Two days removed from a disappointing end to the most promising season yet we finally hear from management. Doug Wilson says "“The emotions are raging right now, the frustration is overwhelming. The feelings of disappointment should run deep. We owe an apology to our fans and our owners. They deserve better. This ownership group has always given us what we needed.” Let me say I think that is an understatement.
After promises all year that this year would be different we find ourselves in the exact same spot as we did roughly 12 months ago. Changes were promised after last year, and changes are what we got. We fired what everyone thought was the problem in Ron Wilson, while I still think it was the right move I now find myself questioning if our failures really were his fault. We got rid of Matt Carle who did not meet expectations, and replaced him with Dan Boyle, we signed Rob Blake, and were forced to trade away one of our most mentally tough players in Craig Rivet due to salary cap issues. We brought in a new coach from a successful system who brought along successful assistants. All that was supposed to change the culture. And for a while there it did look like we had changed this team from a good regular season team who disappeared in the playoffs to a great regular season team ready to contend with the big boys. And even in the middle of the season when things started going south we tried to jumpstart the team by trading one of our most promising prospects in Nick Bonino, who proved his mental toughness to me in the final minute of the NCAA championchip game and in the Beanpot Tournament, for Travis Moen, a gritty defensive specialist who helped put Anaheim over the top two years ago. While I still like Moen, and hope we re-sign him this off season, I have a feeling this trade will come to haunt us down the line. We even mined the depths of NHL retirees and brought Claude Lemieux back after a 5 and a half year absence from the NHL.
Doug Wilson has promised changes, but he did that last year and see what we got? I hope there will be drastic changes. As much as I hate what I am about to type, Joe Thornton has got to go. He focuses too much on trying to make pretty passes to score pretty goals. That is fine in the regular season, but that type of hockey just doesn't work in the post season, you dont win Stanley Cups on pretty goals. There is a reason players like Claude Lemieux have average regular season, but are among the top performers in the playoffs. They know where to find that intensity, how to fight for position and they get in there and score those dirty goals. Pretty goals win you a presidents cup, dirty goals win you a Stanley Cup. That's the bottom line and the Sharks just dont have that 3rd or 4th line player that is going to go get in the goalies face, cause havoc in front of the net and pot a few dirty goals in the process. Players like Holmstrom, Lemieux and Anaheims 3rd line from 2007 are the players you need to win a cup.
Back to Joe for a second, he tried to force pretty plays all series long and it never worked. Joe is a very large body, and he has excellent hands, when the playoffs roll around he needs to get off the half boards and in front of the net. Block the goalies view, make a defender focus on you parked in front of the net and when the shot is released, dont open up and give the goalie a view of the puck. Sure it is much easier said than done, but if Joe were determined to do these things, he would have. Not only does Joe need to do this to score goals, but with that A on his chest, he needs to do it to lead, so guys like Ryane Clowe see what needs to be done to get wins in the playoffs. Ryane Clowe was absent much of this series too, he found himself floating along the blue line or in the high slot becuase thats what he saw from the veterans. Clowe's hands are entirely too good for him to be floating 25+ feet from the net, he needs to be in the crease, throwing elbows, fighting for position, blocking the goalies view and getting his blade on the ice ready to collect a rebound and put it right back in the net. That is the formula that led to 53 wins and a presidents cup, and we abandoned it in the playoffs. Yes we got a lot of shots, but what good are shots if there is no one in the crease to collect the rebound and score that dirty goal?
Now I dont think we need to blow up the team and start all over from scratch, we have good pieces, Boyle is one of the best defensemen in the game, and our second line is full of promising young players. If I were Doug Wilson I would trade Joe, for prospects and picks along with a player ready to hit the ice next year. We need to resign both Rob Blake and Jeremy Roenick, Patty should stay but be stripped of his C, which should be given to JR. JR has the fire, that intensity and the drive to do whatever it takes, and that is what you want from your captain and with him missing a good deal of time this year he has the legs to play one more season. I also think we should stop trading away our draft picks for rental players each and every year. First its Bill Guerin, then Brian Campbell and now Travis Moen, we know how all of these worked out and if we could do those deals over again I dont think we would make a single one of them. This is all just a start but it moves us in the right direction and with some careful, well thought out manuvering we can retool our entire team and be ready to compete next year and to get rid of that overwhelming frustration.
In addition news Captain Patrick Marleau revealed he was playing with a sprained MCL and Joe Pavelski is off to help the USA in the Hockey World Championships.
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Where are we right now in terms of our player development? Have the Sharks stripped their cupboard bare to get the "missing pieces?"
ReplyDeleteLogan Couture looks pretty promising. I think Jamie McGinn is an everyday player, Derek Joslin could be a decent 4th-6th defenseman by the end of next year. We had 2 players on the NCAA teams in the Championship game, those guys are probably still a year away from being NHL ready. We have no goaltending to speak of, I just dont trust Thomas Greiss or Tyson Sexsmith just yet. We need to restock and make a run in the Calder Cup playoffs to get those guys some experience in post season hockey, I know it isnt the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but its something. Other than that I dont know much about our prospects. Although, expect to see Brad Staubitz on opening day next year.
ReplyDeleteThe other big question in my mind is can we find 30-40 total goals from the 3rd and 4th lines next year?
ReplyDelete"He made sure everyone knew that this was going to be a tough summer, and that it should be," defenseman Rob Blake said. "It wasn't one of those meetings where he pointed fingers or blamed some guys and not others. He made sure everyone knew this was everyone's problem, and that nobody would be able to hide from it, or that they should think they could. This is something we have to live with, and what he wants us all to live with."
ReplyDeleteHere's an interesting story from The San Jose Mercury News as well: http://www.mercurynews.com/columns/ci_12259707
I love this McClellan quote: "They are the leaders," McLellan said. "One wears the 'C' and one wears the 'A.' They're the focal point of our organization. Frankly, the team hasn't succeeded with them driving the bus. The questions grow every year that you don't succeed."
The fact that Thornton refuses accountability disturbs me just as much as it does Ann Killion. What kind of leader is that? Why wear an A then? If Joe and Patty are back next year then neither one of them should be wearing any extra letters on their chests. Only supermen get letters and these two are proving to be more and more like Clark Kent every year.
Joe refuses to step up to the plate even after all of this. Only one thing to do, neither him nor Patty should be wearing a C or an A next year, it should be Boyle, Pavs and (I really hope this happens) Moen. That's two guys who have had success and one prospect of the Sharks who has had success at other levels and can be the face of our youngsters who turn this culture of playoff failure around.
ReplyDeleteI agree that if the roster were to stay the same Boyle deserves the 'C'. Interesting that McClellan didn't change that around when he first got there.
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad to hear Wilson confirm that Todd's job is safe. I like his coaching style and his system in the regular season is a good one.
McClellan didn't do anything to merit being fired. I like his staff, I like their system and I like their style. McClellan didnt change it becuase he was convinced at his dinner with Patty that he could get it done.
ReplyDeleteHe obviously found that to be wrong. I still feel that the 'C' should have gone to another Shark from the start. Dinner or no dinner. The culture needed to be changed as much as the staff and naming another captain may well have been a catalyst to that. That's in the past and done, though.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to watch this unfold as the summer progresses.