So, the first volley has been fired in the true Battle of California (at least for this season -- sorry James, but the Queens aren't ready...yet), and Sleek's probably on his way back from the Pond, erm, the Non-Disney Center ready to gloat about seeing Chris Pronger in all his lanky jackass glory. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 6 to 3's a pretty good beatdown. Well, before you get to high on your non-Mighty Ducks, let's do a quick comparison of the lineups. Most notably, let's look at the defense.
Now, I've been a pretty harsh critic of the Sharks defense as it is. But the scoresheet's +/- says it all for this intense preseason tilt between the Sharks and the Quacks:
Doug Murray (5/6 dman): -2
Josh Gorges (5/6 dman): Even
Scott "I wear 28 in tribute to Nils Ekman" Ferguson: Even
Garret Stafford (AHL lifetimer): -1
Derek "Who the hell am I?" Joslin: -2
Christian Ehrhoff (3/4 offensive dman): +1
Up front, the Sharks were the Patrick Marleau line (+2) and no one else. Now, let's look at the arsenal the Ducks threw on the ice...
Defense: Chris Pronger, Scott Neidermayer, and some other guys who don't matter
Forwards: Selanne, Perry, Getzlaf, McDonald, Marchant, Chistov
So, Sleek (and his legion of Ducks fans), you see, your boys smacked around the minor league Sharks + Patrick Marleau. And when Marleau's line was on the ice, they couldn't contain him.
The preseason may be meaningless (check out my other blog for that rant), but there's still pride on the line. Still, don't get too high on your Quackers; things will look MUCH different when the Joe Thornton joins the party and the Sharks throw out a mediocre defense instead of a ridiculously bad defense.
Now, I've been a pretty harsh critic of the Sharks defense as it is. But the scoresheet's +/- says it all for this intense preseason tilt between the Sharks and the Quacks:
Doug Murray (5/6 dman): -2
Josh Gorges (5/6 dman): Even
Scott "I wear 28 in tribute to Nils Ekman" Ferguson: Even
Garret Stafford (AHL lifetimer): -1
Derek "Who the hell am I?" Joslin: -2
Christian Ehrhoff (3/4 offensive dman): +1
Up front, the Sharks were the Patrick Marleau line (+2) and no one else. Now, let's look at the arsenal the Ducks threw on the ice...
Defense: Chris Pronger, Scott Neidermayer, and some other guys who don't matter
Forwards: Selanne, Perry, Getzlaf, McDonald, Marchant, Chistov
So, Sleek (and his legion of Ducks fans), you see, your boys smacked around the minor league Sharks + Patrick Marleau. And when Marleau's line was on the ice, they couldn't contain him.
The preseason may be meaningless (check out my other blog for that rant), but there's still pride on the line. Still, don't get too high on your Quackers; things will look MUCH different when the Joe Thornton joins the party and the Sharks throw out a mediocre defense instead of a ridiculously bad defense.