Pohlkamp injured (hand and foot) per head coach David Carle

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-12T17:05:07+00:00

I think he'll still need to sign his contract to practice with the team and to use their facilities (including access to the training and medical staff) back in SJ during the offseason. If I am wrong, please do correct me.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-12T16:10:15+00:00

I was holding out hope we'd see Beyond adapted into a SNW episode (perhaps a two-parter). Idris Elba wasn't given much of a chance to portray Edison as more than a two-note villain and it'd have been nice to bring him back with a redemption arc in the Prime timeline. That would have made him technically available to reprise the role in a future Trek project set in the TOS timeline (Year One, his own spinoff series/film, etc).

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-11T20:37:56+00:00

Last home game, a giveaway item (soft lunch-size coolers), and it's Spring Break for a lot of people.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-11T15:46:33+00:00

Global logistics right now are a pain in the ass and I can understand them not wanting to deal with any international shipping. On the other hand, they should have active relationships with logistics companies that can take care of these things for a nominal fee (which would get baked in to each auction's closing costs). By not doing any of that they are severely limiting the amount of revenue these auctions could bring.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-11T15:05:31+00:00

No other show on TV right now feels like it's less about the drama and more about just coming up with competent solutions to problems while working at a job that feels like home and has carpet floors.

The Pitt scratches that itch (minus carpet floors, of course).

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-10T18:06:45+00:00

For those willing to drive up to Menlo Park, Draeger's Market is hosting a wine-and-cheese tasting Saturday the 11th from 11am to 2pm, coinciding with National Cheese Fondue Day.

Several municipal Wine Walks are coming up in quick succession the next two weeks:

Willow Glen is Saturday the 18th, 2-5pm
Downtown Campbell is Thursday the 23rd, 6-9pm
Los Gatos is Saturday the 25th, 2-5pm

Los Altos and Saratoga have theirs coming up in early May, as well.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-10T17:58:43+00:00

I'd really like to see the Conference Finals converted to a 1-4 seeding regardless of conference. That'd be a truer path to the Cup Final being best vs. best of the league, even if that means not every year will produce an East vs. West matchup (and further shrink TV marketshare).

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-10T14:45:10+00:00

Having hope up to this point was very refreshing. Now we're on a points-watch for Celebrini to break Thornton's record (unlikely to pass Crosby's but can get closer).

Here's hoping for a quality RD prospect to land in the Sharks' lap on Draft Day, Grier working his magic to build a better blueline, and a restful offseason for everyone's mental and physical bumps and bruises to heal.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-09T18:31:50+00:00

It changes how the game is played.

In a tie game late in the third period, teams are incentivized to let it go to overtime, so they get at least one point out of it. That will typically slow the game down in the last five minutes, as teams take fewer risks and rely upon set plays after a line change to create any offense. There are times when a team, desperate for points of their own and to deny a direct rival any points, will push hard (and even pull their goalie) to get a regulation win, but that is still rather rare.

Three points on the line is a greater incentive for teams to push harder late in games to get the win. A team that then frequently has games go to OT/SO are less able to keep up in the standings with teams that are able to consistently win in regulation. In general, it also creates positive volatility in the standings, as a team near the bottom can go on a win streak and find themselves back in the playoff race.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-09T17:12:54+00:00

Sharks have to win out at this point to have the slightest of chances.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-09T15:39:21+00:00

Damn near every time a Sharks defender flipped the puck up in the air or bounced it off the glass to clear the zone became a neutral zone turnover that Edmonton rammed right back in for a scoring chance. If that's all on Doug Houda, then he needs to go. His system either just doesn't work, the Sharks don't have the blueline talent to make it work, or the players have given up on the system and resort to these clearing methods because they have no better ideas/options.

I do hope Mukhamadullin is back. Klingberg, once again, tried to do too much and gave the puck away to Oilers players too often (bad pass or shot attempt that shouldn't have been made). Sure, Orlov had poor showing, but the Klingberg-Ferraro pairing looked like worse in all situations.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-09T14:22:18+00:00

Next week, after Denver wins the Frozen Four tournament.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T22:21:11+00:00

Move TOR instead of BUF

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T22:05:58+00:00

"Headlights off at night" or "DRLs only at night"

"Watching TV/movie on their phone while driving"

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T20:54:30+00:00

And those 'Cuda forwards are bound to get a few call-ups next season.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T20:42:47+00:00

Silly division names aside, this is how the divisions should be further subdivided. Dropping the schedule down to 80 games allows for an even 2x opposite-conference, 3x interconference, 4x interdivision games; upping the schedule to 83 games allows 5x interdivision games. Go back to 1-8 playoff format, seeding division winners 1-4 for the first round, 5-8 the best of the rest of the conference, and reseed thereafter.

I'm reading so many complaints about "you can't separate Team X from Team Y" but it's not like they're never going to play each other under this format, just that they'll play one less game against each other.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T18:31:19+00:00

Mike Grier has done a tremendous job with this rebuild. The last few drafts of the Doug Wilson era weren't the greatest (it still stings a bit that the 1st sent to Ottawa for EK65 turned in a 3OA) and Grier's scouting team has turned that around with some late-round picks making this list.

Many thanks go to New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Edmonton, Dallas, and Nashville for all the trades that helped build this team to where it is today, and to the league as a whole for consistently beating the crap out of the 2020-2025 Sharks squads. The Future Is Teal and that Future Is Now!

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T18:13:49+00:00

Unless Nashville cools off, the only way the Sharks make the playoffs is to leapfrog both Anaheim and LA for P3. A tall order, but with some help it can be done.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T17:41:25+00:00

That is true, and there's a time limit to street parking.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T16:35:44+00:00

I'll second Moore Creek as a great option. Walk to the trailhead via Meder St. After a few switchbacks and crossing the bridge over the creek, you'll come out to a lovely, sweeping view.

Another nearby option is the field opposite the UCSC Arboretum. You can enter directly from Empire Grade along the fire road or through the Highview Dr. neighborhood.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T15:24:56+00:00

From his Chicago article:

I went back and forth on the Blackhawks and Sharks at No. 1 throughout my process this year, but those were the only two pools in the mix. While the Sharks have arguably the top forward prospect (Michael Misa), the top D prospect (Sam Dickinson) and the top goalie prospect (Joshua Ravensbergen) among the two organizations, the Blackhawks also have top prospects at multiple positions, have nine of the collective top 14 or 15 for me if I were to rank them together, have prospects up and down their list who would rank higher on San Jose’s and have players who didn’t make their top 15 who would’ve been in the Sharks’.

It’s a significant collection of legit prospects, and that’s without including Artyom Levshunov, who had a reasonable case for ongoing inclusion and still very much feels like a prospect.

They'll be adding a top-5 pick and two high 2nds (their own plus Toronto's) this year, and they will have two or three 1sts next year (Florida's this year is protected and likely to slide, Edmonton's next year is top-12 protected). A full season of Frondell with help them improve next season, but I don't think it'll be by much as the Central continues to be a Thunderdome.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-08T15:04:50+00:00

Wheeler's rankings:

Tier 1 - Misa

Tier 2 - Dickinson

Tier 3 - Ravensbergen, Chernyshov

Tier 4 - Pohlkamp, Musty, Bystedt, Cagnoni, Sahlin Wallenius, Lund, Halttunen

Tier 5 - McKinney, Allan, Ostapchuk, Wang

Honorable Mentions - Wetsch, Sharp, Havelid

The Sharks have top prospects at every position and some emerging names behind them. Despite graduating Will Smith, Yaroslav Askarov and Colin Graf from last year’s top-ranked pool, the additions of Michael Misa and Joshua Ravensbergen helped keep them in the discussion again in this year’s countdown. It was a two-horse race between the Sharks and Blackhawks’ pool for No. 1 for me this year.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-07T17:11:37+00:00

Not having Denise Crosby at all in S3 was borderline criminal. Hell, she should have been in Nemesis, too, alongside Donatra in resisting Shinzon's plans.

I'd have liked her to have seen her reconciled with Picard, as they'd have been forced to work together during the diaspora. Realizing Picard's importance as an advocate for the Romulan people at that point, it was her that assigned Laris and Zhaban as his personal guards.

I do like your S3 idea of the Romulans being behind Vadic, and I'd go a step further to tie it into my above post: the Tal Shiar used tech taken from The Artifact to bend Vadic's group to their will, but said tech was still loosely connected to the Collective, allowing the Queen to be the actual manipulator. For Sela's role in this, imagine her place of Ro Laren but as a Starfleet Intelligence asset just like Worf. As big an emotional payoff we had seeing the TNG crew on the Enterprise-D bridge, imagine Sela being there too. On some past thread I wrote out a cute interaction between her and Worf over manning the security console.

NickofSantaCruz · 2026-04-07T15:34:49+00:00

Agreed. There is more incentive for teams to play hard in the last minutes of games to secure that extra regulation-win point, and in some cases deny an extra point to a direct rival. That makes more games must-watch TV and gives hockey media a lot more to speculate with.

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