what we doing with pickles

Hoffman gets an F from me for last year. Coasted all year long and got a lot of opportunities from Quinn/Grier. Stole a spot from Gushchin/Bordeleau by taking up a roster spot. He played so poorly nobody was even interested in him at the trade deadline. Hasn’t signed with another team this offseason. Really questionable roster management having him on the team last year. I’ll chalk it up to Quinn vouching for him and one of the reasons he was fired this offseason.

No. They’re not.

Go Utah

I feel like Hoffman knew his effort level didn't particularly matter, so he just coasted a lot. For a "sniper" he hasnt done much sniping

Surprisingly lenient grade. I probably would have gone C- D+ but I mean he served his role in helping us tank, so that’s a win right?

Hoffman essentially replacing Erik Karlsson during the trade will never not be absolutely bizarre. We never should have taken him out of respect for Karlsson if nothing else.

Couture is coming back this season, expected mid-late Sept. Colin Graf will be in the lineup, only reason why he chose SJS over all the other teams interested in him, opportunity to play. Likely to be 3RW.

Grade should be D-, defensive liability, slow, can only produce on the PP, garbage.

Hoffman Blows, he was terrible for the last 3 seasons, why waste any time on him?

Hey Professor, Actually...I got nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Negatory. hehe Pete Clovis, CA

You will know the Sharks are no longer tanking when Grier starts going after top-tier free agents and handing out 7-8 year contracts. Right now, they are still dumpster-diving so the tank is not over yet.

Seeing the roster build for this offseason. Especially the D. Some improvements but really nothing that’s gonna add many wins at this time. But lots of positives none the less. I’m all for it, similar to last year but with Wallman will put players into better positions. Moves everyone down one spot. Man I’m so for this build. Good insolation to the youth. But not tipping the scales. Or pulling a Detroit throwing lots of money to character/role players messing up the future needs. Imo shows good roster understanding and poise. Dont rush, like last year. You supplemented the youth and players like eklund, zetterlund, thrun, emberson. Showed noticeable improvement. Not all flourished, but as far as unfortunates. It was to me just zadina and Addison. Low price, higher value shots that didn’t work out. Not a big loss. But could have been big wins. Love the plays, even though they didn’t work out. As of today, little negatives to those moves. Keep it going. I’d take another shot when available on a boom or bust D they like. Or goalies like askarov if price is right. Or another whose place is blocked you can get for cheap. Just personal opinion, you can for most part purposely tank for some years. This year was an outlier. We were rock bottom. Just say we took the “tanking route next couple years”. But with the knowledge of how Grier’s worked so far. You’re getting very exciting top prospects. You’re getting good depth to guide the youth. To me, that is a recipe for success. Id expect big progressions as the youth enters the line up. Can’t say that now. As only Eklund on the team regularly of the expected next core. Not fair to judge longer term tanking with so little of your own future in the line up yet. Can’t tell me next year Mack and will won’t bring fans. Then Sam and others adding to the hype as years go on. Attendance should start to rebuild as the hype continues to grow.

Great video again, good points all around. I am a newer hockey fan and watching your videos the past couple years has really helped get me into the sport as a sharks fan, thanks for making these! I am excited for next season!

Well said Professor. No way you want your top two prospects to start their careers in a losing culture.

I said during a livestream of locked on sharks that I would rather have Hagens than Celebrini. Just saying, if they're just the right level of bad this season, the could have BOTH

One or two more high draft picks could really round out this young core.

Get a better mic, homie, damn.

We have to remember guys like Smith, Celebrini, Dickinson when he comes over. These guys are natural winners. Winning culture is so important I think it’s tempting to get worse but for the sake of development and morale it makes sense to get a bit better over time. The sharks already won the lottery once, they don’t necessarily need to again in order to build a serious threatening team down the line

Hey Professor, Very good question man. I think you hit the nail on the head. The only thing I would add is the delicate balancing act that Mike Grier has to do. As you correctly pointed out we need top tier prospects to rebuild the team but, if the team is lack luster and falls flat again it could cost Grier his job. Somehow Grier has to do a two step and keep the Sharks in contention for a high pick yet provide hope and excitement right now. Tough balancing act but, I think you nailed it. Pete Clovis, CA

It is going to get better from here I know that for a fact CELEBRINI

Love your videos man. Despite it being a pretty rough half decade. You’ve kept me engaged as a fan. Can’t thank you enough. Go sharks!!

Yeah there are zero reasons to tank again.

If theyre smart they will be. Another top 5 pick is what they need. No need to rudh the rebuikd

Intense start with that gusto. Immediately brings me back to all the years, bringing classroom experiences over the formative years: " Nuerduo ue te "

They kinda have to in order to get rid of those trash contracts that they have but it'll be less blowouts compared to last year.

Sorry you watched all 82 games. But, I appreciate your insights on the team that I love.

I look at this from the lens of “who would we beat in the overall standings?” We will assuredly improve upon last year’s putrid team- but it almost feels inevitable that SJ, Chi, Ana, Phi and CGY will be the worst in the league with SJ probably at the bottom unless the kids light it up from day one and another team gets ravaged by injuries. I like Utah to make the biggest progression. Their young talent has enough experience to know how to win games and playing in a new city is gonna help their cause. I could see WSH and Vegas slip considerably. Vegas’ cap situation gives them no flexibility and they had a poor offseason. Considering that the Sharks have their #1 pick, hopefully it’s in the top 15.

What I’m hoping for is another year somewhat near the bottom for another good top pick, but hoping the team looks much more competitive. No 10-1 blowouts. Some nice tight 1 goal games and good effort. I think we’re still going to win our fair share of games with this group. Also don’t forget we have Vegas first round pick as well. They’re not nearly as deep as they were last season so if stone or eichle gets hurt they could bomb this season which would be veeerrrryyyy good for us. Just need to keep building gradually for long term success.

We are definitely going to be a bottom 10 team and probably a bottom 5 team but we will be a lot more fun to watch and I won’t be rooting for losses this year like the last 2

folks just don't remember those cow palace days and link gaetz. they did a similar thing in late 90s

Omg sir! 🥵

Burns wasn't traded for us to fail. It was to help Burns potentially win a cup

You've quickly become my favorite Sharks analyst. I am including those on TV 😅

Hey Prof, which pieces do you think will be part of the D-core in our competitive window (say 5 years from now)? You think Emberson, Thrun, Muk, and Dickenson would be a legit top 4? I know 3 are lefties and we haven’t seen Dickenson yet (or Muk much), but you think they can be counted on, or we’ll need to bring another piece?

Excellent analysis once again, Prof. With that current defense behind you, the Sharks will be in the running for the most goals scored against next season...

Next year draft suckz!!! so win baby!!!!

The Swedz line is gonna dominate!!!! Playoffz!!! Playoffz? Yez Playoffz!!!! Go Sharks Go:)

Great stuff as always! Last year was rock bottom, it's time to improve moving forward.

Class dismissed Professor!

I'm debating on if Smith and Celebrini get their 8-10 games in the NHL and then get put into the AHL. Letting their contracts slide for one season. I think it's one more season at the bottom before of the pacific before becoming contenders for a playoff push. So many 1 year contracts and short term-small cap hit contracts. I expect some trade moves and a signing or two for 25-26 playoff run. Someone like Kyle Connor, Alex Tuch, Rasmus Anderson, I like the Lund line together(ek-gran-zetter) Which puts toffoli-wennberg-bords(idk there) then on too kunin-sturm-dellandrea 4th line- PK klim-goodrow-bailey Love the content. Thank you for all you do.

More of the skill/points-obsessed analyst sharks fans overrating Thomas Bordeleau, who is an unmitigated disaster defensively. Defensive disasters like him need to be possession monsters to hide their poor d-zone play. Is that Bordeleau? No. He sucks. He's been overrated by the same faction of the fanbase ever since he's been drafted. He isnt good enough for a top 6 role and hed be hilariously bad in a bottom 6 role. Please learn how to scout. Kunin should never be in the top 6(and only was because of how bad the roster was last year) but if you think Bordeleau would be better than him on the 4th line you just don't know the game of hockey. Grier has had to purge all of Doug JR's useless small boi picks and Bordeleau will be the last one.

Last year the Sharks insisted on giving Hoffman and Labanc a lot of opportunities in the lineup even though they were not going to fit into the bigger picture. Maybe that was a David Quinn thing?? I wonder what that means for the defense this year. Will the Sharks still give a lot of playing time to Rutta and Benning to possibly move them later at the deadline? Vlasic should be waived. He’s been checked out for years. Everyone knows it. Teams aren’t even calling about him because it isn’t worth the effort to clear cap space…he’s lost the fire to compete as a professional.

Gonna leave a pinned comment here since many have pointed this out to me. Jan Rutta is a right-handed defenseman, not left-handed like I said in the video. That’s on me for not confirming that piece of info, and it does make it more likely that he plays over someone like Mukhamadullin. Lines might look something closer to: Ferraro-Emberson Walman-Benning Thrun-Rutta

Rutta is a RHD. Interestingly, JD made the same error.

Looks to much Like the Hockey Guy

Jan Rutta is not a lefty. Rutta shoots right. He is a right handed shot. Mukhamadullin or Thrun will likely start in the AHL and be a call up just due to the plethora of left shots, and it would be better to give either 24 minutes of ahl time than 17 minutes of nhl time. Rutta will definitely be in the starting lineup if healthy, though.

Great analysis and did not pull any punches. Subscribed

Correction: Rutta is, in fact, right-handed, so it is possible to run three pairings with a RHD on them.