The Sharks just made some MASSIVE changes...

The Sharks just made some massive changes as they changed almost every forward line and went to a five forward power play. That's all from this morning's skate before a big game against the Calgary Flames tonight and Askroft was first off in practice so we can assume he'll be the starter tonight. I love three of these changes and I hate one of them and one of these changes could blow up the power play tonight. Here are the forward lines from the skate. To Foley, Celebrini, and Smith. Mark Schmidt, Misa, and Sherwood. Stenberg, Beistet, and Graff. And Goodrow with stop chuck and got in. And I'll start with the one that made me smile. And you gotta start with why. Because this wasn't a coach who just woke up bored. This is a guy who knows they lost 5-1 on home ice on Saturday. The Sharks had 23 shots that night and Ottawa had 35. That's not an off night for one line. That's a whole team getting pushed around. And afterwards, Worsawski got asked if the players lacked buy-in. Quote, absolutely. We got to work on that. He said the staff would look at everything, including benchings, playing time, and their own systems to get the team out of a rut. So when you hear playing time and systems, that's what it looked like this morning. We had new lines, we had new peers, we had a new power play all in one day. The reason is the goals. San Jose have scored 40 goals in 15 games and allowed 51, which is 3.4 a game. When a team is that far in the red, you don't just change one thing, you change everything and see what sticks. So let's see what sticks tonight. So Foley, Celebrini, and Smith are back together, and as Shengpeng put it, the sleepover line rides again. The nickname comes back from all the way in 24-25 when all three of them scored against Buffalo. But this is a new where Soski puts Smith and Celebrity back together on Thursday with about a minute and a half left in the second period. Here's why, quote, we couldn't generate anything and it wasn't working, it was just time. So tonight he doesn't just try them back together for a few shifts, he builds a whole line around them, in comes Toffoli. She's celebrating leads the Sharks with 16 points this season, and Smith leads them with 6 goals. Toffoli has 4 goals and 9 points this season, so you put together the point leader on this team, the best goal scorer on this team, and you add in a guy like Tyler Toffoli who knows how to finish around the net. And Celebrini is two goals from passing Pat Falloon for 21st in franchise history, which at his pace is about five games. Celebrini plays more than 22 minutes a game, that is the most on the entire team, and when his line clicks, the offense is flowing. So that's the easy line to love tonight, the sleepover lines back together, and I love it. So let's talk about the underrated change. Stenberg, Bystead, and Graff are sneaky dangerous, and it's all because of how Bystead has looked through his first couple of games. Feist had played his first NHL game back on Thursday, and even the head coach Ryan Wierczowski said it didn't look like his first NHL game. Quote, the pace was good, he was smart playing without the puck, and the first chance on his first shift was impressive. Now the honest part, this is an audition to show the coach that they can play well together. So far, Biaset has 0 points, Stenberg has 9, and Graf has 3 points this season. Stenberg is also minus 13, the worst on the team. Plus minus is noisy, but it tells you why this line is a bet and not a lock. Here's why I still like it because everybody's going to be looking back at Celebrini's line as it was another change and how they've changed the power play nobody's really going to focus on this third line and I think they can go out there and steal a goal and impress a lot of people. Then there's Marchment, Misa, and Sherwood. Misa has 7 points and 3 goals this season, and he's a minus 5. So this line has something to prove as well. You know, obviously before, Misa had Stenberg. Now he gets Marchment, who can go in front of the net and hopefully open something up for some goal scoring on this line. And Goodrell has stopped Chuck and got it, stays the fourth line. They've looked good, and they have a clear job to do. But the change that got the most attention came at 1.24 this afternoon. Shane Peng tweeted, the Sharks are finally going with a five forward power play unit with Toffoli, Stenberg, Celebrini, Smith, and Marchment. No defensemen at all on the power play. They have Smith playing the point. They have Celebrini and Stenberg on the flanks. Toffoli in the bumper and Marchment in front of the net. And I absolutely love it. Put your best five forwards on the ice and make the penalty killing have to guard all of them. The Sharks' power play is at 23.1% this season, 12th in the league. They scored 12 on 52 chances. Celebrity produces 0.61 power play points a game, which puts them in the 98th percentile, so this group has a real chance to climb. Here's the cheat sheet. Calgary's penalty kill isn't scary. It's killing 81.8% of its penalties, but its own power play is third best at 33.3%. But here's the risk. With no defensemen back there, a bad turnover at the line could lead to a breakaway and a shorthanded goal. And Cilabrini gives it away 2.15 times a game, which is the lowest in the entire league, and he's on that unit. He also takes it away 0.77 times a game, which is in the 90th percentile, so he gives it away and steals it back, and that's why I trust him up front. So the Sharks can't afford penalties either. Now the part I hate. The pairs remain the same with Dickinson and Truba, Nurse with Kessering and Allen with Orlov. I really liked when they put Truba and Nurse together, and they also put Dickinson and Kessering together. That was the group I trusted the most out there on the back end. I'll be honest, I can't prove it because it was a small sample size, but from a guy who's watched every single Sharks game this year, with you guys on the watch along, which we will be doing again tonight, this was the best defense we've seen by far, and a lot of you guys agree with me. What do we know is that Truva plays more than 22 minutes a game, the most of any Sharks defenseman, and Nurse plays more than 21. Truva leads the Sharks defense with 9 points, Kesselring has 3, Nurse has 2, and Dickinson has 2. Nurse is a different case. He blocks 1.8 shots a game in the 9th and 3rd percentile, but he also gives it away 1.36 times a game, which is the 11th percentile. This tells me that Nurse has to have a D partner that he can trust with the puck, and I think Trouba was the perfect partner to help him with that. And remember, the defense has already let in 51 goals this year, and I'm not saying the old peers are bad, but I think the new peers give us a better chance at not giving up as many high-danger chances a game. So the guy who's producing the most just got paired with a guy who has 2 points and 0 goals. That's the part that bugs me. I get the idea is getting these young guys paired with a veteran by splitting these guys up, but the best defensive pair we've seen was when they were together, so let's put them back together. If Calgary scores off the rush tonight, this is the first place I'm looking. Last thing is Askarov, Shang Peng noted that he was first off the ice tonight and that singles that he's in the net. He played nine games this season. He has a 900 save percentage and against the league average of 890. That's 244 saves on 271 shots, a 3.01 goals against average. So every start is one of three things, a save, a goal, or him out of position. And he's 18 saves from passing Mackenzie Blackwood for 11th in franchise history. So he could do it tonight. And if you like these Sharks breakdowns and every day about the San Jose Sharks, we're going to be here doing it, so down below, hit that subscribe button, we're on the road for 4,000 subscribers. Calgary has 36 goals in 14 games, which is 28th in the league, but they've allowed 3.71 a game, which is 5th worst in the league, and they're 6-8, that's a good test for our new top line tonight. One more thing to touch on as well, as you know, Worszawski said he's willing to test lines and bench people. If it starts going badly in the first period tonight, I expect we'll see some guys be glued to the bench and be sat for some of the game. There's three keys tonight, and one of them is the sleepover line scoring a goal, the 5-4 power play not getting burned and giving up any shorthanded chances, and Ascroft plays like a wall like he has been over recent times. So will the 5-4 power play work? Calgary allows 3.71 goals a game, so I say yes, the sleepover line gets at least one goal, and the Sharks win 4-2. To be honest with you guys, I really like this 5-4 power play because there has been a couple of times where we have seen Orlov and whoever's playing defense turn it over and it turns into a chance down the other way. So getting all offense out there, something I really like. Let me know how you guys feel. Now I want to know how you guys are feeling. Who scores first tonight? Is it Celebrity, Smith, Toffoli, or Stenberg? Put it down below in the comments. Like I said, I'll see all you guys in the live stream tonight. We'll be doing a watch long for this. And if you enjoyed, go down below, hit that subscribe button, and put those notifications on so you know when we go live tonight. And as always, I'm your host, KC. Keep your stick on the ice.