Joonas Donskoi. Signed Free Agent May 2015

[Juxtaposer]

XXX-Thornton-Pavelski
Marleau-Hertl-XXX
Donskoi-Couture-XXX

Fill in with Ward, Karlsson, Nieto, Wingels, Zubrus, trade acquisition, etc. That's how this team should be built. Top duos can produce with any decent third wheel. Just look at Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, or the Sedin twins, or Getzlaf and Perry. Not saying any of these duos except Thornton/Pavelski are on that level but considering they wouldn't need to be, it should work.

Donskoi and Couture are great together. I hope they're a long-term pairing.

 

[Timos Death Stare]

XXX-Thornton-Pavelski
Marleau-Hertl-XXX
Donskoi-Couture-XXX

Fill in with Ward, Karlsson, Nieto, Wingels, Zubrus, trade acquisition, etc. That's how this team should be built. Top duos can produce with any decent third wheel. Just look at Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, or the Sedin twins, or Getzlaf and Perry. Not saying any of these duos except Thornton/Pavelski are on that level but considering they wouldn't need to be, it should work.

Donskoi and Couture are great together. I hope they're a long-term pairing.

IF we did that, I'd want to do:

Karlsson - Jumbo - Pavs
Marleau - Hertl - Ward/Nieto
Donskoi - Couture - Wingels/Ward
Zubrus - Tierney - Nieto/Wingels

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Karlsson did not look good on the first line this year...like he pretty clearly did not belong.

 

[Limekiller]

XXX-Thornton-Pavelski
Marleau-Hertl-XXX
Donskoi-Couture-XXX

Fill in with Ward, Karlsson, Nieto, Wingels, Zubrus, trade acquisition, etc. That's how this team should be built. Top duos can produce with any decent third wheel. Just look at Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, or the Sedin twins, or Getzlaf and Perry. Not saying any of these duos except Thornton/Pavelski are on that level but considering they wouldn't need to be, it should work.

Donskoi and Couture are great together. I hope they're a long-term pairing.

I still don't like the idea of moving Hertl off the 1st line. That entire line has been performing significantly better than they did with anyone else from the team in that role. Karlsson was OK there last year, but was bad there this year. We tried it, it didn't work this year. No sense regressing on that line.

Not to sound like a broken record, but my dream is still for us to package Mueller + parts for Kadri, which would let us run the following:

Hertl - Thornton - Pavelski
Marleau - Kadri - Nieto
Donskoi - Couture - Wingels
Karlsson - Tierney - Ward

That leaves the 1st and 3rd lines, which we all know have been awesome of late, completely alone. If it ain't broke, etc. The new 2nd line would still be good defensively, but would have significantly more offensive pop than they do now with Marleau at center. Ward down to the 4th lets Zubrus sit, so he can be brought in as needed if someone needs a rest, and should at worst keep the 4th line neutral compared to how it is now, and might even improve it.

Pick up a depth D in case of injury, and maybe a cheap backup goalie, (or give Dell the shot to replace Stalock) and I think the Sharks would have a real shot of doing some damage in the playoffs, and probably be a serious contender. Certainly would be the best top-to-bottom forward group we've ever had, and probably the best top-6 D group too.

 

[do0glas]

Karlsson did not look good on the first line this year...like he pretty clearly did not belong.

5 ES in 200 min 70%gf 52% FF 2 gf 0.85 Ga/60

Simply put you're wrong.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

5 ES in 200 min 70%gf 52% FF 2 gf 0.85 Ga/60

Simply put you're wrong.

Check WOWYs. Thornton and Pavelski have better GF%, CF% without him than with him.

Hertl improves their CF% and GF%. Thornton 86.7% GF% with Hertl on the ice. That's why you keep them together.

 

[Sharksfan83]

XXX-Thornton-Pavelski
Marleau-Hertl-XXX
Donskoi-Couture-XXX

Fill in with Ward, Karlsson, Nieto, Wingels, Zubrus, trade acquisition, etc. That's how this team should be built. Top duos can produce with any decent third wheel. Just look at Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, or the Sedin twins, or Getzlaf and Perry. Not saying any of these duos except Thornton/Pavelski are on that level but considering they wouldn't need to be, it should work.

Donskoi and Couture are great together. I hope they're a long-term pairing.

Agree, the only thing though is, I like Hertl on the top line. It really makes that top line comparable to any top line in the league. Although we have depth, imagine if Nieto and Wingels happened to take the step we've been waiting for this year...

 

[do0glas]

Check WOWYs. Thornton and Pavelski have better GF%, CF% without him than with him.

Hertl improves their CF% and GF%. Thornton 86.7% GF% with Hertl on the ice. That's why you keep them together.

Your assertion was that he wasn't good on that line. Not that he was worse than hertl.

 

[Alwalys]

Your assertion was that he wasn't good on that line. Not that he was worse than hertl.

I'd say dragging down thornton and pavelski isn't good.

 

[Sideshow Raheem]

You have to be horrible to make Thornton and Pavelski operate at 52% FF. Karlsson barely deserves to be in the NHL let alone our ****ing first line.

 

[do0glas]

I'd say dragging down thornton and pavelski isn't good.

Dragging them down 4%? I'd agree with you if he was dragging him below 50%. Secondly hertl has played with a different jumbo.

I say it's worth trying. The payoff would be a lot bigger if you get offense from karlsson while having hertl driving his line. Which in turn would mean marleau is probably scoring.

 

[ScottyDont]

Dragging them down 4%? I'd agree with you if he was dragging him below 50%. Secondly hertl has played with a different jumbo.

I say it's worth trying. The payoff would be a lot bigger if you get offense from karlsson while having hertl driving his line. Which in turn would mean marleau is probably scoring.

Karlsson also had an injury that kept him out of training camp and the preseason right? Maybe he's taken a bit to get back up to full steam?

 

[do0glas]

Karlsson also had an injury that kept him out of training camp and the preseason right? Maybe he's taken a bit to get back up to full steam?

I think so. Even with that he's 7th in p/60 on our team. He's doing well.

The line matching payoff alone makes it worth it.

 

[tahoesharksfan]

To get this thread back on topic...I'm more and more impressed with Donskoi every game! He's definitely a beast on the ice!

 

[OrrNumber4]

To get this thread back on topic...I'm more and more impressed with Donskoi every game! He's definitely a beast on the ice!

He still needs to work on a more judicious use of his stickhandling. There were a few times tonight where Donskoi would try and stickhandle, and the TBL defense should just shove him against the boards and take the puck.

 

[Timos Death Stare]

He still needs to work on a more judicious use of his stickhandling. There were a few times tonight where Donskoi would try and stickhandle, and the TBL defense should just shove him against the boards and take the puck.

And his shot - he needs some lessons from Pavs. His shot is one of the least powerful/accurate shots o the team.

THe one saving grace is that he is rapidly learning and improving as time goes on. Far exceeded my expectations.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

What do you guys think of this assessment and these comparisons?

Joonas Donskoi: Before thinking that Donskoi is enjoying a sustainable breakout, consider this list of young Sharks forwards who’ve had temporary periods of good production over the past few years: Matthew Nieto, Melker Karlsson, Tommy Wingels. You should play the odds and use Donskoi’s current stretch of 13 points in 16 games to sell high before he too is added to this undistinguished list.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/fantasy-buy-low-sell-high-time-to-shop-dustin-byfuglien/

 

[hockeyball]

What do you guys think of this assessment and these comparisons?

Joonas Donskoi: Before thinking that Donskoi is enjoying a sustainable breakout, consider this list of young Sharks forwards who’ve had temporary periods of good production over the past few years: Matthew Nieto, Melker Karlsson, Tommy Wingels. You should play the odds and use Donskoi’s current stretch of 13 points in 16 games to sell high before he too is added to this undistinguished list.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/fantasy-buy-low-sell-high-time-to-shop-dustin-byfuglien/

I think it's pretty uninformed.

Nieto is a good player, he's not putting up the points, but he never really has. He is a very valuable player in his role. I think he may grow to produce in the 40p range in the future, but right now he's still a really good third liner.

Karlsson played with Thornton during that stretch, enough said. Even so, he's still a highly effective player on the 4th line.

Wingels is the only somewhat apt comparison, and I have no idea what's going on with him. Wingels high production came kind of randomly at the beginning of last season. It wasn't his first season or anything, and he's fallen off a cliff again since. I don't know what that was about, or what happened since, but Donskoi has an entirely different skill set.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

What do you guys think of this assessment and these comparisons?

Joonas Donskoi: Before thinking that Donskoi is enjoying a sustainable breakout, consider this list of young Sharks forwards who’ve had temporary periods of good production over the past few years: Matthew Nieto, Melker Karlsson, Tommy Wingels. You should play the odds and use Donskoi’s current stretch of 13 points in 16 games to sell high before he too is added to this undistinguished list.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/fantasy-buy-low-sell-high-time-to-shop-dustin-byfuglien/

Pointless comparisons. None of them have the same skill set that Donskoi has. Donskoi is far more suited to continue producing with how he plays than Nieto, Karlsson, or Wingels. None of them can really touch Donskoi's skills. The fact that isn't even mentioned is also an issue.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Donskoi has produced at over 0.5PPG in his first 50 NHL games and is our leading scorer per 60 minutes at even strength.

Horrible comparison but it's to be expected from those types of articles, lol. Those types of articles are dumb because nobody really has that much knowledge regarding the less important players on teams they don't watch very often, so they look at statistics and make comparisons and connections like that that don't actually make any sense in the real world, lol. Somebody trying to talk about what all 30 teams need and what they should do is a terrible idea.

EDIT: Didn't see that that was an article about fantasy hockey. My point still stands...kind of.

 

[Barrie22]

Donskoi has produced at over 0.5PPG in his first 50 NHL games and is our leading scorer per 60 minutes at even strength.

Horrible comparison but it's to be expected from those types of articles, lol. Those types of articles are dumb because nobody really has that much knowledge regarding the less important players on teams they don't watch very often, so they look at statistics and make comparisons and connections like that that don't actually make any sense in the real world, lol. Somebody trying to talk about what all 30 teams need and what they should do is a terrible idea.

EDIT: Didn't see that that was an article about fantasy hockey. My point still stands...kind of.

I believe he is writing the article for people buying donskoi while he is on a tear 13 points in his last 16 games. I like donskoi but i honestly do not think he will ever be a 60+ point forward (which is the pace he is producing at right now over a 82 game season.)

 

[Jargon]

This also isn't some kind of outlier season for Donskoi. If you look at his stats from Karpat, he's regularly produced well. His last year at Karpat he particularly excelled. So I wouldn't say that this is some kind of unusual production for him, I think, if anything, he's only going to get better and better.

 

[DaJackal]

This also isn't some kind of outlier season for Donskoi. If you look at his stats from Karpat, he's regularly produced well. His last year at Karpat he particularly excelled. So I wouldn't say that this is some kind of unusual production for him, I think, if anything, he's only going to get better and better.

Correct. Lack of a good shot prevents him from being a first liner in NHL but his dangles and playmaking abilities make him a good 2nd/3rd line winger, and great special teams material.

I am specifically happy for the fact that his conditioning seems fine. 50ish games in and he is showing no signs of fatigue, which is sometimes the case for guys coming from euro leagues (for example: Jori Lehterä's first NHL season).

Florida must be at least to some extent pissed that they couldn't sign him. Had they done that the Panthers would have a trio of Barkov, Donskoi & Jussi Jokinen (+throw Pirri in the mix). I don't think any NHL team wanted to go against that group in a shootout.

 

[LeeIFBB]

He doesn't play like a 23 year old NHL rookie.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

He made the Finnish World Championship team. Nice.