Friday, May 23, 2014

Goodbyes

Well, as you may or may not have heard we have some news coming out of San Jose within the last week. The San Jose Sharks organization have opted to not resign pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Dan Boyle, who was rumored to have turned down a one year extension. In addition, Martin Havlat was notified that he will not be returning to the Sharks for the 2014-2015 with one year still remaining on his contract he signed in Minnesota. The last piece of news which came as a little bit of a surprise, Brent Burns will be moved back to right defense (presumably due to Boyle's departure).

More along the speculation front, it is assumed that Martin Havlat will be bought out with one of the two compliance buyouts the Sharks obtained during the new NHL collective bargaining agreement ratified last year. A "compliance buyout" is simply "buying" the remaining years and money owed to a player without penalty to the cap payroll with the intent to release the player from team control, however the player is still payed the real money owed by the team. Otherwise the only other option available to the Sharks organization is to trade Havlat, and it is rumored that any prospective team wishing to obtain him would want the Sharks to take back part of his remaining salary.

Moving back to Dan Boyle, it is truly sad to see him let go by the Sharks. A player that always had the desire to win, was so fun to watch his puck movement and skating every time he stepped on to the ice. When Rob Blake retired it seemed that the logical next captain of the team would have been Boyle, who I argue would have been a more vocal leader in the dressing room. Alas, even without the "C" pinned to his chest Dan Boyle helped to form a formidable defense in front of the goaltending. Without Dan Boyle the Sharks string of consecutive playoff appearances may have ended. From the bottom of my heart I wish Dan all the best in his future endeavors.

In further news, both Todd Mclellan (Head Coach) and Doug Wilson (General Manager) have been actively engaging in talks with the media about the future of the team. If you read between the lines of what they have been saying it looks as though Joe Thornton maybe stripped of his captaincy and or traded in the off-season. I have to believe that Patrick Marleau will also be moved, if in fact Joe Thornton is traded away. Something that Wilson said during his interviews that seems to be resonating in the media was his statement of moving a step-backwards to go a step-forwards. When I heard his new philosophy on the team's future I immediately thought that playoffs might not come to San Jose in the 14-15 season.

Of the events that have taken place so far my opinion is this, San Jose will not be a playoff team if both Marleau and Thornton are traded away period. Being a huge fan of Patty and Jumbo I'd hate to see them in any other jersey but our own, but I can understand why a change maybe needed. Next post I will give some thoughts on potential returns for these players.

Links To some of the news from the week.

Doug Wilson call to the media

Dan Boyle call to the media

Yahoo! Sports talk live interview with Doug Wilson                  

    

No comments:

Post a Comment