A necessary organizational change

by ievans on May 26, 2011 3:51 PM PDT

Why the Sharks brass needs to deal with injuries during the regular season.

Since we're celebrating Heinous Injury Disclosure Day, it's a good chance to review all the brutal medical problems hockey players suck up and play through that would leave most people moaning and trolling for sympathy on TwitterBook. Dany Heatley, for one, had a broken hand for most of the latter part of the regular season. He suffered a groin pull last year, and I had thought his drop-off in points and net play this year was related to that injury. While I realize most of the injuries to Thornton, Clowe, Demers, and Couture occurred in the playoffs, I'm going to use Heatley's hand injury as an example of one of the factors for why we sputter out in the 2nd or 3rd round.

Why letting them play through injury is incredibly stupid

The obvious reason is that the player continues to be injured, and that's reflected in their play. A less obvious reason is that the players further down on the depth chart don't get playing time to jump into that players slot, and force the team to adapt to an injury.

The main reason it's stupid is because standing points don't matter if you're too banged up and broken to play well for an extended period of time. Let me repeat that. Standing points don't matter as long as you're in the playoffs. Detroit knows this. They'll take their core players out during the regular season, and even the playoffs, to heal. Along with that is the expectation that the team and the replacement players will pick up the slack, and they'll get the players back for a further push.

Take a look at the extremely tight Western Conference. Being the #2 seed gave us an outrageously physical series vs. the Kings that caused some of the injuries that helped doom us in the 3rd round. Then we got the #3 Wings, where Clowe got Kronwalled and the rest of the Sharks got further bumped and bruised. The Canucks in the top-seed spot got a tough Blackhawks team, and then the #5 Predators, who played fairly well against Vancouver in a very physical series. The Wings started off against the #6 Coyotes, who probably should have been a tougher opponent than they actually were.

Would the Shark's path have been significantly tougher if we had lost some games during the regular season and ended up as a #3 or #4 or #5 seed? It sure doesn't look like it. If anything, we've done the Blackhawks and Canucks the courtesy of knocking out the Wings in the 2nd round both years. Back east, the #5 Lightning are in the ECF, after knocking out the Penguins and Capitals.

It's a marathon, not a sprint. If a player has a healable injury, take the long view and sit them, even if they say they'll play through it. Then they can come back and make an impact when it counts. Even when they get their playoff injuries, they're not going to be as severe. In the case of Heatley, he may have avoided his twisted ankle if he hadn't been playing with a broken hand that forced him to overcompensate.

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If the final points race had been different

… you might be making a good point. As it was though, it wasn’t until < 2 weeks to go that we were assured we were going to be in at all.

by psantangeli on May 26, 2011 4:49 PM PDT reply actions

We may have mathematically clinched a spot with less than 2 weeks left, but we were rising in the seedings from mid-January on. After the winning streak, we were never on the outside looking in.

The point is that we could very well have sacrificed a few points (and seed rankings) to have a healthier team. And played with more confidence knowing that we could still function and win as a team once we got there.

Liftetime president of the Darren Turcott Q-Tip Dexterity Awareness Foundation
finally caved in, as @shampeon on the Twitternet

by ievans on May 26, 2011 6:39 PM PDT up reply actions

And a solid contributor to that streak was the Couture/Clowe/Heatley line. Hindsight is always better. We don’t know if the streak would have been as successful if some players were more rested etc. While I agree that a broken hand of all things should have been given time to heal naturally, that is a call to be made at the time and not afterwards. If the Sharks had continued into the SC Finals and even won the cup, then would you be saying the same thing about wanting said rest? Probably not.

It is easy to say sacrifice a few points, but as it was said, every point mattered until somewhat near the end for a couple reasons. Dallas was nose diving. Phoenix was nose diving. LA was nose diving. We surpassed them because we WERENT losing while all 3 of them were. So there is many factors that could have been different, that at the time, the decision was made because it was such a tight thing. At the point in the season where the point gap started increasing it was already too late for any significant changes.

by VVhirlwind on May 29, 2011 11:58 PM PDT up reply actions

We haven’t gotten to the finals, and we haven’t been able to overcome all the small challenges that add up to a successful playoff run.

We, organizationally, don’t rest guys. We don’t rest our goalies, as we trust them to tell us if they want a day off (which they never do). We don’t pull guys for healing nagging injuries, as we trust them to try to play through it or tell the training staff if they can’t.

How much does it contribute to us always running out of gas? I dunno, but our current practices don’t seem to be working.

Liftetime president of the Darren Turcott Q-Tip Dexterity Awareness Foundation
finally caved in, as @shampeon on the Twitternet

by ievans on May 30, 2011 9:48 AM PDT up reply actions

The tough part is seeing this in hindsight. Of course, it’s easy to say that shutting certain players down might make for an easier path later on but to have assumed that any team would have been more or less easy than the other is just impossible. LA was limping into the playoffs, missing some of their top scorers and/or some of them were on the serious mend. Phoenix and Nashville, the other 2 suiters are both very defensive teams that are more physical than LA.

Though I can agree that Heatley probably should have been given more recup time (shutting him down for the 2 weeks leading into the playoffs, for example) would have been smart. Your example of the wings is a good one given they shutdown Datsyuk for a decent chunk of timing leading into the playoffs and he was well enough to almost single-handedly take out the sharks.

Again, it’s easy to second guess it now but who’s to say Heater didn’t need the playing time with Clowe and Couture? Confidence and chemistry is about time on the ice and having a “Cold” Heater on that line wouldn’t have done us much good either.

by The Tanker on May 26, 2011 8:02 PM PDT reply actions

I guess we’ve seen a lot of different ways a contending team falls short now, and so it’s less 20/20 hindsight than a summation of what I see as an organizational trait that isn’t working.

And, well, we’ve seen two playoffs in a row what an injured Heatley ultimately contributes. Clowe/Couture/Heatley was rocking down the stretch, but went ice cold once the games got tighter, and the bumps, bruises, and bigger injuries started piling up. We need team-wide confidence, plus health (plus luck) to get over the hump.

Liftetime president of the Darren Turcott Q-Tip Dexterity Awareness Foundation
finally caved in, as @shampeon on the Twitternet

by ievans on May 27, 2011 11:44 AM PDT up reply actions

Hindsight is 20/20, but I tend to agree.

I don’t think they should have that same pressure to play through injuries in the regular season, as it will go a long way in the long run.

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"-Wayne Gretzky"-Michael Scott.

by SharksFanEst.1994 on May 26, 2011 10:32 PM PDT reply actions

yeah. I hear you. I’m not disagree. The sharks organtization is definately one that prides itself in toughness (at least they do now) but we see how that pride can be a big problem if taken to extremes. hopefully, the organization learns from this. have Heater or Clowe at 50% heading down the stretch in the regular season and then getting them at 30% in the playoffs won’t get us anywhere.

Who knows… shutting them down for the last 2 weeks of the regular season might have payed off huge in the the later rounds of the playoffs. Most other teams do it to some degree. not sure why the sharks as an organization don’t do it more. If you know you’re already in the playoffs, when in doubt, ere on the side of caution and shut some guys down so you have them later.

Though this isn’t a proven formula for success (just ask washington) it couldn’t hurt to have those guys healthy in the later rounds.

by The Tanker on May 27, 2011 3:22 PM PDT reply actions

Put the players on an all milk diet

Championship

I will not walk so that a child may live!
"Sometimes I feel like home runs aren’t hits," he said afterward. "But they are hits." -The genius who is in charge of our team.

by Briceratops on May 27, 2011 5:32 PM PDT reply actions

They never clarified when he broke his hand though… it was only said to be in the “regular season”. It’s nice to look back and, in hindsight, sit players. But, frankly, this could’ve happened rather late in the season.

And there’s no way to gauge “Well, let’s sit this player… because we’re going to make the playoffs and seed doesn’t matter”. It does matter… and this team didn’t guarantee itself a spot until rather late in the season, when there wouldn’t have been much time to sit the guy.

"Logan Couture is a dirty, filthy man. Tell all your friends" - Mr. Plank
Member of the Torrey Mitchell and Patrick Marleau Fan Club

by Bockerz on May 27, 2011 8:08 PM PDT reply actions

Exactly

It took us quite awhile to clinch a spot, let alone home ice advantage. We needed to fight until the very end. That’s also why Niitty didn’t get to play as much as everyone wanted him to.

I love Dany Heatley for his fantastic acting chops and his permanently dilated pupil.

by HeatersLeadingLady on May 27, 2011 9:07 PM PDT up reply actions