Erik Karlsson (Part 6)

[KirbyDots]

Couture needs to be a good captain and buy Burns a new Snake or tattoo to cheer him up and help him get his mojo back.

Or a snake tattoo!

 

[slocal]

Maybe he's doing keto and he's just got that keto flu

 

[The Nemesis]

Or a snake tattoo!

View attachment 287629

Gotta fix things somehow. I heard something happened to Burns in Cleveland.

 

[Erep]

Vlasic - Karlssons has been absolute dominance but maybe they should shake it up to get the other pairs going.

Vlasic with Burns.

And Karlssons with Simek or Dillion.

Dillion he already has chemistry with and proven they can be a top pair. While Simeks keep it simple playstyle would mesh with Karlssons as well.

This is how you go 4-10-1.

This team is built to win by having 2 dominant pairings tilt the ice for 25 minutes each, and wear down the other team. To start the season, the team had 0. Since Vlasic and Karlsson were paired up, it has had 1, and gone 11-3-1. Yes, to be successful in playoffs it will need both of them, but splitting up the one that is working is how to go back to 0.

If things start to fall apart again, you can look to shake things up, but right now Karlsson and Vlasic are carrying the team back to a playoff spot. You don't mess the one thing you have going for you up.

 

[Agent Zub]

This is how you go 4-10-1.

This team is built to win by having 2 dominant pairings tilt the ice for 25 minutes each, and wear down the other team. To start the season, the team had 0. Since Vlasic and Karlsson were paired up, it has had 1, and gone 11-3-1. Yes, to be successful in playoffs it will need both of them, but splitting up the one that is working is how to go back to 0.

If things start to fall apart again, you can look to shake things up, but right now Karlsson and Vlasic are carrying the team back to a playoff spot. You don't mess the one thing you have going for you up.

True but Karlsson wasn't playing like he is right now at the beginning of the season. If you put in Dillion it's still gonna be a dominant pairing like it was last year, but it also gives Burns a chance to steady himself with Vlasic. And hopefully have two dominant pairings again.

But yea it is tough to break maybe the best pairing in the league.

 

[Mattb124]

Burns and Simek were great last year, I'd let them play through it and see what comes. Breaking up a dominant pairing in the hope of getting other guys going isn't the way to do it IMO. Hell, half the board would demand PDB firing for such a thing.

 

[hohosaregood]

I think we should see what Ferraro-Burns does for a little while before deciding to break up our top pairing. Burns' numbers with Ferraro last game were light years ahead of the Simek-Burns pairing. Burns has just been doing so many dumb things defensively this year. Bad pinches, bad positioning, bad stick checks, bad clears. I hate it.

 

[Red Light Lover]

I think we should see what Ferraro-Burns does for a little while before deciding to break up our top pairing. Burns' numbers with Ferraro last game were light years ahead of the Simek-Burns pairing. Burns has just been doing so many dumb things defensively this year. Bad pinches, bad positioning, bad stick checks, bad clears. I hate it.

Ferraro makes way too many rookie mistakes. Every single game is cringe worthy. His saving grace has usually been his tenacity for recovery. Pairing him with Burns right now is asking for trouble. Simek or Vlassic are the best options at this point.

 

[Mattb124]

Vlasic and Burns has been tried and I for one am not excited to see that experiment repeated.

 

[Jargon]

Vlasic and Burns has been tried and I for one am not excited to see that experiment repeated.

they were awesome in the playoffs.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Dillon-Karlsson worked in the past.

 

[Barrie22]

Vlasic and Burns has been tried and I for one am not excited to see that experiment repeated.

They shut down stone later in the vegas series and then shut down mackinnon.

 

[Chimpradamus]

The more I see the Sharks play, the more I wonder why the coach wants Karlsson to play like he's Derian Hatcher, dubbed "the gliding outhouse" by a Swedish commentator in an international tournament. Why the hell do you sign an extremely mobile, skilled, hard working, smart defenseman to play like he's working the treadmill at a vehicle factory for double digit millions? It's unbelievable to watch. Burns is also suffering for the same reasons.

Highlight after highlight, I just see Karlsson standing grabbing the board in the offensive zone - just frigging standing there - or standing like a statue by his own net in the defensive zone, doing nothing. This guy was always in the top in takeaways and also won blocked shots at one point. In San Jose, he's only winning the "looking like a statue" award.

It almost looks like a statement by this point, like some malicious compliance by Karlsson's part. "You want me to play like this, DeBoer? OK, I'll play EXACTLY like you want me to, because it's so frigging dumb I'm fuming."

WTH is going on? If you buy Karlsson, why do you play him like he's some 3rd pairing defenseman with a good pass? It's ridiculous.

How about joining the rush? How about cycling? How about rotation? How about timely pinches? Nope. Hug the board, outlet pass, hug the net. Just great. WTF is going on?

You have two of the best offensive defensemen in the world and you coach them like this? It's incomprehensible. No wonder the Sharks suck right now. Your two best players are instructed to play like static morons and your opponents know how to counter it BEFORE they are told by their coach, because the Sharks game plan is just that simple, basic and fluid like an iron meteorite.

If you play against Karlsson, you just pressure the boards and you crash the net. You win. Your move, DeBoer. Oh, no answer? Oh. It's painful to watch how badly utilized Karlsson and Burns are in San Jose.

 

[fasterthanlight]

You have two of the best offensive defensemen in the world and you coach them like this? It's incomprehensible. No wonder the Sharks suck right now. Your two best players are instructed to play like static morons and your opponents know how to counter it BEFORE they are told by their coach, because the Sharks game plan is just that simple, basic and fluid like an iron meteorite.

Woah woah woah, are you saying that it's *bad* to exclusively use Erik "11.5M" Karlsson to stand at the point, and pass to labanc and couture so they can take a low-percentage, predictable shot? What else could Erik ****ing Karlsson do on the powerplay, then?

 

[SENSability]

Actually . . . what I don't understand is . . . when he's rushing up the ice and then suddenly stops dead in his tracks at the blue line . . . what the hell is that? and . . . who's telling him to do that? That's NOT how Erik plays!

You've got a thoroughbred and you're using him like a Clydesdale! . . . Clydesdales are beautiful but they certainly don't have the finesse, speed, spirit or agility of a thoroughbred.

 

[tealzamboni]

I hope Boughner's new strategy is:
1. Protect the middle of the ice
2. Protect the players
3. Let Karlsson, Burns, Hertl do whatever they want
4. Everyone shoot at the net

 

[Blackbear]

The more I see the Sharks play, the more I wonder why the coach wants Karlsson to play like he's Derian Hatcher, dubbed "the gliding outhouse" by a Swedish commentator in an international tournament. Why the hell do you sign an extremely mobile, skilled, hard working, smart defenseman to play like he's working the treadmill at a vehicle factory for double digit millions? It's unbelievable to watch. Burns is also suffering for the same reasons.

Highlight after highlight, I just see Karlsson standing grabbing the board in the offensive zone - just frigging standing there - or standing like a statue by his own net in the defensive zone, doing nothing. This guy was always in the top in takeaways and also won blocked shots at one point. In San Jose, he's only winning the "looking like a statue" award.

It almost looks like a statement by this point, like some malicious compliance by Karlsson's part. "You want me to play like this, DeBoer? OK, I'll play EXACTLY like you want me to, because it's so frigging dumb I'm fuming."

WTH is going on? If you buy Karlsson, why do you play him like he's some 3rd pairing defenseman with a good pass? It's ridiculous.

How about joining the rush? How about cycling? How about rotation? How about timely pinches? Nope. Hug the board, outlet pass, hug the net. Just great. WTF is going on?

You have two of the best offensive defensemen in the world and you coach them like this? It's incomprehensible. No wonder the Sharks suck right now. Your two best players are instructed to play like static morons and your opponents know how to counter it BEFORE they are told by their coach, because the Sharks game plan is just that simple, basic and fluid like an iron meteorite.

If you play against Karlsson, you just pressure the boards and you crash the net. You win. Your move, DeBoer. Oh, no answer? Oh. It's painful to watch how badly utilized Karlsson and Burns are in San Jose.

You’ve put your thumb on it exactly : “WTH is going on? If you buy Karlsson, why do you play him like he's some 3rd pairing defenseman with a good pass?” The most accurate description of Karlsson’s game I’ve read yet.

 

[Chimpradamus]

I hope Boughner's new strategy is:
1. Protect the middle of the ice
2. Protect the players
3. Let Karlsson, Burns, Hertl do whatever they want
4. Everyone shoot at the net

Number 3 is the emphasis. Here's the thing. Great offensive defensemen are doing great on other teams, because so many teams are collapsing when you establish pressure on them. It's natural, if you're under siege and you lose control, you become passive and shrink. Everything goes too fast in the game and they cannot react fast enough. They become positional if you keep the speed up - and they will lose that position somewhere under pressure. Players are also notoriously bad at keeping track of players in the back, 180 degrees away from the puck.

That's why...
1) ... pinching , offensive defensemen in the offensive zone can have guys like Carlson and Makar having a picnic in todays game.

2) ... rotation is so important. SJ needs to allow Burns and Karlsson to rotate in, softly roam and look for open spots for a high quality scoring chance. Someone has to take responsibility defensively for that quick rotation. As long as people are moving and not standing like statues, things will happen and you will at least have a plan if everything fails. You need to allow your best players to take risks and have a more free, roaming role, because they're at the best position to do it. The D-men have the best, uncontested view of the offensive zone of all the players.

It's much more difficult to shut down an offensive defenseman than a forward, because they're back out lurking. You can't reach them.

3) ... joining the rush are unique opportunities to score easy goals. You just have to allow Karlsson and Burns the free reign to join the rush if they feel it's the right thing to do. It's criminal to not allow it. So many goals are not scored if you don't allow it. It's the job of the coach to teach the players further back how to baby sit that to happen, what they should do if it fails and how to rotate back in if possession is kept.

4) ... 200 ft pressure lets Karlsson loose. Allow Karlsson his roaming defensive role also. Let him lurk the neutral zone, let him be a hound in the defensive zone and do his thing. He can steal pucks, he can create counterattacks and he can block a ton of shots. He should never, ever be used as a positional player, or a crease clearer. Let him roam 200ft of the ice and more good things will happen than bad, guaranteed. Erik Karlsson is the most anti-positional player in the game at his best, but he does it really good. So let him be the joker.

DeBoer played chess. Too bad the game is hockey. San Jose needs a coach that knows he has to allow his best players to play the game to the maximum of their abilities. The rest of the team is there to support good things to happen. Relying on your game on offensive defensemen is an unique situation. That requires a coach that understands the modern game.

 

[Jargon]

It’s true that we have two of the game’s best offensive defenseman and both are playing this weird handcuffed brand of hockey instead of letting them play their game and dominate. If the two played the way they can play, they’d make up for more than a few of our deficiencies.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

(Genuine question, I come in peace)

How has Erik Karlsson been since the coaching change? I watched a lot of Karlsson last year, and while I'm not the most knowledgeable hockey guy, to me it looked like he had to adapt his game to fit into DeBoer's system. He was really good after settling in before getting hurt, but he didn't seem to be playing the same style as he did in Ottawa where Boucher built an entire system around him.

I haven't had a chance to watch much San Jose since then, and I am curious. I don't trust main board hyperbole for evaluations of Karlsson.

Thanks.

 

[one2gamble]

(Genuine question, I come in peace)

How has Erik Karlsson been since the coaching change? I watched a lot of Karlsson last year, and while I'm not the most knowledgeable hockey guy, to me it looked like he had to adapt his game to fit into DeBoer's system. He was really good after settling in before getting hurt, but he didn't seem to be playing the same style as he did in Ottawa where Boucher built an entire system around him.

I haven't had a chance to watch much San Jose since then, and I am curious. I don't trust main board hyperbole for evaluations of Karlsson.

Thanks.

Other then the catastrophic brain fart that always ends up in the back of the net he's been very good.

Our forwards are still to stupid to be of use though

 

[hohosaregood]

Other then the catastrophic brain fart that always ends up in the back of the net he's been very good.

Our forwards are still to stupid to be of use though

Yea it's been like 95% really good and then 5% catastrophic failures that people use to highlight how EK65 sucks donkey farts.

 

[themelkman]

(Genuine question, I come in peace)

How has Erik Karlsson been since the coaching change? I watched a lot of Karlsson last year, and while I'm not the most knowledgeable hockey guy, to me it looked like he had to adapt his game to fit into DeBoer's system. He was really good after settling in before getting hurt, but he didn't seem to be playing the same style as he did in Ottawa where Boucher built an entire system around him.

I haven't had a chance to watch much San Jose since then, and I am curious. I don't trust main board hyperbole for evaluations of Karlsson.

Thanks.

Its kind of like either an amazing pass that creates a quality chance, or a pass right to the other team that ends up a goal. No middle ground really

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Its kind of like either an amazing pass that creates a quality chance, or a pass right to the other team that ends up a goal. No middle ground really

There's plenty of middle ground. People just focus on the highlights.

 

[Timos Death Stare]

(Genuine question, I come in peace)

How has Erik Karlsson been since the coaching change? I watched a lot of Karlsson last year, and while I'm not the most knowledgeable hockey guy, to me it looked like he had to adapt his game to fit into DeBoer's system. He was really good after settling in before getting hurt, but he didn't seem to be playing the same style as he did in Ottawa where Boucher built an entire system around him.

I haven't had a chance to watch much San Jose since then, and I am curious. I don't trust main board hyperbole for evaluations of Karlsson.

Thanks.

IMHO, he has not been worth the contract. I regret the signing and not having our 1st this year will REALLY hurt after likely being a bottom 3 team this year for the first time in decades.

It’s not that he’s bad - he absolutely is a great player. At his cap hit and where the team is today and the foreseeable future I just don’t see it as a match for a team like SJ who is likely going to need to rebuild ironically just like the Senators.