James Sheppard’s role in the NHL has evolved from hopes of a top-six threat when he was drafted to a bottom-six role player. It’s because of the former that he gets some unnecessary hate from the hockey world.
Not every player works out with regards to their draft position and expectations and it’s even rarer to see a player get credit for adapting to a lesser role and being effective at such.
Sheppard has done everything that you’d expect from a player in his role this year and he deserves an extension with the San Jose Sharks.
He’s got an offensive zone start percentage of 40.1% and an offensive zone finish of 51.2% - an increase of 11.1%.
Could they use more offense from the 3C? Sure they could, but he’s got the same P/60 (1.2) as Tommy Wingels and is only 0.1 behind Tomas Hertl and 0.2 behind Patrick Marleau. Sheppard isn’t here to put up a significant amount of points – and he doesn’t get any time in the top six.
He has a positive scoring chances differential and is above 50% CF (50.3%). He’s also increased his faceoff percentage by 10.8%, 5v5, from last season.
Those are great underlying statistics for a depth player. Sheppard is a valuable asset for the Sharks bottom-six right now. That doesn’t mean he won’t be outplayed in the future, but right now he’s doing a solid job for San Jose and he’s a player the Sharks need to extend beyond this season. As it stands right now the Sharks have a whole lot of “potentials… and no sure-fire players more effective than Sheppard down the middle in the bottom six.
Whether he suits up as a 3C or a 4C is a question of the Sharks depth. Can they bring in a better 3C? Of course they can, and it would bring the Sharks depth up by a large margin if Sheppard was centering the fourth line, but the reality of things is that Sheppard has done what the Sharks need him to do and he doesn’t deserve any negative press about it because he isn’t the offensive player the hockey world hoped he would be when he was drafted almost 9 years ago. Roles change.
Fire Corey Schwab
Lost in all the fire Todd McLellan/Doug Wilson talk is the goaltending development coach.
Now, I’ll give Schwab a little credit – he isn't exactly working with all-world talent. Even still, the results should be better, or at the very least they shouldn't decline like this.
Since Schwab took over as master of the cage guardians in 2011 the Sharks have seen a decline in 5v5 save percentage.
Even with a below-average starters Schwab should be able to generate better results. In fact, it’s his job to generate better results. Goaltending coaches are often tasked with making something out of nothing. Schwab has taken nothing and allowed it go and progressively get worse. Four years is a big enough of a trend for me to line him up next to Doug Wilson and Todd McLellan in the offseason.
Epix Stadium Series Doc
Epix released a teaser for the upcoming feature on the Kings/Sharks Stadium Series game. Because Epix is racist against Canadians, I can’t view the video in Kevin Kurz’s tweet.
Epix teases the Road to the #StadiumSeries #SJSharks #LAKings https://t.co/OZLVxMie1c
— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzCSN) January 26, 2015Thanks for that, Epix. And thanks for being racist against a hockey-mad country who would have loved to boost your YouTube views.
Thanks for reading.