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Should the Sharks move Patrick Marleau back to center?
St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock practically begged San Jose Sharks coach Peter DeBoer to not move Patrick Marleau to third-line center for Game 2 of the Western Conference Final.
“We don't like that match. He should stay on the second-line (at wing),” Hitchcock said. “We don't like that one. I'm not telling Pete how to coach. Nor am I telling him how to referee. Just telling him we don't like that match.”
Is this is gamesmanship by Hitchcock or brutal honesty?
The Blues beat the Sharks with their superior scoring depth in Game 1, and Marleau playing wing on the second-line – a tactical move that worked well in the second-round of the playoffs.
Could shifting Marleau to third-line center be a positive change for the Sharks to deal with Jori Lehtera, Alexander Steen and Paul Stastny of the Blues down the middle?
Currently, DeBoer isn’t buying that notion.
“Patrick Marleau in our lineup makes us a better team, whether he's at wing or center. Those are things that we discuss as a coaching staff on a daily basis. Just like line combinations,” DeBoer said. “He's a world-class player. He's in our lineup. Right now he's on wing. We think that's the best place for him to help us right now.”
In the first-round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings, a team built on physicality and forward depth like the Blues, the Sharks used Marleau at center, where he had played most of the second half of the season. Against the Kings he notched four points in his team’s five-game victory. It was believed LA couldn’t deal with his speed further down the lineup.
Said a scout after the first-round, “When you put a guy like Patrick Marleau on your third line, it kind of is a testament to your depth as a team at the forward position. Patty can skate and he’s still strong on his skates. He’s a little bit like (Joe) Thornton. He has pretty good IQ and can play in all situations.”
But according to War on Ice, Marleau struggled 5-on-5 as the team’s third-line center against LA. He didn’t notch a point and held a 40.5 CF% and was a minus-6.8 CF% Rel. Most of his damage was done on the power play.
In the second-round against the Nashville Predators, DeBoer switched Marleau to playing wing on Logan Couture’s line for Game 5.
Marleau’s 5-on-5 numbers improved dramatically with a 54.2 CF% and plus-13.4 CF% Rel. He also had two 5-on-5 goals those last two games as San Jose won two of the three to close out Nashville. In Games 1-4, Marleau held a 46.8 CF% and a minus-7.0 CF% Rel. He scored just one 5-on-5 goal as the Sharks split those games.
In Game 1 against the Blues, Marleau and Couture were held without a point. In a game where the Sharks won the 5-on-5 possession battle, Marleau held a 5-on-5 CF% of 42.1 and a minus-14.6 CF% Rel
Beyond advanced stats, CSN Bay Area notes the overall team results of wins and losses with Marleau at center seem to be more favorable.
It would seem that the biggest advantage the Blues have in this series is that they’re simply deeper up front, one through nine. (Chris) Tierney and (Melker) Karlsson, especially, are still inexperienced, and both had their ups and downs in the regular season.
The Sharks found success for much of the second half of the season, as well as the first round and beginning of the second, with Marleau in the middle of the third line. He was there almost exclusively once the calendar flipped to 2016.
From that point on the Sharks went 28-14-4 to finish the regular season at 46-30-6. During that stretch they lost three games in a row just once.
Marleau held a 52.1 CF% 5-on-5 in the New Year, but also had just six points at 5-on-5.
It’s certainly a balancing act DeBoer has to play, but it’s also a luxury. There’s no real wrong decision with how he uses Marleau, who had 25 goals last season, only a degree of how much the choice can help the team make it to the Stanley Cup Final.
“You balance, are you better as a team, and is the individual better? That's the balance,” DeBoer said. “I'm not here to make Patrick Marleau feel good. We're here to win games, and we're going to put him wherever we feel we have to, to win games.”
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
