San Jose Sharks 24-25 Regular Season Review: Game 4 Sharks @ Blackhawks

[@knara6]

professor hockey is the king

[@9gangentertainment]

Eklund-granlund-zetterlund Guschin-Smith- toffoli Imo we should try that as our top 6 on this upcoming road trip

[@nxdevera]

big surprise wennberg also struggled with our 2nd line wingers

[@tjue4607]

First overall pick here we go. Good vid professor as always.

[@RIS3N1]

Once again, no Guschin. I guess we can disregard all Mike Grier said before the season.

[@JapaneseAmericanaJiuJitsu]

Time to assault the San Jose front office because they are doing some boneheaded decisions with these lines

[@Sharkstalk]

he wasn't going to randomly appear on the road trip.

[@zulluz9697]

I can sense Klim Kostin is this season's "Calen Addison" The professor gave Kostin a whooping

[@Wes_the_Bes]

Perhaps Grier really wants to get something for Kostin at the trade deadline. Though it'd be better value to not play him if he's giving these types of performances lol

[@professorhockey]

I sure hope not. Kostin has been bad, but Addison was baaaaad. There’s a reason he isn’t on an NHL team this season.

[@rumsfeldisinsane]

Professor Hockey spitting straight facts!!!!

[@prosperfireson]

Hey Professor, As I was watching that game last night the thought crossed my mind during the first two periods that Professor Hockey will have a field day with this game. hehehe I would agree it was very clear that the guys put their worst effort out last night. As far as the first period we were definitely not sharp but, as in all sports sometimes you have to give credit to the opponent. Sometimes they win and you lose. I thought Chicago came out with the intention of knocking us out in the first period and putting us on our heels for the night and it worked largely. The Sharks team is still figuring out if they are any good and until they prove to themselves that they are their confidence is likely to be fragile and vulnerable to being rocked by a shot to the jaw. Chicago came out flying and we were not ready for that. We were slugish (unluckily for us) and the Hawks were in 5th gear and literally ran us ragged. After the first period we never saw that version of the Hawks again but, it took a whole period for the Sharks to regain their feet after being knocked down in the first period and given a standing 8 count. By the 3rd period both teams were playing with similar intensity and we traded blows with them alright but, I think the deciding factor here is overall skill level. I think you are under estimating Taylor Hall. Hall is a former league MVP when he was in Long Island I believe and he was a first over all pick himself. He is an outstanding player still in his prime and apparently missed most of last season due to injury that required surgery so what we have in Hall is an elite talent in his prime recovering from a season ending surgery last year. I totally agree that that first goal Vitek gave up to Hall appeared like Vitek just was a little too scrunched up to the near post and thus left a tea cup sized hole on the far side that a guy like Taylor Hall certainly posess' the skill to hit 9 out of 10. I think between Connor Bedard, Hall and Nick Foligno they posess some high end skill in addition to a few others. I think defensively Seth Jones and Marc Eduard's cousin looked very good against our under skilled line up. I do agree that Kostin was again not very good. I am wondering if he is just not that committed to his off season training and just relying on innate ability or something? By now Kostin given the talent he has shown ought to be able to iron out the inconsistencies in his game but, instead he was trade bait last season and we can see why? A good amount of talent, size and skating ability but, just not very consistent for a guy with as much ability and experience at the NHL level you would expect more consistency? I agree also that Kostin should sit in favor of Gushin given our struggles. Kostin is not giving us much and Gushin can hardly do worse. I think Gushin has show an ability to finish and create in his limited NHL stints so far. I would like to see him put on that 2nd line to see what he can do with more opportunity. It is clear that we lack talent right now so Gushin will help in that department but, we are missing arguably our best player in Macklin which for a team like us that is thin in the skill area is deadly. Pete Clovis, CA

[@professorhockey]

Yeah, Hall won league MVP with the Devils about 7 years ago, so I understand that he was at some point an incredible player. But I don’t think at this point in his career he is still anywhere near a point per game player or anything like that. Basically, he’s very talented, but not unstoppable was what i was trying to say.

[@prosperfireson]

@@professorhockey So I looked up Taylor Hall's stats and the injury he suffered last season. He had an ACL blown out last season after playing about 10 games that ended his season so he is coming off major knee surgery which takes time to regain confidence that the knee will hold up. Hall is 32 years old so still in his prime years. You are correct about his output. His last "full season" was in Boston two seasons ago when he played 61 games and had only 36 points. In fact Hall has only been a point per game player twice in his career and the last time was his MVP season so quite some time ago. For Hall's career he has played in 837 games, scored 267 goals, accrued 432 assists for a total of 699 points so not a point per game player for his career but, still a very good player. Perhaps not HoF but, certainly all star caliber.

[@Me-eq3sg]

Rough game but granlund is awesome to watch out there. He is battling for every puck playing a very complete game. I honestly am starting to hope we hold on to him, but if he (understandably) wants to move on he is making a case for being the #1 center available at the trade deadline.

[@professorhockey]

I think it’s unlikely that he wants to sticks around, if I were him at least, I’d want to go somewhere I had a chance of winning.

[@Me-eq3sg]

@professorhockey agreed but you never know he is probably playing the best hockey of his career here

[@HitmanHockeyCards]

LOL this was rough one to watch

[@JapaneseAmericanaJiuJitsu]

Kinda scary how invisible Will Smith is throughout these couple of games…

[@SlenderGuitarist]

I am glad I missed this game today 😂

[@caravaggiohs9020]

Missed about 12 minutes of the game and the 2nd and 3rd hawks goals, so I’m not going to try to rate players, but just saying Will Smith has played 4 NHL games and has improved in every one. Sure it was from a 2/10 to a 2.5/10 to a 3/10 to a 5/10, but at least hes not going backwards.

[@steeefmonn]

unbelievable we havnt seen Gushchin in yet. What has he done to this management? lol

[@kellenfoster7893]

I'm not a hunter but if they make goose calls like they make duck calls, we need them in the SAP center.

[@professorhockey]

Hahaha

[@tacocruiser4238]

Most of these guys (everyone outside of the first line) are fringe NHLers at this stage of their respective careers. It's important to remember this so that you are not in a constant state of shock when the team plays badly.

[@laurap.9992]

Painful game to watch and gave me traumatic flashbacks of last season. I hope Warso switches things up against Winnipeg. Let the goose loose! #75!

[@infinity-vm4ul]

This game pissed me off. It was the first one that actually felt like last year’s Sharks to me. Hardly watched the third.

[@Wes_the_Bes]

It's not been a good start for this coaching staff. As you pointed out, Warsaw just doesn't know how to put together a competent top 6, let alone a full lineup... kostin has no business being in over guschin. Thanks for the vid! 👍

[@ponyboy9765]

Pretty rough game, definitely the worst of the season so far. A lot of the positives from the last game kinda go out the window here. I agree with you I think there needs to be some wholesale line shuffling and the sharks desperately need Mac back in the lineup. I wonder if it might benefit Smith to play winger for a bit and maybe have a little less responsibility for play making so he can adjust to the speed. Also moving Kostin out of the top six would do wonders for him. I remember last year he was quite good as a bottom six guy. And of course get Gushin back in the lineup. This is what my lineup would look like. Eklund - Celebrini - Toffoli Smith - Grandlund - Zetterlund Guschin - Sturm - Kostin Goodrow - Wennberg - Kunin This gives Smith the opportunity to play with a good puck mover like Grandlund and gets Kostin back into a bottom six role. I like the third line together but just made them the fourth since they kinda play like a 4th line energy line. I’d also maybe consider swapping Thrun and Rutta to get a little more dynamic look with the defense. Let me know what you think!

[@professorhockey]

I think Dellandrea will hold on to his spot. Honestly, I’m not sure I see a world where Warsofsky has both Gushchin and Kostin in the lineup while everyone is healthy. Seems like it will end up one or the other, hopefully Gushchin.

[@caravaggiohs9020]

@@professorhockeyI actually like kostin as a player but I agree with you, and honestly it seems crazy to keep him in and take out dellandrea with how kostin has been playing. Sit him for a few and try him again in a week or two

[@ponyboy9765]

@@professorhockey Opps I totally forgot about him. Yeah sub Dellandrea and slot him in where I have Kostin and I’m happy.

[@alexgreen7728]

@@professorhockeysee no reason why not to play them together, they played together episodically in the camp and even scored! We need size and skill so Kostin should stay, we don’t have many big forwards!

[@sharxboy]

We need a super cut of PH's views on Klim Kostin, hahha

[@sharxboy]

When I look at the lines I see that almost everyone is "out of position" so to speak. If these players were on any other team it would look something like... 1st line Eklund xxxxx xxxxx 2nd line Guschin Granlund Toffoli 3rd line W. Smith Wennberg Zetterlund 4th line xxxxx Sturm Goodrow 1D xxxxx xxxxx 2D Walman Ferraro 3D Thrun Ceci Scratches: Dellandrea, Kunin AHL: Kostin, Grundstrom Buuuuut, we have who we have.

[@mattblom3990]

You started out with silver linings...As you know, I added Granlund to my fantasy roster, and he got me two assists tonight. That said, that's me being selfish and overall the game was rough.

[@rickjamesdos2239]

are you on the sharks subreddit prof

[@professorhockey]

I check it sometimes yeah

[@cousinit718]

Is it too early to ask if the Coach is in over his head?