Martin looking good tonight.
Absolute ton of guys in suits in the crowd, relatedly.
I have to laugh... sometimes I wonder if you and I watch the same games.
Martin did seem to get better as the game went on, but I spent the first half of the game thinking "If this is his tryout for another NHL club, he's screwed". I thought he was a step slow, even at this level. The Heat players consistently beat him to loose pucks. When he did get there, they were able to separate him from the puck pretty easily. Given that he hasn't really played all year, maybe some of that will improve with some consistent playing time.
What I did notice about him is he does a lot of subtle things that the younger players don't. He's good at getting in the way of opposing players without drawing penalties. His stick work is better than any of our other defensemen (which, granted, isn't necessarily saying much). He's good at taking away opposing players sticks, keeping them from getting off a shot or a pass.
He looked like our best defenseman out there, which is a pretty low bar. All that stuff you mentioned in the bottom paragraph is what I was seeing.
Now, was he good enough for teams to say "Yes, I'd like to trade for him and also pay him $5 million next year as well"? Not so much.
Martin's a slow starter. At the start of every year I remember everyone here going "Man, Martin looks terrible. He's done." And then he gets back into better form. This year he's had no start at all. So maybe he'll pick it up some in the physical department. Saw good things from him, but if the Sharks don't call him back up, I'm pretty sure he's going to be with the Barracuda for the remainder of the season.
They have a ton of specialty jersey nights but I love this. Brilliant.
Do you know what this is? I wasn't watching Nickelodeon by the 90's. I've never heard of this show. This specialty jersey is completely lost on me.
I started typing up an explanation to this show, but it's a bit hard to explain
Legends of the Hidden Temple - Wikipedia
Anyway, the reference they're making with these is that the blue team on this show was called "The Blue Barracudas"
Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!BARRACUDA ROOKIE BALCERS ADDED TO THE 2018 AHL ALL-STAR CLASSIC | San Jose Barracuda
Congrats to Balcers! (He's joining Bibeau @ ASG Sunday/Monday)