San Jose Barracuda
Quick Thoughts: A Powerless Power Play, Barracuda Players Don’t Want Playoffs?
Wow, five power play goals by San Jose last night!
No, not by the San Jose Sharks, 0-for-4 on the power play in a 3-0 loss to Colorado last night. The Sharks are mired in a 0-for-28 PP slump that has dropped them to 29th in the NHL on the man advantage.
Instead, it was the San Jose Barracuda, who went 5-for-5 in a 7-5 victory over Henderson.
Imagine that, five power play goals in one game – that’s the number of PP goals the Sharks have scored since Mar. 17 – that’s in 24 games.
No Danger from High-Danger Areas
The San Jose Sharks weren’t much better offensively at 5-on-5. Per Natural Stat Trick, in 47:01, they had zero High-Danger Corsi For. Zero.
That’s only the seventh time – in 1,536 NHL games so far this season – that a team had zero high-danger chances at 5-on-5 for an entire contest.
Funny enough, it’s happened twice this year to two teams: San Jose and the New York Islanders. The Sharks had zero high-danger chances at 5-on-5 on Jan. 18 at St. Louis.
For what it’s worth, San Jose is actually fourth in the league with an 11.74 HDCF Per 60 rate at 5-on-5. This is corroborated by SPORTLOGiQ: The Sharks are fourth in the NHL in Inner Slot Shots on Net Per 60 at Even Strength. They usually earn a lot of high-danger opportunities – just not last night.
Barracuda Players Don’t Want Playoffs?
Speaking of the Barracuda, this appeared to be exciting news on Thursday:
Pacific will be the only AHL division to play a postseason tournament to determine the division champion. https://t.co/WY4Cwi1nwY
— Brian Truong (@_BrianTruong) April 29, 2021
Well, exciting if you think of hockey in “NHL 21” terms. Professional Hockey Players Association executive director Larry Landon – the PHPA is the AHL and ECHL’s players’ labor union – issued this response: “I am disappointed in the AHL’s Pacific Division’s decision, as it disregards the wishes of the vast majority of the Players within the Pacific Division.”
A statement from PHPA Executive Director, Larry Landon, in response to the AHL's announcement of Pacific Division games scheduled beyond May 16th, the final day of the Regular Season pic.twitter.com/GzZXkgdCti
— PHPA (@thephpa) April 29, 2021
Agent Allan Walsh, who represents multiple AHL players, including former San Jose Sharks prospect Nick DeSimone, tweeted: “Hearing teams in the AHL Pacific Division are refusing to accept the results of the player vote of their team and are now demanding to know specifically which players voted to opt out. The whispers back to players is AHL teams will retaliate against those choosing to opt out.”
Hearing teams in the AHL Pacific Division are refusing to accept the results of the player vote of their team and are now demanding to know specifically which players voted to opt out. The whispers back to players is AHL teams will retaliate against those choosing to opt out. https://t.co/LGnLKlfvo2
— Allan Walsh (@walsha) April 30, 2021
“It’s gonna happen,” Barracuda alternate captain Alexander True, who’s currently up with the San Jose Sharks, offered when asked about the PHPA statement yesterday. “I’m sure the boys are gonna play, and play as hard as they can. It’s playoff hockey, and it’s a little different playoffs this year, but it’s still hockey and the boys like to compete. I’m sure it’s going to be some good games.”
San Jose Hockey Now reached out to the San Jose Barracuda, but they declined comment at this time, saying there are more details to come about the Pacific Division’s post-season plans.
