Re:Milan Michalek needs to work on consistency?

"San Jose sophomore Milan Michalek has 14 points in his last nine contests. He also began the season with 23 points in his first 21 games. The 22-year-old just needs to work on his consistency and he will become a solid 80-to-85 point player. He put up 23 points in 42 games in between those two runs…"

Michalek's two "hot" streaks noted above coincide with him being on Thornton's line. I think he would be at 80-85 points this year if he had stayed on the first line for the entire season. Thoughts on if Milan can get to that point total without Joe?

Also, I have Michalek on my fantasy team this year - it's a points only keeper league with salary cap - he won't be one of my three forward keepers (Sedin, Sedin, Zetterberg) but i'm thinking of drafting him very early if he's still around given his very cheap salary. Thoughts on the chances of him sticking on that first line for the entire season next year?

He'll do it without Big Joe. Just give him a couple of years.

His first hot streak was when Thornton/Cheechoo/Bell were failing. That experiment lasted a good 15 games. While those three failed, Michalek was leading the team in scoring playing with Marleau and Bernier. So he has already been doing this without Thornton. He died in the middle of the season because he lost his groove. Consistency! He needs it and he'll be great when he gets it.

And he lost his groove when he got injured(he had two games beforehand where he was scoreless as well, but still, he'd been on a tear).

This kid is scared of physical contact. Each time he gets hurt, he gets flashbacks of his big injury previously in his career, and it still shakes him up. He shies away from scoring chances if it means he'd get hit. Recently, he has been tearing up from gained confidence and the supreme passing of Joe and the rest of the focus on Cheech.

Sooner or later he'll keep confidence in himself to take to the corners harder, and go for scoring chances while throwing his body out there to get hit. Give him a year or two. If he stays healthy next year, he'll be set, knowing he can stay healthy a whole year. If he isn't, it'll be the same until that happens.

Like Dobber said his first hot streak he wasn't playing with Thornton at all. The whole team slumped mid-season, I have said here before it's Ron Wilson's fault for ****ing with the lines so much. In the middle of the season nobody was scoring consistently except Joe & Marleau. With everyone getting shuffled around so much none of the young guys were consistent.

I think he gets a bad rap about shying away from contact. He may avoid it on offense but I do see him making some good defensive plays so I think he'll get over this.

You can tell from some of his sick, highlight reel goals that he is an awesome talent. I think he's the real deal. Given name recognition I wouldn't protect him over Sedin/Sedin/Zetts because he'd definitely go lower in a draft but I think his totals could compare to theirs next season.

And to answer your question about the chances of him sticking on that first line all next season - I'd say slim to none unless the Sharks bow out early of the playoffs this year and RW gets canned.

Post edited by: hammer2003, at: 2007/03/29 17:44

Update - his goal yesterday he was parked right at the net and stood cool and delivered. He took some contact on the way to the net on a couple other plays too and kept going. Hopefully he is getting over his fear of contact in time for the playoffs!

I really hope so. I think we all saw what happened when Milan went down last post-season. The secondary scoring died. With Milan at or near 100% effective, I think the Sharks stand a good chance this year.

Now all I have to hope for is that if San Jose ends up facing Anaheim, that Pronger won't pull a hissyfit(like he did in the St. Louis days) and headhunt.