Playing General Manager

Instead of getting much work done, I’ve been “busy” checking out hockey message boards and mailing lists, and the buzz of course is “what’s wrong with the Sharks?”

In yesterday’s post just after Game 4 in Anaheim, I pondered if Sharks’ captain Patrick Marleau is really the right guy to have as a team captain, as the go-to guy. Yes, in playoff days of old, he rose above the occasion and at times carried the team on his back. But in no way do I believe he’s ever been a leader in the room, as a vocal, get-in-your-face type, or as in the Steve Yzerman quietly inspirational type.

Being an NHL player in the Pacific Division is tough. You spend so much more time on an airplane and not training or resting/rehabbing properly. Sitting in a plane, no matter how nice and cushy the flight, is no way to relax and heal the body. Marleau has been a professional player since the fall of 1997, the year he was drafted. He’s a decent-sized guy (in hockey terms)—not super-tall or super big-boned, but big enough he can deal with some wear-and-tear. And he has, for 12 years this coming fall.

I know he’s no leader. Although I’ve not been around the team since 2003, Marleau has been promoted as the team’s leader, and ultimately the captain. Was it because of his leadership abilities? I think not—it’s all about marketing! “Our captain is a home-grown Shark; he came to us as a 17-year old and look what a wonderful player he’s turned out to be!”

In the locker room after a game, if you wanted a good quote, you went to Vinnie Damphousse. Or Teemu Selanne. Or Mike Ricci. Or Marco Sturm, Scott Hannan or Mark Smith. Heck, you could get better quotes out of the very sarcastic and dry-humored Brad Stuart! All you’d get from Marleau is a few mumbled words talking about how the team failed to do something, or how hard they had worked, but nothing of much substance. I can’t remember him ever saying “I have to do better; I have to make that play.” I know I got that remark out of all of the other guys, especially Hannan, even if he’d played a good game, he always found something to criticize regarding his play.

I was in the room the night Stuart got hammered by Jody Shelley, and though Brad wasn’t yelling or screaming or acting like a baby, his tempered (and highly censored by the media) words said everything. I wasn’t even allowed to use the actual word he used to describe Shelley—Brad called him chickenshit and “a marginal NHL player” several times during the interview. You could tell just how badly Brad was hurt, but we still got more out of him that night than you could ever get out of Marleau. (I know Brad’s no angel; I’m sure he was egging Shelley on during the incident, that’s just how Brad is.)

The title of this entry is “Playing General Manager.” I am not endorsing making Sharks’ GM Doug Wilson the culpable party just yet. I firmly believe the problem is “in the room,” to quote former Sharks GM Dean Lombardi. But Wilson’s idea of “build the Sharks in the model of Ottawa” might be blown up in the offseason. Besides, did the “Ottawa model” get the Sens into the postseason this spring? I think not … so what would I do? I know blowing the team up isn’t feasible; there are so many guys with no-trade clauses that Doug Wilson is stuck with plenty of albatrosses. But NTC’s can be waived by the player … so perhaps it’s time to have a talk with some players.

I confess to not paying much attention to what’s in SJ’s pipeline in Woostah, who is ready to move up, who isn’t. 

SJ’s NTC guys are as follows: defenseman Dan Boyle, centers Marleau and Joe Thornton, right wing Mike Grier, and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.

Dan Boyle is untouchable at this time, but the Sharks do need help on defense. As a unit they are simply too small, with the exception of Douglas Murray, who has picked himself off a scrap heap and worked on his skating and has turned into a decent defenseman. I’d go looking for some bigger, meaner defensemen. Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf is having entirely too much fun running over Marc Edouard Vlasic … Vlasic being one of his “favorite” defensemen to play against as Getzlaf nearly always beats him.

I believe Grier’s contract is up this summer. Adios, Mike. 

What do the Sharks have in the goaltender pipeline? A few short years ago SJ was overflowing with goaltenders and goaltender prospects. Where have those guys gone?  I think there is no option but to keep Nabby unless something better comes along. Martin Brodeur isn’t available, nor is a younger clone of him.

We are left with Thornton and Marleau—the two highest-paid players on the team. Just because a guy is the highest-paid player on the team doesn’t mean he’s got to be the leader—unless you package him to the public that he is the leader! One’s got to be moved in the offseason, and I’d prefer to keep JT.  Management, learn a lesson here—if you are going to promote a guy as the team leader, make sure he’s a leader!  Don’t plan a marketing campaign based on “homegrown leader” unless the guy really is making an impact in the room.

I regret never asking “off the record” if Marleau was really a team leader. I came close to asking that once of Selanne, asking who the leaders were that the young guys could turn to. Selanne mentioned Vinnie, Ricci, Hannan (who is a mere 8 months older than Marleau, chosen 23rd in the 1997 NHL draft), and even himself as always being available for the young guys to talk to, to ask advice, to be a sounding board.

Hannan has a domineering (even bossy) personality, and will speak his mind, and will accept blame for a bad situation in a game, even if his actions weren’t that egregious.  Damphousse was the quiet observant type, and when he spoke, you listened, because what he had to say was of significance, even if he used only a few words. Same with Ricci, though Ricci used more words. Selanne was always positive, without fail.

(I wonder what Ricci would say about the current situation … hmmm…)

Keep Ryane Clowe, Torrey Mitchell, Marcel Goc, Tomas Plihal, Milan Michalek, and Joe Pavelski. Let Jeremey Roenick stick around another year if he wants to, but carefully manage his ice time. As much as it pains me to say this, Jonathan Cheechoo and Devin Setoguchi need to be trade bait on draft day, as does Marleau.

On defense, choose between Christian Ehrhoff or Vlasic and move one. Acquire or promote a couple of big, mean decent-skating defensemen. By big and mean I don’t mean guys who spend lots of time in the penalty box—I mean guys who are like skating into a wall as you try to get around them—a good positional defenseman with mobility. If Rob Blake is up for another year, fine, but at a huge pay cut and manage his ice time too.

The Sharks need an ice hog like Hannan was. The team sorely lacks a durable, mean ice hog. Nevermind poor Scottie has had any scoring ability coached right out of him—and that he plays on a crappy team with an inept head coach. Imagine a duo of Boyle and Hannan—the living embodiment of what Hannan and Brad Stuart were supposed to be. Hannan the positional guy patrolling the blue line, and Boyle the sniper who can show up anywhere. I doubt Hannan would waive his NTC to come back here, and I also doubt Doug Wilson finds Scott's $4+million salary acceptable.

Maybe a selling point for Marleau might be a nice trade to an Eastern Conference team where the travel isn’t as terrible. Perhaps that could extend his career …

At any rate, I’m sick to death of Sharks’ apologists making the same excuse for Marleau that they do every spring—“He’s playing hurt.” Guess what, every other player on the ice is a walking bag of black-and-blue bruised flesh.

 

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.

Who wants it more?

Teemu Selanne (one of my favorite hockey players to interview—ever!), Jean-Sébastien "Jiggy" Giguère and Ryan Getzlaf in the spring of 2008.

You might ask why I have a photo of three Anaheim Duck players up.

Of the three, I have met and spoken to only one—Teemu Selanne. It was my pleasure to interview Teemu several times while he was a San Jose Shark. We'd talk about auto racing; he is an avid rally racer in the offseason and loves following motorsports of all types, and of course he's a passionate car collector. I have three favorite all-time players to interview and Teemu is one of them.

Anyway, who wanted it worse tonight—Anaheim or San Jose? I guess the role of underdog is something Anaheim wears well. Face it, they were on fire at the end of the season, and the Sharks seem to have gone on a misdirected autopilot. Sharks are the ones who are in a do-or-die situation, certainly not Anaheim. 

Personally, I felt tonight's game was boring. Yes, I was watching on television and I am sure it was much more compelling in person. I used to care deeply about getting to attend playoff games, but my heart just hasn't been in it since 2007.

Anaheim's first goal was an honest goal that Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabakov could not have stopped. But the second goal, the one by Ryan Getzlaf, was something that he should have not only stopped, but one of the two defensemen on Ryan should have taken a penalty (trip, hook, slash, whatever) to take Ryan's shot away. Instead, it looked as if Rob Blake and Marc Eduard Vlasic were gobsmacked and ended up skating bystanders.

I admit I can't get into anything the Sharks do because I simply do not have a player who piques my interest. Call me a fanwank girl if you like, that's what I am. If Torrey Mitchell makes it back, I might perk up a bit. But I am really bothered by Sharks' management and the greed they show during this economic downturn we are suffering through. This season they raised the deposit for season tickets price to $350 per seat—and that guarantees you playoff tickets now (what they don't tell you is those guaranteed seats are upper bowl seats!). Hasn't the ownership group been reading about job losses and unemployment and people being taxed to death?

Oh wait, none of that matters if you are a millionaire like everyone in the Sharks' ownership group is. They feel nothing, no pain in the wallet. Do they pay taxes too? Do they feel anything when they hand their money over to the government for ever-expanding programs that fail to help people be self-sufficient?

Probably not. No doubt most gave significant money to the DNC. NOW they want to price the regular fan right out of attending a game. I cannot deal with the upper bowl stairs (too steep, too small and someday I am going to tumble right down them if I force myself up there!) and lower bowl tickets are prohibitively expensive.

I think in my evil little mind I know that Sharks management is going to raise ticket prices this summer anyway, no matter how far the Sharks go into the playoffs, even if they went all of the way. I think the satisfaction of having Sharks' management lose out on all of the potential income by NOT making it through the first round of playoffs might be the ultimate karma for their greed. And ... San Jose does not have a first-round draft pick again this June. That's going to be a big problem very fast ...

Of course my happiness will be short-lived because the ticket price increase will happen anyway, and I'l still be priced out of going to any game. One game this season—that's all I've gone to! Contrast that with 30+ games in 2001–2003, when I was writing for Hockeycorp, or even while I was still attending SJSU, when I'd attended perhaps 20 games and every home playoff game.

There is nothing like a live hockey game. I promise that if you see one live game, you are hooked, and you will be a hockey fan. I hate that Hockeycorp went belly-up, and I hate that I am not employable because of my age and my disability. I miss games, I miss going out, but right now what can I do?

Predictions for this series? Only one—seven games. And the winner of the series will be all beat up.

back to work ... feast or famine

My neurotomies worked well enough that I'm back to working 10-hour days—when I have work. I have two big but well-written projects I'm working on that I really want out there. No, I didn't write them, but I'm editing them. One is a study about something called "green" taxes and the second about attracting students to transportation planning. The green taxes one is quite interesting in that there actually is support for higher taxes on higher-polluting automobiles. 

I've been using light rail to get to work as my back doctor suggested I avoid driving my 5-speed Mustang. I hate to admit it, but I do love the convenience of light rail, and the short three-block walk to work is just enough exercise to get me fully awake and ready to work. AND it's cheap!!!! 

There are only two bad things about light rail: the first is the SJSU students who take over the light rail cars and seats and spread out over two seats, preventing anyone else from sitting down. There is signage at six seats which are supposed to be reserved for the elderly and disabled, but I've not seen one SJSU student give up one of those seats. One day there were a pair of 'em on the seats, with an empty seat between them that contained their backpacks. I told them to move the backpacks, that I was disabled and I was going to sit there. Period. I shouldn't have had to ask.

The second scary thing is my light rail stop is by a city park that the homeless and displaced hang out at—many camp there, sleeping on benches. Thus far I've not been approached, but I sure wouldn't be walking through that park during anything but broad daylight!

I promise to get back on the political agenda. I am simply gobsmacked at the crap that comes out of our president's mouth. This week he made a remark about how his bowling game was par for a Special Olympics game. He apologized, but imagine if George Bush had said it! He'd be dealing with impeachment proceedings right now!

This afternoon: Colorado Avalanche versus Sharks. Avs truly suck and as much as I'd like for them to upset SJ, I just don't see it happening. Darn it.

On a more serious note, four Oakland police officers were shot in the line of duty yesterday; three died and one is clinging to life. Prayers of strength to their families. I did write a post about this tragedy on Trials & Tribulations. Just sad. 

... and they lose yet again

One of my favorite Sharks players, and a damned fun interview, Scott Hannan, now suffering with the Colorado Avalanche.

I chose a photo of Scott, a good BC boy who grew up near Vancouver, in honor of the Canucks' victory over the Sharks tonight.

I believe what is happening is a relapse of Dr. Shark. Dr. Shark is a longstanding tradition in San Jose. It is a cure for a team in a slump or trying to prove something. It tends to happen with a team that the Sharks should be able to beat. The Minnesota Wild were beneficiaries of Dr. Shark and their boring playing style. I'm not quite sure what happened tonight, but on Hockey Night in Canada, defenseman Dan Boyle (who now wears #22) confessed that the team was pretty much asleep.

I do hope Rob Blake's foot isn't too badly hurt. Feet stuff are ... painful. And hard to treat, too.

Back is improving. I've been misbehaving and doing quite a bit of sitting at my desk editing master's theses for SJSU students. The bruising is a little more widespread but I think it's resolving. The facet pain is utterly gone, and I am nearly back at my normal pain medication pattern of use (evening and night pain).