Predicting San Jose Sharks Over/Unders | Is Celebrini’s Point Total TOO Low?

6 comments

1. I REALLY like Max Miller

2. Eklund > Kurashev
   Kurashev should be playing on line 3 or 4

3. looked about 50 times today for the official roster and your video lol

4. Lines
   Eklund, Celebrini, Smith
   Skiner, Misa, Toffoli
   Kurashev, Wennberg, Cardwell
   Goodrow, Gaudette, Reaves
   Spares
   Graf, Dellandrea
   D-pairs
   Orlov – Mukhamadullin
   Ferarro – Liljegren
   Dickinson – Klingberg
   Spare
   Leddy

   Goalie
   Askarov
   Nedeljkovic

   Desharnais waived clears and assigned to cuda

5. Hey JD and Max,
   We don't yet know the final roster but based on previous Mike Grier built teams it seems likely that the Sharks are pinning their hopes this season on a cadre of very young and talented players and a group of flawed veterans who may or may not be incapable of shoring up this season''s Sharks.

   Given the nature of injuries in the NHL for all teams and given that the Sharks have a number of key veterans who have a lot of miles and have not had great results the last few seasons particularly on the blue line I think it is a big ask to expect that group to meet expectations or even exceed expectations. There is a lot of potential for these guys to break down from all the wear and tear of long successful NHL careers and declining play of late does not bode well for the Sharks.

   I think the Sharks did better with the forwards they brought in but, I think our blue line is going to have a rough go this year at least as far as the veteratns are concerned. I am confident that Shakir and Dickenson will do fine for rookies and hopefully we won't ask Mario to do more than he is capable of. If we let Mario play a bottom 3 role he will be fine. Putting him in a top 2 role is asking a lot of him. This is my concern primarily for the Sharks.

   I think goal tending will be improved and I think our forward group is looking significantly better than it has the last 3 seasons. I will say that I expect Maclin to have a solid season but, I think he is going to garner a lot of attention this season as teams plan to contain him and force other Sharks to beat them. Maclin may not be able to make a large step as we all hope because he is going to draw heavy fire this year and he will need time to adjust and our forward depth is still not ready to force teams to play more even handed owing to our inexperience on all our lines.

   I think it is asking a lot of Maclin to put up 75-90 pts this season. The team is not strong enough and deep enough to make teams pay for focusing their defensive efforts on containing Maclin and Maclin's line mates are fine but, not enough in their own right to punish teams for focusing on Maclin defensively. I think ultimately Maclin is going to be a 90-100 pt player and an MVP candidate eventually when the Sharks young talent matures and grows into itself just not this season.

   I think we will be fine eventually as we do have a lot of talent percolating up in our system as far as forwards go. In a few years we are going to be a tough forward group to defend against. I think we will improve our goals per game for the season but, our goals against will remain similar with only a marginal improvement owing mostly to better goal tending this season and a marginally better blue line.

   My prediction is under 72 1/2 pts. I think as JD does that we will win another 5-10 games with the likely number being about 7 which will give us another 14 pts over last season and still land us in the bottom 4 worst teams though I don't think we will be dead last this season. I think Pittsburgh will be last this season followed by the Blackhawks and possibly the Bruins and then the Sharks.

   As far as Askerov I agree. He has to adapt to the NHL like all young goalies do. The question is how much pressure will he place on himself to be a rock straight away rather than just being himself and playing to his capabilities? Personally I think most goalies in the league at any one time are not as bad as many make out nor as good as some make out.

   Goalies look a lot better than they are when they have a stout defense in front of them. I think when you expose a goalie to a bad defensive team pretty quickly they get exposed. I think in any given season there are probably 2-3 goalies who are a cut above everyone else and maybe only 1 who is really a dominant goalie that can carry a team with average defense.

   The Sharks are not going to be very good defensively this year again. The Sharks will be marginally better defensively but, we are pinning so much hope on the aging, beaten up and declining play of several veteran defensmen and on the flip side we have some very good young forwards (Graf, Eklund, Celebrini and Misa) who are good defensively but, the other forwards…not sure how consistently solid they will be defensively.

   In terms of time on ice leaders…I think among forwards it's going to be Eklund because Eklund is our best PKer AND a key member of PP1 and given his development he to me is set up to be the beneficiary of all the focus on Maclin. I think too many of us forget Eklund. It's Maclin, Smith and now Misa and Dickenson…oh and Eklund.

   I think William is poised to have a sufficiently talented line around him to help drive offense and finish and he will benefit from that. I also think William has a little chip on his shoulder and rightly so between the losing he has endured for his whole Sharks career coupled with the shadow he lives in from other "brighter" stars I think William is going to lead the Sharks in points this year because teams will focus on Maclin rightfully so and this will give William and his line room to operate that Maclin is going to have to fight like hell to get.

   Thanks fellas for a fun exercise on the upcoming season.

   Peter St. John
   Clovis, CA

6. The standings prediction by Max is absurd. The Flames roster had 96 points last season. They have added Zayne Parekh. There is absolutely no way that team is last in the Pacific.

   Also, Shane Wright is more exciting than Beniers