Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Also Sharks Radio Update

Posted 1:19 PM ET | Comments 3

The San Jose Sharks have found themselves in a tough place. A good tough place though. The Sharks roster still has some trimming to be done, however, who will stay and who will go? Obviously you can't begin the season with 28 centers just because they all looked good in the preseason. A complete team needs defense as well. You have your locked in guys such as K Mac, Carle, Rivet, Erhoff, and Pickles. Well what to do about the others. Douglas Murray has had a great camp in my opinion. He came in in better shape this year and looks much better than just the bone crushing hitter he has been previously. Rob Davison is one of my favorite guys on this team. He has eyes that appear to look right through you, lets just say when he gets that look in his eye, you do not want to be the one he is looking at. He is also valuable in the sense that he can be moved up to the wing and plays pretty well there. Rob Davison gives you options. He is a good defenseman who can be thrown onto a forward line to shake things up if needed. Alexi Semenov has just not impressed me and has been exactly what I expected, a big giant guy on the ice and not much more. I really doubt he will make the starting night roster. Sandis Ozolinsh is a player who I think can still be an impact player in this league. I believe he just needs the right environment and San Jose should provide that. He has come into camp in shape and determined to make the team. He must prove himself in camp due to the fact he can not play in any preseason games, league substance abuse policies prevent him from doing so.

So who says to many young quick guys who can score is a problem? In most cases I would not, however the team needs to put together a starting line-up. As far as forwards go the only problem the Sharks have is deciding who will stay with the big club and who will start the season in Worcester. Thornton, Marleau, Michalek, Bernier, Cheechoo, Grier, Brown, and Roenick, are all locks. What about the players who are sort of in limbo? Now do not get me wrong here, all the following players would most likely make any starting roster, but the fact is this roster is going to be a very tough one to crack. The following guys will need to be strategically placed on the roster.....Pavelski, Goc, Rissmiller, Clowe, Setoguchi, Mitchell, Kaspar, and Mink. Most likely Mitchell, Kaspar, and Mink will be cut but that still leaves decisions to be made. Pavelski has been great, he has been a part of nearly every goal scored this preseason. Setoguchi has been very impressive as well with 5 goals in the preseason, I believe he has done enough and deserves a chance. Clowe can play everywhere. You can put him on the first line or the 4th and he produces. Rissmiller is very off and on to me. He has shown signs of being a top 6 forward but just not consistent enough for me. Goc has always been solid. He plays well on both sides of the puck. He just has not put up the numbers i would like to see out of him.

As for the goaltending I believe Greiss will begin the season as Nabokov's back-up. He has played very well and shown good lateral movement. Patzhold just has not shown enough. Both goaltenders had a tough time pleading their cases though, with the solid defensive play in front of them, they did not get to see much on most nights.

There are a lot of tough calls to make in the next couple of days. No matter who stays and who goes the Sharks are in place to ice a very solid team. The depth at the forward spots is a blessing any team would love to have. Also I would not be surprised to see a trade of some sort go down considering the depth and value of the young forwards within the system.

I will do a blog on the final roster as soon as a decision has been made.

Have a good day !

Just a quick Update !

The San Jose Sharks weekly call-in radio show will be broadcast on 1220 AM every Saturday from 5-6:30 pm. You can find more info on this here.....

http://boards.sjsharks.co.../index.php?showtopic=3677

Filed Under: starters roster training camp Sharks

sharks_fan_tim

September 27, 2007 3:59 PM ET | Delete
Way to lay it out as usual Nc! We're fortunate to be pretty loaded with good forwards, "Gooch"definitely should stick this year and I would love to see him on the second line centered by "Little Joe". Goc has never been flashy but he's a stud on face-offs and the PK and I like the spark he can bring when it looks like the team is sleep walking. The defense and it's depth is definitely a concern, Big Mac can rarely play a whole season and the loss of Hannan as a shut down DMan is going to show it's head sooner rather than later. I have been inspired by Murray and concur with your thoughts on Davison and hope that Ozo has something still left to contribute. Maybe someone is going to take their game to the next level this year but we're in trouble if a couple fixtures go down, cause the depth on defense is cause for concern. I suspect we might even see one of the youngsters that were already sent down, later in the season, if a couple guys get hurt and hopefully they'll have some resemblance to what Vlasic did last year or we might be in trouble. It'll be interesting to see if the shots on our goal go up this year and will they be as a result of the loss of Hannan or the newer forwards not committing to the "D" like they did last year? Thank God Nabby won't be allowed to get hurt this year (LOL), cause we're not one of those fortunate teams with experienced back-ups!

blueline

September 28, 2007 12:13 PM ET | Delete
Very nice blog Nc. To say you have a solid team is an understatement. A lot of us would like your "problem" in determining who stays. I still think that at this point the teams to beat in the West are the Sharks, Wings, and Ducks.

FLAMESTR