The Sharks don’t play again for the next fifty years so let’s have an expanded look at a defensive solution. The purpose of this is to lessen the damage to Niemi’s equipment on a nightly basis without losing any core players. Let’s sift through the rubble of the rumor mill and find a fix for the Sharks D, if there is one right now.
For argument’s sake we’ll ignore any defenders the Sharks have in the system in Worcester because, clearly, Doug Wilson’s phone was reset and he lost all of their phone numbers. I like Off ZS% vs Corsi% because if it’s a high/low combination it can show just how good or poisonous the player has been.
Here’s a chart from war-on-ice.com that features the Sharks D as well as potentially available defenders from around the league. The color variable is games played, size variable is giveaways. Vlasic and Petry are similar except for size variable when Petry’s bubble explodes and Vlasic’s almost disappears. I’d wager that has more to do with the lack of competence from Petry’s teammates rather than a major issue with Petry himself; just keep that in mind when looking for Vlasic.
If we cut the chart off below 45 on the Corsi% side of things to start then the Tyler Myers is gone, as is Demers and Hannan. I like Demers and I think his poor statistical performance has more to do with who he’s been paired with for most of the season, when General Todd allows him to play that is, so we’ll consider keeping him unless he’s a piece in a trade. The only way I look to acquire Myers is if Tim Murray wants to add to his stealth-like plan of icing the worst possible team in the league by taking Burish, Hannan and Brown back in return. That’ll drown your Corsi in a bucket of tears big enough to build the Winter Classic ice surface.
Mike Green is clearly being sheltered with a high Off ZS% that is inflating his Corsi%. There’s no doubt he’s a great puck mover but his defensive play leaves a lot to be desired so I’ll cross him off of my wish-list as well.
The cost of Keith Yandle would be astronomical so he doesn’t interest me at all. It also doesn’t help his cause that he’s dangerously close to Matt Irwin on the chart. That’s like paying handsomely for moldy bread in a shiny package when you could just suffer through the taste of what you already own. Now if Yandle was, in fact, wearing teal I doubt his numbers would be close to Irwin, he’d more likely be closer to Braun and Vlasic; but for the purpose of this post we’ll forget that Irwin and Yandle are polar opposites in worth outside of this chart.
Jake Gardiner is a serviceable option but, again, the price is likely too high. He also hasn’t proven to excel in his own end, which wouldn’t really help the cause. Paul Martin’s cap hit doesn’t appeal to me. There would be too much involved in making the Martin trade work for the Sharks, assuming they still want similar cap space to what they have now when it’s all said and done. Adam Larsson’s sample size is too small in comparison to the others to justify the results and I’ve already declined interest in him in a previous post.
After all of that we’re left with Cody Franson and Jeff Petry. Both of those players would be low-cost acquisitions that come with no risk beyond the current season. If they didn’t help the Sharks defense, and I highly doubt they’d make it worse, the Sharks could either flip them at the deadline at a small loss, although that option wouldn’t be highly regarded, or they could watch them walk away after the season. I’m aware fans in Toronto severely dislike Franson and his play, but if trades were based on only fan-like-% of player-X then there wouldn’t be a single transaction in the league.
This could open the possibility to shelter Burns and Mueller with better ZS as they stabilize their game, or it could result in Burns returning to forward. Don't just think about Franson and Petry, think about how they could look on the Sharks, a significantly more talented team than both Toronto and Edmonton. I doubt the statistics would trend downward if they were in San Jose; the more plausible result is they trend up.
What say you? What would your trades for Franson/Petry look like? Would you want someone else? Solve the Sharks defensive woes in the comment section.
Thanks for reading.