More Homes Will Hit the Market Soon in San Jose

The San Jose Sharks put forth a great effort tonight, but it was too little and most certainly too late.  If it were not for the effort they failed to exhibit in the first two games of this series, this one would not have been necessary.

Dallas definitely proved that they are a better team than Calgary.  The Sharks dominated a couple games in the first round against the Flames, especially game seven when they really needed to.  They were never really able to dominate the Stars in the same way. 

They had a slight edge, however, in five of the six games in all the categories except the scoreboard.  Tonight, they once again had more scoring chances and out-shot Dallas and had the edge in faceoffs for most of the game.

Thus, they appear to have been the better team.  But they lost. 

Brenden Morrow is a 'titan'.  If it were not blasphemy, I would call him a god.  He tipped in the game-winner a few minutes into in the fourth overtime to deal the fatal blow to this Sharks team.

The Sharks have now failed to win more than six games in the playoffs three years in a row now.  They actually regressed by losing two more in the process this year. 

In 2006, a big hit from Raffi Torres to the face of Milan Michalek in Game Three took them off their game, and they failed to advance. 

In 2007, the Sharks were less than 35 seconds away from taking a 3-1 series, but a late goal by Robert Lang when lead took them off their game and they failed to advance again.

This year, they had plenty of those situations and always bounced back.  In Game Three against Calgary, they had both – a vicious hit to the face of Patrick Marleau by Corey Sarich which changed the momentum of a game in which the Sharks blew a 3-0 lead. 

Tonight, a vicious but completely legal hit at the end of the third period by, you guessed it, Brenden Morrow, knocked Milan Michalek out of the game.  The momentum of this game see-sawed more than all the playgrounds in Dallas, but the Sharks never lost their composure.  They even minimized mistakes, something remarkable considering the combination of fatigue and youth on the blue line. 

They did not show a lack of resilience this post-season, but they showed a lack of focus.  They were terrible on special teams.  They had an excessive number of turnovers.  They even showed a lack of work ethic and desire at times.

What the Sharks have is not working.  Changes have to be made and people have to be forced to find new homes.

For starters, Ron Wilson must be fired.  If he fails to motivate these players year in and year out, maybe they need a different voice to respond to. Wilson also seemingly fails to make effective adjustments. 

1. Edmonton out-hit the Sharks even though San Jose was a big team, and no style adjustment took place.  Furthermore, Wilson tried to sit on a one-goal lead through the third period in game three. 
2. Against Detroit, he continued to play puck possession.  This is usually to the Sharks' advantage, but the Red Wings are one of the few teams better at that than the Sharks.  However, San Jose was the biggest team in the league and much younger, and should have worn them down with a grinding style. 
3. This year, they were getting killed by teams' forechecks and yet continued to stubbournly look for the outlet pass that led to turnovers.  San Jose turned the puck over more in virtually every game of both series.
4. The Sharks power play has been great in the regular season but absent in each of the past two post-seasons and no adjustments have been made. It does not take a coaching genius to see the reasons: they fail to move their feet, continue to pass the puck around the perimeter, and do not get traffic in front of goaltenders.  Other teams' penalty killers work hard to get to pucks and pressure their opponents, making stationary targets vulnerable.  The pretty cross-ice feeds do not work in the playoffs because people sacrifice more to block them.  Playoff caliber goalies stop everything they see. 
5. Curtis Brown ended the season hot and is one of our three best penalty-killing forwards, but was rarely dressed during the playoffs and made few appearances on the ice in tonight's quadruple overtime game in which San Jose had lost a forward to injury.  That may be the single least understandable failure of Wilson's.

Here is a change a lot of you will disagree with: Patrick Marleau must be traded before his no-trade clause kicks in this July.  He scored two shorthanded goals in consecutive nights in Dallas and one sparked the team to victory.  So why get rid of him?

1. This team is in need of more passionate leadership.  The quiet leader is not working.  We need look only as far as Brenden Morrow for the prototype.
2. What sends a better message of dissatisfaction than trading away the captain and face of the franchise, and why wouldn't you do that when the franchise is known for playoff failure? 
3. Marleau's value will still be high despite being terrible for most of this season because he did reasonably well on the scoresheet in the playoffs. 
4. The reality is he is -26 in the last 101 Sharks' games dating back to the Detroit series.  He was great back-checking tonight, but I want a guy who plays defense all the time.  I don't want a guy who leaps over Modano's shot in game one, actually becoming a liability because he screens his goaltender.  If he gets in the way of that goal like he is supposed to, we win by one in regulation instead of losing in overtime, and we are still alive.

Brian Campbell will not be worth the money he could get on the open market.  Do not re-sign him. 

1. He was actually pretty good in the Dallas series, but awful against Calgary.  He was not our best defenseman as he was supposed to be this post-season.
2. He is a bit small for the more physical Western Conference.
3. The Sharks have young defensemen who can be used for skating and offense who should continue to develop.  What we need is a veteran back there who can be a stopper and help us hold on to leads.  Rob Blake comes to mind, and will be a heck of a lot cheaper.

This is the end of the major changes that will change the very nature of the team.  There are, however, a few more players who should go, all of whom are defensemen.

1. Alexei Semenov is a waste of a roster space, and I do not know why he was ever in a game.  He is slow, has horrible vision, and cannot handle the puck.  I seriously think I would be better. 
2. Kyle McLaren has been ineffective for three years now.  Two of those three years, when he was particularly ineffective, he was struggling with injuries, so this is not personal.  But if a guy cannot stay healthy, we need to make room for someone else.
3. Maybe Sandis Ozolinsh is too far past his peak.  Ozo played well early in the season, so I wonder if he did something to get in Ron Wilson's doghouse to not get on the ice in a meaningful game since February.  He was the only player on the roster to ever win a Cup and is great at moving the puck, something we needed especially against Calgary...either there was a reason he remained a scratch that I did not see or this is more proof of Wilson's incompetence--or both.

Make these changes now, because I have run out of patience, and within two years Pittsburgh will be so good no one else will be able to win.

Now, it is time to shave my beard. Two rounds too early if you asked me.