NHL 2023-24 Recap Week 3 Sharks hit rock bottom, Senators are punished, Golden Knights and Bruins lose

How bad can the San Jose Sharks become? It’s not surprising the Sharks are bad. They are rebuilding. They traded away Erik Karlsson and Timo Meier. That leaves only Logan Couture, who is injured, and Tomas Hertl as viable pieces. Not much Hertl can do by himself. Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Mikael Granlund are there, but they’re well past their prime. And I do mean well. The Sharks are currently 0-10-1. They were just humiliated by the Vancouver Canucks 10-1. They followed that up with a 10-2 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins. So progress? They are the first team to give up ten goals back-to-back since 1966. Conceivably, they could go winless because they are by far the worst team. Normally, you can say the teams are about even, or if their top players have a good game, but not in this case. But statistically, it’s virtually impossible to go winless or undefeated. The Sharks will probably end up with around ten wins.

But does it matter? Whether you lose 10-1 or 2-1, it’s still a loss. Whether you win ten or thirty games, you’re still not making the playoffs. But it’s not a great culture for young players, and free agents won’t want to come. They also have about 7 million in dead cap space this season. Next year, it gets slightly better. Their biggest problem is they haven’t drafted well lately except for the players and picks that went to the Ottawa Senators for Karlsson, the gift that keeps giving. Those turned out great. If they don’t improve, this will be a very long rebuild.

Things I like

1. Last year, on this date, the Boston Bruins were 10-2, and the Vegas Golden Knights were 11-2. Although the top seeds usually don’t meet, which is what happened last season, had it not been for the Florida Panthers, I believe they would have. This season, not much has changed. The Bruins suffered their first regulation loss against the Detroit Red Wings, mainly due to having three rookie defensemen, and are 9-1-1. The Golden Knights are 11-1-1. That begs the question: will these two meet in the finals this season? I wrote last week. I don’t think so. I particularly think it’s less likely the Golden Knights will get there. But I can see the Bruins getting there and possibly winning.

2. The Golden Knights are no longer unbeaten in regulation because they lost to the Anaheim Ducks. I bet no one had that on their bingo card. The Golden Knights were on the second game of a back-to-back, which never helps, but the Ducks are defying expectations. The Ducks have been quietly amassing young talent for years, and we have been waiting for them to progress. Now might be the time. The Ducks were down two goals and then exploded for four in the third. The Golden Knights were sloppy on the Ducks’ second goal (below). They’ve also gotten help from older guys like Frank Vatrano, who is tied for second in goals. Second-year center Mason McTavish leads them in points. Even when you have long-term planning, sometimes it doesn’t work out. The Ducks are a good lesson in that. They had planned to promote their AHL coach, Dallas Eakins, for some time. They did, and he only lasted four seasons, firing him last season. This was the season they envisioned having under him.

https://www.nhl.com/video/vgk-ana-carrick-scores-goal-against-golden-knights-6340584668112

Things I don’t

1. Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorian deserved to be fired after trading Evgenii Dadonov to the Vegas Golden Knights and not mentioning that he has a limited no-trade clause. How exactly do you omit that? Wouldn’t you be staring out the contract during the phone call? It’s part of your job to know the contracts, especially since Dadonov signed the contract with the clause while you were the general manager of the Senators. There’s really no reason you shouldn’t know. The Senators now lose a first-round pick in a year of their choosing.

2. It’s almost time to hit the panic button in Edmonton. Up next is the red-hot and highest-scoring team, the Vancouver Canucks yikes.

Fights of the Week

Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.

We had several knockouts this week.

Garnet Hathaway vs Dylan Cozens

Nick Foligno vs Liam O’Brien

Jarred Tinordi vs Jack McBain

Goat of the Week

Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews - Toronto Maple Leafs

Marner and Matthews are not defensemen, and it really shows here. Both fail to exit the zone correctly. Tage Thompson takes advantage and scores a short-handed goal. The Sabres won by one if you subtract the empty net goal. Matthews scored his third hat trick of the season to no avail.

https://www.nhl.com/video/buf-tor-thompson-scores-goal-against-maple-leafs-6340519401112

Stat Line of the Week

11/04/23 Nashville 5 vs. Edmonton 2

All the best performances were in blowouts this week. Ryan O’Reilly gets the nod since his game was more competitive than Quinn Hughes’s five-point effort against the Sharks. O’Reilly had only his fifth career hat trick. Considering he’s played in 1002 games, you’d think he had more. He’s never scored 30 goals in a season, but he’s on pace to do that this season with seven.

Numbers, Numbers

4 – Game suspension for Charlie McAvoy hitting Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the head. It was 100% avoidable.

0 – Games to be played by Nicklas Backstrom as he leaves the Capitals due to his hip

672 –Games played by Aleksander Barkov for the Florida Panthers, becoming their all-time leader

2 – Short-handed goals by Mark Stone against the Colorado Avalanche

1200 – Games played for Sidney Crosby. He ranks sixth all-time in scoring through a player’s first 1,200 games.

500 – Points for Matthew Tkachuk in 520 games

Rankings

The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.

Top 5

1. Vegas
2. Boston
3. Vancouver
4. New York R
5. Dallas

Bottom 5

30. San Jose
31. Calgary
32. Edmonton
33. Seattle
34. Washington