Midweek Mailbag: No one wants our garbage

With the Sharks just now cracking .500, the inbox is exactly as panicked as you’d imagine. I did my best to answer your questions and maybe make you hopeful for the future.

This trip saw the Sharks’ first back-to-back of the season, and Joe Thornton looked rough on the second half of that back-to-back. There’s got to be questions about his usage after that game.

Is there any chance of a line demotion? Sure. Probably. Realistically? I’m just not sure that the organization who worked so hard to keep him for the extra year is going to pull him off that top line yet.

The smart thing to do moving forward would be to rest him on the second half of back-to-back games, move him down the line-up on those games, or at the very least, to limit his minutes and usage. The problem then comes in breaking up the Joes, which we’ve seen that Pete DeBoer is hesitant to do.

I mean...yes. I say this on the podcast a lot, but the Sharks lucked into this D-group. Paul Martin being on IR, having a balance of right and left handed NHL defensemen, and having a mix of offensive versus defensive defensemen gave the Sharks a formula that works and that they wouldn’t have otherwise arrived at because Pete DeBoer and Doug Wilson love veterans.

That’s why Joel Ward and Jannik Hansen sitting is surprising to me. Cutting Timo Meier the other night felt more like a classic PDB move than letting veterans sit.

I think pulling a veteran player out of the forward group every night is going to be best for the team. The Sharks can’t compete in a game that’s getting faster and younger with a slow, old player dragging down every line.

Personally, I’d rather cut Hansen than Ward, and if Martin has to be in the lineup, I don’t want him with Burns. It’s time to limit the minutes of the older players.

I’m gonna side with Dougie on this one. Kailer Yamamoto was a high risk pick and one that I still don’t think would have fit in the Sharks’ system. Edmonton is only seven games into the season and they’re struggling. It’s easy to look good on a team that is last in the league in goals per game (1.88) and second to last in the league in shooting percent (5.0). That’s not to say he isn’t good, but any other rookie posting three assists and zero goals wouldn’t be talked about as much as Yamamoto has.

Believe it or not, but Wilson’s draft strategy this year fit with the organization’s needs. We had a stacked Barracuda team last year and few roster spots opening for the big club. Wilson may have played it safe, but he drafted a good crop of NCAA guys, knowing that there isn’t a lot of wiggle room right now.

By the time we see Josh Norris in teal, this team is going to look very different. I know we’re not used to planning for the future, but that’s what this year’s draft was really about and I’m not mad.

Incredibly. PDB and crew don’t like scratching vets. I wouldn’t be surprised if Barclay Goodrow or Dylan DeMelo request a trade, and frankly the Sharks should be shopping them at this point.

It’s too early to call on whether they should make a trade. That comes down to whether or not they get their act together and look like a playoff team come January.

The players that are expendable at this point are Mikkel Boedker, Joel Ward, Jannik Hansen, Barclay Goodrow, Paul Martin, Brenden Dillion, and Dylan DeMelo.

But here’s a secret about trades: nobody actually wants anyone else’s garbage.

I think Paul Martin and Joel Ward hold enough clout in the league that there’s still some trade potential. Goodrow and DeMelo have the advantage of being young and serviceable for anyone looking to fill out their bottom end. I don’t see a situation where we are able to flip Boedker or Dillon.

At the same time, unless it’s something like the trade that got James Reimer in teal, I’m just not sure that I want Doug Wilson making big moves. That was the last time I felt he was making a move to get this team to the finals. Everything since has felt like patchwork.