Speculation: 2019-2020 Sharks Roster Discussion Part 8

[Sjsharks5]

I think id rather start moving Vlasic to the third next year and give Ferraro time with EK65

May work out, but IMO that still leaves the issue of having a driver on the 3rd pairing. I consider myself a “defender” of Vlasic relative to the opinion of most HF Sharks fans, but he definitely isn’t going to be a driver on any defensive pair. Even in his prime, Vlasic never thrived on moving the puck up and out of the defensive zone, let alone up the ice like EK65 does. Ferraro shows the poise, skating ability and intuition to move the puck up ice that could drive a pairing, even if Ferraro may not have shown a whole lot of upside in the offensive zone.

I understand he’s not untouchable, but he’s also someone, like Hertl used to be, that has more value to us then on the market. Now unlike hertl who had lowered external value because of injuries hampering his production early in his career, Merkley has lower value due to his “attitude”.

I admittedly haven’t watched a lot of Merkley tape, but my impression is that his biggest deficit isn’t attitude, but his lack of effort and ability in his own end. As much as I love Burns and EK65, I’m not naive; they both have significant moments of difficulty in their own zone. I personally don’t feel comfortable with adding Merkley to the lineup if he’s going to a liability in the d zone. Heed has his moments, but he hasn’t been a liability.

 

[Doctor Soraluce]

I admittedly haven’t watched a lot of Merkley tape, but my impression is that his biggest deficit isn’t attitude, but his lack of effort and ability in his own end. As much as I love Burns and EK65, I’m not naive; they both have significant moments of difficulty in their own zone. I personally don’t feel comfortable with adding Merkley to the lineup if he’s going to a liability in the d zone. Heed has his moments, but he hasn’t been a liability.

Yes, he has. Maybe not in these last couple games where he is admittedly playing very well but he has quite often been the guy standing near the opponents goal scorer while doing nothing. He hasn't been trusted for very good reason.

 

[hohosaregood]

queue clip of Heed getting caught puck watching

 

[Barrie22]

queue clip of Heed getting caught puck watching

My main issue with that clip is vlasic, why in the hell was he above the faceoff circle 10 feet away from his man (original shot taker).

Heed was slow to get to the rebound, but he couldn't really leave his original spot because he was the last man between the original shooter and the net while also being the last man back between the one who got the rebound.

 

[Dicdonya]

I admittedly haven’t watched a lot of Merkley tape, but my impression is that his biggest deficit isn’t attitude, but his lack of effort and ability in his own end. As much as I love Burns and EK65, I’m not naive; they both have significant moments of difficulty in their own zone. I personally don’t feel comfortable with adding Merkley to the lineup if he’s going to a liability in the d zone. Heed has his moments, but he hasn’t been a liability.

That’s fair. I get that argument.

Doesn’t matter now, because Merkley got hurt this preseason so who knows what would have happened, but I think Merkley was already better than Heed, and at least par or near par defensively.

That may not be a popular opinion I don’t know, but in the very limited time he had this preseason he was easily the most noticeable Dman at camp, with only Ferraro being competition in that regard. I never expect Merkley to be good defensively, but I absolutely think he can be good enough to be a net neutral in the defensive zone and seriously positive everywhere else.

That being said, I totally understand wanting to have someone a bit more sound defensively to anchor the third pairing since we already have two uh.... entertaining defenders on the team already. To be clear though that’s not what the other poster was saying, and not what I was arguing against.

As for his attitude issues I agree some of the complaints are his defensive effort level, but there is undoubtedly a component that is just strictly people thinking he is a punk, asshat, who is uncoachable and yells at coach’s and teammates. I don’t think teams would have been so scared of him if it was simply a defensive effort issue, as many teams would assume/hope they could fix that with proper coaching and growing up and would take that chance to acquire a player with Merkley’s talents. The fact that he was reportedly straight up removed from draft boards, has to be something more serious than simply defensive effort issues from a 17yo offensive defenseman. Imo.

 

[Agent Zub]

queue clip of Heed getting caught puck watching

i dunno lol heed may be the last one to blame on that goal

 

[Makaveli]

Any update on Hertl?

 

[Barrie22]

Any update on Hertl?

Looks like he is in tonight along with ferraro.

 

[themelkman]

Pirri on waivers today and we are 6th on the list

 

[Friday]

Pirri on waivers today and we are 6th on the list

Pirri is not good but 6th position on waivers is sweet haha

 

[dingbathero]

Pirri is not good but 6th position on waivers is sweet haha

If Pirri has a space to release he is lethal. He lacks the complete game.

 

[Doctor Soraluce]

My main issue with that clip is vlasic, why in the hell was he above the faceoff circle 10 feet away from his man (original shot taker).

Heed was slow to get to the rebound, but he couldn't really leave his original spot because he was the last man between the original shooter and the net while also being the last man back between the one who got the rebound.

Let's be realistic, it shouldn't be hard to find clips of Heeds traffic cone version of playing defense...

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

This is quite hilarious. The statistic that Kurz sorted these goaltenders by has nothing to do with expected goals, and he posted only 5-on-5 data. At all situations, Jones has actually allowed 14 goals on 14.88 expected goals since November 4th, which means that he is playing above average over that arbitrary sample by the metric that Kurz is using.

 

[DG93]

View attachment 278363

This is quite hilarious. The statistic that Kurz sorted these goaltenders by has nothing to do with expected goals, and he posted only 5-on-5 data. At all situations, Jones has actually allowed 14 goals on 14.88 expected goals since November 4th, which means that he is playing above average over that arbitrary sample by the metric that Kurz is using.

Cut KK some slack, it's the first time he's ever tried "burying his head in a spreadsheet." It's harder than it looks...

 

[Sjsharks5]

Yes, he has. Maybe not in these last couple games where he is admittedly playing very well but he has quite often been the guy standing near the opponents goal scorer while doing nothing. He hasn't been trusted for very good reason.

Same can really be said of Karlsson, honestly. I think Heed has had struggles in defensive zone coverage, and has also had struggle clearing the zone, but that can be said of ALL Sharks defensemen this season. Let’s be real here, the entire team was a defensive train wreck and can be blamed for all of the same struggles that Heed has had.

I’m not even a Heed fan, don’t get me wrong. In my ideal world, neither he nor Merkley sniff the lineup unless Merkley can prove he’s not a liability. Heed, at this point, may not necessarily be a liability but he sure ain’t very good. I do admit that even though I’m pretty cold on Merkley, he does have significantly more potential. Just don’t want either of them in the lineup when Ferraro has been so steady

 

[Lebanezer]

Is anyone else terrified?

 

[themelkman]

Is anyone else terrified?

Its going to haunt my dreams tonight

 

[hohosaregood]

Is anyone else terrified?

Yea...he's coming back.

 

[LA Shark]

 

[Levie]

I won't watch another game this year if Haley is claimed.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Yea...he's coming back.

If they wanted Haley back they would have just signed him. Would be very surprised to see us claim him.

 

[hohosaregood]

If they wanted Haley back they would have just signed him. Would be very surprised to see us claim him.

I mean...that's exactly what we thought last year.

 

[Lebanezer]

If they wanted Haley back they would have just signed him. Would be very surprised to see us claim him.

They sent down Gregor today and didn’t call anyone else up....

 

[Patty Ice]

They sent down Gregor today and didn’t call anyone else up....

Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill and give the worriers more ammo. Gregor will be back up after the Barracuda game.

 

[CupfortheSharks]

They sent Gregor down so he could play today with the Cuda. There is no need for a 13th forward on the roster today or tomorrow. I expect the will recall Gregor or another forward before their next game on Tuesday.