2019-20 season previews

Kcoyote3

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Apr 3, 2012
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"The thing with [Dylan] is that he's so good with a 200-foot game and he wants to please the coaching staff, he wants to make sure everything's safe," Sharks director of scouting Ron Wilson Jr. said.

Boy that’s something. A young Ron Wilson
 

Patty Ice

Straight to the Banc
Feb 27, 2002
13,854
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Not California
"The thing with [Dylan] is that he's so good with a 200-foot game and he wants to please the coaching staff, he wants to make sure everything's safe," Sharks director of scouting Ron Wilson Jr. said.

Boy that’s something. A young Ron Wilson

Would you have Ron Wilson Jr or PDB as coach?
 
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themelkman

Always Delivers
Apr 26, 2015
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The top prospects article is pretty weird. They predict Merkley plays with us this year but Ferraro wont be ready for two more seasons. Also Dahlen playing in the NHL next year seems like a huge reach atm.
 
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boredatwork

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Oct 7, 2013
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The top prospects article is pretty weird. They predict Merkley plays with us this year but Ferraro wont be ready for two more seasons. Also Dahlen playing in the NHL next year seems like a huge reach atm.

Looking at most of the prospect reports, there are so many guys that have a legit shot at cracking the roster. Heed and Prout will battle Middleton, DeSimone, Ferraro, and maybe even Carrick and Sund. Admittedly, I have not watched a ton of Merkley, but I think he'd be fine as a third paring pmd anchoring the 2nd PP this season. Giving him another year is not terrible either as his strength and d game need work. I believe that the Sharks are highly valuing d-zone exits as a skill for their d.

For forwards, there are so many options that Goodrow, Melker, and Radil better watch out. I'm super high on True if his skating holds and numerous prospect reports seem to agree that this is his time. Gambrell seems like a lock and I could see him filling in as a top 6 winger with his shot. My guess is that the Ch-twins start in the AHL and the org waits and sees if one of them forces themselves onto the roster like LaBanc did his rookie year.

If the Sharks feel like Burns, Karlsson, Couture, Meier, Hertl, and Kane is enough firepower to make the playoffs, I think they will be patient with the youth before making a move at the deadline to replace Pavs.
 
Mar 1, 2002
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2019-20 NHL Season Preview: San Jose Sharks

Paywall. The Athletic previews the Sharks (as their #12 team).

Meier grades out as the team’s best forward at exactly three wins, an elite rate. When you think “elite forward,” Meier is probably not who immediately comes to mind, but he’s building a very solid case. It stems primarily from his ability to create chances for himself and he’s establishing himself as one of the league’s best in that regard, earning 1.1 individual expected goals per 60 at 5-on-5 last year, second in the league behind only Brendan Gallagher. Over the last three seasons, he’s one of just four players to average over one per 60.

That’s led to Meier having the league’s eighth largest projected offensive impact by expected goals, behind dignitaries like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Auston Matthews and Mark Stone. That’s incredible company to be in and it didn’t happen overnight. He’s been driving expected goals since he stepped foot in the league, growing stronger with every season.

Last year it finally translated on the scoresheet with a career-high 66 points as he finished top 20 in goals per 60 at 5-on-5 and with some solid playmaking, finished top 20 in points per 60, too. He was two spots ahead of Leon Draisaitl, a 105-point scorer. With Pavelski gone, there’s a spot open on the team’s top power play with Meier’s name on it and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see him do even bigger damage there and add to that point total with more opportunity. That he managed over 60 points despite only getting 37 percent of the available ice time there is impressive.
 

tiburon12

Registered User
Jul 18, 2009
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I think Dom's model and writeup are a fair analysis of the state of the Sharks this year.
some thoughts on what i think he overlooked
  • Poor defensive output from Couture and Vlasic (for example) will likely be a one-off should Jones rebound reasonably well and Boughner come in (he mentioned this a little but not enough emphasis)
  • What makes Jumbo so effective is his ability to slow down the game and use his brains and size to best weaker players. It's likely that he will be facing 3rd pairing and 3/4 line forwards, which sets him up well to continue to good offensive production. Defense is a different topic
I did like his roast of Melker. Kinda wish he mentioned his PKing, but everything else was eloquent gold
 
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Doctor Soraluce

Registered User
Sep 28, 2017
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I think Dom's model and writeup are a fair analysis of the state of the Sharks this year.
some thoughts on what i think he overlooked
  • Poor defensive output from Couture and Vlasic (for example) will likely be a one-off should Jones rebound reasonably well and Boughner come in (he mentioned this a little but not enough emphasis)
  • What makes Jumbo so effective is his ability to slow down the game and use his brains and size to best weaker players. It's likely that he will be facing 3rd pairing and 3/4 line forwards, which sets him up well to continue to good offensive production. Defense is a different topic
I did like his roast of Melker. Kinda wish he mentioned his PKing, but everything else was eloquent gold
I get that predicting the prospects success is nearly impossible but the Sharks have so many that may contribute. If they get 20 to 30 goals out of the combination of players that fill in in the one open spot in the top 6 and get 45 to 50 goals from out of Brodinski, Jumbo and Sorenson along with better defensive play and a better team GAA this team will be challenging for the top 3 playoff spots in the conference again. Of course health matters a ton too especially as it relates to the big dollar players. As far the D goes, I don't see any spots available for young guys at this time. Heed is going to start on the 3rd pair IMO and Prout will ride the pine waiting for an injury or a heavy team so he can come in and punch people. None of the other young D are ready, especially Merkley. Ferraro is all over the place and will need to learn to play in the system. His speed won't be nearly so noticeable at the NHL level and he looks like he's going to be way out of position far too much to be trusted yet. If one of the other prospect D make the team later my money would be on someone like Sund or maybe Knyzhov. Someone with pro experience. Simek and Heed both made it before any other system D prospects likely due to their experience.
 

TomasHertlsRooster

Don’t say eye test when you mean points
May 14, 2012
33,360
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I think Dom's model and writeup are a fair analysis of the state of the Sharks this year.
some thoughts on what i think he overlooked
  • Poor defensive output from Couture and Vlasic (for example) will likely be a one-off should Jones rebound reasonably well and Boughner come in (he mentioned this a little but not enough emphasis)
  • What makes Jumbo so effective is his ability to slow down the game and use his brains and size to best weaker players. It's likely that he will be facing 3rd pairing and 3/4 line forwards, which sets him up well to continue to good offensive production. Defense is a different topic
I did like his roast of Melker. Kinda wish he mentioned his PKing, but everything else was eloquent gold

I think Dom gave the team a fair shake but more importantly, he came off as knowledgeable enough that I can respect how he came to form an opinion that I didn’t agree with, even if I didn’t agree. For example, I felt like Jumbo actually came on stronger in the second half of the season, and I started to raise an eyebrow when Dom said he fell off in the second half. But Dom explained that he did see a bump in scoring, but that was mostly due to a jump in oiSH%, and his xGF% dropped heavily.

I think he should’ve gone into better detail regarding Heed and Prout, but from what I can tell, he probably pulled the roster directly from Kevin Kurz’s opening night projected roster, so it makes sense why he set up the group the way that he did. I still would’ve liked to see him at least add something along the lines of “SJ has Dalton Prout in their projected lineup, but they’ve also got Tim Heed waiting in the ranks, and he’s an underrated player who’s shown over a decent sample that he’s above replacement level, unlike Prout.”, but compared to the other previews, this one is pretty good.
 
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Lebanezer

I'unno? Coast Guard?
Jul 24, 2006
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San Jose
I think Dom gave the team a fair shake but more importantly, he came off as knowledgeable enough that I can respect how he came to form an opinion that I didn’t agree with, even if I didn’t agree. For example, I felt like Jumbo actually came on stronger in the second half of the season, and I started to raise an eyebrow when Dom said he fell off in the second half. But Dom explained that he did see a bump in scoring, but that was mostly due to a jump in oiSH%, and his xGF% dropped heavily.

I think he should’ve gone into better detail regarding Heed and Prout, but from what I can tell, he probably pulled the roster directly from Kevin Kurz’s opening night projected roster, so it makes sense why he set up the group the way that he did. I still would’ve liked to see him at least add something along the lines of “SJ has Dalton Prout in their projected lineup, but they’ve also got Tim Heed waiting in the ranks, and he’s an underrated player who’s shown over a decent sample that he’s above replacement level, unlike Prout.”, but compared to the other previews, this one is pretty good.
Also, he can’t have Melker in the top 9. That’s just wrong.
 

Lebanezer

I'unno? Coast Guard?
Jul 24, 2006
14,756
10,263
San Jose
Yeah. Because apparently he has experience in the top-6. I think they are forgetting the fact that Jumbo was still a 1C when that happened in 2014-15.
That doesn’t make any sense. Joe Thornton has experience as a top 6 forward and he was great at it, why don’t they plug him into that role?
 

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