Tell me about your team

[OrrNumber4]

Lastly, if you watch the Sharks a bunch, you will realize how little anyone else watches them. We have very minimal media attention, and most pundits do not know much about our players. Recent evidence being one of the talking heads today not even knowing Tierney was a center, and thought he was a defensman.

That was Stu Grimson.

I mean...the grim reaper...not exactly a top analyst.

 

[Dicdonya]

That was Stu Grimson.

I mean...the grim reaper...not exactly a top analyst.

Yeah I have no idea who he is, but still shows how little people watch the Sharks, or maybe he is just a complete dolt.

Either way, it is still true that the Sharks get very little national attention, and even locally we do not have a ton of media attention.

 

[Barrie22]

Yeah I have no idea who he is, but still shows how little people watch the Sharks, or maybe he is just a complete dolt.

Either way, it is still true that the Sharks get very little national attention, and even locally we do not have a ton of media attention.

Grimson was known as one of the toughest SOB's of his era. So he may or may not have had a little to many bare knuckle sandwhiches thrown at him in his 15 years career.

 

[RickyHP]

So now that Karlsson is here (I’m from Ott) I’ll be starting to watch you guys this season.

Basic questions:
What can I look for?
What will I notice?
Tell me anything in general about the team, fun facts etc.

Looking forward to buying a Sharks Karlsson jersey, as a jersey collector I don’t have you guys yet but it appears soon enough I will!

Thanks!

welcome aboard. one thing i want to say is as a group of fans, contrary to popular belief, we are a die hard hockey fan base and I speak for the bay area as a whole.

 

[NathanCouture]

You may start off being scared any time you see a two on one for the opposition, however soon you will start to instantly look for which defender is back. If it is Vlassic, you will find yourself relax like your mother just set you in a warm bubble bath, because you will know there is zero chance a goal is scored. If its Burns, your butt will pucker to the Nth degree, knowing that he will unquestionably make a snow angel on the ice, and either break the play up in a magical display of luck, or create a two on none situation.

I laughed so hard I cried. This is so true. The only thing I would add was the third option when Burns takes a penalty for tripping the guy while sliding backwards down the ice on his stomach.

 

[The Nemesis]

I laughed so hard I cried. This is so true. The only thing I would add was the third option when Burns takes a penalty for tripping the guy while sliding backwards down the ice on his stomach.

Um, excuse me. It's called Starfish Defence Protocol™

Also because I don't want to go back and quote Dicdonya too: Vlasic. One "s". One. Just like the pickle jar. I know it's pedantic, but he's been here like 12 years now. It's about time we know how to spell his name properly. It's like Thorton is Tin Man, except without the meme-y goodness.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Burns isn't patient enough on 2 on 1s but he's good at denying entries at the blue line. If he only he could apply that to his odd man defense.

 

[WTFetus]

Um, excuse me. It's called Starfish Defence Protocol™

Also because I don't want to go back and quote Dicdonya too: Vlasic. One "s". One. Just like the pickle jar. I know it's pedantic, but he's been here like 12 years now. It's about time we know how to spell his name properly. It's like Thorton is Tin Man, except without the meme-y goodness.

This will also be Dillion's 5th season with the team.

 

[Dicdonya]

Um, excuse me. It's called Starfish Defence Protocol™

Also because I don't want to go back and quote Dicdonya too: Vlasic. One "s". One. Just like the pickle jar. I know it's pedantic, but he's been here like 12 years now. It's about time we know how to spell his name properly. It's like Thorton is Tin Man, except without the meme-y goodness.

Be quiet you! I add the extra S for emphasis.

 

[Pavelski2112]

This will also be Dillion's 5th season with the team.

Holy hell, it's been that long? I remember the night he first played for us, I drank too much gin. The day after was the worst hangover of my entire life.

 

[NyQuil]

Yeah, I'm in this boat as well, a lot of friends too.

The fact that you're in the other conference makes it easy as I like to watch late games.

If EK had to go somewhere, I hope it's to help you guys finally close the deal!

Also, please beat Drew Doughty and the LA Kings.

It'll be interesting on December 1st when Erik Karlsson returns to Ottawa. I've got my tickets.

 

[weastern bias]

Holy hell, it's been that long? I remember the night he first played for us, I drank too much gin. The day after was the worst hangover of my entire life.

 

[Taluss]

Just bought a Sharks Karlsson jersey! Looking forward to having it and seeing the game here on Dec 1st!

 

[67 others]

So now that Karlsson is here (I’m from Ott) I’ll be starting to watch you guys this season.

Basic questions:
What can I look for?
What will I notice?
Tell me anything in general about the team, fun facts etc.

Looking forward to buying a Sharks Karlsson jersey, as a jersey collector I don’t have you guys yet but it appears soon enough I will!

Thanks!

I just posted this in the Ottawa forum. Just to tell them I know how they feel
--------------------
For me it was not that Boston was inept. They were frugal ownership who meddled, all about the money and not about winning or the fans.

They wasted so many prime years of Bourque and Neely and Oates shipping out anyone good. And they had been doing that for years. but at least they had Bourque and Neely and oates then.

After Neely retired, anyone who wanted money was shipped. Oates wants more money? Who does he think he is! Ship him! josef Stumpel can be our #1 C!

It was almost 10 years straight of seeing guys holding out and getting shipped as soon as they got good. Jason Allison wants money? TRADE HIM. Mclaren wants money? TRADE HIM.

They kept doing programs leading up to the salary cap holdout on highest and lowest payrolls in the NHL. The Bruins were 5th in profits overall, so they were making a boatload of money, yet had the 2nd lowest payroll in the NHL. For years.

When fans decided to vote by not going to games, jeremy Jacobs did what Wirtz did in Chicago and started blacking out the games on TV in Boston so fans could not want the bruins unless they came to the game. They managed to be 5th in Profits with thousands of empty seats each night at the fleet center.

But oh, Illitch in Detroit called out Jacobs for being a frugal crap owner, so Jacobs decided to retaliate by overpaying a 3rd line RFA in Lapointe to "Get back" at Illitch. good job Jacobs. You let a 95 point scoring(Which was a lot at that time) scorer in Allison go because he wanted a raise to 4 million dollars, then paid 5 million dollars a year to a 40 point hack like Lapointe just to say "look I spent money and stole your player" to Detroit.

In 2003 they were running a goalie tandem of Steve Shields and John Grahame and it was obviously STUPID. However, Bruins fans all had the same lightbulb. This nobody that nobody had ever heard of named Tim Thomas looked SENSATIONAL in his 4 games during an injury run, so why not let him keep playing? Nope. Send him back overseas or to the minors and play a rookie instead.

Joe Thornton was a top draft pick who blossomed into one of the greatest playmakers of all time. They signed him to a top deal after the lockout because they had to, but let go of every reasonable player they had when they had carte blanche to build the team any way they wanted. Anyone with eyes could see the game was going to be speed based instead of clunky slow clutch and grab skater based and they let all speed go for Clunky crap.

Rolston, Knuble, Nylander, Gonchar, all went on to have career best in points after Boston let them go and boston signed......McCachern? Scatchard? Tom Green? Isbister? Tom Fitzgerald? Oh and sign leetch who is on his last legs along with Zhamnov.

Boston predictably was out of a playoff spot in 10th in the east in the first quarter of 2005, but the only bright spot was a 33 point in 23 game Joe Thornton. Nobody else on the team even had 20 points. But Jeremy Jacobs decided to torch him personally above all in his "i am unhappy" speech before the trade.

Im sitting at the casino playing Holdem when my buddy says "HOLY CRAP, look at the ticker dude"

I see that Joe Thornton has just been traded. And not only was he traded. My first thought was "Marleau ++ must be coming back", but he was traded for 3 players that are barely 2nd line caliber. Used parts. As they sat there spewing nonsense.

At that moment after 8-9 years of no enjoyment since all my childhood favorites had been gone and any replacements who COULD have become favorites being shipped when they wanted cash, I felt I had held on long enough, with San Jose in even worse shape than Boston sitting in 2nd last overall on a 10 game losing streak, I made the choice to go to the loser 2nd last Sharks team rather than continuing to watch Boston. People on Hockeyforums actually called me a bandwagon jumper and I had to correct them. A Bandwagon jumper jumps on the bandwagon of a WINNING team, not a losing team.

The Sharks sucked before that trade. I accurately predicted Thornton would transform them from worst to a top dog. And he did. The Bruins plummeted in the standing where they remained out of a playoff spot for 3 years.

One thing I will always admire about Chiarelli. He got up in front of a press conference and said Jeremy jacobs has to back off and be HANDS OFF, or I don't want the job. Reportedly Jacobs actually chewed nails over that and did not want to hire him because of it, but his yes men finally found some backbone and told Jacobs "You have to. All bridges are burnt and nobody wants to work here anymore in coaching or GM capacity. Fans merchandise sales are down because you now have the dollar Bill reputation." So Jacobs sat back and finally the lightbulb came on that maybe he SHOULD stay away from forcing GM's to make stupid decisions.

Granted Chiarelli had to dismantle THE ENTIRE TEAM and start from scratch, Literally not a single player from Joe Thornton's Bruins was left when they finally won a cup except Bergeron(who had been a rookie) and a NOW PLAYING FINALLY Tim Thomas. I was happy for Bergeron, but not disappointed, nor did I feel like I made a Mistake. I still cheered for the Bruins to some degree, but I hated ownership so much that it felt like that Crazy ex girlfriend that I wanted nothing to do with no matter how hot or wild she was in the sack. I got much more enjoyment watching the Sharks in the past 12 years than I did since Neely retired and I liked Hockey again.

And for that matter, I had not been really allowed to watch any team BUT boston as a kid. it was almost outlawed in my house. As an adult with a choice, I finally picked my own team when it came down to it and it feels right

 

[67 others]

As an Ottawa fan, who has been a long time casual Sharks fan (and now apparently a more serious SJ fan). My random thoughts:
San Jose has by far the most fashionable goalie in the league in Aaron Dell.

They also have a bad habit of disappointing playoff performances much like Ottawa

Burns and Karlsson on the same team will be interesting... Different lines? Or does Burns do the wing thing on the PP?

Thornton is Spezza without the drop passes.

That's underselling one of the top 5 playmakers of all time by quite a bit.

 

[67 others]

Jux and Nem did an amazing job of summing up the players on this team, so Ill just add my 2 cents.

I think a couple things you will start to notice if you watch the Sharks a bunch.

First is that they are fun, loose team. Thornton is hilarious on and off the ice, and that bleeds into the rest of the locker room.

You may start off being scared any time you see a two on one for the opposition, however soon you will start to instantly look for which defender is back. If it is Vlassic, you will find yourself relax like your mother just set you in a warm bubble bath, because you will know there is zero chance a goal is scored. If its Burns, your butt will pucker to the Nth degree, knowing that he will unquestionably make a snow angel on the ice, and either break the play up in a magical display of luck, or create a two on none situation.

Hertl will infect your heart with joy. If he scores a goal, or someone else does, or someone hands him a Dave&Busters gift card, he will have a gigantic smile on his face that will instantly make you follow suit. Oh yeah, and he is so much better than anyone outside the Sharks org realizes, and at times absolutely dominates games. We just need/want him to put more points up, at which point he will be a complete stud.

If Joe Thornton scores 4 goals this season in any one game, if you have children, or are not a fan of the male anatomy, stop watching for a little bit.

The guys I expect to get better this year are Labanc and Meier. They play very different games, but both have tons of potential so keep an eye on them. Donskoi is a wizard with the puck, he just can't stop hurting his shoulder. If he is healthy all year he could be a sneaky 50+ pt player.

Lastly, if you watch the Sharks a bunch, you will realize how little anyone else watches them. We have very minimal media attention, and most pundits do not know much about our players. Recent evidence being one of the talking heads today not even knowing Tierney was a center, and thought he was a defensman. I do not know how crazy the Ottawa media is compared to like Toronto, but do not expect to get a ton of inside info, and speculation about Sharks stuff.

These two made me lol hard.

Thornton's defense of Hertl after the media got on him during his rookie season for "hot dogging" is epic and forever makes Shark fans afraid he will score 4 goals someday because we just do not want to see him stroking his rooster.

 

[The Nemesis]

As an Ottawa fan, who has been a long time casual Sharks fan (and now apparently a more serious SJ fan). My random thoughts:
San Jose has by far the most fashionable goalie in the league in Aaron Dell.

They also have a bad habit of disappointing playoff performances much like Ottawa

Burns and Karlsson on the same team will be interesting... Different lines? Or does Burns do the wing thing on the PP?

Thornton is Spezza without the drop passes.

#1) Thornton loves him some drop passes. Almost as much as he loves the "Curl at the halfboards and hold it." play

#2) Jason Spezza wishes he was Joe Thornton. But I guess step 1 there would be growing a beard and I'm not totally convinced that's a realistic goal for him. Also Joe has a good dry humor belly laugh, while Spezza titters like... well...

 

[LeftHeartInSF]

I just posted this in the Ottawa forum. Just to tell them I know how they feel
--------------------
For me it was not that Boston was inept. They were frugal ownership who meddled, all about the money and not about winning or the fans.

They wasted so many prime years of Bourque and Neely and Oates shipping out anyone good. And they had been doing that for years. but at least they had Bourque and Neely and oates then.

After Neely retired, anyone who wanted money was shipped. Oates wants more money? Who does he think he is! Ship him! josef Stumpel can be our #1 C!

It was almost 10 years straight of seeing guys holding out and getting shipped as soon as they got good. Jason Allison wants money? TRADE HIM. Mclaren wants money? TRADE HIM.

They kept doing programs leading up to the salary cap holdout on highest and lowest payrolls in the NHL. The Bruins were 5th in profits overall, so they were making a boatload of money, yet had the 2nd lowest payroll in the NHL. For years.

When fans decided to vote by not going to games, jeremy Jacobs did what Wirtz did in Chicago and started blacking out the games on TV in Boston so fans could not want the bruins unless they came to the game. They managed to be 5th in Profits with thousands of empty seats each night at the fleet center.

But oh, Illitch in Detroit called out Jacobs for being a frugal crap owner, so Jacobs decided to retaliate by overpaying a 3rd line RFA in Lapointe to "Get back" at Illitch. good job Jacobs. You let a 95 point scoring(Which was a lot at that time) scorer in Allison go because he wanted a raise to 4 million dollars, then paid 5 million dollars a year to a 40 point hack like Lapointe just to say "look I spent money and stole your player" to Detroit.

In 2003 they were running a goalie tandem of Steve Shields and John Grahame and it was obviously STUPID. However, Bruins fans all had the same lightbulb. This nobody that nobody had ever heard of named Tim Thomas looked SENSATIONAL in his 4 games during an injury run, so why not let him keep playing? Nope. Send him back overseas or to the minors and play a rookie instead.

Joe Thornton was a top draft pick who blossomed into one of the greatest playmakers of all time. They signed him to a top deal after the lockout because they had to, but let go of every reasonable player they had when they had carte blanche to build the team any way they wanted. Anyone with eyes could see the game was going to be speed based instead of clunky slow clutch and grab skater based and they let all speed go for Clunky crap.

Rolston, Knuble, Nylander, Gonchar, all went on to have career best in points after Boston let them go and boston signed......McCachern? Scatchard? Tom Green? Isbister? Tom Fitzgerald? Oh and sign leetch who is on his last legs along with Zhamnov.

Boston predictably was out of a playoff spot in 10th in the east in the first quarter of 2005, but the only bright spot was a 33 point in 23 game Joe Thornton. Nobody else on the team even had 20 points. But Jeremy Jacobs decided to torch him personally above all in his "i am unhappy" speech before the trade.

Im sitting at the casino playing Holdem when my buddy says "HOLY CRAP, look at the ticker dude"

I see that Joe Thornton has just been traded. And not only was he traded. My first thought was "Marleau ++ must be coming back", but he was traded for 3 players that are barely 2nd line caliber. Used parts. As they sat there spewing nonsense.

At that moment after 8-9 years of no enjoyment since all my childhood favorites had been gone and any replacements who COULD have become favorites being shipped when they wanted cash, I felt I had held on long enough, with San Jose in even worse shape than Boston sitting in 2nd last overall on a 10 game losing streak, I made the choice to go to the loser 2nd last Sharks team rather than continuing to watch Boston. People on Hockeyforums actually called me a bandwagon jumper and I had to correct them. A Bandwagon jumper jumps on the bandwagon of a WINNING team, not a losing team.

The Sharks sucked before that trade. I accurately predicted Thornton would transform them from worst to a top dog. And he did. The Bruins plummeted in the standing where they remained out of a playoff spot for 3 years.

One thing I will always admire about Chiarelli. He got up in front of a press conference and said Jeremy jacobs has to back off and be HANDS OFF, or I don't want the job. Reportedly Jacobs actually chewed nails over that and did not want to hire him because of it, but his yes men finally found some backbone and told Jacobs "You have to. All bridges are burnt and nobody wants to work here anymore in coaching or GM capacity. Fans merchandise sales are down because you now have the dollar Bill reputation." So Jacobs sat back and finally the lightbulb came on that maybe he SHOULD stay away from forcing GM's to make stupid decisions.

Granted Chiarelli had to dismantle THE ENTIRE TEAM and start from scratch, Literally not a single player from Joe Thornton's Bruins was left when they finally won a cup except Bergeron(who had been a rookie) and a NOW PLAYING FINALLY Tim Thomas. I was happy for Bergeron, but not disappointed, nor did I feel like I made a Mistake. I still cheered for the Bruins to some degree, but I hated ownership so much that it felt like that Crazy ex girlfriend that I wanted nothing to do with no matter how hot or wild she was in the sack. I got much more enjoyment watching the Sharks in the past 12 years than I did since Neely retired and I liked Hockey again.

And for that matter, I had not been really allowed to watch any team BUT boston as a kid. it was almost outlawed in my house. As an adult with a choice, I finally picked my own team when it came down to it and it feels right

I have to disagree with several points here.

First, the Sharks did not suck before that, as they had just been to the conference championship for the first time.

Second, how dare you refer to Marco Sturm and Brad Stewart as spare parts. (Sturmie!)

Stewart was flipped for Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew, the former who was still on the team playing good defense when you won the cup.

I don't think the Thornton trade comes close to the highway robbery that DW just pulled with EK.

 

[67 others]

I have to disagree with several points here.

First, the Sharks did not suck before that, as they had just been to the conference championship for the first time.

Second, how dare you refer to Marco Sturm and Brad Stewart as spare parts.

Stewart was flipped for Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew, the former who was still on the team playing good defense when you won the cup.

I don't think the Thornton trade comes close to the highway robbery that DW just pulled with EK.

First, the Sharks were struggling mightily under the new clutch and grab rules. It worked for teams with less talent and their top point scoring forwards having 57 points to clutch and grab their way into the CF in the dead puck era. it was a common complaint that lead to the rules revision during the 2005 lockout. The Sharks at the time of the Thornton trade were on a 10 game losing streak and 2nd last in the league, looking like a modern Arizona Coyotes unable to adapt with the loss of clutch and grab. After Jumbo arrived they went on a super tear.

Second. Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart WERE spare parts. In no way, shape or form were they Core or even key players. Saying they are spare parts is not calling them "Plugs" or "Bandaids" like the Burish and Brown types. It just signifies that the car will drive is you swap that tire off for another as long as you have the right engine.

You might love Sturm, but his career high was 59 points and his career average was 41 points and he barely played past the age of 30. Stuart? He was a top 4 caliber Dman. The kind that you can acquire easily via trade.

Third, not a single player on the cup winner except Bergeron and Tim Thomas(Who had only played 4 games) played previously with Thornton. The new GM had to rebuild EVERYTHING and sit in the toilet for several years after losing Thornton.

At the time of the Thornton trade, Thornton had just signed a 3 year deal before the trade.

Doug Wilson got an elite Superstar center at the start of his prime who goes down in history as a top 5 all time playmaker during his Hart Worthy years for a second liner, top 4 Dman and a plug and he got him with 3 years on his contract.

 

[Agent Zub]

Do you guys like Pete Deboer as a coach?

 

[Pavelski2112]

Do you guys like Pete Deboer as a coach?

I personally do. He has his flaws, as with any coach, but he's been a welcome addition since McLellan's era.

 

[Used As A Shield]

We are .... a team.

(Sorry)

 

[hohosaregood]

I personally do. He has his flaws, as with any coach, but he's been a welcome addition since McLellan's era.

The further we get into the Deboer era, the more I realize how bad McLellan was. Even if Deboer is a pretty average coach, McLellan is very bad. Every system change McLellan made was for the worse

 

[Jaleel619]

Yeah PDB is good. Can always count on him to recognize which players are going and which aren't and make adjustments. I didn't even know you could do that. Especially after watching 7 years of Mclellan, who would just ride the wave the whole season and playoffs.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Do you guys like Pete Deboer as a coach?

He’s got some serious flaws but he’s definitely not a saboteur and at worst he’s average. However, I don’t personally like him all that much.