Smitty!!!!

Former San Jose Shark Mark Smith (#16) making music


So the Sharks choked, even though I found a way to root for Torrey Mitchell tonight, with his 8:44 seconds of ice time. I do like Torrey, I know he's a bit off and you cannot expect him to be a huge impact player at this point.

At the end of the game, as part of the postgame Comcast show, one of the talking heads is former Shark Mark Smith. SMITTY!!!!! He's one I know from my interviewing days, a nice guy, fun guy. Yeah he was a 4th line type, but he had the heart of a lion.

Which was sorely lacking from the Sharks' highest paid players.

(Back to Smitty—when did he get so blasted cute??? Maybe it's his longer hair ... ah there I go again, fanwank girl!)

Think about this: what is the common denominator through the Sharks' history of playoff futility?

Patrick Marleau.

One player does not a team make, and it's far easier to blame the coach.  I do not believe Todd McLellan is the problem here. He's the third head coach during Marleau's tenure as a Shark (Darryl Sutter, Ron Wilson and now McLellan). It's not all on Marleau, but perhaps it's time to consider a change... he does have a no-trade clause, and it's probably a moot point. I doubt he'd waive his NTC.

It's getting real old apologizing for Marleau playing hurt at the end of the year.

A couple of shots of Doug Wilson at the end of the game said it all: WTF do I have to do?? I have quality veterans, guys who have won it all (Dan Boyle, the only Shark to show up every night giving 110%, no doubt the Sharks' playoff MVP, but he can't do it all!), and young skilled players with lots of playoff experience.

I told my boss that the Presidents' Cup was something the Sharks didn't need. It's bad luck, and it might have done this team good resting its big guys (I know, Marleau missed games at the end, but maybe he should have taken himself out earlier for more healing time).

"Our character was questioned tonight." –Sharks head coach Todd McLellan.