On the eve of the San Jose Sharks’ season opener, Keegan and Sheng drop 5 bold predictions (each) for the 2023-24 season.
But before we get to the fun, we touch on the big news as Sharks training camp comes to a close.
We discuss the opening night lines (2:00), Kaapo Kahkonen earning the nod as opening night starter (7:48), Logan Couture’s setback (10:07), and the NHL’s ban of Pride tape (17:11).
Sheng distinguishes the difference between the specialty warm-up jersey and Pride tape bans.
And now, five, some bold, San Jose Sharks predictions! Keep in mind, these are all pure or educated guesses.
Sheng predicts the San Jose Sharks will finish with over 70 points (39:18).
On the other hand, Keegan counters that the Sharks will be the worst team in the NHL (41:00).
Sheng believes Filip Zadina will score over 20 goals (43:58).
Meanwhile, Keegan thinks Anthony Duclair will be the team’s leading goal-scorer, at least up to the Trade Deadline (48:00).
Sheng is guessing — a pure guess — that Couture won’t play until December (52:00).
Keegan replies with some optimism: He says Kaapo Kahkonen will top a .905 Save % this season (55:00).
Sheng joins in looking at the sunny side of things, he likes Mikael Granlund with over 50 points this year (58:17).
Here’s a spicy hot take: Keegan says Alexander Barabanov will lead the San Jose Sharks in points (1:01:22).
Sheng believes Henry Thrun will stick the whole season with the Sharks (1:02:57).
Keegan is seeing William Eklund putting up over 40 points (1:05:23).
Finally, some bonus predictions (1:09:50)! Sheng thinks Mario Ferraro will repair his reputation this season — while Keegan predicts Ty Emberson will establish himself as an everyday NHL’er.
9 Comments
Yeah that Pride stuff is ridiculous, definitely feels like a step backwards. Also, hearing you guys cuss makes the episodes slightly less vanilla, always makes me chuckle lol 🤭🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈
Sheng bruh let my boy Keegan speak 😭. Put a sock in it every once in awhile. Good show tho keep up the good work
Interesting that Sheng thinks Benning's trade value has eclipsed Ferraro's. I think that would be a hard take for a lot of casual Sharks fans to digest. Makes you think that maybe we should have taken that "competitive offer" for Ferraro (although idk if that just means a 3rd round pick or similar). I can see why the Sharks want to keep him around and value his ability to lead/eat minutes, but he needs to have fewer defensive lapses.
get politics out of hockey, period… there's nothing wrong with selling pride jerseys in the shop at the arena, or for players doing special pride tape sticks at a ball hockey tournament for gays, etc.
i resent having these players have to make a choice, just make a blanket policy (kudos to Bettman) that doesn't put these players in a position to make a choice, there are ways to promote the game of hockey off ice to all ages, shapes and sizes… we got a game to play here! its like the helmet grandfathering rule, the ultimate policy setting is for player safety and nothing arouses people more than politics & religious debates.. so get rid of it! as i said… these players are charitable off-ice and can use their personal brands to promote various initiatives, but as the great Michael Jordan said "all people need sneakers", referring to one side of the political spectrum telling him to promote their side only, or for him to pick a side!
stay neutral my friends, its a defensive posture against the wokies… lets play hockey! lets fkn gooo!!!
goal leader will be Hoffman
i also predict that Ekkie & Bordy will be united, they looked too good together in the pre-season as far as line chemistry
finally, Zadina only gets a dozen (12) goals and may struggle at times (atleast from seeing him in pre-season), he will have a similar up-n-down season as Gregy / Noah Gregor did last year…
Ferraro fetches more than Benning (probably a 2nd rounder or a rookie prospect plus a 3rd/4th) but he'll need salary retained, but I feel like Benning's contract is more valuable (and they wouldn't need to retain) but you don't want to trade that away for some 4th or 3rd! He's proven, its like a bird in the hand vs. unproven draft pick which will take 3-5 years to be a Matt Benning again. So it will depend on GM Grier's timeline or window of compete to open up again. Benning's contract is so valuable, because if they start paying guys like Ekkie/Bordy, Musty, $3-5 mil for interim contracts, Smith eventually $5-6 mil… it'll add up fast when we run with the young guns like they did a decade with Jumbo/Patty/Pavs.
I wonder if the league is concerned players will start sending political messages with their tape or writing on skates? Thinking of Russia vs Ukrainian, or Israel vs Palestinian colors etc.