San Jose Sharks legend Dan Boyle, insider Sheng Peng, prospects guru Keegan McNally, and rink rat Zubair Jeewanjee talk about the resurgent Sharks.
How good are the San Jose Sharks though, really?
We discuss their much-maligned defense, from John Klingberg to Shakir Mukhamadullin.
Kevin Woodley, NHL.com and InGoal Magazine goalie guru, jumps on to discuss Yaroslav Askarov’s improved play. He shares his thoughts about the specifics of why the young San Jose Sharks goalie has been so good in November. He also talks about the underrated Alex Nedeljkovic.
We also debate who’s the San Jose Sharks’ second-best forward, William Eklund or Will Smith. Also, why did the Sharks call up Zack Ostapchuk over the likes of Quentin Musty, Igor Chernyshov, and company?
Speaking of Chernyshov, Keegan focuses on the Russian’s strengths and weaknesses in his prospects focus. He also discusses perhaps the top 2026 Draft power forward, Ethan Belchetz, who has a cool Michael Misa connection.
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(00:10:07) What’s up with the San Jose Sharks’ defense? A lot of John Klingberg, Dmitry Orlov, and Shakir Mukhamadullin talk
(00:52:52) Kevin Woodley jumps on to break down why Yaroslav Askarov has improved so much this year
(01:50:02) Who’s the San Jose Sharks’ second-best forward? Why call up Zack Ostapchuk?
(02:24:28) Keegan discusses Igor Chernyshov’s improving game, and where he still has to get better
18 Comments
Sheng you’re the man, but Smiths goal was not a kicking motion. The sad thing is a few days later you see someone from the islanders totally kick direct it in and it was called a good goal. That rule fuckin blows
hell yeaaaa
Radim Simek!!! Forgot all about him. Simek the Radimer. Loved his story; shame about the knee injuries.
That guy Boyle put down dropped really fast, even faster at 1.5x
Dan's description of a PP1 sort at 38:50 is a really good description of … Eric Pohlkamp
SJHN ASMR episode
2 hours and 44 minutes? C'mon Sheng! We love you but can't you condense this into 40 minutes?
Re Keegan's description of Lund — excellence and excitement aren't the same thing. Ostapchuk was a solid call-up, but he's not really NHL ready yet. Not sure I saw the same game that Sheng, et al saw from him. He's got time, getting more NHL games in the sort of role he'll fit longer term makes sense. If it was about making the Sharks better right now, then it'd have ben Giles they called up.
I'm all-in on a line, centered by Will Smith, with Cheryshov and Musty, for maybe 6-8 games or so this season.
I also enjoyed 4 guys, all wearing glass, talking goalies. Maybe that's just me …
I don't regret drafting Smith but I wonder what the Grier and the front office saw when they said they projected him as a center. Everywhere I read it seemed Smith was seen as a playmaking specialist with weaknesses in areas you'd expect. I was looking forward to seeing him get some reps in this season at center to ascertain his value, since it seems like the thorough thing to do even if you have Misa. But Smith suddenly says that now he's 'mostly' playing wing in preseason iirc. Don't get me wrong, I think Misa has more tools to work with than Smith to succeed at center, but clearly they saw enough before drafting Smith for Grier to say they project him as a center before the Misa draft, but now they have Misa all that research goes out the window cause you're that certain Misa is already so much better at center that Misa gets the instant look at center straight from junior and Smith doesn't in his 2nd season?
A team is only as strong as it's weakest link. There are some particular players that the sharks have never won a game with when those players have been in the lineup. The question is not how good are the sharks it's how good are the sharks that are being played that night.
Love these episodes with Woodley getting us some expert goalie info. Sharks definitely playing better defense like he said and I think he’s right that Askarov is standing narrower and taller more recently. Feel like we have seen him staying out of his butterfly at times where he typically would have been in it in the past.
Excellent insight from Kevin
Sooka blyat- lmfao Boyler- that means fucking bitch, or suck it bitch 😅😂 so funny!!! Pisda means pussy 🐱 lol … on the road last week, your episode was fantastic & enlightening
I would pay money to get open iced by Boyler in a 3 on 3 tournament.
Kevin’s a smart dude. A lot of what he’s saying is 100% true. So many hours of my coach putting strings to the posts and going from side to side and at different depths, letting me understand different advantages to different layers of where you stand in the triangle.
Like he said there’s a million different things your reading from there team, your team. Layers of players. Location of puck and if anyone has sprung open to anticipate.
He speaks goalie very well. He’s a good guest to get at least a few times through the year for updates on the goalies.
Great find on a guest guys. That was awesome.
Hey Sheng, I’m with you on the complete game of eklund and smith talk right now.
I get what you’re saying and agree. On most levels of play, eklund is the more complete player. No knock on smith. All like your saying. Eklunds more consistent with the difference through the game. Smith is younger and time to work and round out like eklund has. The only caveat I can think of is possibly level of competition on average.
Keegan, great point on ostabchuk to musty, Igor take. Let those guys really gain confidence and correctly build up to there roles. The role available has been more for ostabchuks lane.
They hopefully are all apart of the future. Try and set them up for the best Chance to succeed.
Completely disagree with Zubair's take on Smith being a better player than Eklund right now. He is probably a more "important" player for the future of the Sharks. But currently a lot of his success is because he is playing with Macklin Celebrini. If you let Eklund cook with Celebrini imagine the points he puts up. Eklund is arguably playing with 2 players that do not belong in a top 6, meanwhile Smith is playing with arguably a top 10 player in the world. I believe Smith will become a better player than Eklund but he is not there yet. He is showing improvements in the compete/effort which is nice to see but he still has a ways to go.