Confirmed with Link: Sharks claim Rudolf Balcers

[Krispy]

Will he ever become the highest scoring Latvian in Sharks franchise?

 

[themelkman]

Will he ever become the highest scoring Latvian in Sharks franchise?

Considering the best Latvian player in history played for the sharks, its going to be tough. I think Sandis only had like 120 points with the sharks though, so if Rudolfs plays like 3-4 more seasons it could be done

 

[Alwalys]

After year one, Donskoi apparently became allergic to contact. It was understandable in the sense that he'd lose puck battles way too frequently, but that softness prevented him from being a consistent player.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Considering the best Latvian player skater in history played for the sharks, its going to be tough. I think Sandis only had like 120 points with the sharks though, so if Rudolfs plays like 3-4 more seasons it could be done

Irbe has to be the best Latvian of all time, no?

 

[Pavelski2112]

Irbe has to be the best Latvian of all time, no?

I think you could make a case for either. Sandis cemented his legacy in 2014 when they almost took Canada to the brink and he was the best player on the team at 42.

 

[tahoesharksfan]

I'd love to see what Hertl/Balcers could do with a better complimentary wing, or at least someone with a chance to step up. Let's see what extended run with Donato or Leonard could yield alongside them.

This! I was hoping they'd let the Hertl/Balcers/Leonard line continue to run the last time they threw them together.

 

[DG93]

This! I was hoping they'd let the Hertl/Balcers/Leonard line continue to run the last time they threw them together.

Agreed. I don't think Hertl and Meier work all that well together...I was hoping they'd give Donato/Leonard-Hertl-Balcers and Meier-Gambrell-Leonard/Donato a shot to even out the middle-6 a bit...

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Agreed. I don't think Hertl and Meier work all that well together...I was hoping they'd give Donato/Leonard-Hertl-Balcers and Meier-Gambrell-Leonard/Donato a shot to even out the middle-6 a bit...

I think that’s a Meier issue more than a Hertl one.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I think that’s a Meier issue more than a Hertl one.

Meier doesn’t work well with anyone most of the time because he just flings pucks at random and goes for hope plays. Balcers pretty consistently makes the simple play from the right position. If Meier did that, he could be the best player on the team.

 

[hohosaregood]

Meier doesn’t work well with anyone most of the time because he just flings pucks at random and goes for hope plays. Balcers pretty consistently makes the simple play from the right position. If Meier did that, he could be the best player on the team.

Meier does too much puck carrying when he doesn't know routes he should take. He really just needs to be the guy who wins pucks along the board and gets into position to take a shot.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Irbe has to be the best Latvian of all time, no?

I think the best Latvian player of all time is Balderis. Born twenty years too soon.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

I think you could make a case for either. Sandis cemented his legacy in 2014 when they almost took Canada to the brink and he was the best player on the team at 42.

Gudlevskis was.

 

[Pavelski2112]

Gudlevskis was.

Oh true, he was great that tourney. Best skater then.

 

[Krispy]

Gudlevskis was.

And teams powerplay was also lethal.

 

[Xspyrit]

I checked some Balcers stats today

If you go by PPG, Balcers is 7th, on the team

Balcers is also first in TKA/60 (well behind Jaros but he only played 4 games)

Balcers is also 2nd in Hits/60 behind Noah Gregor (and a few guys who only played a few games)

3rd in BKS/60 among forwards

Among the 13 Sharks forwards who played at least 100 minutes at ES :

4th in CF%, 2nd in SF%, 1st in GF%, 1st in xGF%, 2nd in SCF%, 1st in HDCF%

Quite impressive. Does the eye test say the same thing as advanced stats?

I have a really hard time believing Ottawa currently has at least 12 better forwards than Balcers.

Not having him as one of the 14 forwards to start the season was really really shortsighted, there's no other way around it

However, there's not going to be any shortage of quality forwards for the Sens for a while. You already know that guys like Tkachuk, Stutzle, Batherson and Norris are quite good and will continue to improve. Connor Brown and Nick Paul look much better than they have in the past. Colin White is a good piece but has been battling injuries, still a guy you can play anywhere in the lineup. Guys like Formenton and Pinto have recently joined the team and look great. There's guys like Angus Crookshank and Egor Sokolov in the AHL that might be just as good. Etc.

What left a bad taste is more than there was absolutely no reason to waive a 23 y/o guy like Balcers, particularly to NOT have to waive any of Anisimov, Galchenyuk, Paquette and Stepan... that ended up making the team worse and are not playing for them anymore. I complained about this the second it happened and I'm no NHL GM.

 

[Pavelski2112]

Quite impressive. Does the eye test say the same thing as advanced stats?

Yep, he's been driving any line he's on, including with Hertl/Meier, who haven't been great this year.

 

[Xspyrit]

Yep, he's been driving any line he's on, including with Hertl/Meier, who haven't been great this year.

Happy for him, hopefully he has a great season next year. Another man's trash is another man's treasure... It's just that Dorion didn't realize Balcers was far from trash.

 

[themelkman]

Happy for him, hopefully he has a great season next year. Another man's trash is another man's treasure... It's just that Dorion didn't realize Balcers was far from trash.

Think he jumped the gun with being too excited about high profile young guys. The sharks are a team thats fantastic at finding depth options, less so big names.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

I checked some Balcers stats today

If you go by PPG, Balcers is 7th, on the team

Balcers is also first in TKA/60 (well behind Jaros but he only played 4 games)

Balcers is also 2nd in Hits/60 behind Noah Gregor (and a few guys who only played a few games)

3rd in BKS/60 among forwards

Among the 13 Sharks forwards who played at least 100 minutes at ES :

4th in CF%, 2nd in SF%, 1st in GF%, 1st in xGF%, 2nd in SCF%, 1st in HDCF%

Quite impressive. Does the eye test say the same thing as advanced stats?



Not having him as one of the 14 forwards to start the season was really really shortsighted, there's no other way around it

However, there's not going to be any shortage of quality forwards for the Sens for a while. You already know that guys like Tkachuk, Stutzle, Batherson and Norris are quite good and will continue to improve. Connor Brown and Nick Paul look much better than they have in the past. Colin White is a good piece but has been battling injuries, still a guy you can play anywhere in the lineup. Guys like Formenton and Pinto have recently joined the team and look great. There's guys like Angus Crookshank and Egor Sokolov in the AHL that might be just as good. Etc.

What left a bad taste is more than there was absolutely no reason to waive a 23 y/o guy like Balcers, particularly to NOT have to waive any of Anisimov, Galchenyuk, Paquette and Stepan... that ended up making the team worse and are not playing for them anymore. I complained about this the second it happened and I'm no NHL GM.

I agree with you. The Sens have a great future but the move wasn’t good when it happened, then Dorian decided to go to the press for some reason and say that they had better forwards than Balcers on the roster.

It just came off rude and unnecessary of him.

 

[The Nemesis]