The loss, and the string of losses, was unfortunate, to be sure. However. Even with the loss. The games have been much more fun and exciting to watch, especially compared to last season. We’re not perfect (obviously, with 7 losses), but the seeds of potential are there
I was at this game and I’ll say that personally I did not take issue with Nico’s choice to retaliate. Clean hit but it was still a huge hit on Grundy that crumpled him
Hey Professor, Yeah, it was a tough night when most of the guys just didn't have it. Like the few games this year where the Sharks have played their very best the whole team is key to making that happen. Typically on any given game there are going to be a relatively small number of "passengers" that can be managed. But, when the team is largely dead weight it is too much for this version of the Sharks. We need all of our guys to show up and do their bit. Peter Clovis, CA
Good points about Askarov’s playing as well. Even the announcers commented on it, like he gets bored and wants to play the puck a little bit to break it up.
I wonder if he'll calm down about that in a few years - if the sharks in front of him have their act together, maybe he'll feel less pressed to go and do it all himself! or maybe it's just in his bones. I can dig a bit of weirdoism in goal if that's what it takes lmao
I'm fine with sturm standing up for the hit on grunnstrom. It wasn't a dirty play, but the game is fast and many times you just see your teammate down so you stick up for them. I'd rather they defend each other unneccessarily than not at all if that makes sense.
Hey Professor, Yeah, I thought Askarov did a great job keeping us in it. It's worth remembering it was a back to back game for us and Calgary had been off since the holiday break. How this happens from the schedulers at the NHL is a mystery to me? I can only imagine that at some point we are going to be getting a lot of time off between games as the second half of the season winds down. Since this is our first look at Calgary I can see why they have had a surprising season so far for them. They are a fairly big team and they feature a neutral zone trap that is VERY effective later in a game protecting a lead. Whether it was the neutral zone trap or Scotty Bowman's Red Wings and their Left Wing lock if a team is well coached in clogging the middle of the ice and can execute that scheme well it is VERY hard to get pucks into the offensive zone. It seemed like once they had a 2-1 lead about midway through the second period it became even harder to get through the neutral zone. Their Captain Backman in particular was very adept at disrupting the break out/rush and forcing the puck back into our zone. Sometimes the other guys win the battles they are pro's too. Nobody wins 100% of the time. Even McDavid and Drysidl don't. I am not a fan of fighting in general under any circumstance but, sometimes we don't have a choice. These types of hits used to be more common and as such teams didn't respond unless it was a dirty hit (knee on knee or head shots or slew foots or even bordering). It used to be that one of these big hits would not draw a response unless you were as the hockey parlance termed it "running around" meaning hitting everything in sight. At that point somebody was going to punch your ticket or at least try to. Because I am blind what's left of my vision makes it almost impossible to see in detail any polay scoring or otherwise even when it is replayed idn slow motion. According to Drew and Randy there appeared to be head contact though the primary point of contact was Grundstrom's body then the head was contacted. In the moment if one of your guys gets crushed like that and doesn't get up I suspect your teammates are going to react first and ask questions later. I am fine with that. Big hits are always exciting but, they are also very dangerous so if you want to line one of our guys up and lay him out to send a message or whatever that's fine but, it is hopefully a consideration that if you do lay an opposing player out like that that some one is going to punch you in the face for it. The league disagrees as we picked up the instigator penality and gave Calgary a pp. Well, hasta luego Professor! Pete Clovis, CA
The schedule has been pretty crazy thus far, Tampa Bay for example has played 6 less games than us. Yeah the general response seems to be that if you see your teammate down, you’re gonna go after the guy even if the hit may have been clean.
@@professorhockey I liken sports particularly team sports the most as a brotherhood and its pretty hard to stand idly by when your brother has been hurt. You might not get along with your brother and fight from time to time but, nobody else gets to take shots at him kind of thing.
Professor Hockey, if Sharks continue this trend and end up with another high draft pick, perhaps you can offer up an analysis on what players Sharks should target in the draft.
I feel like it’s up to the players how they want to respond. If everybody wants to skate faster and be more technical, then something that used to not feel like brute force is now going to get judged more harshly. Ultimately these guys play a really hard physical game no matter what, they sacrifice their bodies for our entertainment. So if they want to stand up for each other when stuff goes down on the ice, that’s their choice and them defining culture they want. I think that’s their right as players. Hopefully that makes sense.
I think it’s very hard to tell if an open ice hit like that is clean in the moment as a player on the ice, so when you see it I don’t mind the response. Totally possible it looks like a hit to the head from Sturm’s pov. Especially in a lost season standings-wise I think the more they can build a culture of protecting each other and sticking together the better
So many dmen do it, not just Sharks guys, so I don’t think it’s a Warsofsky thing. Bothers me a lot though, feels like it heavily limits your options and is very predictable, should be reserved for very specific situations.
I think you have bang bang plays and it’s damn near impossible to see if it’s legal hit or a illegal hit before you make the decision to back up a player. I’ll never be disappointed seeing us stick up for each other given the years where that was nowhere on the ice
Goodrow is making $3.6M for the next 2 and 1/2 seasons. No other teams are taking on that contract based on his skillset 😂 Terrible pickup from Grier. Terrible decision from Warsofsky to keep playing him up in the lineup. I think the best we can hope for is that he becomes stapled to the 4th line once Sturm is traded this season. Goodrow has been terrible. Can’t believe the Sharks weren’t compensated for taking on that contract.
I was personally at this game and I have to firmly disagree about Celebrini. His first 2 periods were, in my opinion, the worst of his career. Tons of terrible giveaways, passes to nowhere. It got way better in the third, but I thought Smith was playing okay for the first 30 minutes or so
I don’t know about worst of his career, but it was definitely one of his weaker games. He was however still one of their more productive players in the game in terms of generating chances.
If only…but Grier doesn’t inexplicably pick him up off waivers to then waive him later down the line, I’d imagine he wouldn’t do that just to save his pride honestly. I wouldn’t be surprised if we stick with him until his contract runs out
@professorhockey uuugghhhhhhhhh. It's so frustrating taking up a roster spot. He provides nothing offensively 5v5 and is a blackhole defensively. He's an overpaid 4th liner that PKs. At some point, Cardwell would be better at his role. The Sharks have to be considering calling up Graf or Gushchin to fill a top 9 slot while Eklund is out
Yeah, OK, the Sharks are losers again this year. But they're much more entertaining losers this time! And Prof, I'm with ya in your thinking about the Sharks starting a fight over a legal, if hard, hit. Save it for the dirty hits and stop putting themselves into a penalty kill situation. You can stick up for your teammate, just don't penalize your team in the process...
I love these Goodrow rants 🤣🤣
The loss, and the string of losses, was unfortunate, to be sure. However. Even with the loss. The games have been much more fun and exciting to watch, especially compared to last season. We’re not perfect (obviously, with 7 losses), but the seeds of potential are there
Love the content! I always like hearing your thoughts after the games.
Thanks!
I was at this game and I’ll say that personally I did not take issue with Nico’s choice to retaliate. Clean hit but it was still a huge hit on Grundy that crumpled him
Hey Professor,
Yeah, it was a tough night when most of the guys just didn't have it. Like the few games this year where the Sharks have played their very best the whole team is key to making that happen. Typically on any given game there are going to be a relatively small number of "passengers" that can be managed. But, when the team is largely dead weight it is too much for this version of the Sharks. We need all of our guys to show up and do their bit.
Peter
Clovis, CA
Never understood the Goodrow pickup
Good points about Askarov’s playing as well. Even the announcers commented on it, like he gets bored and wants to play the puck a little bit to break it up.
He likes to get involved for sure
I wonder if he'll calm down about that in a few years - if the sharks in front of him have their act together, maybe he'll feel less pressed to go and do it all himself! or maybe it's just in his bones. I can dig a bit of weirdoism in goal if that's what it takes lmao
Agree that 71 and 2 should be together a lot lot more going forward
fr. let them cook!
I'm fine with sturm standing up for the hit on grunnstrom. It wasn't a dirty play, but the game is fast and many times you just see your teammate down so you stick up for them. I'd rather they defend each other unneccessarily than not at all if that makes sense.
Fair enough! Good point on the fast game, hard to know if it was clean or not at that speed.
this is my take as well
Hey Professor,
Yeah, I thought Askarov did a great job keeping us in it. It's worth remembering it was a back to back game for us and Calgary had been off since the holiday break. How this happens from the schedulers at the NHL is a mystery to me? I can only imagine that at some point we are going to be getting a lot of time off between games as the second half of the season winds down.
Since this is our first look at Calgary I can see why they have had a surprising season so far for them. They are a fairly big team and they feature a neutral zone trap that is VERY effective later in a game protecting a lead. Whether it was the neutral zone trap or Scotty Bowman's Red Wings and their Left Wing lock if a team is well coached in clogging the middle of the ice and can execute that scheme well it is VERY hard to get pucks into the offensive zone.
It seemed like once they had a 2-1 lead about midway through the second period it became even harder to get through the neutral zone. Their Captain Backman in particular was very adept at disrupting the break out/rush and forcing the puck back into our zone. Sometimes the other guys win the battles they are pro's too. Nobody wins 100% of the time. Even McDavid and Drysidl don't.
I am not a fan of fighting in general under any circumstance but, sometimes we don't have a choice. These types of hits used to be more common and as such teams didn't respond unless it was a dirty hit (knee on knee or head shots or slew foots or even bordering). It used to be that one of these big hits would not draw a response unless you were as the hockey parlance termed it "running around" meaning hitting everything in sight. At that point somebody was going to punch your ticket or at least try to.
Because I am blind what's left of my vision makes it almost impossible to see in detail any polay scoring or otherwise even when it is replayed idn slow motion. According to Drew and Randy there appeared to be head contact though the primary point of contact was Grundstrom's body then the head was contacted. In the moment if one of your guys gets crushed like that and doesn't get up I suspect your teammates are going to react first and ask questions later.
I am fine with that. Big hits are always exciting but, they are also very dangerous so if you want to line one of our guys up and lay him out to send a message or whatever that's fine but, it is hopefully a consideration that if you do lay an opposing player out like that that some one is going to punch you in the face for it. The league disagrees as we picked up the instigator penality and gave Calgary a pp.
Well, hasta luego Professor!
Pete
Clovis, CA
The schedule has been pretty crazy thus far, Tampa Bay for example has played 6 less games than us. Yeah the general response seems to be that if you see your teammate down, you’re gonna go after the guy even if the hit may have been clean.
@@professorhockey I liken sports particularly team sports the most as a brotherhood and its pretty hard to stand idly by when your brother has been hurt. You might not get along with your brother and fight from time to time but, nobody else gets to take shots at him kind of thing.
Professor Hockey, if Sharks continue this trend and end up with another high draft pick, perhaps you can offer up an analysis on what players Sharks should target in the draft.
I will absolutely do this at season’s end!
I feel like it’s up to the players how they want to respond. If everybody wants to skate faster and be more technical, then something that used to not feel like brute force is now going to get judged more harshly. Ultimately these guys play a really hard physical game no matter what, they sacrifice their bodies for our entertainment. So if they want to stand up for each other when stuff goes down on the ice, that’s their choice and them defining culture they want. I think that’s their right as players. Hopefully that makes sense.
W crash out on Goodrow 😂
I think it’s very hard to tell if an open ice hit like that is clean in the moment as a player on the ice, so when you see it I don’t mind the response. Totally possible it looks like a hit to the head from Sturm’s pov. Especially in a lost season standings-wise I think the more they can build a culture of protecting each other and sticking together the better
Do you think warsofsky is actually coaching his dmen to lay on the ice everytime they're facing a 2 on 1? I'm confused why they do it so often.
So many dmen do it, not just Sharks guys, so I don’t think it’s a Warsofsky thing. Bothers me a lot though, feels like it heavily limits your options and is very predictable, should be reserved for very specific situations.
With the Sharks defense, it's because they're caught out of position and diving for the puck is their only chance...
I think you have bang bang plays and it’s damn near impossible to see if it’s legal hit or a illegal hit before you make the decision to back up a player. I’ll never be disappointed seeing us stick up for each other given the years where that was nowhere on the ice
The game on Tuesday should be fun.
Goodrow is making $3.6M for the next 2 and 1/2 seasons. No other teams are taking on that contract based on his skillset 😂
Terrible pickup from Grier. Terrible decision from Warsofsky to keep playing him up in the lineup. I think the best we can hope for is that he becomes stapled to the 4th line once Sturm is traded this season. Goodrow has been terrible. Can’t believe the Sharks weren’t compensated for taking on that contract.
I was personally at this game and I have to firmly disagree about Celebrini. His first 2 periods were, in my opinion, the worst of his career. Tons of terrible giveaways, passes to nowhere. It got way better in the third, but I thought Smith was playing okay for the first 30 minutes or so
I don’t know about worst of his career, but it was definitely one of his weaker games. He was however still one of their more productive players in the game in terms of generating chances.
The Goodrow pickup has been a terrible move to begin with. At this point, just waive the guy. I give up
If only…but Grier doesn’t inexplicably pick him up off waivers to then waive him later down the line, I’d imagine he wouldn’t do that just to save his pride honestly. I wouldn’t be surprised if we stick with him until his contract runs out
@professorhockey uuugghhhhhhhhh. It's so frustrating taking up a roster spot. He provides nothing offensively 5v5 and is a blackhole defensively. He's an overpaid 4th liner that PKs. At some point, Cardwell would be better at his role. The Sharks have to be considering calling up Graf or Gushchin to fill a top 9 slot while Eklund is out
Yeah, OK, the Sharks are losers again this year. But they're much more entertaining losers this time!
And Prof, I'm with ya in your thinking about the Sharks starting a fight over a legal, if hard, hit. Save it for the dirty hits and stop putting themselves into a penalty kill situation. You can stick up for your teammate, just don't penalize your team in the process...
I think you might be the first person to agree with me here haha
@@professorhockeyThe Sharks are contributing to their own demise be taking those extra penalties that invariably turn into PPGs against...