EVELETH… There is a crisis going on in the Golden State, or as a journalist put it earlier in the NHL season, “The new State of Hockey”. Well, they aren’t the new State of Hockey, and never will be. Not in my lifetime they won’t. That hasn’t stopped them from getting fairly revved up over our favorite sport though. It appears that only one of their three NHL clubs might make the post season tourney and for at least one of those, they will be flipping out over one thing or another before the playoffs even begin.

The San Jose Sharks are an interesting study. By all accounts they have built an outstanding organization and are a well run machine which has been overseen by former Chicago Blackhawk star defenseman Doug Wilson. They are coached by former Minnesota Wild assistant Todd McLellan. Wilson is considered to be one of the best and brightest GM’s in the league, and ditto for Coach Todd. Both are highly respected. But even the best and brightest can’t get out of their own way sometimes. And I am mostly alluding to Wilson rather then McLellan. Wilson finished a very distinguished playing career with the Sharks back in the early days of the franchise.

When he was with the Hawks he was one of my favorite players. He was mostly great at about every phase of the game and looked excellent while doing so. This guy was as smooth as any of the greats at his position. He completed a respectable career with two half seasons with the fledgling Sharks back in the early nineties. He became the team GM for the 2003-04 season and has held that title ever since. If you want some verification of the quality he has built into the team, only two NHL teams have made the playoffs over the past ten years consecutively, one is the Detroit Red Wings, and the other is the Sharks, getting in the last 10 seasons.  

The teams on-ice struggles this year have also included some public off-ice personnel skirmishes. The main event has featured Wilson and former Captain Joe Thornton. Jumbo Joe is still with the club but was forced to cough up the ‘C’ on his sweater over the last off-season. But let me frame this for you; in their 10 year playoff run the team has bowed out in the 1st round 3 times. They have bowed out in the 2nd round 4 times and have made it to, but lost in the Conference Finals 3 times. They have never made a Stanley Cup final. At any rate, you would think the club and their fans would be pretty proud of this right? Wwwroh, wwwroh! Wrong! Wrongy wrongerson!

Think about it! The Sharks (no fan of them am I) have been one of the top 5 or 6 teams in the show over the last ten years! But that is not making the grade for Wilson one bit. I get that, winning the best trophy on the planet is THE measuring stick. But with the Sharks coming oh so close in the recent past, but not getting the gold, it has been interesting to observe Wilson in the aftermath of some of their epic losses. In his 1st year as GM they lost to Calgary in the WCF, but this wasn’t the team that Wilson had built. When they made it back and were dropped by the Hawks in the 2010 WCF, this team had his finger dabs all over it. And to me, this is where he started to lose it a bit. In post series interviews he promised the media and assembled masses that there would be “answers and accountability”. The next 3 weeks were spent on a macabre public display of self flagellation and humiliation. I think at one point he may have put himself in stocks outside of the arena so fans could come by and let him have it. It was bizarre. Only 3 other clubs made it as far as they did.

They made the WCF again the next year, only to lose out to a pretty good Vancouver team. There was only more of the same angst from Wilson post playoff. Then a bow out in the 1st round, then the 2nd round and last years debacle against the eventual Champion LA Kings. The grinder last year was that they had a 3 games to none lead on the Kings and could not close them out. That seemed to be the breaking point for Wilson. Well, perhaps it took 3 games for the Kings to wake up. Wilson promised sweeping changes and this is where it got interesting.
After another month of flogging himself, the “changes” that got leaked to the media somehow were that winger Brent Burns was going to be moved back to defense and that he was going to trade Thornton and long time star Patrick Marleau. There was just one major problem; both have no trade clauses in their contracts and both balked when the idea was broached with them. Then word got out that Thornton would be stripped of the Captaincy. I’m observing these going’s on and thinking, is this really going to make your club better Dougie? Or are you just flat out of answers and off the deep end with despair?

TO BE CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK…..

THIS ST. PATRICKS DAY PAST marked the 60th anniversary of the famous Rocket Richard Riot. It was on March 17th, 1955 that this occurred and the news tore through  professional hockey like nothing before. Maurice “Rocket” Richard  just might be the most famous Montreal Canadien ever and that he represented the hopes and dreams of Quebecois all across the province would be a vast understatement because the backdrop of this incident was the smoldering, underlying feeling of Quebecois everywhere that they were treated like 2nd class citizens all across the rest of Canada.

The Rocket represented a threat and a challenge to that notion and gave courage to Quebecer’s that they were as good as any other Canadian citizen anywhere. After fans felt Richard was unfairly suspended for a recent incident (for the rest of that season) they took it to the streets. Only Richard could prevail and restore calm with a radio address. I encourage you to Google up “The Richard Riot” wiki, it is one of the most fascinating hockey stories you will ever read…. PEACE

Marc Elliott is a sports opinion writer who splits his time between his hometown in Illinois and Minnesota