That was a good run. The Sharks overachieved. Let's not kid ourselves, our D and our 3rd/4th lines were not championship material and frankly not normally SCF material. Vlasic, while amazing defensively, literally shoots worse than beer leaguers. With Burns not getting his shots through, the rest of the defense could be completely ignored in the penguins zone.
The lack of physicality on the 3rd/4th lines compared with already non-physical 1st/2nd lines meant that Letang pretty much got to play shinny out there logging huge, high quality minutes all series. Honestly, if Pitt said this was the softest team they played in the playoffs I couldn't really argue it.
Overall tho, I'm pretty happy with this season. Good playoffs everyone, fun season.
Really couldn't disagree more! One good thing about the Penguins winning the cup is it can finally put ridiculous arguments like this to rest. You don't need superstars in every position of your lineup. You don't need a Marty Brodeur in net, and you don't need multiple Norris trophy candidates. There is no single ingredient for a team to win the Stanley Cup. The Penguins have Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Kessel and then a bunch of solid players, no different than the Sharks. In fact I'd argue the Sharks are the better team on paper. The Penguins spread their top talent throughout the lineup and the filler players stepped up, plain and simple.
You are going to claim our 3rd/4th lines and 3rd D pairing are weak but not acknowledge the mediocre players on the Penguins who are playing way over their heads? Just take a look at the Pens D. With Daley out, they have 2 maybe 3 guys who are justifiable top 4 guys. Up front they have guys who were basically AHLers until the 2nd half of this season and could easily return to being 10 goal players while playing in their top 6.
The Sharks lineup was 100% more built for a Cup than the Penguins was and arguments like this show that certain fans never want to account for momentum, matchups, hot streaks or simply gelling at the right time.
Does anyone think Bonino is going to be nearly a point-per-game player next season? Or Rust and Sheary becoming top 6 forwards like they're slotted in the lineup? Please.
This team had a D-man who was cast off from the OILERS. And yes, Shultz has offensive abilities but no one in their right mind would have thought he'd slot in the top 6 of a Cup winning team.
So no we did not "over-achieved". The only people who will believe this are the ones who argue the rigid rules such as a cup winning team must have ____, ____ & _____ and to be fair this year I think we had those typical guidelines (1-2 Norris d-men, good #1 & #2 Center and a great goalie).
This years team simply achieved. As Sharks fans we've been brain washed by past seasons to think the Sharks are cursed and cannot win and then we undervalue our team/players searching for some desperate reason why we didn't win. The team this year was built to go all the way and they almost did. There isn't a team in the West that I look at and think, "we should have lost to them".
Our top 4 D is as good as pretty much any top 4 in the league and I'd argue on the level of any top 4 of the past few Cup winners. Our forward group has great depth, top end talent and players good to great in both ends of the ice. We have what looks like a world class goalie. This team is built to win.
