crunchyblack*
Guest
Their tranistion game is WAY better this year too allowing odd man rushes or to establish the cycle.
They are playing a very aggressive puck pursuit system and are focusing more on fast zone entries and taking it to the net immediately. They are doing exactly what we've been begging for this team to do for years.
Or finally have the players to do it.
They have more horses to play the speed game now but they could have gone to it sooner than they did but they were too stubborn to play certain players and play a certain way to cover for their speed issues.
I know many of us wanted Demers in over Murray. That would have helped.
I don't recall if there were options instead of Clowe and Zus. Anyhow, as much as I liked those players' toughness, glad they are gone. They were anchors.
They are playing a very aggressive puck pursuit system and are focusing more on fast zone entries and taking it to the net immediately. They are doing exactly what we've been begging for this team to do for years.
i noticed three goals in the last two games where theres 3-4 players watching one guy come in to the side, shoots it, bounces off niemi and a late guy is wide open and scores on us.
too much puck pursuit?
I am hoping they adjust a bit to take care of this. If the don't the late man on the weak side will continue to find success.
Add ROW and goal diff and I think it strongly supports your point. They are better this year in just about every team category that I use.At the quarter mark:
2012 11-7-4
2013 14-3-5
Last year we went 1-3-2 in the next 6 games then turned it around to go 8-1. The rest of the season was back and forth.
Add ROW and goal diff and I think it strongly supports your point. They are better this year in just about every team category that I use.
If you go back in this thread you'll notice I didn't post because even though my eyes told me one thing, there wasn't enough data to say much. Yes, there was much more even strength scoring and other numbers looked good, but not enough IMO. I may have been more supportive in other threads, but that was all based on opinion.
I mostly made the post above as a quarter season mark for future reference and to see what other comments people might have now that we're this far into the season.
Even at this point I was surprised at how little difference there was in the W/L/O numbers. I think you rightly point out the goal diff and ROW's as giving more credence to the eye test.
Comparing the seasons going forward, the next six games could really put some separation in the W/L/O numbers, but soon we're gonna have to consider last years shortened season when comparing the two seasons as the trades were made and a real push by the team was necessary because the PO's were so close.
I do think another key difference is the substantial missed games by top players so far, so that is also in favor of this team not being the team of last year.
At this point, as Mark Spector recently put it, "I think I’m ready to take another run at that football, Lucy"
I think you should compare records after the TDL simply because the team make up is so different.
I think it's fairly obvious that unless this team is running on fumes they are better in every facet compared to the other sharks.
Technically there really isn't enough data and being so close to the playoffs changes everything. It also wasn't the point of this thread.
Plus, this team is basically the team that we had after the TDL except we have Hertl and have had to deal with losing Torres, Burns and Boyle for a substantial number of games. What's the point in comparing the same team when trying to say which one is better lol.
Personally I had little doubt that this years team was better than the team that started last year, but until you have the facts you can never be sure with our Sharks
I don't think this thread is trying to say which team is better. Simply stating why we won't fall into the same habits we did last year.
Secondly, instead of just looking at records we should be looking at how these games are being won. Are we getting secondary scoring, is our blue line stepping up? As someone else said, even amongst our big guys the scoring is spread out pretty evenly.
Our fourth line is constructed to be able to do different things if we put nieto vs brown down there
I don't know...standings is important too. How are we doing relative to other teams. 3 games in hand and 2 points out of 1st? Looks good.
What you are talking about is almost a universal among coaches in the league. By the 20 game mark, a lot of coaches have gone conservative even if they didn't start that way. Some wait until a team goes into a goal drought. It is the rare coach who keeps his foot on the gas even through slumps. I hope TM has the guts to do it, he has been borderline in the past (which is good for coaches by comparison). When a coach pulls in his horns, it is usually the kiss of death for the silver thingy and there is a lot of fluff for the fans about defense winning, etc.I don't think this thread is trying to say which team is better. Simply stating why we won't fall into the same habits we did last year.
Secondly, instead of just looking at records we should be looking at how these games are being won. Are we getting secondary scoring, is our blue line stepping up? As someone else said, even amongst our big guys the scoring is spread out pretty evenly.
Our fourth line is constructed to be able to do different things if we put nieto vs brown down there
I don't know...standings is important too. How are we doing relative to other teams. 3 games in hand and 2 points out of 1st? Looks good.
I don't think this thread is trying to say which team is better. Simply stating why we won't fall into the same habits we did last year.
Secondly, instead of just looking at records we should be looking at how these games are being won. Are we getting secondary scoring, is our blue line stepping up? As someone else said, even amongst our big guys the scoring is spread out pretty evenly.
Our fourth line is constructed to be able to do different things if we put nieto vs brown down there
I don't know...standings is important too. How are we doing relative to other teams. 3 games in hand and 2 points out of 1st? Looks good.
The team is definitely better, but until they can beat Chicago, they are not advancing to the SCF.