GDT: Game 4: Sharks vs. Bruins 7:30pm NBCSCA

[Barrie22]

Vlasic has suffered a few concussions in his career, and while you hate to think about it, they literally damage the brain and could lead to a decline in game processing.


Tbh it's not hard to imagine not wanting to sacrifice one's health for a bottom scraping team.

Would be a reason if he did not fall apart the year they made the conference finals.

 

[timorous me]

It seems almost necessary now to buy out Vlasic at the end of this season when you consider the log-jam of left defensemen in the organization. These guys may not all be world-beaters, but it's one thing to not have room for Thrun and Okhotiuk and Mukhamadullin right now, but a year from now what are you going to do with all of them plus Ferraro and Knyzhov?

Vlasic has been a loyal servant but even right now I'd argue that Vlasic's presence is hampering the development of these guys because I still think Thrun, and probably Okhotiuk (who can't be sent down, anyway) and surely Knyzhov (same), need to be playing against NHL competition at this stage. There would be some suffering and difficulty, but the same is obviously the case with Vlasic.

 

[Cas]

Basically, Vlasic has gotten slower while the league has gotten faster, and now he's unplayably slow while having zero offensive or physical ability.

He's just not an NHL player. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of defensemen who are.

 

[Mafoofoo]

Play Vlasic at forward centering a line with Eklund

 

[tahoesharksfan]

Pickles is pickled…

 

[hohosaregood]

Basically, Vlasic has gotten slower while the league has gotten faster, and now he's unplayably slow while having zero offensive or physical ability.

He's just not an NHL player. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of defensemen who are.

I will say though that he was injured the last game he played. He was looking really weak on his skates yesterday, even considering the regression of his skating, and maybe there are some lingering effects that compounded things in this game.

 

[TheBigDrunkPanda]

Maybe this will motivate Lablanc knowing the wavier reaper is around?

Honestly I don’t know how you bench Labanc over Hoffman. Quinn is giving me Barry Melrose/Tampa bay vibes

 

[NWSharkie]

Honestly I don’t know how you bench Labanc over Hoffman. Quinn is giving me Barry Melrose/Tampa bay vibes

Hard to blame Quinn when he's the third Sharks coach to have issues with Labanc. It might just be that he's not the player he needs to be to stay on the ice.

 

[Barrie22]

Honestly I don’t know how you bench Labanc over Hoffman. Quinn is giving me Barry Melrose/Tampa bay vibes

Yes let's blame the coach, his now 2nd coach to see issues with the way he plays hockey.

Labanc just sucks and needs to be removed from this team and any team that could be in the line to develop players for the main team.

 

[Bizz]

I still don't understand how he went from one of the best defensive D in the league to this. Like did he just forget how to play hockey?

Vlasic started being trash the second the ink from his undeserved contract dried. It's almost as if he felt he didn't need to show effort anymore.

Yes let's blame the coach, his now 2nd coach to see issues with the way he plays hockey.

Yes, perennial Jack Adams candidates in Bob Boughner and David Quinn. Clearly coaches who know what they're doing and how to win.

 

[weastern bias]

It seems almost necessary now to buy out Vlasic at the end of this season when you consider the log-jam of left defensemen in the organization.

I really hope we're patient enough to wait an extra year before buying out Vlasic so the penalty only runs through 2027 rather than 2028

We're horrifyingly terrible this year but no matter who we draft were still going to be really bad next year, I'd rather take the pain in the short term for more flexibility in the long run

 

[SjMilhouse]

I really hope we're patient enough to wait an extra year before buying out Vlasic so the penalty only runs through 2027 rather than 2028

We're horrifyingly terrible this year but no matter who we draft were still going to be really bad next year, I'd rather take the pain in the short term for more flexibility in the long run

Why not just ride it out? Not like we'll be a contender the year it expires

 

[timorous me]

I really hope we're patient enough to wait an extra year before buying out Vlasic so the penalty only runs through 2027 rather than 2028

We're horrifyingly terrible this year but no matter who we draft were still going to be really bad next year, I'd rather take the pain in the short term for more flexibility in the long run

In this case I think Vlasic blocking the opportunity for a younger player for the future is more important than the money/cap hit length.

 

[weastern bias]

Why not just ride it out? Not like we'll be a contender the year it expires

We won't be a contender, but we'll have young players with expiring ELCs and if, say, Eklund starts to really look like he could be a star I'd hope we have the cap flexibility to extend him long term at a reasonable number rather than be forced to bridge him just in time for his true breakout and then we'd be forced to pay a premium price AFTER he already peaked

The hope is to get a Jack Hughes contract, not a PK Subban contract

In this case I think Vlasic blocking the opportunity for a younger player for the future is more important than the money/cap hit length.

He's only blocking one spot, and right now we really only have 2 promising LHD in the whole organization, I'm sure if we need to find playing time for Mukhamadullin or Okhotiuk we can make it happen, Vlasic should be getting healthy scratched by now anyway (Ferraro too, btw)

 

[DG93]

I really hope we're patient enough to wait an extra year before buying out Vlasic so the penalty only runs through 2027 rather than 2028

We're horrifyingly terrible this year but no matter who we draft were still going to be really bad next year, I'd rather take the pain in the short term for more flexibility in the long run

Agreed, this team is gonna stink in 2024-2025 too, so worst case scenario just play one guy on the right side if needed...especially since they don't have any good RD anyway that would get pushed out of the lineup. Simek and MacDonald will be gone, which will clear up the logjam a bit as well.

 

[timorous me]

Agreed, this team is gonna stink in 2024-2025 too, so worst case scenario just play one guy on the right side if needed...especially since they don't have any good RD anyway that would get pushed out of the lineup. Simek and MacDonald will be gone, which will clear up the logjam a bit as well.

I still think part of Ferraro's problems is that he was asked to play too often on the right side the past couple years and that just caused extra problems for him, so I'd prefer to avoid doing that with anyone from this new batch of young LD.

 

[DG93]

I still think part of Ferraro's problems is that he was asked to play too often on the right side the past couple years and that just caused extra problems for him, so I'd prefer to avoid doing that with anyone from this new batch of young LD.

Sure, then put Vlasic at RD lol

 

[timorous me]

Sure, then put Vlasic at RD lol

Ha, I would certainly rather do that! The problem, too, with a guy like Vlasic is that there are very few head coaches who would make him a healthy scratch at this point in time. He was good enough last year to not deserve it. I wonder how bad it would have to get this year for Quinn to do it.

 

[Cas]

In this case I think Vlasic blocking the opportunity for a younger player for the future is more important than the money/cap hit length.

We can just waive him and tell the Barracuda to scratch him every game. We'd have to eat the contract spot, but he'd be off the roster.

Unfortunately, that would never happen because it would be "disrespecting a veteran."

 

[Bizz]

We can just waive him and tell the Barracuda to scratch him every game. We'd have to eat the contract spot, but he'd be off the roster.

Unfortunately, that would never happen because it would be "disrespecting a veteran."

then maybe he should prove that he still deserves to be on the roster instead of being entitled to it by default.

 

[Barrie22]

We can just waive him and tell the Barracuda to scratch him every game. We'd have to eat the contract spot, but he'd be off the roster.

Unfortunately, that would never happen because it would be "disrespecting a veteran."

But doing that saves barely any cap space. Out of a 7 million contract we would gain 1 million in cap space. Buying him out gains us 5 million.

 

[hohosaregood]

I think if the cap ends up going up as much as reported, there's not much harm in buying out Vlasic sooner than later but I'd stick it out one more year and buy out his last season.

 

[stator]

We can just waive him and tell the Barracuda to scratch him every game. We'd have to eat the contract spot, but he'd be off the roster.

Unfortunately, that would never happen because it would be "disrespecting a veteran."

Im hoping he will go on retirement LTIR. If the Sharks waive Vlasic now, that will probably push them into the #1 spot on total dead/retained/buried cap. Iirc, the Wild are #1 right now and have started the season better.

 

[Barrie22]

Im hoping he will go on retirement LTIR. If the Sharks waive Vlasic now, that will probably push them into the #1 spot on total dead/retained/buried cap. Iirc, the Wild are #1 right now and have started the season better.

I hope whenever the next CBA negotiations, the NHL and NHLPA fix the whole long term injured reserve issues.

 

[Hodge]

I wouldn't buy Vlasic out because that just pushes more dead cap into seasons where we have a chance of being somewhat competitive. That said I understand that's probably a less awkward solution to this problem than waiving him and sending him down to the minors for 2 years.

Vlasic was solid last season so maybe these early performances have been the result of his injury or something but he has looked 100% cooked so far. He's certainly at the age where players are liable to fall off a cliff from one season to the next.