Jones also wasn't good last year...

Last year
Jones isn’t the biggest problem this year as much as media makes out to be

Your first line in the description was Jones is off to a weak start... What else am I supposed to take from that other than he hasn't been very good this year either lol

I agree. They don't need a panic move. Jones is still going to be the guy.


(edited) ...but I think the team might want to manage his workload a little bit. I think adding a 1B on a cheap contract could help Jones push back to .900, and teams with two good goalies playing pretty well tend to do okay.

Not my description

Oh lol

Coply is a fine backup but he is not good enough for that package. Id give a 5th for him

Copley had a better spct than Jones last year, playing behind a similar style team. He won as many games as Quick. His contract is amazing.

If he comes in and plays better than Dell or Jones, then it's on Dell and Jones to get in gear and win their jobs back. That fixes the season.

If not, then at least management knows the issue isn't two slumping goalies, but that it's something about the way the team is playing in front of them. Do they flip Karlsson at that point? Trad Burns for a stay at home defenseman? Either would be impossible to take back. I'd want to make a cheap move in net, first, and just be sure what the problem is.

Bergmann is not an impact NHLer this year, and he has shown that. Korenar probably isn't either. If the Caps move Copley, while Hershey is just outside of an AHL playoff spot, they're likely to want prospects coming back who can keep Hershey in the mix. Will Bermann and Korenar eventually make the NHL? I have no idea. But by the time they're likely to make an impact, Thornton and Marleau will retire and the Sharks might rebuild, if this season doesn't pick up.

I was about to suggest Chmelevski and Korenar, but I was sure @papishark would shoot it down.

Yeah I would because Korenar is young and VERY good at the AHL level, meaning he still has the potential to be a great goalie in the NHL. I like Copley but hes 27 and wasnt super impressive at the NHL level on a very good team. Id like to point you to the Louis Domingue trade, an insanely similar situation and he got traded for a seventh.

Domingue and Copley are similar players. I agree. It's the team depth charts and their contracts that are totally different.

Copley just signed a three year extension to provide expansion draft insurance in Washington.

Tampa still has an NHL-experienced backup in the AHL, and has its starter locked up for eight more years. Trading Copley for picks would leave Washington with Holtby (UFA-1), Samsonov (rookie), Vanecek (prospect). No other goalies under contract. That would knock Hershey out of the playoff hunt and open up the possibility that the Caps end up with just one goalie, post-expansion. If they sign Backstrom and can't afford Holtby next summer, that leaves them with Samsonov and Vanecek. If Vanecek has a good rookie year and gets poached in expansion they end up with just Samsonov, who currently has six games of NHL experience. I don't think they're opening themselves up to that possibility to get any draft pick outside the 2nd round. And SJ, with a weak start, should keep its 2nd round picks.

Among goalies with at least 25 NHL games last year, Copley was between 33rd and 36th in spct, GAA, and W. He's a very good backup goalie. Almost a 1B. Most other very good backup goalies are playing in the NHL and are even less available.

Korenar is 21 and off to a hot start. Last year he finished a year as an AHL backup with .911 spct and 2.54 GAA. Through a tiny six game sample this year, he's slightly better, at .914 and 2.27, but we'll see if he can keep showing that improvement as the year goes on. But for now he's 16th in GAA and 21st in spct in the AHL. Could definitely emerge as an AHL starter now, which is promising.

When Copley was 21 he got a 2.17 GAA and a .925 spct for AHL Chicago. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=129834

So it seems like Copley might have the higher ceiling of the two, if we're just going by AHL stats at 21? But that's totally irrelevant because Korenar being a top prospect or not, he doesn't get SJ to the playoffs this year.

I think Copley being in the AHL is silly, but in terms of the Caps trying to avoid having to rebuild, he gives them stability. He's someone they know can step in and step up, and win games in the NHL. Can they trade him for a prospect who could be a backup in three years? Yeah. Do they need to? Nah.

Looking back at AHL goalie stats from five years ago, I think Korenar's start has him looking like the next Laurent Brossoit: https://theahl.com/stats/player-stats/all-teams/48?playertype=goalie&qualified=qualified&rookie=no&sort=svpct&statstype=standard&page=1&league=4

There's a sharp divide in future outcomes, between the guys in the top ten for spct in 2014-15, and the guys out of it. In the top ten in AHL spct five years ago: Murray, Dell, Markstrom, Forsberg, Copley, Hellebuyck, Gibson. Four future starters and three future backups. In the next ten: Brossoit, Pickard. Subban, Leighton, Zepp, Condon, Clemmensen. Five future backups, two former backups, and three guys who I'm not sure about. Binnington was hiding outside of the top twenty, so yeah, there's always hope, but there are more NHL starters from that top ten than from the next forty-five spots. For now Korenar is a hit or miss goalie prospect, looking like a likely future backup, and Copley is a proven NHL backup with starter potential (I mean, he was better than Hellebuyck in the AHL, and his spct was better than Jones or Dell last year in the NHL) cooling his heels in the AHL again due to an expansion draft situation beyond his control.

A one for one helps SJ make the playoffs, threatens Hershey's team chemistry without immediate improvement in skill level, and makes the Caps' expansion draft plans a little more complicated. Add a prospect who can put up some offense for Hershey this year, and I think they should consider it.

Trade value does not cater to a teams needs, if Copley and Domingue are comparable players they get comparable value. If the sharks wanted that kind of player they will find it for cheap without giving up a future starter and a future good bottom sixer. I understand that washington doesnt want to give him up for a seventh, but that doesnt mean the sharks will get ripped off to give Washington the value they want.

Supply and demand both exist. Tampa had four NHL goalies and wanted to get down to three. Washington has three now, and wants to contend. I'm sure they're fine with you shopping around.

If you want to pull up other years of AHL stats and see if the odds are usually as clear as what I found from five years ago, be my guest. But I checked whether your guess that Korenar was a likely future starter made sense, and based on reading a year of AHL goalie stats, I don't see it yet.

BTW, do you remember that time you spent an hour convincing a bunch of Sharks fans to flame someone for suggesting that Chandler Stephenson was worth more than Sasha Chmelevski? I don't know if I had that right or not, but Stephenson has three points in the NHL this year, and Chmelevski has one point in the AHL. So when your default response is that I must be trying to rip you off, I still don't get it.

The Sharks have already traded away their first pick, and it's looking like the 6th overall, if the season ended today and they don't win the lottery to move up to 2nd. If I were a Sharks fan, I'd want them to make small moves for a goalie, a defenseman, and a checking wing, to try to fix their goals against (3rd most), so they can stay in games long enough to see if their offense still works. Call me sentimental, but with no pick to tank for, I'd love to see Thornton and Marleau make the playoffs together again.

Listen pal I still stand behind everything ive said, trust me I know the sharks team better than you do. Chmelevski has had a tough start in the AHL, but so have many other future NHLers, including your boy Chandler(14 points in 57 games). The sharks main need is yes a solid backup and a top six forward. Id love to get both but if you walk around paying heavy for 27 year old backups and losing anyone with potential, you will find your team in ruin in a few short years every time.

You definitely know a lot about the Sharks. And I don't.

When you say they could end up in ruin in a few short years....?