After a few days of reliving that horrible loss in Game 7 of the Sharks-Kings series I think it's time start the post mortem autopsy of this team.
In the last couple of days news had started to trickle out about the various injuries that had occurred while the series wore on. Some injuries included center-man Logan Couture's wrist not fully healing from his wrist surgery that occurred during the olympic break1. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic suffering from both lower-body and upper-body injuries presumably being a leg\knee injury plus a head injury2. Lastly, Raffi Torres returning to action still suffering from soreness due to his ACL injury he sustained in the preseason3. I suspect that in the coming days we will see official updates from the Sharks staff, with my guess being that Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski all had been playing through injuries as well. Not to say that the injuries are a viable excuse for this season's epic melt-down, it does help explain the quick exit a little better.
The philosophies central to the Shark's style of play require them to have possession of the puck, quickly attack through the neutral zone and create a strong forecheck that generates a) chances on net b) turnovers in the opposing team's offensive zone. With each center-man fighting through apparent injuries it was hard to win key faceoffs and start with possession of the puck (as seen in game 3 and on). I conjecture that sometime in this series Joe Pavelski sustained an injury that prevented him from fully executing his responsibilities as a center-man, thus leaving Todd Mclellan no choice but to keep flipping him back and forth on lines.
In another bit of news, the General Manager of the Sharks, Doug Wilson reiterated his belief in the current coaching staff and will recommend to the owner that they all be kept on4. With his comments during the locker-room clear out day, GM Doug Wilson quieted the rumors of a potential head coaching change. It had been suspected that teams including the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks had been keeping tabs on the situation in San Jose, possibly looking for a potential replacement for their respected coaching positions5.In all the articles I had previously mentioned however, one particular message was quite evident it's time for changes in San Jose.
During the next few posts, I will be giving my view on how best to shape the roster with free agent acquisitions and potential trades for the upcoming season. Overall, I will be explaining and investigating ways to improve the forward, defence, goaltending, powerplay and penalty kill situations. In addition, some additional posts will be dedicated to the NHL draft (Specifically Shark's picks) and current prospects in the Shark's development system.
It seems like the off-season always comes too quickly, but this year's offseason feels like a change is in the air.
1 Ryan Dadoun via ProHockeyTalk
2 Kevin Kurz via CSN Bay Area
3 see above
4 Jason Brough via Mark Purdy via ProHockeyTalk
5 Kevin Kurz via CSN Bay Area
No comments:
Post a Comment