl, and Donskoi with two of those players having expiring contracts after next season. It would be shortsighted to move Labanc under those circumstances.

 

[OrrNumber4]

I see Wilson offering Taveras much north of Burns. Do we land him? I don’t know.

Wilson has slowly changed his ways as a gm, and much since heatley.

First off he’s been much better in free agency landing larger names the last couple years then the previous 10.

He also mentioned during that era that he didn’t like to give a deal more then 5 years. So the sign and trade for Boyle with 6 years on the contract Was a first. And the largest contract taking on in sharks history at the time

Now in what, less then a calendar year or close to it Wilson is handing them out like candy, for core pieces of coarse

But Vlasic, burns, Jones all between 7/8 year contracts. Point is things change/

DW has changed, the league has changed, the ownership has changed...that could explain much of his mindset. I mean, he gave a six-year contract to Michalek. And, don't forget that before all of that, he offered a multi-year, big money contract to Scott Niedermayer (confirmed), and Zdeno Chara, presumably. Hell, he apparently went after Ryan Suter and Shea Weber.

Anyways, I agree that acquiring Tavares would be a game-changing move that would breathe new life into the Sharks.

Obviously it's not a likely scenario, but I can see Labanc hitting 70 points if he gets serious. This assumes top PP time, a good center, and not playing on a shutdown line.

Yes, I could see this. He's quite gifted offensively. Everyone was ooing about Goldobin being a high-skilled offensive prospect, but I think Labanc has him beat!

 

[Kcoyote3]

Obviously it's not a likely scenario, but I can see Labanc hitting 70 points if he gets serious. This assumes top PP time, a good center, and not playing on a shutdown line.

Not sure if he could hit that with the Sharks, but on a team like the Isles or Bolts, I think it's possible.

55+ is not unreasonable on any team if he puts everything together. What I'm most impressed with Labanc is his willingness to correct his game and improve. You don't go from .5 PPG to 1.5 PPG to 2.0 PPG in the OHL without some serious improvement. We also know from seeing him that it wasn't because he was just physically dominating his competition. Now he's gone from .36 PPG to .57 PPG in the NHL in his first two seasons. There were comments out of training camp that he worked to improve his speed in the summer, and to gain some muscle. Obviously it's not enough yet, but he wants to improve. He has some awesome passing skills and creativity, a great shot when he uses it, and PP vision. Still needs to improve his offensive zone positioning, forechecking, and he looks a bit lackluster in the defensive zone.

I'm just really excited about him as a future Shark. Said it in November, I think he has first line talent offensively. He does things with the puck that not a lot of players on our team can. If I'm being serious, his playmaking reminds me of Thornton. Just his playmaking, not anything else.

 

[Gecklund]

I don't understand how signing two centers means there's no room for Labanc a winger. If signing those two pushes Hertl/Couture to wing, you still only have Meier, Pavelski, Couture, Hertl, and Donskoi with two of those players having expiring contracts after next season. It would be shortsighted to move Labanc under those circumstances.

And Kane. Which means our top 9 wingers are set. And Labanc won’t fit on the fourth line.

 

[AgentCooper]

It hurts to say, but if DW signed Tavares, it's difficult to see where Thornton slots in. And if it were anyone other than Joe, it would be incredibly difficult to justify signing a 38yo coming back from knee surgery.

I would advocate a top 9 of:

Kane - Tavares - Labanc (shelter this line)
Couture - Hertl - Boedker
Meier - Pavelski - Donskoi

And that alone pushes Tierney to the 4th line, which isn't ideal. There are other options I suppose (Hertl and Couture could both play wing with a different center, Pavelski could play wing, Boedker could be traded). Any way you slice it, the top 9 is crowded even without Jumbo.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

And Kane. Which means our top 9 wingers are set. And Labanc won’t fit on the fourth line.

The thing about LaBanc is that he is right handed and a natural RW. LaBanc, Pavelski, and Donskoi are the only right handed top-9 forwards on our team. If you put Pavelski at center and trade LaBanc, that leaves only one right handed RW in Donskoi. I know Boedker and Meier were both listed as RWs before they came here.

You can make Tavares+Thornton+Kane work, but you need to put Tierney at 4C.

 

[Gecklund]

The thing about LaBanc is that he is right handed and a natural RW. LaBanc, Pavelski, and Donskoi are the only right handed top-9 forwards on our team. If you put Pavelski at center and trade LaBanc, that leaves only one right handed RW in Donskoi. I know Boedker and Meier were both listed as RWs before they came here.

You can make Tavares+Thornton+Kane work, but you need to put Tierney at 4C.

I feel like importance of handedness is overstated. The thing is you can’t have someone making that much on your fourth line.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

And Kane. Which means our top 9 wingers are set. And Labanc won’t fit on the fourth line.

For that to come close to happening, the cap needs to go to 82 mil, Kane has to sign for six, Tavares has to sign for 12 or less, Hertl for 5, Tierney for 2.5, and they have to trade Boedker and Karlsson, buy out Martin, and find two forwards making pretty much the minimum. That still affords you the opportunity to keep Labanc and honestly even if you have to demote him to keep him and have an awkward 4th line, you do it. You don't move Labanc until you have figured out what's going on with Pavelski and Couture and I doubt, especially with a Tavares signing, that both return which opens up a spot on the top nine down the road.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

For that to come close to happening, the cap needs to go to 82 mil, Kane has to sign for six, Tavares has to sign for 12 or less, Hertl for 5, Tierney for 2.5, and they have to trade Boedker and Karlsson, buy out Martin, and find two forwards making pretty much the minimum. That still affords you the opportunity to keep Labanc and honestly even if you have to demote him to keep him and have an awkward 4th line, you do it. You don't move Labanc until you have figured out what's going on with Pavelski and Couture and I doubt, especially with a Tavares signing, that both return which opens up a spot on the top nine down the road.

They have Sorensen, Balcers, and Goodrow making the minimum. It all depends what Thornton signs for but you can make it work with a cap hit of just under 79M on a 20 man roster if Thornton signs for 3M.

I doubt Thornton leaves. Remember, DW has specifically referred to him as part of the leadership group in multiple recent interviews. Yes I know he lies in interviews but I think it means something when he goes out of his way to mention an injured player who might not play another game on his current contract and refer to him as a big part of our leadership group. I genuinely believe DW is looking at signing Tavares, re-signing Kane, and re-signing Thornton. I think that's what he plans to do.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

They have Sorensen, Balcers, and Goodrow making the minimum. It all depends what Thornton signs for but you can make it work with a cap hit of just under 79M on a 20 man roster if Thornton signs for 3M.

I doubt Thornton leaves. Remember, DW has specifically referred to him as part of the leadership group in multiple recent interviews. Yes I know he lies in interviews but I think it means something when he goes out of his way to mention an injured player who might not play another game on his current contract and refer to him as a big part of our leadership group. I genuinely believe DW is looking at signing Tavares, re-signing Kane, and re-signing Thornton. I think that's what he plans to do.

That line was including Goodrow and Sorensen already.

 

[Jaleel619]

What I like about this season is the league slowly forgot about the sharks. What happened when they did this last time? Oh ya, a Stanley cup final babe. + we got Evander Kane and the big question is will a rested Joe Thornton kimbo slice the playoffs? Man!!!!

 

[Jaleel619]

Joe Thornton has been taking a paycut his entire career, he wants to be paid in Stanley cups. Signs for the minimum and becomes a father to John Tavares. He's a decade too old to care about money, unlike Marleau, at least Marleau knows he doesn't have it in him to win a Cup. Damn!

 

[Juxtaposer]

Joe Thornton has been taking a paycut his entire career, he wants to be paid in Stanley cups. Signs for the minimum and becomes a father to John Tavares. He's a decade too old to care about money, unlike Marleau, at least Marleau knows he doesn't have it in him to win a Cup. Damn!

You do realize that the Leafs have 6 more points in one more game than the Sharks this season, don’t you? What an inane comment. Marleau has a better chance of winning a Cup than Thornton does.

 

[Jaleel619]

Watch them lose in the 2nd round and go through the motions with Marleau. Watch!! Guy will fade away. Besides the Leafs? Really? Too early. The ignorance.

 

[Gecklund]

Watch them lose in the 2nd round and go through the motions with Marleau. Watch!! Guy will fade away. Besides the Leafs? Really? Too early. The ignorance.

You do realize that the Leafs have 6 more points in one more game than the Sharks this season, don’t you? What an inane comment. Marleau has a better chance of winning a Cup than Thornton does.

I thought he was just joking and then I saw his last post

 

[Jaleel619]

Am not joking. I would put $$ on Marleau not putting enough care over other NHLers.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Watch them lose in the 2nd round and go through the motions with Marleau. Watch!! Guy will fade away. Besides the Leafs? Really? Too early. The ignorance.

Yeah, who’d want to go play on a team with a 20 year old Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander on it. Pretty rich of you to make another comment like that when the Sharks would be lucky to get out of the second round. Pretty rich if you to accuse Patrick Marleau of “going through the motions” in the playoffs when his career playoff PPG is barely less than his career regular season PPG, compared to Thornton’s giagantic decline from regular season production to playoff production. But yeah Marleau, the guy who went to a team with a better Cup chance, is totally the guy that “fades away”, and Thornton, who stayed with a mediocre team on the downswing, is definitely the guy who wants to be paid in Cups. Totally.

 

[Jaleel619]

Who wouldn't?

 

[hohosaregood]

We just ragging on our two former franchise players now that they're gone?