Episode 177: Harvard Captain Signed, Karlsson Breaks 90 Points
Join us for this week's live episode as we discuss the San Jose Sharks recently signing Harvard captain Henry Thrun, a promising addition to the team's roster. The Sharks continue to experience more losses in recent games. However, Erik Karlsson has been on fire, breaking into an impressive 90 points on the season. Couture recently revealed that the team wants Karlsson to hit 100 points this season. If you're a Sharks fan, tune in, and we'll take your live questions to keep the conversation going.
Transcript
Paul: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. Welcome back to The Fin Factor. I'm Paul. I'm Aaron. This is episode number 177, uh, folks for the podcast. Uh, the reason I'm [00:01:00] laughing is because we already have comments in here and, uh, I'll just start reading some of these. Well, the, the one that I'm laughing about here is Peter St. John saying, Hey, super producer Jason.
Have you ever been the one holding up the start of the show? Because we started about eight minutes. And he replies only when they want a graphic last minute, which is what tied me up. Just now. We're going live now. Uh, do not ask me to screenshot a tweet one minute before from going live. I'll lose my mind.
And actually that is fairly accurate. He does lose his mind regardless of when you ask for it. He, when you ask him to. Get a tweet in there. He does not like tweets. There's a very famous quote, we, we can't, we can't quote it, uh, from Super Jason, but he is very unhappy, uh, with tweets. Uh, going back to Peter, John though, evening boys, Kellen Foster with ales.
Go Baby. Uh, yes indeed, Kellen, let's go . Um, and then we've got, uh, Peterson John making the observation that Coach Quinn's getting the big bucks, but man, I kind of feel bad for him. Not exactly sending, uh, his coaching crew on fire as he [00:02:00] would want. Yeah, but you know what, he knew exactly what he was getting into Aaron, right?
I mean, he, he he knew,
Aaron: yeah, and he's still coaching in the nhl, so I don't think he minds so much. And NHL coaches kind of have that buffer. If they do get fired, they still get paid for the rest of their contract. So, um, I think he's doing just fine. Yeah, I'm, I'm sure he is frustrated, but
Paul: yeah, he's all right.
I think anybody having anything to do with San Jose, including fans, are a little bit frustrated right now, unrightfully, so, but you know what, before we get. To, well, okay, the folks that are looking for the tank card for a badard train, let's shoot you baby. Um, however, , we're gonna give folks, uh, some time to get in here.
In fact, why don't you guys help us out, get some more folks in here, if you can hit us with that retweet, hit us with that share. Uh, we certainly would appreciate that and get some more people in here chatting with us today. Uh, we've got a few things that, uh, might be a little bit interesting here for you guys.
So, uh, there's that. But while you guys are doing that, and I'm just gonna kill just a little bit of time talking about something [00:03:00] that's not Sharks related, talking about something that, uh, actually made me happy in the world of hockey. Uh, not this weekend, but the weekend prior, uh, the 10 u a. Cougars.
Coopertino Cougars became NorCal champions. The reason I bring that up is because my son played for that team. Uh, they, they had some really killer, crazy amazing games going on. Everything was really tight. Uh, big stick taps to the Sharks 10 u uh, one and three teams, uh, and to Capital Thunder, who was, uh, quite the opponent.
They were very, very good. So I just wanna call those teams out for the, uh, 10 u uh, division. Uh, guys did a really great job, but you know, again, congratulations to the Cupertino Cougars, uh, did a great job. NorCal Champs. So there's that. Now Aaron back to, uh, Sharks. Yeah. Nicholas Eagan throwing out the, uh, little party toot horn thingies, whatever those are.
What are those things called, man? What? What is that? A party horn? I don't know. Party horn. The thing you blow on and it go like a
Aaron: kazoo. Like [00:04:00] at New Year's you blow that thing. Yeah.
Paul: Yeah, whatever that is. Okay. So thank you Nikolai again, I appreciate you for throwing those in there. Um, so Aaron, again, let's take a look at some of the past games here and then we'll kind of move on, uh, into the more interesting stuff, if you will, because we kind of know how the games went already.
We just stunk and we just like already . So we know how they went, obviously because we saw them. And, and of course, because we're talking about the Sharks and we kind of know how these games have been going recently. So, uh, in Vancouver, uh, a seven to two loss. Now remember Aaron last week when we were doing the upcoming games, you know, at the end of the episode I had said, well, Vancouver, they're a pretty solid team, right?
And he said, no, they're absolutely not a solid team. Seven to two. I mean, how bad are the Sharks if, uh, a not so solid team is destroying '
Aaron: em seven too? I, I think the way they're playing that night, Columbus could have put up seven on the Sharks. It was pretty bad. And Columbus, for those that don't know, is the next worst team than the Sharks, cuz the Sharks are now in dead Last.
Paul: Yes, they [00:05:00] are. Um, by the way, Cullen Foster saying the Kao sounding thing, he says, VU . I think that was, uh, back in the World Cup. Um, what was that? Wow. Good knowledge there.
Aaron: That's
Paul: impressive. Thank you. I, I Hey, sometimes soccer things. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Who knows? I'm surprise. Um, Ben Andry says, officially leading the races for a best chance getting Badard.
Woo-hoo. Uh, absolutely. And we'll be bringing that up later on in the episode. So, Ben, stick around as I'm sure that you will. But, uh, Aaron, you had made a note here about the Vancouver game that Rhymer, uh, looked pretty off his game. Um, I've got maybe a question for afterwards, but why don't you just go ahead and talk about, uh, Reimer not looking, uh, himself in.
Um,
Aaron: I mean, we talk about soft goals and stuff and how we don't really categorize a lot of stuff as soft goals, but I feel like he gave up a fair amount of shots that I thought he normally would've stopped. Um, he just looked very off. And goal tending is very much a mental game. [00:06:00] Uh, you can ask Robin Leonard of the Golden Knights about this, but, um, it's a very mentally tough position to play because you are on for 60 minutes.
I mean, think about how many times, uh, what's the most ice time like a, a defenseman would get closer to 30 minutes. That's half the game. The goalies are on almost all the time. They don't get as many breaks. They don't get to hang out on the bench and rethink about that last shift. Like they just have to go to the next place.
So mentally, it's a very draining position. Um, and he looked very. off, uh, a lot of goals. That and out of position. He just, he didn't seem like his normal self. And obviously he let in seven, I'm actually shocked they didn't pull 'em. Um, considering the Sharks were not playing back to back, I thought they would've pulled him and, and putting CN in, but um, they did not.
Paul: Yeah, I was kind of wondering, um, if there were maybe some, cuz we remember last week, the whole controversy was that James Reimer didn't wanna wear the pride [00:07:00] jersey. Right. And he was questioned and, and he brought this thing up in the media and he got some backlash. He says he didn't really pay attention to the things that are out there on social media and whatnot, but I, you know, who knows?
Um, I'm kind of curious and I'd like to hear your take on it and, and folks, uh, in, in the chat, please feel free to give us your thoughts on this as well. Do you feel like maybe this game was kind of some lingering effects of kind of the backlash, uh, from Pride Night and what he had, uh, decided to kind of tell the, the world there?
Aaron: Yeah. I think, uh, that's part of it. And neither it's consciously or subconsciously that's just weighing heavy on him. So, um, it didn't, he he really just, it was not the James Reimer that we normally see. Even though Yeah. The Sharks are losing, you never see him really get blown out, especially this much into a team that's not like, uh, it's not like the Boston Bruins are leading the league.
Right. This is Vancouver who I don't even think they're gonna make playoffs, but I think, um, yeah, he's just gonna be, there you go. Callen, as a goalie, what is the toughest position you've been in [00:08:00] mentally or your most off night to Aaron? Um, I mean, for me, soccer's a little bit different because it's less active time versus hockey, you're not getting as many shots, but it is a very mentally tough thing because, Man, just, just playing.
Playing in college was crazy. Um, practice more so than the games, only because practice you're getting more shots, more volume of shots, and you're playing against your best players on your team. Um, but it's, it's tough to mentally, it's more of like the shaking off of the mistakes. That's the hard part. Um, because you get a goal score on you.
You're thinking about what you did wrong cause it's usually a mistake and how you could do better the next time. But also shaking it off and being prepared and ready for the next shot and being confident in yourself that you're gonna stop it. That's the part. Um, Aaron is nails ke ice water. He's never flinched his gully.
I've definitely been scored on many times, many, many times. . [00:09:00] It's funny, like, and I'm just gonna go off on a tangent here since, you know, the Sharks are terrible, but I didn't start playing goalie until, uh, seventh, eighth grade, and I was on a very bad soccer team. And that actually helped me because they were so bad that I got a lot of action, a lot of shots taken on me.
Um, I remember one , few funny, two, two funny stories here. One, the ball, like going through my legs. It's just embarrassing when it, you can't close your legs in time, basically five hole, like in hockey. But in soccer with the ball, it's much bigger. , um, going through my legs and then turning around to get it and kicking it in at the goal, it's very embarrassing.
Um, two, I was playing goalie for one of the first times, and as a, in soccer, you never, same with hockey. You never stay on your goal line. You're always off and cutting off angles. Well, I didn't know that. I was just starting off and I'm watching the play on the other side of the field and I'm watching, and I'm walking side to side, and I walked right into the goalpost.
Just boom, just hit my head. I'm just like, oh my God. Like, and I look around, I'm like, oh, nobody saw that. [00:10:00] I'm okay. All right, let's just keep playing , like, just embarrassing. But anyway, fun little anecdotes there. But, um, yeah, goal tending is, is a very mentally tough position and, um, it, it takes a lot out of you.
So even subconsciously, if you have a lot on your mind during the back of your mind, it's there and it's messing with you. So I think this absolutely played a role in it.
Paul: Yeah. Um, I couldn't help but notice that I didn't get to read the whole thing, but there was another article put out, um, just a few hours ago actually, uh, champagne.
And I think Corey Sack both put out, uh, articles if I'm, if I'm not mistaken. And, um, I thought it was maybe just old thing that kind of hashed up. No, it was like three hours ago, uh, from this show, uh, the start of the show. And, uh, it was asking Reimer kind of some of the same similar questions. . Um, and he was responding to it, and I'm wondering if they brought this stuff up or if he was saying, you know, I feel like I need to bring this back up again.
I don't know if I was, uh, you know, understood properly or whatever. I don't know who kind of, who [00:11:00] initiated that like, second conversation. But the fact that he had a second conversation, they had a second article come out about it, and this has been, it's over a week now, right? Yeah. So I really do feel like maybe there was some sort of lingering, like it was, it was affecting his, his mind just a bit.
And the seven two loss maybe is kind of a, a, a, a piece of that. I don't know. Yeah,
Aaron: I think, um, I would, I'm guessing that they asked this follow-up questions because it was a week later and because he played so poorly the other night and they know it's a mentally tough position, that would be my guess of why they brought it up again.
Paul: Nicholas Egan going after your heart here. He says to quote a great soccer show, goalies need to be a goldfish . Yes. Remember, I remember that sentiment you shared with me. I haven't seen Ted Lasso, but, oh geez. Come on man. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna start in regarding You would, as a person who doesn't
Aaron: like soccer, you would like the show.
Paul: Oh, okay. Is, uh, is they making fun of it or what? Pretty much, yeah. Okay, good. I, I'll maybe I'll look into it then. Uh, [00:12:00] Calgary, uh, in Calgary, I think this was what, what was the Saturday game? I think the, the Vancouver game was the, it was the afternoon game, remember? Yeah. And so Calgary, uh, they lose to Calgary five to three here.
Now the, the main takeaway from this one is that, uh, Erik Karlsson picks up a pair of assist. Uh, he got one assist in the Vancouver game, but he picks up a pair here, extends his point streak, his current point streak to, uh, three games. Um, he's got two goals, three assist, and five points in that span. So five points in three games.
We're gonna be talking a little bit, just a little bit later on. It's actually coming up, uh, pretty close here. Um, in terms of his pace and where he's gonna end up. We had that as a roll call question, I think last week. So, um, But before we get to that, I guess like for this, it's kind of just more of the same, right?
The Sharks constantly making these, these little mistakes, these small mistakes, and it cost them the game, right? Yep. Anything to add regarding, is there something specifically about this
Aaron: game? [00:13:00] The, the turnovers in their own zone, which come right back to, to haunt them and score like it. Some of it's bad bounces, bad luck.
Like the, I think it was the tying goal. The Sharks had just scored to go ahead, just scored. And let me look at the timestamp. Actually, I have it up right here. Um, it's five 14 Martin count scores to put the Sharks up, three to two. Uh, I gotta do the math. 15 seconds later, Calgary scores the diet because the, the puck's dumped in.
Kaing goes to play, it tries to shoot it up. The. Kind of flicks it up, it hits co your skate. He can't control it bounces right to their guy who passes it to another wide open guy for a one timer in a goal. It's like, are you kidding? Like it was such a bang, bang play because it was just a mental breakdown.
Once again, just simple mistakes that end up with the puck ended up, um, going into the Sharks goal. So, uh, to me, I think, um, again, like, you know, you take out the outlier of these Vancouver seven to two losses blowouts, [00:14:00] right? The Calgary game, it was five to three. That was an empty neter. So it really was a four to three loss.
You take away all those mental mistakes and to me, these are fixable. The Sharks are gonna be a much better team next year. And now I'm not saying they're gonna win a cup. I'm not saying they're even gonna get to playoffs, but they're not gonna be rock bottom of the league if they can fix these things, cuz they're scoring goals, they're getting leads, they just can't hold.
you change that, you get a better goal tender in there. I don't know what they're gonna plan to do to me. I think Greer's gonna go out and get somebody, um, if he can this summer. Um, and you fix that part of it and you, you, he's already rebuilt the blue line in terms of prospects and, and up and coming players that are ready to play starting next season.
Um, you start building out of the back and work your way forward. Right now, the Sharks are scoring decent enough, not, not enough for a playoff team, but decent enough to not be at the bottom. I think they have a lot to work with here, and it's not as dire as it [00:15:00] seems. That's my opinion.
Paul: So not sure if Erik Karlsson is gonna be a part of that next season or not.
We'll have to see how the, uh, draft goes and if he gets moved at that point. GRE's got a lot on his plate, uh, to think about with that one. I know he's been, been listening to offers and that kind of thing. Obviously nothing happened. Uh, Carlson's still playing with the team. Uh, but honestly for me, that's okay.
It's, for me, it's the best of both worlds, right? You get to see a, a superstar like Erik Karlsson doing what he does, having a career year. Uh, but the Shark Star also , um, you know, again, in the hunt. They're in the hunt for that, that first overall, which again, it's, it sucks rooting for it, but at the same time, this is what's best for the team.
Right now. What's best for the team is to, if you're not gonna make playoffs, even if you know the, the 16th team in, right? If you're not gonna be that team, you, you really wanna be as low down in the standings as you possibly can be. Um, and so being able to watch Karlsson still make the game entertaining has kind of [00:16:00] been.
The thing that's drawing me back, like without, without watching this guy play . It's just, it's a train wreck. So, um, having said that, we're gonna jump into some stats here for Erik Karlsson, but, uh, you guys know what it means, uh, when he's getting points and whatnot, and we, we love doing this. So, super producer Jason, go ahead.
And the hall. And the hall. So, Erik Karlsson hits the 750 point milestone, uh, so far this season. 90 points. Okay. His previous best was 82, which I believe was in an 82 game season that he, he finished all 82 games, is what I'm saying. So, uh, he has done it before. He's, he stayed healthy the entire time. We'll get to that in a second.
Um, of those 90 points, 68 were assists. His previous best was 66. Uh, of those 90 points, 22 were goals. His previous best. [00:17:00] 21. So he's having a career year in all categories here. Now the other thing that I thought was interesting, and you brought this up, uh, last episode, I believe he's got an 11.3 an absolutely absurd 11.3 shooting percentage, and that demolishes his previous best of 8.5, which was last season with the Sharks.
So, and, and man, he hasn't missed a game. Like he's, he's, he hasn't missed a single game yet. There
Aaron: it is. There it is. You just jinxed it. Way to go. Way to go, Paul.
Paul: Yet, I'm, I'm saying he has, I'm not saying he won't, he, he may, he may not make it till the end of the season, but he hasn't missed a game yet. And by this time in the season, he's already missed like 20 games, like traditionally for the Sharks.
So for just the fact that he's been playing this entire time, hasn't missed a single game. Now you can see what the point totals would actually be if he was catching that rhythm and going and he's not even playing with a good team and he's not even playing with good players anymore cuz we traded him.
Right? Timo Meyers off the, off the team. So he's still doing, he is still [00:18:00] getting it done. Um, I think the last time that he played 82 games was in the 20 15, 20 16 season for Ottawa. Uh, and, and he's so far he is on pace obviously cuz he hasn't missed one. He's on pace to do 82 for the Sharks for the first time since joining him.
Pretty amazing stuff for me. I don't know. I, the, the fact that he's, he's eclipsed his previous bests in all three categories and well, four if you count the shooting percentage. Um, yeah, just amazing. Now Nicholas Ganson don't tempt the hockey God's ball. I think that was because, uh, , he's played 73 games outta the 82.
Uh, and there's only nine games left, but. Um, no. Hey man. Facts for facts. He just, I'm just saying he hasn't missed. That's it. So, uh, there's the stat pack. Aaron, did you wanna say something else before we uh, we move on?
Aaron: Here he is the second leading scorer on the Sharks. Now that Tim o's gone, who's the first?
He's the second leading
Paul: scorer. Goal scorer.
Aaron: Goal scorer. Goal scorer. Who has more
Paul: goals? It's gotta be Hertl. Nope. Really? [00:19:00] He has Hertl. Alright. Who? Logan
Aaron: Couture El Capita. Really? That's why he is the alternate captain cuz he doesn't have as many goals as Logan. Couture. Oh, okay. Fair enough. URA is 25, Karlsson is 22.
Hertl has 20. Wanna take real quick guess for the next? Honestly,
Paul: that's surprising. Don't you say no. Gregory, I know people got more than four. No.
Aaron: Bar Bonoff, who I would like to highlight is having a phenomenal season. He's three points away from hitting 50 points, which I think he will get there in the next nine games.
Nice 50 points from Bar Bonoff is amazing. Remember, this is the guy we got for Auntie Sue who's no longer in the NHL and we got a 50 point player out of it that he's a great
Paul: trade. Say what you will. I got nothing bad to say about Doug Wilson. Okay. And on that note, we're gonna go ahead and close out the alternate Captain Jack Karlsson.[00:20:00]
Ben, Ben Andry. Were a great comment here. Imagine how far down the standings we would be without DK 65. Oh wait, guys. Were as low as you can get. You'd be lower.
Aaron: We've been there.
Paul: That's all. Um, so the, the takeaway here, isn't it, as you guys are saying, don't jinx it, don't, uh, don't tempt the hockey gods, but there's still nine games to go.
Um, the man is on pace for 101 points, okay? Um, if he gets a point per game from here on out, he's gonna hit 99. Um, and I'll be asking you guys a, a question later on. I think some of you kind of know the direction that the question will be going. We've asked something similar, but I'm gonna give a little twist.
Um, but before we do that, uh, there is a clip here from, uh, captain Logan Couture, and he was saying, um, talking about how he, he, one of the things they really want for the [00:21:00] season is for Erik Karlsson to editor points. Um, so we have this clip. Uh, I think we have the, the reporter asking the question even here.
So why don't you go .
Reporter: Erik Karlsson now the franchise leader in single season assist among the defenseman passing Brent Burns. He reaches 90 Points. What's he meant to those group so far this year?
Logan Couture: Tremendous. Uh, I really hope we can get a hundred, uh, think that would mean a lot to him. It would mean a lot to every guy in this room. Uh, he's had a incredible year. It's been, it's been coming to rank fun, to, to watch him play and part of, uh, you know, his year that he's having. Uh, so that would be, uh, that'd be a highlight to finish year.
Paul: So like, just, just like I was saying for myself, just, this is kind of one of the things that kind of keeps me coming back and to, to watch, you know, the, the train wreck that is this season. And, and for the players, I think this is one of the reasons that they kind of helps get them up in the morning to come to the rink is to kind of help him get there and, and kind of play with this greatness.
I don't know. What do you, what do you, what's your take
Aaron: on this? [00:22:00] Absolutely, you're around the best defenseman, not just in the league, but in the world. This guy is doing things that a lot or almost nobody else can do. Um, it makes you a better player. You see how many passes he does, how many geeks in the blue line, how many times he dances around that blue line.
There's not a lot of players in the N NHL that can do that. Even kale macr has some limits to what he can do compared to Karlsson. So, um, it makes it fun to go to work and see greatness happen. You're going to practice and playing with this guy and learning from him. You're, you're going, you're playing these games that sure they're losing and not like they're meaningless, but they're still competitive and still fun because this guy just does amazing things.
It is a lot of fun to be around. Um, when I played at Sonoma State, there was this guy, Tony, who was our leading goal scorer, and he, I don't know if he led our league, but he was up there and he was amazing and it just made. everything. So much more fun to go to both practice and to games. Cause you just, like, [00:23:00] you're also a fan, you wanna see what they can do and you get a front row seat at doing it.
So absolutely everyone's pulling for him. Uh, it's not like Carlson's like a mean dude and, and for lack of better words and, um, very friendly and, and a good teammate. Uh, he's an alternate captain as well, so, and leader in the room. Um, so yeah, they're all pulling for him and they want him to get to a hundred points just to kinda stick it to the NHL and to the other guys of saying, Hey, everyone said he was too old.
And look at him at 32. He is gonna be hopefully winning a Norris Trophy from a team from the bottom of the standings. It's amazing.
Paul: Yeah. The other thing is, uh, you know, kale Macr, he's an amazing player, don't get me wrong. And, and he's probably one of, if not, uh, well, I would say, let's just say he's one of the best, uh, offensively minded defensemen in the league.
Um, but he's also got guys like Nathan McKinnon, Mika Ranton, and I mean, he's got a lot of really big name players that he's. Uh, you know, superstars that he can play alongside. Um, Karlsson doesn't have that luxury. Carlson's, uh, biggest threat [00:24:00] offensively just got shipped out. So, um, for him to have the season that he's having, like, as you said, playing from the bottom of the standings is really, uh, truly an amazing thing.
Now, here's kind of, one of the things I think is, is also interesting here is that we, we are witnessing, I think the best version of UK 65. You know, like you say, he's 32 years old. Um, but as I just went through his numbers, he's, he's having a career year. He's never scored more goals, he's never had more assists.
He's on pace to play as many games as you can. So he is showing everybody that I'm not the glass cannon that you all think that I am. Right? Um, e everything down to his shooting percentage. I mean, he's, this is the best version of e K 65 that not just we as San, Jose, Sharks fans, but that the league I think has ever seen.
So we talk a little bit about, I think at the beginning of the show we said, you know, will Greer end up trading. Karlsson at the draft, and I know there's been discussions with Edmonton and et cetera, et cetera. Um, do you think that any potential trade partners, not just Edmonton, but any of 'em, um, have [00:25:00] any leverage anymore just because he's like, quote unquote past his prime?
Because I mean, if this is what he can do past his prime, uh, do they just, do they think he's just gonna fall off a cliff all of a sudden? I mean, what, what's your, what's your
Aaron: thoughts? Uh, maybe a little bit. I mean, finishing out and playing all full 82 games would be a big deal for him and for his trade value, obviously.
Um, the longevity and everything. Kind of going back, what I was saying earlier about mental, like not every position, you know, it's not just goalies that have to have mental toughness here. Um, he mentioned himself specifically a couple months ago about, you know, the resurgence. Like where did it come from, what happened, what's different this year versus the last four years as a shark.
Um, since Covid hit, he hasn't been able to go back to Sweden in the off season. So this was the first summer he got to go back in the off season. His kids grew up a little bit, so they're not baby babies anymore, they're little kids. So it made it a little bit more, you know, less mentally tough cuz you're sleeping through the night and not worrying [00:26:00] about your wife and anything else going on.
So, um, mentally he was in a much better space he could finally focus on just himself and it's a big deal when he can do that. And going back to his, uh, strength coach that he originally worked with in Sweden back in the day when he was, before he was the N N H L, um, that helped him a lot. So I think, I'm not gonna say he's gonna play 82 games every season from the end of his contract, but I think at least 70 plus games, I think that's more reasonable.
Um, I think gone are the days of him playing 50 to 60 games unless something terribly breaks down or he has some freak accident. But, um, I think his, his value goes up. I think, uh, we might see a situation. Where someone gets bounced in the playoffs because they didn't have that outlet pass or that power play quarterback and they're gonna shoot for the moon and try and get Karlsson.
It also depends on the, the cap next year and what that goes up to. Um, any other moving pieces of players [00:27:00] getting shuffled around? I think the Sharks don't, I think they're in a good spot. I think, um, Greer's in a good spot because he doesn't have to trade Karlsson. There's nothing forcing him to do it. Um, sure it would, it would, you know, free up obviously a lot of cap space.
But then for what, like what are they, what are the Sharks going after? They're not going after free agents. They're not gonna be signing any big huge name players yet, so they don't really need to have that much cap flexibility just yet. Um, that, that I think kind of helps Greer get a little more value out of a trade because he doesn't need, he's not forced to trade.
So, um, it would be, it would be more like, okay, if you really want this guy, you're gonna have to really. Shoot for the moon here and give me what, what I want versus what you're only offering me. You know what I mean? So I think he's got more cards in his hand because of it.
Paul: Nikolai Deagan. I wanna go through some of these comments here.
Nikolai Deagan saying Karlsson hitting a hundred and winning the Norris would probably be the only highlight from this [00:28:00] season. Uh, yeah, I mean, I'd, I'd have to agree with you on that one. Um, and then you've got one here saying, uh, from lm. I hate hearing when people say EK shouldn't get the Norris cuz he's on a bad team.
The award didn't mention what kind of team they have to be on. It's, uh, a true statement. I, I honestly, I think when you're having a season like this without support, I think it's, it should make it just that much more convincing that you're, you're worthy of that trophy, right? I mean, the next comment LM has here, macr has Ranon and McKinnon.
EK has Gregor and Lial. .
Aaron: Do, do you remember when, uh, when Mc Davidon first came in the league and was leading the league in scoring and yet Edmonton wasn't even close to playoffs? Right. ,
Paul: there was
Aaron: a huge debate on if he should win the heart trophy, which is the v MVP of the league. Right? How could somebody who is leading the league, how could someone win the V MVP if their team doesn't get into the playoff?
I feel like the same thing for Karlsson, not for the Norris, but for MVP talks, is people are talking, some [00:29:00] people are like, oh, he should win Har for that, like doing what he's doing. But if he were dragging the shark single-handedly into the playoffs, absolutely, I think he'd be up for the heart. I also think that um, uh, Quinn would be up for the Jack Adams if they were able to make playoffs with this bare bones, I feel like, of a roster going into the season.
So, yeah, I, again, going back to I think what I said either last week or two weeks ago about the Norris, it should be split into two trophies. They should have the Norris trophy for best defensive defensemen, which could be voted on by, let's say the forwards or the players of the N H L, and then you. The Bobby or trophy, which is the defense of the most points, cuz for forwards they have, whoever has the most points is, uh, what is it?
The Ted Lindsay Trophy. I'm blanking on the name of it. Um, anyway, there's a trophy for someone who just gets the most points and then there's a trophy for mvp. Then there's a trophy for just goal scoring. Right. Which I also think that's the, the rocket Rashard. Rashard, [00:30:00] yeah. Yeah. I think which John the Chichi won, you know, back in the day.
Um, I think they should also add a Wayne Gretzky award for the most assists in the league. So you have one for the most assists, one for the most goals, one for the most points. There's nothing wrong with that, I don't think. But that's my own little
Paul: rant. I'll get off my pedestal. Sounds like you're starting to get into participation awards, but that's okay.
Ben Gundry says, imagine we have this version of EK 65 in the very first year we got him when we were in contention for the cup. If that was the case, we did. He got hurt.
Aaron: Yeah, that was a problem. He got hurt in the St. Louis series. If he didn't get hurt in the St. Louis series, we beat St. Louis and I'm pretty sure the sheriff's going and win a cup.
Paul: It is unfortunate.
Aaron: That was a brutal series. St. Louis got away with a lot of stuff in that series. A lot of dirty stuff that, that's what kind of made me mad. I think that's what Greer's kind of changing this team into is a team that would be able to battle through that [00:31:00] adversity and dish out some stuff.
Back then the Sharks would be like, oh, you hurt me. I'll score on the power play to make it hurt you versus I'm gonna pumble you and beat you into the ice. You know? Yeah. So I think he's remaking that team so that they're going to be, that whole culture is going to be like that St. Louis team where they're gonna.
Paul: Nikolai Egan coming up with facts right now. He says Art Ross is the most points. Thank you. I could not remember what the name of that trophy was. Ted, we go. Ted Lindsay is the best player as voted on by the players. That is also correct. Um, the, the, uh, what's the other one? The lady Bing is most gentlemanly player.
That's the one where you have the least amount of penalty minutes. But we'll see a high scoring
Aaron: forward. That kinda Ted, Ted Lindsay is the best player. Voted on by the players have one that's usually a forward, that's usually, so you have one for defenseman, one for Ford?
Paul: Absolutely. I think that'd be great.
Uh, Kellen Foster, um, also throwing down some facts who says, so Benning and Karlsson and Paul was voting for offensive and or by the way, around defensive. And offensive. [00:32:00] Fair enough. Um, okay. , so. We, we talked a little bit about, you know, the players that Kama Carr has to work with. We talked about some of the guys that Erik Karlsson has to work with.
One of those, uh, jokingly of course was Noah Gregor , and I wanted to give just a brief update on Noah Greggor, just because I like to watch you squirm. Um, two game assist streak. Good on you buddy. Way to go. Noah, Gregor, uh, that puts him at four goals and five assists, nine points on the season so far. Now Aaron, there are nine games left in the season.
Just got them talking about Erik Karlsson and uh, the pace that he's on. Uh, he's got nine games to go where he can get 10 points right and that would put him at a hundred points. Uh, Noah Gregor has nine points. So my roll call question to you guys is gonna be, we'll know first of all, where, where are you watching us from, right?
Not [00:33:00] your couch, but the city. Please. Uh, and then we'll know Gregor, get to 10 points before Erik. Karlsson gets to a hundred. It's a fair, valid question because they're both 90% of the way there. Right? I'll take Gregor on the over
Aaron: You don't take Gregor one point in 10 games or nine games.
Paul: He's got nine points in in all the games he's played so far.
Plus you're not, you're not counting the fact that he might
Aaron: get scratched. That's fine. He's on a roll, man. Just saying he's not two game point streak. It's
Paul: coming. You know who else is on a point Streak? Erik Karlsson. Three game point streak. Five points across that span. I'm just
Aaron: saying Stay on that pace.
Man's an animal. Stay on that pace. Eric
Paul: sj and LM says, yes, Noah Greggor will get to 10 points before Karlsson. It sounds, it sounds crazy that you even ask that because it's only one point. But the pace at which they're doing this, you know, it'd be great. Carl's pace is just so much better if
Aaron: Karlsson just rips off a 4.9 [00:34:00] and then a 3.9 and then a 2.9, and then he is at 99 in three games,
And then they'll be like, oh boy. Oh boy. And then what if they get a point on the same goal ,
Paul: then it won't be before. It'll be at the same time. It's a push. Yeah. Right. Do you think we could get, can we convince Windex to sponsor Gregor in the Bay Area? Like a radio commercial? well played Kell. Nice job. Uh, pie Bet.
Aaron no Aaron is still, uh, owed the outcome of the last bet before we start making new bets. We'll,
Aaron: we'll make it whole once we get a, a set in studio built.
Paul: I can't Virtually pie Aaron. Yeah. Well maybe Super du Jason can figure that one out, but I don't know. Uh, Kellen says Orange County and yes, Gregor can do it.
I'm not saying he can't do it, I'm saying I don't think he will do it. , just remember two games [00:35:00] ago, he was at seven out of 10. Come on now. I don't know guys. I don't know. It's gonna happen. I have faith. You have faith. I have faith. No secret. Maybe next week he'll get it, but uh,
Aaron: is he gonna get it on a goal or an assist?
Paul: A goal or an, I mean, it better be a goal if he's supposed to creep up 10 goals. He's only got four.
Aaron: There you go. Nicholas San Jose. Gregor scores a goal in front of 4,000 people this week
Paul: at Mullet Arena. . You could have said 4,000 people in San Jose and it would've been just as accurate, but obviously they're playing away.
Oh my God. Gregor will score a goal before EK hits a hundred harder to answer. Oh, okay. Will he score a goal? Hmm. I say no. That's hard. Hard. I say he does not score a goal. I think he will get an assist cuz he's gonna just touch a, a puck before Erik Karlsson gets an assist. Or he had
Aaron: a goal the other night, it got called back because offsite.
Paul: So then he didn't have a goal is what you mean to say [00:36:00] regardless. Andrew Aino Aaron. This is a guy you wanted to talk about.
Aaron: Uh, yeah. He's been called up, he's got three games, he's got three points, and that's not three points in one game. He's gotten one point in each game. So even longer streak than Noah Gregor.
Wow. I think's a fantastic call up. Think about it. He's, he's the leading scorer for, uh, the Barracuda. So it's kind of a reward for him. What's funny is these three points are a career high for him. He's never had more than two. So he's got three in three games, uh, career. He's played for Colorado, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Ottawa, and now the Sharks.
And combined, he's had 47 games. This is his career stats, 47 without the Sharks 47 games going into the shark season, he had two goals, seven assists. So he is got one goal in two SISs in three games either that shows how [00:37:00] bad the Sharks are or how good Andrew Aza is. His goals are actually, was it Aino?
Aino? Sorry, what'd I say?
Paul: Aza, aino. , blah, blah, blah. It's also Aho, not Aho. . What? Sebastian. Huh?
Aaron: Oh, you know,
Paul: I can lie. Was a lot last.
Aho. Not you. You always call them Aho.
Aaron: I used to work with a guy, his name was Alex Ho, and he went by Ajo. So it just rolls off the tongue better. Oh
Paul: yeah, it really does. . Oh my God. Okay. Um, hey, here's a que I love a question for you. Any guys in the chat? You go ahead. Far away too. Does Andrew Aino end up with more points or the same amount of points as though Gregor, uh, by the end of the season?
No,
Aaron: he's three for three.
Paul: No. No way. [00:38:00] Dude. I don't know. There's nine games left. If he goes on this pace, he gets 12 total points. He'll absolutely blow No
Aaron: Greggor away. Yeah, he's on this pace. He's gonna do it. Come on. Come on. It's
Paul: three for three, bud. You're ridiculous. Just saying. All right, well, we'll see if, uh, anybody else throws any other, uh, comments in there.
But while we're doing that, um, there's uh, some interesting things going on here. These Sharks are bolstering up their armed forces. You heard me correctly, folks. Uh, we've got the captain. Sure. Right. We have alternate Captain Karlsson, and then we have Grand and Admiral Henry Thrun . If you're, if you're not a Star Wars fan, you won't get that one.
Uh, but he is a defenseman from Harvard, six foot, 290 pounds. He is got a two year contract. They just signed this guy, um, couple days ago, I think is what it was. Uh, 1.825 million. It's a, uh, 900 something, uh, thousand dollars cap hit. Um, Dobber Prospects has him as a well-balanced defenseman. He's a good puck [00:39:00] mover that can shoot the puck and, uh, play smart defensively.
So, , um, by all accounts, uh, sounds like a guy that could, we could certainly use in our system. He's got 33 points and 33 games in the ncaa. He was a named defensive defenseman of the year. Kind of feels like a puck moving, um, Vlasic perhaps in the making. So who knows? Um, my question really is, I mean, is this a guy that we should be excited about?
We, we've been excited about other players before, namely, uh, goaltenders, right? Zach Amon, for instance. We were all pumped about him. Um, and, and some of the other prospects that we've brought in, we thought, oh yeah, these guys could be really, really good. And then maybe it doesn't really pan out. Is this a guy that we should be getting our hopes up about Aaron?
Do, do you know?
Aaron: Uh, I mean, he is not gonna light the world on fire, but he is gonna be a solid defenseman. I think this is gonna, this is a guy with potential pretty much to be in the kind of like, think of like, um, Mario Ferraro. Like he's not leading the team in [00:40:00] scoring. , that's, that's not his role. His role is to be defensive guy, shut down, work hard.
This is this kind of guy. But when he does have the puck on a stick, he's not stone hands either. He can move the puck and pass and, and get the exit pass, uh, to get out the zone. So I think, um, I'm excited to see what he can do. It's gonna be very limited with these nine games left, but, um, maybe because he is waiver exempt, they could send him down to the Barracuda and help them out and make the playoffs once, either when they're close to getting to the playoffs, if they need help sooner than later.
Um, but uh, yeah, I think I'm excited just because we trade a third round pick for this guy. So is he worth the third round pick? I hope so. I hope so. I think, uh, the, the Sharks have a good read on him because of Todd Marchman, um, in the Anaheim system and that's who originally had drafted him. So I, I'm confident that he will be a solid, solid, maybe another Matt Benning.
How about that?
Paul: It's not bad. [00:41:00] Yeah, no, that'd be great. That would be amazing if he could live up to Matt Benning. You know, , I thought you'd like that. . Not bad. Not bad. Uh, but yeah, he was, so we trade a third for, he was originally a hundred first overall, uh, in the fourth round, uh, picked by the Anaheim Ducks.
And he had come out saying that he has no intention of playing for the Ducks. So, um, this is, you know, kind of interesting. I, I wonder why he decided he didn't wanna play for the Ducks, but he wants to play for the
Aaron: Sharks. Uh, because the Ducks had, since they had drafted him, drafted a bunch of defensemen ahead of him that leaped over him on the, basically his path that NHL got blocked because they drafted so many other players that are better than him.
Not to say he is not good, but a different type of player. And it got clogged up, which happens a lot in organizations. So, um, they decided, he decided what would be best for him is to. Not sign with the ducks because he would become a free agent or unrestricted free agent. He could sign anywhere he wants this summer.[00:42:00]
So the Sharks knew that somehow and then traded, traded to get his rights and then, um, were able to sign him to play. So he had a much forward path to getting to the nhl, playing for the Sharks. Now again, this is, we've talked about this before, right? There's no loyalty to teams, there's no loyalty to who drafted you or anything really.
It's, you wanna play in the N H L you play for any team, even in the Sharks at the bottom of the league, that means more ice time for you. That's exactly why Nico Stern wanted to come to the Sharks because he knew he was gonna get third line minutes versus fourth line minutes on another team. Um, there's potential and ice time, which is what you want to forward your career.
Paul: So there you go. Which is kind of interesting because didn't the Sharks just go and grab a whole bunch of defensive prospect?
Aaron: Yeah, but he's NHL ready probably by next season, you know, fighting for a starting role.
Paul: Okay, so you put him ahead of mok, Melan and a hok.
Aaron: Yeah, I could see them staying another year in the [00:43:00] NHL
Paul: next year.
I guess, uh, that, that must have been a discussion that they had then because, um, you know, again, you take a look. That was one of the things that, uh, kind of impressed me with Grier for this season so far, was after the trade deadline, what they had done was they, they kind of bolstered up that, that defensive, uh, prospect pool.
And, you know, hopefully the idea is you're gonna get, um, at least one or maybe a couple of these really high-end forwards. Obviously with your first, uh, round pick, you're gonna get somebody who's amazing and then hopefully, you know, you do make some trades. Get like a late round first or a second. , um, you, you're gonna be drafting some guys a little bit more forward heavy.
This draft will be, so you'll be drafting some guys that are still, you know, pretty good, uh, coming in that later first or maybe in the second sometime there. So, uh, if you could pull in some forwards from, from the draft, but you've got some good defensive prospects from the trades that you've made.
Really all you're doing is, you had said earlier, find a young goalie that you can, you know, kind of groom in, in a couple years, you can trust to have 'em take over the net. So, um, [00:44:00] I, I think they're doing a really good job, at least, uh, in theory, with the, with the, uh, the initial bones of a rebuild here. So, um, yeah, if, if run is, is part of this, um, of the Sharks feature, that'd be a really amazing, uh, pickup there.
So a third, he,
Aaron: he signed a, he signed a two year entry level contract, but one of those years is this year? Yes. So he really signed a one-year contract for next year. He'll be a, um, It's a ten two C, whatever. That is kind of an RFA in a way. Uh, he's not accrued enough professional seasons required for group two RFA status.
They're ineligible for an offer sheet, so they can't give him an offer sheet after next season. Maybe I'll change, I don't know what the number of games are. I'm not that nitty gritty into the details here, but, um, regardless, he basically has next season to prove that he's an NHL player and fight for a position for beyond next season, fight for that next contract.
So that gave him [00:45:00] the Sharks are giving him basically a springboard to show that he is an NHL player and he can either sign up the Sharks or somewhere
Paul: else. Well, he's gonna get the opportunity to show, uh, everybody what he can do at the N H L level, and that'll be starting either tomorrow or on Thursday.
Uh, cuz apparently, according to San Jose hockey now with Great Xang, uh, says that, uh, throne will make his debut. sometime this week. So we got upcoming games here. Uh, the ones we're talking about, there's Tuesday versus Winnipeg, Thursday versus the Vegas Golden Knights. One of those two games, perhaps both, uh, Throne's gonna get the call and he's gonna be able to, uh, kind of lace them up for the first time in the N
Aaron: H L.
Yeah, it's exciting. It's, it's fun to see these, uh, The NCAA players, they finish their seasons cuz the, the frozen four, whatever the tournament is, the NCAA tournament is finishing up. So their seasons are done and they sign with, uh, with their respective teams and play a little bit of NHL action. And it's always funny because they're coming straight from college, [00:46:00] so they're going to the pros and, and they're, they're on par.
Like they can play, they're, they're there. But then when they play in a full season, the next year, they've never played more than 50 games in a year and they're going to 82 games. That's why you see a lot of these guys kind of falter into their next year. So it'll be a tough, long road for those guys. But it's fun to see when they come out of the NCAA tournament, they're at the top of their game.
They're in shape, they're ready to go, and they're excited. And everyone coming into the NHL is very, you know, excited for the first couple games. Your adrenaline is just going. So, um, it'll be fun. It'll be fun to watch.
Paul: Colin in the comments here saying, I give Greer credit for stacking the defensive prospect pool before the seasons.
It wasn't looking too great. That's exactly what we were just talking about. Absolutely, Colin. Uh, and, and you know, again, doing things in the right order. You, you make the trades, uh, to get defensive prospects and you're gonna make the picks for your offensive prospects. And then again, all you really need to do is find, uh, uh, some goal tending prospect that'll actually stick.
We've kind of gone through quite a few of 'em and, uh, you know, one disappointment after [00:47:00] another. Even with capital Kanan, I was kind of the higher hopes for him. I mean, even we brought in Aiden Hill, I had really high hopes for him as well, but, uh, just doesn't seem to be panning out with those guys. So hopefully.
Uh, this staff here will be able to get a good eye on a, uh, good Goldie prospect and kind of solidify us for years to come. Also, Nikolai Egan here saying Lan will probably need some time on North American ice to get used to the size next season. Well, he is playing with the Barracuda right now. Is that right?
Aaron?
Aaron: Yeah. But it's only, he's only gonna give at how many games are left, a dozen games or so, and then maybe, well, depends
Paul: if they make playoffs, right? Maybe
Aaron: playoffs. If not, then yeah, he's, I think he needs more seasoning. And from what Greer's done, he's kept all of those prospects for the most part down there the entire season to really groom 'em and, and get 'em hungry and excited and hone in on their games so that when they do come to the NHL, they are more than ready versus like forcing them into the lineup because you need somebody.
So it's very, a very different philosophy [00:48:00] and one that I think will be better for the Sharks in the long term because these guys are gonna be overcooked and ready for the NHL by the time they are ready. I
Paul: don't think he's ready yet. Uh, on the topic of Golden, he actually, Nick Hbk one 50 says, speaking of the frozen four, Denver was eliminated.
So no repeat for Magnus Corona. And that's another guy that we had some, uh, some pretty high hopes for. Um, again, he won, uh, last season. He was in the frozen four and they won last season. But, uh, again, no, as, uh, Nick said, no, no repeat. So
Aaron: there you go. That's, that's a, goalies are tough because if you have a very good team in front of you, is the goalie good?
Is he the reason that you're there? Probably not, because your team is so good. And we're talking about college where these are all amateurs, right? Unless these guys are going to class during the week, so they're not, they're not professional players. So it's a little bit different, um, talent pool every night.
But, um, I'm not trying to knock Magnus Corona either. , he's not picking up the team and putting him on his back at the same time. So [00:49:00] he's a guy that I, I don't think is gonna be an NHL regular, he's not gonna be a starter starting goalie. I, I would think kind of that, um, backup role if anything. But he does have the coolest name, so I'm excited to see him at some point.
Paul: Colin, echoing that sentiment says he read somewhere that all the goal ways that Sharks have, including the prospects are at best NHL backups. Yeah. Uh, again, echoing kind of what you've just said there. So, uh, uh, but again, for Throne at least, uh, grant Admiral Throne, uh, you've got, he should be in there either on Tuesday or Thursday, uh, against Winnipeg or Vegas, respectively.
But, uh, there's also another upcoming game that week or this coming week, uh, Saturday in Arizona. Uh, as you said, there's all 4,000 fans at the, uh, mullet Arena. Who were you talking about with the 4,000?
Aaron: No, it was one of the comments in here. Um, I'm excited, I'm not gonna do it this season, but maybe next season or the season after that, especially if we get, uh, Conor Badard on the [00:50:00] Sharks, fly out to Arizona and go to a game at Mullet Arena.
Cuz it would be awesome to be in a 4,000 arena with all the NHL players. So, um, especially a Sharks game, I think it would be fantastic. You want to go, should we do a show from there?
Paul: So, I do wanna go. Um, I, I, I've already talked to my wife about this. I'm, I have a bit of a bucket list that, uh, I'm not gonna get to anytime soon, but I would like to visit every NHL arena and, um, I I, I think I have to prioritize this one because, uh, they may not be around, uh, very long.
Right. So,
Aaron: well they do have a four year lease I think there, which is absurd. Maybe five
Paul: years. Yeah, just the team the team might not be around very long. Right. I know, I know.
Aaron: Yeah, they might get moved. We'll
Paul: see. Well, yeah, I don't know. Anyway, those are the games for this week, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Uh, and then of course we'll be back on, uh, Monday. Correct. So talking about these games and, uh, talking about all the points we didn't get that we don't want. So it's okay. Um, [00:51:00] Aaron, let's take a look at the standings here real quick. Uh, they're actually just like we said before, nine games left on the season.
Uh, so these three upcoming for this week and then six more after that, and the Sharks, uh, are in a tie for dead last in Columbus. Now, for the folks that were with us from the very beginning of the show, this is the reason that we started late. Super producer Jason had to take this screenshot, make it all beautiful, and then, uh, and then get it ready for you guys.
So thank you supervision. Jason, we appreciate you, uh, the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, as you notice there, they have one game in hand. Now, even if they lose that game, that does nothing. And as far as standings wise for, for us, right? Normally when you're talking about, you know, if they. , if they win a game, it, it changes the standings.
They, they, you know, they go up and they increase and they can catch us, whatever. But we're talking from the bottom now. So we, we, if they win a game, it just gets us farther away, which is good. So, um, you know, it can only be good things that they have more games to play. Even if they, they lose that extra game.
It doesn't move [00:52:00] them down below us. It just means that, uh, they stay put. So, um, Aaron do, do you have high hopes here? Do you really think that we can do this, that we can stay at the bottom, we can get the best shot at, uh, getting Conor Ard?
Aaron: Well, if they keep playing rhymer the way he was playing, absolutely.
I think it'll be a given. Right. Um, , it's, it's cool as Columbus, the Sharks, if they tie, if they end up tied, um, in points, they're, they go by regulation wins, and right now the Sharks have one less than Columbus. So I think this next two weeks, a lot of Sharks fans are gonna be the biggest Columbus Blue jacket fans, as well as the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks, because they're pretty close as well.
But that's it, those bottom four, there's a pretty big gap. There's 10 points between Anaheim and Montreal, which is going from 29 and 28th. So it looks like it's a race between those four teams, and it's crazy as two of those are in the Pacific. So Conor Baard has a 50% chance of being in the Pacific Division.
Well, probably a little bit less than that, but [00:53:00] yeah, we just stunk .
Paul: If he's not gonna come here, I would hate for him to end up in the Pacific Division against us, uh, for, for a decade plus.
Aaron: Right. I do not wanna see him on Anaheim. I would prefer Chicago or Columbus over Anaheim. .
Paul: Absolutely. Um, Ben says Hawks and ducks are on a hot streak.
Well, Columbus in L five. Oh, of losses. You mean hot streak of losses? Oh, man. Yeah. Right now they've lost,
Aaron: Chicago's lost their last five games. Anaheim's lost their last four. Sharks have lost their last two. Columbus has lost their last
Paul: one. Oh, that's another guy actually. There you go. Um, uh, Kellen Foster back on the topics of gold tenders.
Gau. Uh, Benjamin Gau, I believe didn't have a great world Juniors, but he plays really well, uh, for Sarnia. Yeah, I mean, again, another promising, uh, young goal tending prospect. Uh, hopefully, you know, somebody, one of these guys catches fire and, uh, becomes, you know, the goal of the future for the San Jose Sharks.
But [00:54:00] who knows, man? Just who knows? Uh, Boash wouldn't that be like the perfect storm and, and such a great introduction to, uh, being a GM for my career to make all the right moves in like the first two years? You know what I mean? You, you, you trade for the defensive prospects that you need. You draft the offensive prospects that you need and you hit on, on a, on one of your goalies, right?
and then, you know, maybe it takes a year or two, but then all of a sudden you've got a pretty solid
Aaron: roster again. I mean, he signed, he signed as a GM three days before the draft. So one year later you're gonna tell Mike, Mike Greer at that draft a year ago, that in one year you're gonna be possibly drafting number one overall
Like that's crazy. And getting a generational talent. Yeah, possibly. And even if not, you're gonna get a franchise player. You're getting a franchise player. It's almost guaranteed at this point because they're so low in the standings. Um, I think mathematically they were guaranteed top nine pick, like they cannot do [00:55:00] worse than top nine at this point based on the standings.
Oh,
Paul: if they win all their games and all the guys around us would lose all their games, we would still end up in that worst seventh from the bottom and then therefore ninth it'd be okay. I got what you're saying. Exactly. That's how
Aaron: bad it is. . Wow. Or good it. How good it is. It's great. I'll stick with that.
Paul: It's great. It's great. Yes. So again, there's, you know, we always talk about Badar, but there's, there's other players there that are still incredible talents, right? Adam Fan Till, yeah. Uh, Matt Vay, I think is the first name. Mitch Kav. And then Leo Carlson's another big one too. So there's, there's a lot of guys that are in that top four, top five that are extremely good hockey players.
And, you know, while Badard would be amazing to get, you're not gonna be sad with any of the other ones. Exactly. So, um, you know, for them to pick up either of those, any of those, uh, in that top four, I think top five, maybe even, I think Graham Slam might be able to speak a little bit more to that. Uh, but any of those guys are gonna make you better offensively.
And then again, it's a deep draft [00:56:00] and it's an offensive draft. So, you know, again, those, those late round first, if you could pick one up, uh, get your second, or maybe you p pick up another second. Again, the Sharks have a fair amount of picks, so, um, and, and, and you know, if they do happen to trade Erik, Karlsson.
You're getting, you know, a little bit more from everybody else there as well. So, you know, who knows, there's a whole lot that could happen in this draft and it'd be really interesting to see at this point next season what the Sharks are looking like. You know, if they're not looking too good, uh, in the standings, but they've got a lot of good young prospects and maybe the Cuda is doing fairly well, uh, that could bode well, uh, for the future of the franchise.
So, I don't know, man. Uh, I'm looking forward to next season already and, and it kind of sucks doing that. But like , I really am, I'm looking forward to seeing how this, this kind of starts shaking out.
Aaron: I'm looking forward to the draft. I love the draft. I love seeing like who the Sharks are gonna do and I'm really excited because this'll be really Greer in his staff's first draft.
They didn't really do anything last season that was still the Wilson era doing the drafting. So, um, I'm excited to see what they do [00:57:00] because I mean, they have a guy on payroll who's specifically for the first and second round, that's it. And they have three of those picks. Cause they have two first rounders and the second round pick.
Now the first overall pick or the, their first. , I guess the Sharks own first round pick will be easier than the, the New Jersey pick that we got in the Timo Meier trade. I think it's gonna be a little bit tougher, cuz that's gonna be a late first round pick. Um, but then you're following that up with the Sharks drafting in the second round, they have their own pick.
So that's gonna be a very high, um, second round pick. It's gonna be three guys in the top. What is that? 35 players? You're gonna get three of those guys. That's pretty good in, in a draft. That's deep. Right? That's pretty
Paul: good. That's amazing. And that's, that's, that's before again, if they do trade Karlsson, that's before getting those picks.
So I, I mean, again, you can get a whole line worth of guys that could be ready, you know, either immediately or within a year or [00:58:00] two. And, um, I mean that again, that's, that can change the franchise. That it really can change the franchise. . Um, I do wanna address Kellen Foster here saying this Cudas season ticket owners, who's your most likely to move from tech to s sap.
And he's asking about co Robbins, uh, boards, if there's anybody else on Aaron, but I'm thinking Blo. Um, I, I think that, you know, they, they had him sign that contract and immediately, uh, burned that first year of that contract by let him, he signed two years, but really, he's really gonna have one year, uh, next season.
He's just gonna finish off the rest of this season, and it Burns one of those two years. So I think they, they had pretty high hopes for Blo and I, I feel like after being an a l all-star and having a pretty solid season, uh, if he comes out and has a rip roar in camp after going, you know, to, with, with training camp and maybe bulking up a little bit, getting a little bit more speed, uh, working on, uh, a few parts of his game [00:59:00] and he impresses in training camp, I, I really think he can make a push for the roster next season.
Aaron: Yeah, I think, I think what the Sharks are doing though is they're showing him that nothing's a given. You gotta work your tail off to get anywhere. So I think it's a good thing because nothing is handed to him. Nothing was handed to Eklund. He worked, he was consistently the best player on the Barracuda for a month before they even called him up.
I think that's what they're looking for Now, if the Barracuda can get into the playoffs and they do some damage and get a little bit, I mean, I don't expect them to win the Calder Cup, but if they can even get to the Calder Cup playoffs by winning, what was it? The a h l playoff, so I forget how it's all structured.
It's all crazy. But, um, just getting to that point and showing that they can lead the team and, and do well, uh, as a leader and being the best players on our team, uh, that's gonna go a long way going. Turn off. Oh, turn off the fax machine, Paul. Yeah,
Paul: you apparently went full. Uh, full robot mode there. Yeah.
Apologize, computer again. Technology [01:00:00] man. It's is what it is. Hey, by the way, speaking of, of technology and me freezing up and remote things and everything else, uh, hopefully for the start of next season, uh, we'll be done with all this remote stuff. We're really, uh, we're really working on it. We're really cranking out.
I know we've been talking about it for a few seasons now. Uh, but, you know, kind of covid got in the way. Um, so lots of things have changed since then. We've, uh, we've been trying to figure out how to get the, the studio back, uh, and, and working and, uh, I think hopefully we've gotta figure it out. And that next season, during this downtime, we'll have the opportunity to get the, the studio back and in place.
And then, yes, like , why am I small now? What happened? , what did I do? Your quality just cut out. That's why. I cut out again. Your video quality just dropped. That's fine. Oh my goodness. All right. Well I guess that's, uh, the, the Internet's way of saying, uh, wrap things up here, so maybe we'll have to do that. Um, I've heard Bola still needs to work on his two-way game, especially his defense.
That's, yeah, I'm, [01:01:00] I'm sure a lot of guys that are prospects offensively need to do that. Anybody who's talented offensively, um, and is a prospect is probably needs to work in their 2, 2, 8 game. Just ask Kevin, Labanc. So there you go. Uh, Aaron, anything else you wanna say here, or should we just, uh, yeah.
Nicholas Egan
Aaron: real quick, what bandwagon should the Sharks fan jump on for the playoffs? Kanes for Burn Devils for Meier. A different one. Definitely the devils because if the devils get to the conference finals, they're second round pick that they traded turns into a first round pick next season. So for me, I'm rooting for the devils.
Um, I don't want them to win the cup. I'd rather see Carolina win the cup, but, Whatever. I wanna see Burns win a cup. So personally I would like to see Burns for the Sharks organization. I would like to see New Jersey get there to the, to the conference finals at least. I think that's, that's the trade, right?
Not win the conference finals, but get to the conference finals, I feel like. Yeah,
Paul: I think it's to get to the conference finals. Um, I could be wrong on that. It's
Aaron: been a while since [01:02:00] if they make the conference finals, the pick becomes the first. So Yeah. Is it possible? I, I gotta look cause I didn't look at the way it's set up, but if it's New Jersey versus Carolina, then I'm rooting for Carolina.
I like Carolina too. I like their team. They're fun. They're, they're, they're a team that does fun things that not a lot of NHL teams do. Like when they celebrate after the ice and they do something different every time, remember? Yeah. Um, I like that stuff. I think the NHL needs more of that and it kind of gives the personality of the players kind of come out a little bit more.
So I like that
Paul: stuff. Okay. Very good. Okay, well, uh, I think the toaster's overheating cuz I keep skipping around over here. So, um, Aaron, if there's anything else that you wanna bring up, uh, fire away right now. Nope. There's the toaster. That's it. , get on with it. Yes,
Aaron: get on with it. .
Paul: We, we should have new, uh, get on with it, uh, clips too, by the way.
That'll be fun. Uh, once, [01:03:00] once
Aaron: we get more guests coming on. Yeah, we'll have somewhere we just stunk. We just
Paul: All right. Sounds good. Uh, well, hey guys, again, we appreciate you stopping in. We appreciate the chat. Uh, it's always so much fun going through the questions and, and the comments here. Um, makes the, the show a whole lot of fun. So, uh, uh, thank you for that. If you'd like to contribute and uh, support the show, you can do that, uh, by the super chat function or you can go to Venmo at The, Fin, Factor, anything you put in the comment there.
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Uh, I do appreciate that very much. We have lots of cool stuff in there. Hats, shirts, sweatshirts, canteen, water bottle, uh, whatever that thing is called. Um, fanny packs as well. Stickers, all that stuff. So , we [01:04:00] need to get some, uh, Fin Factor branded turtle wax, so you can wax your head with it, bud.
Aaron: We need to get some, uh, bumper stickers, like, what do you call it?
Uh, magnetic ones and yeah, some other cool stuff. I think that'd be fun. That says it's called
Paul: a water bottle. Yeah, it's just a water bottle. All right, sounds good. So four, super producer, Jason, I'm Paul. And I'm Aaron. And we will see you guys next week. Next week. Bye. Thanks for tuning in. If you like this episode, check out our other content specialty interviews.
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