Thursday, June 12, 2008

The good, the bad, and the ugly: Sharks edition

The Good:

San Jose named former Wings assistant Todd McLellan as their new head coach the other day. McLellan has a Stanley Cup, a Calder Cup (AHL championship) and is regarded as a great tactician. This is a good fit for the Sharks , who had some tactical issues on special teams last season, and could surely use someone with experience at winning on several levels. It's probably a better hiring than some of the other options out there like Tortorella or Mike Milbury. No word on assistants yet, though some suspect at least one of the current guys (Hunter & Zettler) might stay on. It's also possible that a couple of AHL guys could end up on the staff too, such as Kevin Dineen. I've heard the suggestion of Mike Haviland too, but I sincerely hope not. Haviland has a rep for being a huge hothead, and I wouldn't want that to spill over onto the Sharks


The Bad:

Nabokov getting ripped off on the Vezina vote. it was a dead heat pretty much between him and Brodeur, but in the end I think the table tilted the wrong way. Brodeur's only real edge was in save percentage, and the rest of the way Nabokov either matched or bettered him, or was just barely behind.

The Ugly:
The final tally in said Vezina vote was 113-106 in favor of Brodeur. It's heartbreaking to have him just barely miss out. Although it is preferable to a blowout.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Brodeur's only real edge was in save percentage, and the rest of the way Nabokov either matched or bettered him, or was just barely behind."

Save percentage is the most useful stat, and Brodeur wins there .920 to .910, so I'd say he deserves it. Wins and GAA are relatively meaningless. Put either guy on the Kings, for example, and wins would drop and GAA would go up because they depend largely on the whole team. The Sharks and Devils are my #1 and #2 teams, so this isn't bias talking.