With time to kill and an off day at hand, I took some questions from Fear the Fin readers on Twitter. If you’d like to participate in the future, go ahead and give us a follow! Or don’t and just read the questions and answers below. It’s a free country.
@fearthefin Has Paul Martin become Brad Stuart 2.0? If so, do you expect him to be traded this offseason?
— Justin V. (@GreenManV) November 2, 2016
Assuming Justin means that Paul Martin is actually Brad Stuart 3.0 and is now not good in the way Stuart was not good in his second stint with the Sharks … no. Martin and Burns have been very good this year, which you can see by checking out the nifty #WOWY chart below.
@fearthefin What are your thoughts on these potential line combos?
68-19-8
12-39-42
89-48-27
83-50-57— Justin V. (@GreenManV) November 2, 2016
The first line (featuring Melker Karlsson, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski) and the fourth line (Matt Nieto, Chris Tierney and Tommy Wingels) both look great. I would swap Donskoi (27) with Ward (42) and Marleau (12) with Boedker (89), though.
@fearthefin Who will be the first player to be brought up from the Barracuda to play with the Joes; Timo, Lebanc or Goldobin?
— Justin V. (@GreenManV) November 2, 2016
First off, let’s thank Justin V for doing god’s work out here. Go follow that man. He’s carrying this whole blog by himself.
My guess is Timo Meier with Kevin Lebanc as the dark horse. Nikolay Goldobin will likely not sniff the roster until next season, barring a whole bunch of injuries.
@fearthefin how many games does Haley stay up before going Barracuda?
— Scott Young (@FakeScottYoung) November 3, 2016
As many games as it takes for Timo Meier to get 100 percent, in my opinion. Right now the Sharks don’t have a guy in the AHL that they want sitting in the press box and, quite frankly, I don’t think the Sharks are unhappy with the way he’s playing. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Matt Nieto draw in tomorrow, though.
@fearthefin Has Haley been the possession black hole we all thought he would be?
— Nikki (@SJSharkbyte) November 3, 2016
Yes and no. He has not been good (-3.73 relative corsi according to corsica.hockey) but he really hasn’t been that bad either. Like Marcus and I have said before: It’s not an optimized lineup with Haley in it, but it’s certainly not the end of the world either. The biggest problem is that he plays so few minutes, which I think could hurt the rest of the team down the line.
@fearthefin Marleau said today he’s not retiring this season. Burns contract looms large. Do you think Will Marleau finish in SJ?
— Neo (@Bloodwall) November 3, 2016
I’m really not sure. I think if Marleau comes back it will need to be at a grossly reduced rate and I’m just not sure if he will be willing to do that. If he is, then yes, I think he comes back next year, but the Sharks will absolutely let him walk if he won’t in my opinion.
@fearthefin How did you come to know so much about hockey?
— Matthew Johnson (@mdj2502) November 3, 2016
Read the comments on this post to find out I actually don’t know a damn thing about hockey.
Thanks everyone! Let’s do this again sometime.
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