Teal Tinted Glasses Podcast: Teal Tinted Glasses Episode 4

Teal Tinted Glasses Podcast: Teal Tinted Glasses Episode 4: This week on the Teal Tinted Glasses Podcast Ian and Wendell go it alone and talk about some of the stuff that happened on locker clean out ...

Teal Tinted Glasses Episode 3

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! - 4/4/15

San Jose went off the cliff with the Coyotes but never looked down and your pal Ian is going to tell you how he saw it. It’s the post game, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

The Good: Sharks came out very strong in the first, and played a dominating style of hockey that they should have played against teams of this quality all year. Logan Couture opened the scoring with the first Sharks shot on goal before getting many quality chances, while Pavelski inches closer to a second straight 40 goal season and Matt Nieto was rewarded for a solid effort tonight. I thought Niemi looked really Shaky in the first period but settled in and made some great saves including one that may have saved the game from looking far less lopsided then it was. I thought that the short handed defense was good enough overall. Stollery was alright and Fedun and Irwin continue to impress.

The Bad: After a solid first period the Sharks started to play chicken with the Coyotes exchanging chance after chance. This isn’t just on the weakened defense but a foot off the pedal approach to the game. For those keeping track they gave away the puck 15 times. This needs to stop.

The Ugly: I thought Stollery was kind of soft taking his man allowing the puck to be moved up to the Sharks net where Burns was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. He deflects the shot in or the Coyotes put it in the net. The second PP unit is terrible and the amount of odd man rushes the Coyotes got while shorthanded is equally disgusting.

Final Thoughts: No out of town scoreboard games tonight that mattered and the Sharks took care of their own business but they need to not take the Coyotes so lightly in Arizona tomorrow. If they get into a run and gun style game the Coyotes might surprise them and that would be bad when your slim playoff hopes consist of running the table hoping other teams lose.

Remember if you have a question you would like me to answer in a future article please e-mail me at ian.blogs.sharks@gmail.com, unless you ask I will not post who asked the question so don’t worry about how stupid you think the question may be because to me there is no such thing.

Don’t forget to check out the Teal Tinted Glasses podcast, it’s on itunes as well as your favourite pod-catcher or at http://ttgpodcast.blogspot.ca

If you want to read all my stuff as its released check out RSENReport.com

Follow me on Twitter: @IanBlogsSharks

Playoff Hopes and other Notes - 4/3/15

Playoff Hopes:

So the out of town scoreboard took a while to really start doing us some favours and yet here we are. Last night the LA Kings blew out the Edmonton Oilers by a 8-2 Score while the Calgary Flames lost to the Blues 4-1. What does this mean for the big picture?

For the purposes of the Sharks making the playoffs The Anaheim Ducks, The Vancouver Canucks and the Minnesota Wild are irrelevant to our playoff chances, they have all clinched playoff spots or are simply out of the Sharks reach. This leaves 3 teams in the mix and because of the slumping Jets there is a chance at two playoff seeds although I can’t stress enough very small chances, and the fact that these chances are based on the idea of the Sharks winning out without going to the shootout in any of their remaining games. A Sharks loss from here on would change things, perhaps catastrophically.

So let’s start with the Sharks. As stated above they have to win out in their last 5 games including their game tonight against the Coyotes. However on paper this schedule is very soft, they do get the stars who don’t know they are out of it yet and may prove tricky but they also get another game against the Coyotes as well as one against the Oilers and finally their season finale against the LA Kings which could literally be for all the marbles.

The Flames are the highest seeded team as of today, sitting 3rd in the pacific. With their loss to the blues they need one regulation win and 2 other points in order to become irrelevant to the Sharks playoff hopes. They have a even mix of what should be easy wins and dog fight games left. Their next 2 games are against the Oilers and Coyotes before they wrap up their season fighting for their playoff lives against the Kings and Jets.

The Kings currently sit in the final wildcard spot with Calgary only one point ahead of them in the 3rd divisional seed. The Kings will need 3 regulation wins to stay ahead of the Sharks for good in the standings. The kings have a mixed bag of games on their remaining 5 game schedule, including the Avalanche, Canucks, Oilers, Flames and Sharks.

The Jets are currently on the outside looking in and have a schedule that does them no favours combined that with the fact that one of their best players in Dustin Byfuglien will be serving a suspension of 4 of the 5 remaining games they are probably the most likely team to fall out of the playoffs. They need 6 points in their remaining 5 games to become irrelevant to the Sharks playoff push. Their remaining games are against the Canucks, Wild, Blues, Avalanche and Flames. The Avalanche is the only team in that list I think they should win the rest are any ones game.

Tonight’s Match up:

Tonight the Sharks will host the Arizona Coyotes in their 2nd last home game of the year and the first half of a home and home series. So far this year the sharks have gotten the better of their divisional rivals winning 2 of the 3 games they have played thus far. Vlasic remains out of the line up as he continues to be day to day, to make matters on the Sharks blue line worse Hannan is also questionable for tonight’s game. If Hannan is unable to go expect Karl Stollery who was acquired at the deadline from the Avalanche for Freddie Hamilton to get the call, as well as Fedun to continue drawing in for Vlasic. Starting in goal for the sharks tonight will likely be Antti Niemi as it appears that Stalock is now on the worst end of the bug moving through the sharks dressing room. Stalock had done an admirable job in Niemi’s absence showing glimpses of the Stalock we saw last year. The Sharks playoff hopes come down to them running the table, they need help elsewhere, sure but they have to help themselves.

Teal Tinted Glasses Podcast: Episode 2

Sadly no Jeff on the show today but Wendell and Ian march on being joined by Lightening fan Mark McArthur, topics include Vegas, the draft lottery and tanking.  We hope you enjoy the show and look forward to your feedback.



If you are on a mobile device you can get it by following this link: http://tealtintedglasses.podomatic.com/entry/2015-04-01T09_51_26-07_00

We appreciate everyone's patience as we work out some of the audio kinks and the wait for itunes to accept the podcast.

Don't forget if you have questions you want answered please drop us an e-mail: TealTintedGlasses@gmail.com

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! - Mar 29th. 2015

San Jose came up shorter than a fruit fly's entire lifespan and your pal Ian is going to tell you how he saw it.  It's the post game, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! 

The Good:  The Sharks really came out after the Penguins in the second period after being kind of sleepy in the first, yes they did outshoot their opponent in that period but the play was mostly pushed by the Penguins who had quality scoring chances and goals while the Sharks were forced to shoot low percentage shots from the perimeter. The Sharks were sparked to life by their 4th line who got them on the board and really got the momentum in full gear for the team.  Logan Couture has a little streak going right now adding the game tying goal for the Sharks. 

The Bad:  The Sharks penalty kill was victimized by a what I must admit was a nice feed by Crosby that Stalock had little chance on as the defense was out of place.  I thought Fedun looked alright but the penalty that lead to that second penguins goal was ill timed and the only real thing that I thought was problematic with his game.  Stalock was good but not great, probably should have had the first goal and the shootout was not his greatest moment although facing those shooters is a job that I don't envy.  I'm genuinely curious to see if this is the last time we see him this season or if he and Niemi split time down the stretch.

The Ugly:  Sharks power play went 1/5 and while that one goal did tie the game and make the overtime possible not capitalizing on a 4 on 3 for 4 minutes probably gave them the fate they deserved.  Ben smith only won 33% of his draws and Chris Tierney only won 44% of his as well.

Final Thoughts: The cards were pretty stacked against the Sharks coming into this game in all aspects while the idea of the Sharks running the table and pushing into the playoffs is a nice one the odds of them doing so and getting in where slim and the odds of them running the table at all even slimmer. The Sharks are still not sure of the status of Marc Edouard Vlasic and Mirco Mueller unknown until they return to San Jose to have them re-evaluated the sharks put out a thin blue line that didn't really embarrass themselves.  I thought Fedun was ok, nothing special but filled in nicely on a pairing with Irwin.  So where does this leave the Sharks? Well they finished the road trip with a 3-3-1 record. In my opinion the bell tolled on the season long ago while not mathematically out the odds of them making the playoffs are less than 2%.  Even running the table with what seems possible with a soft schedule of non-playoff teams not counting the season finale against the Kings would leave them with 95 points and that most likely leave us with a 25% chance of it being good enough to get in.  So while I'm glad the Sharks didn't completely roll over most of their recent games have been too little to late.

Remember if you have a question you would like me to answer in a future article please e-mail me at ian.blogs.sharks@gmail.com, unless you ask I will not post who asked the question so don't worry about how stupid you think the question may be because to me there is no such thing.

If you want to read all my latest work check out http://RSENReport.com

Follow me on Twitter: @IanBlogsSharks

Sharks News and Notes! Mar. 27th 2015

Just a recap of some Sharks news that has happened over the last few days with some thoughts to go with them.

The Sharks signed Swedish Defenseman Joakim Ryan to a 2 year entry level deal. He previously played for Cornell University where he put up 19 Goals, and 59 Assists in 123 career games and was a 2012 draft pick (7th round, 198th overall) of the Sharks. This is what Hockey’s Future says about Ryan in their talent analysis:

Joakim Ryan is an undersized defenseman with incredible powers to his legs and a good offensive arsenal. He reads the play well and his shot is hard enough and low to the ice that it can be very deceptive for goaltenders. Given his size, defense will always be somewhat of a struggle. Right now he copes to the situation by utilizing his speed, but for him to succeed at the professional level, he will need to bulk up considerably otherwise he could only be considered a powerplay specialist.

My Thoughts: I have never seen him play with my own eyes but like the idea of him. I’d be curious to see how he pans out in the AHL.

The Sharks also signed Canadian goaltender Joel Rumpel out of the University of Wisconsin who although put up some mediocre numbers this year with a 4-23-4 record with a GAA of 3.49 and a .902 SV% behind what was a pretty bad Wisconsin team had put up decent a decent .929 SV% the two seasons prior.

My Thoughts: The Sharks goaltending depth is pretty terrible with JP Anderson potentially seeing his last contract from Team Teal this seems like a low risk move that could lead to high reward at least at the AHL level.

Sharks Defenseman Mirco Mueller missed the end of Thursday night’s game against the Red Wings after blocking a shot. Reports say his arm was in a sling and his wrist heavily bandaged after the game and today coach Todd McLellan announced the Muller would out indefinitely and will be re-evaluated after the road trip concludes.

My thoughts: I really thought Mirco has played a much better game since he returned after a long exile to the press box so it’s unfortunate to see him get hurt when he would have probably seen action until the end of the season. However the Sharks should let him heal to 100% as there is no reason to bring him back early. I wonder if this is a new injury or a re-aggravated injury suffered at the World Jr. Tournament. This will draw Matt Irwin back into the lineup. If they don’t call anyone up I hope they put Dillon with Hannan while using Irwin and Burns again.

Tomorrow the Sharks play an early game against the Philadelphia Flyers at 1pm local (10am Pacific). Both teams are all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at this point so I’m curious to see what kind of game it ends up being. Alex Stalock will get the start in goal for the Sharks in what may be his final start of the season if they choose to keep playing Niemi playoff chances be damned. I don’t think the sharks were wrong to ride Niemi like they had since Stalock got the shutout in his last start as you ride your starter in these situations especially if you didn’t trade him because the guys wanted him here. I know there are some who criticize the coaching staff for the Niemi starts but I feel this is just people talking with the benefit of hindsight and had Stalock gotten more starts would complain that Niemi being our starter should have been in net the whole time. A real lose/lose for the coaching staff. I personally would like to see Stalock get some more starts because I doubt Niemi is here next year.

I along with 2 other Shark fans recently started a new podcast called Teal Tinted Glasses if you would like to check it out please do so here:

http://ttgpodcast.blogspot.ca/2015/03/teal-tinted-glasses-episode-1.html

We will have it on all your favourite pod-catchers sooner than later.