More Homes Will Hit the Market Soon in San Jose

MJ Kasprzak by Senior Writer Written on May 04, 2008
Wilson_feature
(Page 2 of 3)
  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. 

(0)
...
Share This  
Crop_45x45
or to post this comment

17 Comments

There are no comments yet. Get the conversation started by leaving the first comment

Loading more comments...
posted just now
  • Loading...
  • Nobody has liked this comment yet
Cancel

This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete

858
reads

17
comments

written on May 04, 2008 Sports

Top Stories from NHL.com

NHL on B/R | Official Partners

The best Sharks newsletter on the web

Subscribe Now

We will never share your email address


CBS Sports Official Partner
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Getty Images.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Getty Images is strictly prohibited.