Erik Karlsson (Part 6)

[Danvilleshark]

You are so stuck on 1 minor aspect of a defensemens actual contributions to the team and it is hurting your argument.

He has been hands down the best player on the sharks in the past 5 games and all you can see is the 1 goal.

I disagree he has been the best player. 9 and 39 have been all season and including the past five.
I have watched most every game this season as I do most every season.

 

[Barrie22]

I disagree he has been the best player. 9 and 39 have been all season and including the past five.
I have watched most every game this season as I do most every season.

Lol at thinking couture has been good all season. He was miserable for the first 10 games of the season. Now he is a little better but his point production is deceiving to how he was actually playing.

 

[Pavelski2112]

Lol at thinking couture has been good all season. He was miserable for the first 10 games of the season. Now he is a little better but his point production is deceiving to how he was actually playing.

Couture has always been a guy that somehow puts up points no matter how well he's playing. Karlsson has actively been driving play the past few games.

 

[Danvilleshark]

Lol at thinking couture has been good all season. He was miserable for the first 10 games of the season. Now he is a little better but his point production is deceiving to how he was actually playing.

39 is a true two way player. One of the best PK guys and very good passer and shooter. Not one of the sharks problems. Kane could soon be gone via BK trial.
39 is the sharks points and goal leader, he is a -1 on a team with a very bad goal differential.
If you think he has not been a top sharks player I dont know what you are watching.

San Jose Sharks Stats | 2020-2021

 

[Danvilleshark]

65 = 29
Fantasy hockey top 50 defenseman rankings

 

[tealzamboni]

With his recent minutes reduction, EK65 now leads the league in touches per minute played.

 

[Cas]

65 = 29
Fantasy hockey top 50 defenseman rankings

...that's a ranking for fantasy hockey players.

 

[Lebanezer]

65 = 29
Fantasy hockey top 50 defenseman rankings

Fantasy hockey rankings aren’t a good metric to measure any players by.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

39 is a true two way player. One of the best PK guys and very good passer and shooter. Not one of the sharks problems. Kane could soon be gone via BK trial.
39 is the sharks points and goal leader, he is a -1 on a team with a very bad goal differential.
If you think he has not been a top sharks player I dont know what you are watching.

San Jose Sharks Stats | 2020-2021

I'm willing to say Cooch has been the best player this year but that's hardly a tall bar to jump right now. It's really between him and Ferraro but I wouldn't call what Couture has done outside of point production being good all season. He was inconsistent basically through the initial 8 game roadie. For a 1C and captain, he's had some pretty disappointing games and events.

 

[Danvilleshark]

I'm willing to say Cooch has been the best player this year but that's hardly a tall bar to jump right now. It's really between him and Ferraro but I wouldn't call what Couture has done outside of point production being good all season. He was inconsistent basically through the initial 8 game roadie. For a 1C and captain, he's had some pretty disappointing games and events.

Given how bad this years (just as last seasons) sharks are he has been the tallest midget.

 

[Danvilleshark]

Fantasy hockey rankings aren’t a good metric to measure any players by.

Do you think EK65 will be in the top 5 for Norris trophy?

 

[TheBeard]

I'm willing to say Cooch has been the best player this year but that's hardly a tall bar to jump right now. It's really between him and Ferraro but I wouldn't call what Couture has done outside of point production being good all season. He was inconsistent basically through the initial 8 game roadie. For a 1C and captain, he's had some pretty disappointing games and events.

I'll give him credit. He doesn't mind getting his nose dirty and taking some lumps for the team. It's more than I can say for some of the floaters out there.

 

[TheBeard]

Do you think EK65 will be in the top 5 for Norris trophy?

It's Hedman's world. We're just living in it.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I'll give him credit. He doesn't mind getting his nose dirty and taking some lumps for the team. It's more than I can say for some of the floaters out there.

Yes but he gets soundly beaten by his opposition a lot which is my issue. It's also hard for him alone to defend good competition with Kane and Labanc primarily as his wingers especially with the typical defensemen behind him. His individual effort honestly is not what I question about him. He just doesn't stack up against top competition offensively and he's not good enough on his own defensively to shut them down. He'd be a perfectly capable top line winger or 2nd line centerman like he was his whole career behind Jumbo. I also question his ability to help lead others. I assume he's just fine from a work ethic perspective. I've never seen a bad thing about him on that end but playing for others and others playing for you seems to be the sort of thing that he's not as good at as Pavs was.

 

[TheBeard]

Yes but he gets soundly beaten by his opposition a lot which is my issue. It's also hard for him alone to defend good competition with Kane and Labanc primarily as his wingers especially with the typical defensemen behind him. His individual effort honestly is not what I question about him. He just doesn't stack up against top competition offensively and he's not good enough on his own defensively to shut them down. He'd be a perfectly capable top line winger or 2nd line centerman like he was his whole career behind Jumbo. I also question his ability to help lead others. I assume he's just fine from a work ethic perspective. I've never seen a bad thing about him on that end but playing for others and others playing for you seems to be the sort of thing that he's not as good at as Pavs was.

Agreed. 2nd line Center is perfect for him. I'm fine with him being the C. He's definitely a leader by example and never more obvious than that miracle comeback versus Vegas.

 

[Karl Prime]

Five games is a very small sample size. He has not been back long enough to honestly access his play. I think the five game performance is an outlier. Time will tell but if this continues then I agree that he has turned the corner.

I'd say the 69 game stretch last season and the start of this one where he wasn't that good was the outlier. The last 6 games he's done everything that "prime" Karlsson did. He has the agility and acceleration when beating forecheckers, he's quarterbacking the PP well, joining rushes, creating space for teammates, picking off passes in the neutral zone, defending aggressively along the wall, even defending the front of the net better. Kane and Couture have been decent overall the last 6 games but Karl's been the one who's been most impressive. He was the only guy creating scoring chances in the shutout loss to Vegas and he hasn't even had one period where he wasn't doing good things.

 

[CupfortheSharks]

I'd say the 69 game stretch last season and the start of this one where he wasn't that good was the outlier. The last 6 games he's done everything that "prime" Karlsson did. He has the agility and acceleration when beating forecheckers, he's quarterbacking the PP well, joining rushes, creating space for teammates, picking off passes in the neutral zone, defending aggressively along the wall, even defending the front of the net better. Kane and Couture have been decent overall the last 6 games but Karl's been the one who's been most impressive. He was the only guy creating scoring chances in the shutout loss to Vegas and he hasn't even had one period where he wasn't doing good things.

There’s no doubt he has been MUCH better the last few games. My question is why? What happened that made him start playing like a completely different player?

 

[hohosaregood]

There’s no doubt he has been MUCH better the last few games. My question is why? What happened that made him start playing like a completely different player?

My non-medical degree is telling me that during his most recent groin injury, he actually just stretched out that tightness in his groin from the surgery and now he's back to the original stretchiness of his groin muscles.

 

[Danvilleshark]

My non-medical degree is telling me that during his most recent groin injury, he actually just stretched out that tightness in his groin from the surgery and now he's back to the original stretchiness of his groin muscles.

It is very troubling that after a VERY long layoff (no post season/late start to this season) he could not make it to 15 games without being injured. It was reported to be groin again.

 

[CupfortheSharks]

My non-medical degree is telling me that during his most recent groin injury, he actually just stretched out that tightness in his groin from the surgery and now he's back to the original stretchiness of his groin muscles.

I have a hard time believing that his poor play has been all injury related, but I hope you are right.

 

[Karl Prime]

He said he was feeling physically fine until the injury started to linger, but we don't know when it did start to linger. So I'm guessing for the first 7-10 games he was alright but just not playing well, then maybe he was hurting in the last 4-7 games before shutting it down. Whatever the case, this is the best he's skated since before the first groin injury so perhaps it is all behind him now. I hope so.

 

[Anomie2029]

39 is a true two way player. One of the best PK guys and very good passer and shooter. Not one of the sharks problems. Kane could soon be gone via BK trial.
39 is the sharks points and goal leader, he is a -1 on a team with a very bad goal differential.
If you think he has not been a top sharks player I dont know what you are watching.

San Jose Sharks Stats | 2020-2021

Couture does not drive play. He is not a 'very good passer'. He has good O-Zone positioning that allows him to capitalise (i.e. his PP goal which was all Donato). He has 14 points at 5v5 (leads Labanc and Kane at 12 and 11 respectively), made up of 10G 4A. Those 4 assists are all secondary.

In comparison, Karlsson also has 4 assists at 5v5 this season, and 3 of them are primary.

Before you get it twisted - I'm not saying Couture is bad, nor that Karlsson has been playing better this season (he has been better the last 6 games imo), but Couture is not driving play, he is taking advantage of good play from his linemates, and he is currently on a career high, and unsustainable, shooting percentage.

 

[hohosaregood]

Couture does not drive play. He is not a 'very good passer'. He has good O-Zone positioning that allows him to capitalise (i.e. his PP goal which was all Donato). He has 14 points at 5v5 (leads Labanc and Kane at 12 and 11 respectively), made up of 10G 4A. Those 4 assists are all secondary.

In comparison, Karlsson also has 4 assists at 5v5 this season, and 3 of them are primary.

Before you get it twisted - I'm not saying Couture is bad, nor that Karlsson has been playing better this season (he has been better the last 6 games imo), but Couture is not driving play, he is taking advantage of good play from his linemates, and he is currently on a career high, and unsustainable, shooting percentage.

I've said it elsewhere but I generally say that Couture is a good scorer but a mediocre player. He's been a good player this year though on top of being a good scorer.

 

[sharski]

I've said it elsewhere but I generally say that Couture is a good scorer but a mediocre player. He's been a good player this year though on top of being a good scorer.

i guess this is the closest the Sharks will get to a version of "he's a good hockey player but an even better human being"

 

[DG93]

Couture does not drive play. He is not a 'very good passer'. He has good O-Zone positioning that allows him to capitalise (i.e. his PP goal which was all Donato). He has 14 points at 5v5 (leads Labanc and Kane at 12 and 11 respectively), made up of 10G 4A. Those 4 assists are all secondary.

In comparison, Karlsson also has 4 assists at 5v5 this season, and 3 of them are primary.

Before you get it twisted - I'm not saying Couture is bad, nor that Karlsson has been playing better this season (he has been better the last 6 games imo), but Couture is not driving play, he is taking advantage of good play from his linemates, and he is currently on a career high, and unsustainable, shooting percentage.

Exactly why Couture would be an excellent top line winger if we had any actual top-6 centers other than Hertl lol