The Character of the Team

April 3rd, 2006 by ironsoap

Give Nils credit where due: The dude gets more dynamite chances to score than anyone else on the team. I’ve never seen so many breakaways, hard work chances and pure skill based opportunities develop as a result of Nils Ekman’s play. It’s a shame that he can’t shoot the puck to save his life. For every brilliant scoring chance laid at his feet he seems to fail to capitalize 99.999% of the time. Compare and contrast him with Jonathan Cheechoo who both benefit from Joe Thornton on their line and where Cheechoo has let his natural scoring ability sparkle with the big passer’s skills at his disposal Ekman has continued to struggle with shot placement, second efforts and finishing plays. He’s also the worst offender of the bad penalty on the whole team, taking hooking calls deep in the attacking zone for no reason, making sloppy plays on defense and constantly putting his team in a bad position at the most inopportune times. Ekman has in him, somewhere, a very good hockey player but it doesn’t seem to be coming out in this line or perhaps in this system. Bottom line: Trade bait. Sorry, Ek.

Jim Fahey

Fahey hasn’t played a ton of games this year and seems to be in the process of being replaced by the young Matt Carle. Which isn’t a bad thing since in 21 games Fahey is operating at a -11 which puts him lowest on the team in plus/minus.

Marcel Goc

Another low plus/minus player on the Sharks is Goc which I attribute to the fact that he’s lazy on defense probably because he fancies himself a sniper which his performance doesn’t seem to validate. When lower line Centers have you beat in points production (Goc has 19 points in 72 games of which only 7 are actual goals) you have some work to do and I honestly don’t see Goc making a lot of progress. He looks far too contented and even bored on the ice and if the Sharks make it to the playoffs or hope to make a serious run to the Cup next year it’s guys like Goc who are going to have to defecate or vacate the toilet.

Josh Gorges

Gorges has quietly been putting together some nice work in the Sharks’ zone since coming up mid-season. He hits hard and plays aggressively which I like and while he hasn’t been much of a threat offensively, he at least seems to have the fundamental defensive skills to become a young Hannan-type player. One to keep an eye on.

Scott Hannan

The Sharks primary ice-time guy, Hannan has been a very good zone protector for several years now and he’s still improving as he goes along. I’m happy to see Scott rushing pucks into the offensive zone on occasion now and generally looking more comfortable taking the shot than always looking for the pass. He doesn’t play quite as much of a physical game as guys like Doug Murray or Kyle McLaren but he’ll play it when it’s smart and seems to try and outthink his opponents. He is great at playing the body position game and I’ve seen him break up more than a few odd man rushes or breakaways that shows you he’s a good player to pair with a younger guy like Carle or Gorges in case one of them makes a mistake. If Scott could put a 40-point season together, that would take the Sharks a long way toward being serious Cup contenders.

Patrick Marleau

The Sharks captain has finally shaken off the slumpy woes that plagued him through his first seven years as an NHL player and the resuts have been exactly what fans have been hoping for. You don’t argue with 80 points and 32 goals from your captain and the fact that most of the year has had him playing on a line with two rookies just makes his season all the more impressive. Giving Bernier and Michalek ample time to develop into their own skills will only make this second line stronger (on other teams a 130-point line could be their number one) and Marleau better. Which is kind of scary, really. Doug Wilson and crew need to do what they must to make sure Patty is a Shark for a long time.

Alyn McCauley

McCauley did great things for the Sharks during the previous season but has been quiet this year, playing out of position on a more physical line than normal (the Sharks have seven natural Centers so someone had to play elsewhere). You’d like to see McCauley be closer to 20 goals at this point in the season but not every year can be a career defining one. If the Sharks don’t make the playoffs this year expect to see McCauley traded in the off-season or on a very short leash for the 06-07 campaign.

Kyle McLaren

Kyle McLaren must love playing defense. He’s got that classic D-man insanity in his eyes and it seems to be his life’s wor to try and peg every swollen-head sniper the Sharks face with a big fat end-over-end hip check. And it’s a blast to watch. Nothing is sweeter as a fan than seeing Selanne, Iginla or Modano smeared all over the ice trying to sneak something tricky across the blue line. For that reason alone (and the fact that he’s not horrible on the other side of the rink) I think McLaren should remain a Shark for seasons to come.

Milan Michalek

Bernier and Marleau’s linemate has quietly had a pretty darn decent rookie year with 34 points and a +6. Unfortunately his offensive production seems to have the same sort of stutter-start, streaky issues that Marleau went through for the first few years of his career. Michalek is a fast skater with good instincts and some nice moves but it doesn’t seem like he works with his line yet; almost like he’s playing with Marleau but not Bernier. A bit more chemistry on that line and it could be really, really dangerous.

Doug Murray

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