Western Conference Quarterfinals Gamethread

Smiling Joe Hesketh

Throw Momma From the Train
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The only problem with mocking Thornton is that you're on KPD's side of the street now.
 
I don't know if they bum rush McClellan. The Bruins didn't can Claude after 2010. While I thought the goalie shenanigans did them no favors, can this really be laid at the coach's feet?
 

TFP

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
The only problem with mocking Thornton is that you're on KPD's side of the street now.
 
I don't know if they bum rush McClellan. The Bruins didn't can Claude after 2010. While I thought the goalie shenanigans did them no favors, can this really be laid at the coach's feet?
I think there's a big gap between the Sharks this year and what happened with the Bruins in 2010. These Sharks were pretty loaded, relatively healthy, and played like gangbusters in the first 3 games.
 
The Bruins in 2010 were missing Seidenberg and Krejci (for the comeback), had the scrambled egg brain of Marc Savard playing with the corpse of Miro Satan, and were giving ice time to Trent Whitfield and Steve Begin. Also, they had a rookie goalie hit the wall. A lot of things conspired for it to happen, but frankly they went farther than they ever should have. If they had lost the series in 7 in a normal order, we would have considered it a very successful season for that talent level.
 
Thankfully, Cam, Chia, et al agreed and kept Claude around.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Also, I just watched the Colorado/Minny highlights (I went to bed, don't judge me) and I'm shocked that Varlamov is listed at 6 foot 2. When he goes into his butterfly he looks quite small. While there's no goalie on earth that could have stopped those snipes on him in the 3rd and OT, I was still taken aback.
 

cshea

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The problem with the Sharks is their core group of players are all signed through at least next season. Dan Boyle is the only exception, he is a free agent and I assume they let him walk. They just extended Joe and Marleau for 3 years. Vlasic, Pavelski, Burns and Couture are all signed long term. It'll be easier for them to can the coach if they need to find a scapegoat. I'm not sure I'd pin all the blame on McLellan for the collapse, but it's always easier to change the coach than it is to change all the players.

The core group in San Jose (Marleau, Thornton, Boyle then guys like Pavelski and even more recently Logan Couture) has been together for nearly a decade. Clearly it's not working, they might want to take a look at the roster.
 

TFP

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
So in your opinion should McClellan walk the plank? I admit to not knowing enough about the Sharks to make a judgement there.
Personally I think the roster needs to change, but as cshea laid out, that's unlikely to happen. I was just highlighting that the Bruins collapse had a ton of mitigating factors which led to upgrading the roster (Seidenberg, Horton, Campell, Marchand, Seguin, Kelly, Peverley, Kaberle, McQuaid, Thimas were all obviously contributors the next year) rather than staying the course with the roster and firing the coach. SJ doesn't really have that luxury, so I'm guessing the coach would take the fall.
 
In short, something needs to change in this scenario. For the B's, it was the depth of their roster that got significantly upgraded. For the Sharks, I'm not sure what roster moves they could make, so that leaves the coach, for better or worse.
 

Ed Hillel

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soxhop411 said:
Here you go
 
 
He looks like the Loser half of Chuck Norris that broke apart from the actual Chuck Norris during his mircale birth.
 

Red Right Ankle

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The Four Peters said:
Personally I think the roster needs to change, but as cshea laid out, that's unlikely to happen. I was just highlighting that the Bruins collapse had a ton of mitigating factors which led to upgrading the roster (Seidenberg, Horton, Campell, Marchand, Seguin, Kelly, Peverley, Kaberle, McQuaid, Thimas were all obviously contributors the next year) rather than staying the course with the roster and firing the coach. SJ doesn't really have that luxury, so I'm guessing the coach would take the fall.
 
In short, something needs to change in this scenario. For the B's, it was the depth of their roster that got significantly upgraded. For the Sharks, I'm not sure what roster moves they could make, so that leaves the coach, for better or worse.
Do people think none of that core is tradeable?  Thornton's still one of the best players in the NHL; Marleau, Pavelski and Vlasic are all excellent players as well.  They could definitely pull a Flyers and move some of those guys for pieces and/or picks (not that that has worked out for Philly).
 

Jettisoned

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I know the Sharks lost 4 in a row but the Kings are definitely one the list of cup contenders this year, especially after picking up Gaborik at the deadline.  It's not like they lost to some scrub team.  The Kings are very, very good and hard as hell to play and score against.  The new playoff seeding means good teams are going to get bounced from the playoffs in the first round every year now, and this year it was the Sharks.
 
Vlasic got injured, Quick got hot and stood on his head for the last 4 games, and the Sharks got absolutely screwed in game 6 on LA's 2nd goal.  I think if they sign/trade for another puck moving D-man or two they'll be really good again next year.