San Jose Sharks: The Problems With Grosenick’s Performance
Tonight, Troy Grosenick made quite the statement by winning his first ever NHL start with a tremendous 45 save shutout for the San Jose Sharks. So it’s important we get to know Grosenick a bit. Troy Grosenick attended Union College to play college hockey and went undrafted until he signed a deal with the San Jose Sharks, and while an undrafted free agent saving 45 shots in his first ever NHL start is extremely impressive, it really shouldn’t be that surprising. Grosenick, despite being undrafted, was the ECAC Goaltender of the Year in 2011-2012, an All-American, and a Hobey Baker finalist for the best player in college hockey. He may have been undrafted, but he was no slouch, and he showed that tonight. Some of the saves he made were absolutely tremendous tonight, and he bailed the Sharks out many times.
And that’s the problem.
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Troy Grosenick’s performance was incredible, and he could end up being a very important goalie with the future of this team, or any team in the NHL. The jury is still out honestly. However, that doesn’t change the fact that this was the worst performance of the season so far, and it was against a very bad Carolina Hurricanes team that is in the sweepstakes for Connor McDavid. Through 20 games, the Sharks are 10-8-2 and that is in no way impressive. Now, it’s still early, but looking at this year so far, they have losses to the injury filled Blue Jackets twice (both times in regulation) the Sabres, the Panthers, and they had to be bailed out by the performance of a lifetime against the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, the Sharks may be the only team in NHL History to start the season playing 15 of their first 20 games on the road, and it will be easier when they get to stay home during the long haul, but as of right now, the Sharks are not a playoff team. And it won’t matter if they have Grosenick, Rask, or Patrick Roy in his prime, the Sharks can not count on their goalie to bail them out in games like these, especially not against teams better than Carolina. Something is missing from this Sharks team. I can’t really put my finger on what it is (defensemen) and maybe the organization will be able to figure out what they need (defensemen) and they’ll be able to fix the problem for the rest of the year, whatever that problem may be (defensemen). But as of right now, the Sharks are not the same team they were last year, and that is not a good thing.
Troy, that was a terrific performance, here’s hoping you never have to do it again. Cheers, mate.