SB Nation - Jody Shelley

Looking at the San Jose Sharks

MrNorrisTrophy — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:29:26 -0000

Key Wins: 6-3 over CBJ, 7-3 over NYR, 4-1 over PHI, 3-1 over COL

Winners of six straight, the Sharks are on fire after a 2-2 start. Coming into tonight's game, both teams look to extend winning streaks in what will likely be a good defensive battle.

Category	Stat	NHL Rank	Leading...	Stat	Player
Goals per game	3.31	7th (5A)	Scorer (Points)	22 (11 G, 11 A)	Patrick Marleau
Goals against per game	2.44	7th (16A)	+/-	+7	Jason Demers/ Kent Huskins
Power Play	25.8%	5th (5A)	Hits	25	Scott Nichol
Penalty Kill	83.6%	7th (20A)	PIM	42	Jody Shelley
Shots per game	31.3	11th (6B)	Shots	51	Patrick Marleau
Shots against per game	29.2	12th (3B)	Blocked Shots	37	Rob Blake
Faceoff percentage	57.4%	1st (14A)	Faceoffs	63.9 %	Scott Nichol
PIM per game	14.6	20th (19B)	Wins	10	Evgeni Nabokov
PP drawn	66	5th (8A)	GAA (>5 games played)	2.38	Evgeni Nabokov

*The A and B next to the ranking is how many spots Above or Below the Red Wings the team is

The Sharks are in the top half of the league in nearly every category and are on of the best in the league. Head coach Todd McLellan took the Detroit game west to San Jose with him and has implemented the system in a very effective way. The solid defensive play and offensive attack make the Sharks a big threat to the hobbled/sick Red Wings.

Players to watch on offense: Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton

Players to watch on defense: Rob Blake, Kent Huskins

Fear The Fin is the SB Nation affiliate of the Sharks and will have anything you want to read Sharks related.

Off the Post - October 18th

Conico do Mayo Miracle — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:00:22 -0000

SHARKS NEWS

[UPDATE, 12:40pm] - Jamie McGinn and Derek Joslin were sent down (or is that up north...) to Worcester. H/T to idunno723 for the heads up.
Nabby played in his 500th career game yesterday, a 4-1 win vs. the Islanders, despite the need for Greiss to get some practice.
A reminder about other potential Sharks milestones to occur this season.
Plank and TCY get the nitty-gritty on the Worcester Sharks from Eric Lindquist.
The Sharks went to the NHL Store in New York, and fielded some questions.
Jody Shelley's got a new blog... and some babysitting issues.
San Jose currently has the 6th best capacity precentage attendance in the NHL - but for a reality check, Atlanta is ranked 9th. Phoenix on the other hand... ugh.
Japer's Rink's recap of the crap-tastic Sharks loss on Thursday.
Lighthouse Hockey's recap of the awesome Sharks victory yesterday.
One thing Sidney Crosby and Jason Demers have in common? Ten giveaways in their first 7 games... although Demers redeems himself with 5 takeaways (one more than the Kid).
(more coming throughout the day, hopefully... if Oktoberfest in downtown Campbell doesn't create Drunk Conico...)

OTHER NHL NEWS

[UPDATE, 7:55pm] = The Bruins trade Chuck Kobasew to Minnesota for Craig Weller, the rights to Alex Fallstrom, and a 2nd rounder in 2011.

[UPDATE, 9:30pm] = Yesterday's news, but the Blackhawks pick up Andrew Ebbett from the Ducks off of waivers.

Saying Phoenix's attendance in home game 2 is woeful sounds almost complimentary.

No pressure, Milan...

What do Steve Ott and Daniel Sedin both have in common? Besides screwing over Conico's fantasy league team, that is....

If someone asked you to declare the worst division in the NHL, chances are pretty good you'd say the Southeast... and you'd be wrong.

The Copper & Blue alter scripture once again, and the Oilers win yet again.

Mike Van Ryn is done for the season.

You might have noticed, but Marc-Andre Fleury is playing out of his mind.

The NHL vs. Georges Laraque , Exhibit A = the offending video.

Gargamel Finally Caught Those Rotten Smurfs

RudyKelly — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:05:58 -0000

It's like that part in To Kill a Mockingbird where Atticus kills the rabid dog; I mean, you know he's pretty cool and everything but you never knew he could do anything like that. Raitis Ivanans was a man possessed during that sequence, frantically trying to get at Brad Staubitz* before turning his ire to an unsuspecting Jody Shelley. The best part is that Shelley grabbed him from behind and got a few licks in as soon as he turned Ivanans around, but Raitis recovered and put a beating on poor Jody. Ivanans is usually methodical when he fights, using his weight advantage to pull someone off balance before throwing a few jabs, but tonight he was trying to hurt someone.

There's absolutely no way Kevin Westgarth could fight like that. Now if only Raitis would fight like that all the time.

*What the fuck, Brad Staubitz? He just didn't know it was an icing, right? There's no way he thought it'd be a good idea to rock a defenseman who is touching up for icing while said defenseman is already engaged with another player, right? Also, it's cool that Ivanans jumped in immediately, but it's also cool that Drew Doughty and Brad Richardson did so as well.

Kings-Sharks: Exhale

RudyKelly — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:42:12 -0000

More photos » by Danny Moloshok - AP

2 months ago: Los Angeles Kings' Davis Drewiske, left, high fives Justin Williams after the Kings defeated the San Jose Sharks 6-4 in their NHL hockey game in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009. Drewiske scored his first NHL career goal in the game. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Browse more photos »

Thoughts from tonight's ridiculous exercise:

-It's funny how a win like this can be viewed by different people. If you're a Kings fan, are you happy that your team won, no matter what? Are you upset the Kings almost blew a 4-0 lead? If you're a Sharks fan, are you upset the Sharks were so terrible 5-on-5? Or happy the power play looked so good? If you're me, you just kinda wanna go to bed.

-Jonathan Quick has a 5.00 GAA and a 83SV%. Jonathan Quick hasn't played that bad. It's been a weird season so far.

-The Kings forward lines looked really good tonight, as they greatly reduced the 4th line's ice time and pretty much rolled 3 lines all night. Fro-Hand-Meat got the main assignment against the Joe Thornton line, with Kopitar's line getting the assignment when the Sharks tried to double-shift Thornton. The result? Kings 3, Sharks 0 when those lines were on the ice.

-Kopitar made a great play at the end of the game where he beat out Marc-Edouard Vlasic on an icing call and put helped put the game on ice. He has looked great and is doing a great job around the front of the net. I don't want to get excited, but Anze Kopitar is the greatest player in the world.

-Of course, Thornton still ended up with 3 assists tonight because the Sharks destroyed the Kings while on the power play. The Kings finished 7th last season in penalty killing last season but have thus far been pretty terrible when down a man. They didn't have a problem with their penalty kill during the preseason so it could just be a small sample size issue (and San Jose's power play unit is truly exceptional) but it's something the Kings need to work on.

-The Kings need Sean O'Donnell back. He's a pretty important cog in the Kings defense, as he allows Matt Greene to play a smaller role and more importantly pushes Peter Harrold* and Alec Martinez out of the line-up. I can't wait to see the old goat back.

*Peter Harrold didn't play bad tonight.

-Raitis Ivanans: HOLY SHIT. That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my entire life and I once saw Earl's balls. He beat the shit out of Jody Shelley and I don't think anyone was expecting that. I've never seen Ivanans fight like that. It was like... it was like... fuck, I don't even know. It was like awesome. Jesus Raitis, play like that all the time.

-I'm not going to say that this game was a big character builder or a game we'll point to as a turning point for this team. The Kings should have won that game without difficulty and they don't get brownie points for almost blowing a game. Still, that was a game they had to win. More importantly, it was a game they really wanted to win. It was the kind of win that has been missing in LA for a while. Luck? New purpose? I don't know, but it was a helluva thing to watch.

-God, I'm so tired and I didn't even do anything.

FTF Regular Season Cheat Sheet: Fringe Forwards

FTF Staff — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:17 -0000

The season is just around the corner (never really understood that phrasing, as time is linear and all), and we thought it would be great to give you a quick rundown on the roster, with a little blurb on each player. If you feel like we've covered this before, well, we have. But we're going to expand on it a little, include the stories that we've written on the players over the past year and give our input on what we expect next season. We don't know exactly how the lines will shake up yet, so everything from here on out is going to be based off the line up McLellan iced in the final preseason game against Phoenix.

Final cuts on Tuesday. God save us all.

Torrey Mitchell

#17 / Center / San Jose Sharks

Height: 5-11

Weight: 190

Born: Jan 30, 1985

Previous FTF Coverage: Spotlight's on that McGinn Kid (Mr. Plank), No timetable for Torrey Mitchell's return (WTC, Teas), Torrey Mitchell: "It sucks" (WTC, TCY)

2008-2009 Stats

None. Injury kept Torrey Mitchell out the entire season.

Our two cents:

Things were finally looking up for Torrey. After an unfortunate incident where he broke his leg in the preseason, it seemed as if he'd never get healthy. Setback after setback occurred, and soon the regular season was in the rear view mirror. He was healthy enough to appear in the postseason, going pointless in four games but impressing with his speed and grit. Torrey practically penciled in to center the third line in 2009-2010.

It appears though that the injury bug is a tough one to kick (leg pun, /rimshot) for Mitchell. He's back with another leg ailment (tendinitis this time), that's preventing him from skating with the team. It's odd to have to put him in the fringe section, but until he can prove that he's healthy, there's no guarantee that he will play any time soon.

Mitchell is a player who depends on his speed, it's the most important aspect of his game. The lingering leg problems are a glaring red flag though, and it's unknown if he'll ever be the same player again. If he does fully recover and can play this year, look for him to line up next to Malhotra on the right side. He would be a huge upgrade over any of the other fringe guys who would occupy the spot.

Jody Shelley

#45 / Left Wing / San Jose Sharks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 225

Born: Feb 07, 1976

Previous FTF Coverage: A Week in Review (Mr. Plank), Observations from Teal and White 2009 (Mr. Plank/TCY), Should Shelley Dress in April? (Mr. Plank)

2008-2009 Stats

GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	SOG	SPCT	PPG	PPA	SHG	SHA	GWG	ATOI
70	2	2	4	-6	116	44	4.5	0	0	0	0	1	6:11

Our two cents:

San Jose's resident tough guy is back for his third season with the team (two and a half really). He's never been anything more than protection for the top lines, as he doesn't kill penalties, he doesn't score, and he's pretty shoddy in every area of the ice. But he'll most definitely start the year with the team (either in a fourth line role or as a healthy scratch).

As much as we love to see Shelley fight, he's kind of a liability every time his skates touch the ice. He takes alot of penalties, and doesn't contribute to any part of the team's game. Last year, whether it was due to these problems or not, he only skated in a little more than 10% of each game, which causes some problems on the other lines.

He'll play whether we like it or not, but if Staubitz continues to impress the coaches and the front office, this might be Jody's last run in teal.

Benn Ferriero

#0 / Center / San Jose Sharks

Height: 5-10

Weight: 191

Born: Apr 29, 1987

Previous FTF Coverage: Ferriero gets another start (Evilducks), Ferriero getting looks from coaching staff (TCY), Sharks sign Benn Ferriero (SwisherThresher)

2008-2009 Stats (Boston College)

GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
37	8	18	26	UNK	44

Our two cents:

Ferriero's decision to return to college instead of playing for the Phoenix Coyotes (7th round, 196th overall) wound up being a good choice. Now Ferriero (singed as a free agent out of Boston College by the Sharks) has a legitimate chance of making the roster now that Torrey Mitchell is injured.

He's taken hold of the opportunity, impressing the coaching staff with his play and leading the team in preseason scoring (3 goals, 7 points). He's more of a skill player than anything else, but he plays physical and seems to have a nose for the puck.

He's the odds on favorite to make the team (over Ortmeyer), but would probably benefit from playing time in Worcester. However, if he makes line three and sees significant minutes, he could surprise Sharks fans this year.

Logan Couture

#41 / Center / San Jose Sharks

Height: 6-1

Weight: 205

Born: Mar 28, 1989

Previous FTF Coverage: Sharks Camp Down to 29: Petrecki, Couture among those sent down (mymclife), A Week in Review (Mr. Plank), Observations from Teal and White 2009 (Mr. Plank/TCY), Notes on Couture from Monday's Rookie Skate (TCY/Mr. Plank), Couture Called up to Worcester (TCY)

2008-2009 Stats (Ottawa 67's)

GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
62	39	48	87	UNK	46

Our two cents:

You don't have to hang around FTF long to see that we're pretty high on Couture. Even still, we support the team's decision to send the 2007 9th overall pick to Worcester, even though he's capable of playing on the team.

Couture was one of the most impressive forwards in camp this year, but he has a few things working against him. First, the high expectations that come with being a top ten pick have plagued him so far in his career. Second, he has very little professional experience (only four AHL playoff games last year). Most importantly, though he's too skilled to fill a lower line role.

Couture is a pure center, and even though he might be capable, he won't be supplanting either of the top two centers on the team. Therefore, it's probably better to let the 20 year old grow in Worcester, where he'll get top line minutes playing with quality forwards. If he has a strong season, he'll be a quality injury filler and depth skill player. He showed ability to both kill penalties and quarterback the power play. We expect a solid NHL career for him.

Observations From Teal & White 2009

FTF Staff — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:08:28 -0000

Writing in the third person is always a bear when it comes to this whole "FTF Staff" business, so let's just cut the chatter and get to Plank and TCY's observations.

For those unaware of how Teal & White is set up, it's basically two 30 minute halves with a running clock. Both sides receive a seven minute power play session during the 60 minute session(teal in the first half, white in the second). Shifts take place as they would normally and everything else remains the same- basically a high profile scrimmage.
The team hopefuls saw a good amount of shifts, and that's going to be the general focus here- no need to drone on and on about guys everyone has seen over the last couple years.
Thomas Greiss didn't have a very good night. He only let in one goal (about a minute into the game), but was definitely fighting the puck on the majority of shots he faced. Not a whole lot of post to post quickness, and wasn't doing himself any favors with his stickwork either. Came out and misplayed a puck near the circles maybe 15 or so minutes in that nearly ended up in the back of the net, and was never able to help the breakout. Didn't like much of anything from him.
Tyson Sexsmith on the other hand had a very good night. Played all sixty minutes for the white squad, and seemed very comfortable back there. Utilized the pokecheck effectively and was very explosive when moving post to post. Butterfly city, which was a strange (and pleasantly surprising) site to see in net for San Jose. Another plus was his passing, he was deft with the puck and moved it up ice well.
Obviously goaltending is a fickle thing, and it's entirely possible Greiss was just simply off last night. Let's not rush to hasty conclusions here- it's only one scrimmage game. However, if the respective performances at T&W were a good indication of what to expect, it wouldn't be surprising to see Sexsmith (contingent upon him playing well in Worcester to start the year) get called up during the season for some starts, with Wilson utilizing their two-way contracts to make it work. He seems like the better netminder at this juncture.

The buzz surrounding Nick Petrecki is well-deserved, and he looks to be making a strong case for a starting role in San Jose. Picked his spots well when jumping into the play, and put one home top corner from the circles off a flubbed point shot by Pavelski. Very good positionally. Didn't see too much physicality from him, which is expected during an intersquad, but he obviously has no issues laying on the body. Really impressed.

The other young defensemen weren't as active, they were all pretty much silent on the night. Loprieno made some poor reads, Demers was basically invisible, and although Moore had some nice hits, they were dirtier than anything else (i.e. hit for the sake of hitting). Joslin was quiet, but he looked the most comfortable out there. That's pretty much been his MO. Last night was like last season, he didn't draw attention good or bad. He just played solid fundamental hockey.

The difference between Petrecki and Joslin is interesting, because it's pretty much the opposite of what we've been fed as they came up through the system. Petrecki was billed as a stay at home guy while Joslin was a powerplay QB who had a nice shot. Although Joslin got some good shots in on Statlock and Greiss, it was Petrecki who impressed with his offensive ability. He was out there for big minutes on the power play (which is to be expected when it's 7 minutes long), but he usually went out with the Marleau - Pavelski - Clowe line. He was moving around, distributing the puck well, and calling for shots from the point. Really mature for his age, even though he had trouble keeping the puck in the zone on occasion. Joslin impressed with his defensive acumen, which was much better than what we saw in the Calder Cup Playoffs, where he played horrible D. I think either one is a safe pick for the sixth D spot (Petrecki is our pick at this point), and the other should get playing time in the AHL as opposed to being scratched.

When his team went on the power play, Clowe was camped on the sideboards just like the end of last year. Pavelski was in front. Not sure what the coaching staff is thinking here. Hopefully he migrates to the more tumultuous waters in front of the net before visions of 07-08 Joe Thornton begin to crop up again.

Kent Huskins likes to jump into the play as we have mentioned before, and it's still uncertain how he and Boyle will fare (if that ends up being the pairing) considering they both seem to be cut from the same cloth. It may take them awhile to get acclimated together in order to reduce the amount of risks taken in the offensive zone.

Came in skeptical of Dandenault, didn't leave with anything that would cause a change of mind. Had some trouble with mobility on the blueline and finding shooting lanes, a definite no-no for a guy known for his offensive capabilities. Safe money is on him being released, unless they want to give one of Joslin/Petrecki playing time in Worcester. Then he's your likely scratch.

Frazer McLaren loved heading to the net, and got called for goaltender interference. Bogus call really, Greiss pushed out beyond his crease and initiated contact. Anyways, he was a noticeable presence for the majority of the night and could be shaping up to be an injury call up or even find his way onto the roster. Sported a whopper of black eye too. We'd like to give some props to mymclife here- she thought he would be a good fit all the way back in late April.

Best shift of the night came from McGinn, Couture, and Staubitz. They cycled the puck well and generated multiple scoring chances in the minute or so they spent in the attacking zone. Liked all three of those guys last night, especially McGinn. Looks like he'll have a solid year.

Focusing on Couture, he looks pretty solid out there. Had some skating issues (Yeah, we know it's been rehashed over and over, but he did have some problems changing direction to defend in the neutral zone), but impressed with his vision and passing. We were discussing that we'd be comfortable with him on the third line and chipping in some PK time. He picked pockets all night, and was solid behind the net. Although he didn't register a point (which will likely bring out the "Couture is a bust" birds again), he had one of the better games. Now that Malhotra is on the team, it's less likely that Couture will get a full time gig, even though he may deserve it. All in all, it's good that he will get some time to hone his skills in the AHL, but he looks like he's getting closer to a full time NHL gig.

At the end of the game Brian Boitano made an appearance for the shootout. Fans picked the players who would go, and while the wish of your humble authors to give Douglas Murray a chance never materialized, Jody Shelley got the nod and roofed one in the process. Rocket Richard potential right there.

The Event Staff handed out posters when you entered The Tank, and the joke around our section was that they photoshopped Marleau in at the last minute. There's two players in every corner except for his, with Patty sandwiched between Setoguchi and Blake.

Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts in the comments, and be sure to read idunno's Fanpost for more information.

Go Sharks.

Should Shelley Dress in April? Playoff Projected Lines & More

Mr. Plank — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:38:22 -0000

Inspired by the top-notch discussion yesterday, I decided to take a look at some attributes I find very compelling when looking at players in general, and enforcers in particular. There's three basic tenets I look for in the shutdown lines, and those (along with a brief discussion of them) follow:

1) Penalty Differential. Taking bad penalties can turn the tides very quickly, and drawing a penalty can inject life into a team. Probably the most important thing to look for in enforcers, and important in analyzing other skaters as well. If a guy is taking stupid penalties and not contributing on the scoresheet, there's not much room for him out there on the ice.

2) Well Roundedness. Does he play on the penalty kill or power play? Also, I'm not sure "roundedness" is even a word, but it works here so we're rolling with it.

3) Statistics. How well does a player keep the puck out of the net when on the ice, and are they contributing on the scoresheet? Are they facing good competition or being thrown out against other non-scoring lines? It's not very likely that our shutdown line will be scoring goals very often, so clamping down on defense and cycling the puck is their utmost priority. That being said, goals from our bottom lines are a huge addition to the team, and could definitely be the difference in a tightly contested series.

If you want to scrap all that and look for my opinion on whether Shelley should dress on a game by game basis (even against the tougher teams like Calgary/Anaheim), here's my thinly-veiled answer to the question.

Fighting Majors In the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Year	Fighting Majors	Per Series
2008	7	.466
2007	13	.866
2006	14	.933

Also, Shelley played an average of 3:15 per game during last year's playoffs.

Just sayin'.

In this piece, it is assumed that McLellan will be rotating players in and out of the lineup based on health/who has the hot stick, as well as assuming that the top six forwards on the team will be in the lineup on a nightly basis. There's really no use in analyzing if those players "deserve" a spot in the lineup at this point in the season. Also, in order to keep things at a manageable level, the following players have been deemed "worthy" of getting consistent postseason starts: Cheechoo, Roenick, Moen, and Grier. That leaves us with two skaters to fill out the card. If you disagree with that by all means support a dissenting argument in the comments.

Penalty Drawn Differential

Skater	GP	Drawn	Taken	Dif.	Dif/82 gms
Goc	49	11	10	+1	+1.67
Cavanagh	17	2	2	0	0
Armstrong	2	1	1	0	0
McGinn	32	1	1	0	0
Plihal	59	7	11	-4	-5.56
Lemieux	16	1	3	-2	-10.25
Shelley	64	24	33	-9	-11.53
Staubitz	32	22	28	-6	-15.36

** H/T to On The Forecheck for the data

Takeaways: By no means does this serve as an ultimate indicator as to whether a player should be included in the lineup, but when put in the larger context of this post, it could help to give the nod to one "tweener" over another. Staubitz (and to some degree Lemieux and Shelley) are really the only players who seem to have significant numbers- averaged out to a seven game series, it's likely that Goc and Plihal's totals won't be a factor.

Let it be noted that it may have been more beneficial to round this out to 60 minutes instead of 82 games, but unfortunately there were some issues. For one, I didn't want to use even strength ice time (where the majority of penalties are drawn and taken), and risk inflating/deflating the numbers. On the flip side, it would have been unfair to use total ice time. Some players see more PK and PP time- that could have skewed the numbers a bit.

In summation, Shelley, Staubitz, and Lemieux's totals look all the more worse when compared against other players who have had more ice time.

Penalty Kill & Powerplay Time

Skater	GP	PK Time/G	PP Time/G	Total Time/G
Goc	49	1:27	0:16	1:43
Plihal	59	1:08	0:10	1:18
Armstrong	2	0:06	0:23	0:29
Cavanagh	17	0:02	0:06	0:08
Staubitz	32	0:00	0:11	0:11
McGinn	32	0:01	0:04	0:05
Lemieux	16	0:00	0:03	0:03
Shelley	64	0:00	0:03	0:03

Takeaways: Not a lot of power play performers on this list. Therefore, it seems that penalty kill time would be a good way to sift through the remaining skaters. A lot of this ties into Patrick Marleau- with his current injury, it would be wise to limit his exposure on the PK (currently at 2:35 per game, second on the team behind Vlasic). Those are tough minutes, and the grind may end up decreasing his effectiveness during a playoff run*. Goc and Plihal are the only candidates who fit this bill amongst the group.

Grier's return will definitely help in this category.

* However, as we have noted before, Datsyuk and Zetterburg saw a fair amount of shorthanded time during the Wings playoff run last season. I don't think this discredits the assertion that it would be wise to limit Patty's minutes, but it should be kept in mind.

Even Strength Point Production

Skater	EV TOI/G	Goals/60	Assists/60	Points/60
Plihal	9:00	0.46	0.92	1.38
McGinn	8:20	0.67	0.44	1.11
Goc	12:04	0.21	0.83	1.04
Cavanagh	7:35	0.47	0.47	0.94
Staubitz	5:58	0.31	0.62	0.93
Lemieux	7:15	0.31	0.31	0.62
Shelley	6:03	0.00	0.51	0.51
Armstrong	6:56	0.00	0.00	0.00

+/- Statistics

Skater	GFON/60	GAON/60	+/- ON/60
Staubitz	0.94	0.62	+0.32
Plihal	1.83	1.83	0.00
Goc	1.55	2.07	-0.52
Shelley	0.93	1.70	-0.77
Cavanagh	0.93	1.87	-0.94
McGinn	1.35	2.70	-1.35
Lemieux	1.03	2.57	-1.54
Armstrong	0.00	4.32	-4.32

Takeaways: Plihal and Goc are once again in the top three for both sets of statistics. One thing to note in terms of the +/- is that, as well as being relative to the team, it is relative to the competition as well. Players such as Staubitz and Shelley are not getting thrown out against the top scoring lines of opposing squads (in fact they usually get paired up with the other "fighting" lines). That could account for some discrepancy in the numbers.

*********

The wonderful thing about the Sharks season is that the injuries they have been dealt have vastly increased depth across the board. There's a lot to be said for a team that has managed to get 109 points up to this point, while dealing with injuries of that magnitude. To emphasize this point, here are the number of skaters that the post-lockout Stanley Cup Champions dressed on their way to their respective Cups:

Detroit- 14 forwards, 7 defensemen

Anaheim- 18 forwards, 8 defensemen

Carolina- 14 forwards, 7 defensemen

As we can see, depth is going to play a crucial role going forward.

*********

Going through this piece, and listening to other people's proposed lines yesterday, here is my ideal lineup. However, let it be noted that much can change during the course of the postseason and different situations will call for different types of players. At the end of the day, and after much deliberation, this is what I came up with. It's possible I'm beating a dead horse, as it has been extensively covered in the aforementioned fanpost, but I thought it would be fitting to use my admin privileges to rant and rave.

So is life eh?

Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi

Michalek-Pavelski-Clowe

Roenick-Goc-Cheechoo

Moen-Plihal-Grier

Personally, I like seeing Roenick on the wing as it gives him more opportunities to skate off the puck. He's very adept at finding seams and moving his feet, which compliments Goc's ability to create scoring opportunities. He also has very good hands (something that really doesn't regress all too much, even at the ripe age of 39), which would be knock out when paired with Cheechoo. This line has the ability to score goals, play a very sound defensive game, and get physical.

The fourth line is where things get really good in my opinion. Talk about shutdown. Moen was a part of the checking line for Anaheim when they won the Cup, and his contribution during that run (along with Pahlsson) was a key aspect to their success. Pairing him with Grier and Plihal makes for a very imposing crew of players to face, and coupled with the last change at home, McLellan will have boundless opportunities to throw them out against the opposing team's top line. They're physical, decently quick, and all very good in the defensive zone. There's a reason all three players see a lot of PK time.

In terms of playing time, the top two lines would get their current regular season share with the customary playoff bump of additional shifts, while the bottom two would essentially split the remaining ice time in half. Obviously this is situational.

As for naming them "third" and "fourth" line, there's really not a whole lot of reason to do so in this system due to the fact they will be getting roughly the same number of shifts. Moen, Plihal, and Grier face the top line for their lion's share of minutes, leaving the other three lines to feast on either a) weaker opposition or b) a tired group of players double shifting/worn down by the checking line.

McGinn is obviously left out here, but he will be an excellent contributor when people are nursing their eventual injuries and dealing with the fatigue the playoffs always bring. He has an excellent future in this organization (hell, all of FTF was buzzing about him way back in December when he was playing on the fourth line), and has the potential to be a big part of this team going forward. That being said, I don't think he has enough experience and/or production to warrant getting the start right off the bat (provided all of the aforementioned skaters are healthy). However, I would not be surprised to see him get spot duty here and there, and possibly light it up and find a way to stick.

He just may be the wildcard who puts us over the top.

Go Sharks.

Phoenix Coyotes @ San Jose Sharks Preview

OdinMercer — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 09:30:07 -0000

Coyotes are in your local San Jose Quiznos stealin yer Sobe Lean. I'm sure he'll be a silicon valley jerk with a bluetooth soon enough though.

Tonight we face the Terrible terrible, tied for the league-lead in points, attrocious San Jose Sharks. They suck. Okay, well they don't. But I still can't stand their success as we miss the playoffs. Therefore, much like the inexplicable beatdown the Islanders (???) gave to the Red Wings last night, I want to see our guys go at these San Josers (pronounced like Hosers) like a friggin spider monkey!

Five for Winning:

Your Bryz is on Fire: Yeah, Kings of Leon may have different lyrics, but my change of lyrics does not change the fact that except for the blip against Anaheim last week Bryz has been red hot. He's had a couple games where he's eaten 3 goals, but even those have had him with an astronomical amount of shots faced. But for his head stands we're further in the NHL basement.

Keep Our Junk Out of the Box: Sorry, i'm obviously on a musical kick (link NSFW)with today's five. Oh well... The Sharks have been making a killing on the power play but haven't been as effective at even strength. They can absolutely turn it on though but if we stay out of the box as much as possible we avoid both they're great PP unit and our anemic PK.

Who Goes With Shelley?: We have to have someone to match up with him and keep him in check. McGrattan is done for the year, so I would imagine that Fedoruk would be in if he's been doing well at all in practice. I like what Winnik was bringing against the Oilers, but he just doesn't have the size to keep a guy like Shelly from crunching our smaller guys. That means one less quality skater most likely. Oh and a song... um... Fight Test!

Doan Is Dominant: Shane has been the one constantly great player once again all year. He controls the puck and sets the tone when he's on the ice. If he finds a connection again in the every changing lines of Gretz we can take another game off of the Sharkies. Hopefully we see more sweet moves from him in our visit to the tank.

Solve the Tank: HP Pavilion has been murder on the visiting teams. The Sharks have gone 30-3-4 ther over the season which is just rediculous. They've also given up only 79 goals. That doesn't bode well for our oft weak offense. On the flipside we have gone 2-2-0 against the Sharks this year and have a nasty habit of showing up against teams that should beat us. In any event it's not going to be an easy one and we'll have to get past Nabby early to have a shot. All they've got is spoiler energy to run on now, so they'll have to turn it on to make it happen.

Odin Out! Or something. GO YOTES! Hope you liked the musical interludes...)

Coyotes Recieve St. Pats' DOANation. Down Sharks 4-3.

OdinMercer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:20:07 -0000

Image idea c/o Moridin417. Yeah i'll steal your thoughts.

That was an excelent finish to a pretty lively game at Jobing.com arena. We took a little deviation from our tank plan, but that's okay. We always show up to play the tough teams. Even if we don't show up for the whole thing necessarily. The Coyotes owned he first period though. At :19 seconds into it Kyle Turris came flying through the zone to wrist in a rebound off of a Shane Doan shot. It was a wicked goal and one that Turris really needed. He wasn't done yet though, later in the first he rang one off the crossbar but the team regrouped and he shot it again from the side and it trickled it past Nabokov and two other sharks. The goal was initially credited to Jovanovski since he was camped in front, but it never went off of him. To close out the period Dmitri Kalinin clanged a shapper off the post and bounced it around and in for his first goal as a Coyote. The Sharks just looked stunned and we looked like the team that was playoff bound before the All-Star Break.

Brian Boucher came in in relief of Nabby to start the Second. This was apperently the fight period as scraps were breaking out all over. Brian McGratton and Jody Shelly dropped the gloves in a heavyweight match. McG was recalled from San Antonio earlier in the day after completing the NHL substance Abuse Program. He looked great out there. He was in control of the fight and landed some bombs on SHelly. He added a little flair after the fight waiving Shelly off that reminded the fans of Danny Carcillo. Staubitz and Prust also had a go. It was mostly a hug fight, but Prust got a few good ones in late. Beyond that there was a bunch of pushing and shoving as SJ was ticked to be behind to the lowly Coyotes and the Coyotes were annoyed by being pushed. Even guys like Turris and Zbynek Michalek were chirping at the Sharks. Joe Thornton got a goal on the Power Play after a terrible penalty call and non call got them there. It was a pretty goal but the crowd was irate. Scottie Upshall got knocked around a bunch by two Sharks but somehow the penalty got called on Keith Yandle of the Yotes. I can't find a clip of it, but those type of calls are what make me wonder why more objects aren't thrown at refs. I'm not condoning it, just saying...

On to the 3rd. The Coyotes really started looking more like the team that had been losing games in this period. Thornton got his second of the game about 4 minutes in. Good move by him to score it, but it was helped by the entire Coyotes squad moving to the far side of the ice to chase the puck. Then everyone got left scrambling to get back into position to cover. Good on their side bad on ours. Marleau would tie it up at 3s at the 8:20 mark when a thornton shot rebounded straight into the slot for Marleau. The Coyotes woke back up and remembered how to play defense for the remainder of the game. They started checking again and trying to keep control of the puck. It looked like the teams would head into overtime until Jonathan Cheechoo took an interference penalty off of a face off with 33 seconds to go. With the faceoff in the Sharks' end Kyle Turris won the draw and Shane Doan was able to make a nifty move and get it past the outstreched skate of Brian Boucher for the game winner, even with Rob Blake hanging all over him.

We may have deviated from the tank plan, but it sure felt good to rain on the Sharks' parade tonight. Kyle Turris and Doan will have to share Star of the Game. Doan and Turris both ended up with 4 points each, meaning both had something to do with every goal tonight. Turris was 2-2-4 Doan 1-3-4. THat's taking a rookie under your wing for a game Doaner...

Tank Standings:

We may have won tonight, but it didn't put us any further out of the tank race. We're now in a threeway tie for 3rd pick with the Coyotes technically being ahead of Colorado and Atlanta because of our amazing inability to score goals over the losing skid.

Team GP W L OTL PTS GF GA GDiff

NY Islanders	70	24	38	8	56	176	224	-48
Tampa Bay	70	23	32	15	61	184	231	-47
Phoenix	70	29	35	6	64	172	215	-43
Colorado	71	31	38	2	64	187	221	-34
Atlanta	71	29	36	6	64	216	240	-24
Los Angeles	69	29	30	10	68	182	203	-21
Ottawa	69	29	30	10	68	181	200	-19
Anaheim	69	32	31	6	70	190	201	-11
Toronto	71	29	29	13	71	213	252	-39
St. Louis	70	32	29	9	73	196	207	-11
Dallas	70	33	29	8	74	201	215	-14
Minnesota	70	33	29	8	74	180	174	6
Edmonton	69	33	27	9	75	194	211	-17
Nashville	70	35	30	5	75	179	192	-13

Can the B's swim with the Sharks?

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:37:02 -0000

The Bruins are set to play the most hyped up B's regular season game in recent memory when they host the San Jose Sharks tonight at the TD Banknorth Garden. It's the best team in the Eastern Conference vs. the best team in the Western Conference in what many are prematurely calling a Stanley Cup preview. As if the two best teams in the league facing off against each other isn't enough of a story for you, there is the subplot of Joe Thornton returning to Boston. Tonight will be Jumbo Joe's second trip to boston after being shipped out West by Mike O'Connell. If you remember, his first trip back to The Garden only lasted 5 minutes and 13 seconds after he was shown the door for an intent to injury penalty on a borderline hit from behind on Hal Gill.

Just who are these Sharks you speak of?
San Jose Sharks 36-7-7; 79 pts (1st in Pacific, 1st in West)

Leading Goal Scorers

G A P +/- PIM

2008 - Patrick Marleau 26 27 53 22 10

G A P +/- PIM

2008 - Devin Setoguchi 21 24 45 16 6

Goaltending

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Evgeni Nabokov	39	2328	27	6	6	0	94	2.42	1040	946	.910	4

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Brian Boucher	12	704	9	1	1	1	22	1.88	300	278	.927	2

GP MIN W L T EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO

2008 - Evgeni Nabokov 39 2328 27 6 6 0 94 2.42 1040 946 .910 4

GP MIN W L T EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO

2008 - Brian Boucher 12 704 9 1 1 1 22 1.88 300 278 .927 2

Guys Who Like to Drop the Gloves
Jody Shelley: 10 Fighting Majors (Injured)
Ryane Clowe: 5 Fighting Majors

'08-'09 Season Series
First and only meeting this season

Injury Report

Boston
LW Marco Strum: IR (Knee)
RW Michael Ryder: Out (Facial Fracture)
D Aaron Ward: Probable (Flu)

San Jose
C Torrey Mitchell: IR (Leg)
D Brad Lukowich: Out (Sports Hernia)
C Jeremy Roenick: IR (Shoulder)
LW Jody Shelley: Out (Lower Body)

Notes:

- Tim Thomas will get the start in goal tonight for the Bruins.

- Although this will serve as a barometer for where the Bruins are at, we have to remember that this is just a regular season game in February against a non-conference opponent.

- Is Claude Lemieux killing the Sharks? The Sharks have lost 3 straight (0-1-2) for the first time all season. The 43 year old winger has played in six games for the Sharks since being called up from Worcester. He has averaged 7:25 of ice time a game and has not record a point yet. I'm not sure why the Sharks thought this guy could help their team. I could see if they were a losing team that was struggling to draw fans, but they are the best team in the Western Conference.

- Maybe Milan Lucic or Shawn Thornton will recreate the famous scene where Claude Lemieux turtled and Cam Neely threw him like a ragdoll into the corner.

- Anybody that boos Joe Thornton tonight is an idiot. This isn't like Johnny Damon coming back to Fenway in pinstripes. Joe Thornton wanted to stay in Boston but the Bruins brass needed someone to pin the blame on for their own incompetence for letting most of Thornton's supporting cast walk after the lockout.

- The Sharks have called up left wing Jamie McGinn to fill in for the injured Jody Shelley.

- Hockey fans in Boston will not get the pleasure of watching their native son and all-time great video game athlete Jeremy Roenick play tonight. Roenick is out with a shoulder injury.

- The Sharks practiced at Boston University this week. No word if former BU standout Mike Grier took in last night's Beanpot Final.

- Open thread starts at 6:00

- Don't forget tonight's game is on Versus.

- For more on the Sharks, check out Fear The Fin

Today's Obligatory Embarrassing YouTube Fan Video