Shark fans enjoy cheering, and they're very good at it, but they absolutely love to boo. They've been known to boo former players, current players, power plays, opposing teams, patriotic songs, and references to opposing teams in patriotic songs. They boo Brian Campbell for bolting during the offseason. They boo Chris Pronger with more bloodlust than Oiler fans. They boo the word "stars" in the Star-Spangled Banner when Dallas comes to town. They've booed the Canadian national anthem, forcing politicians to step in and calm the waters. They boo Alexei Semenov's mere existence, for no apparent reason. Sometimes you think they're booing, when they're actually showing support for players like Jonathan Cheechoo, Devin Setoguchi and Brian Boucher.
Ron Wilson returns to San Jose tonight as the Toronto Maple Leafs square off against the Sharks. I'm sure there are a handful of fans who will boo the former coach, and they are morons. I can't imagine why anyone would feel inclined to boo a man who helped the club accumulate 187 regular season wins over the last four seasons. The Sharks clinched two Pacific Division titles under Wilson's watch, and he helped build a foundation that has led directly to San Jose's current regular season success.
Youngsters like Milan Michalek, Ryane Clowe, Joe Pavelski, Christian Ehrhoff, Douglas Murray, Torrey Mitchell, Devin Setoguchi and Marc-Edouard Vlasic developed into bona fide NHL players during Wilson's tenure. He didn't always push the right buttons or employ the right methods, but coaching isn't an exact science, and despite their shortcomings Wilson pushed the Sharks to their most successful stretch in franchise history.
If you want to boo Wilson for failing to win a Stanley Cup, you might as well unleash the boo birds on Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau each time they take the ice. Wilson might have been outcoached during the Sharks' last three second-round playoff exits, but at least he didn't disappear altogether. He still resembled himself behind the bench, which is more than you can say for some of his players on the ice.
Wilson has said his return to San Jose won't hold any sentimental value. I'm not buying it. You have to figure, at some point, Wilson will glance over to the opposing bench and wonder what might have been if he'd had another year, another kick at the can. The Sharks are the most dominant team in the league, riding the fast track to a record-setting season. The Leafs are a decent club, but they don't have Stanley Cup aspirations. One half of the fan base is clamoring for victories, while the other half wants to tank the season and get in on the Tavares-Hedman sweepstakes. Not exactly the ideal setting for a future Hall of Fame coach seeking his first Cup victory.
There's no doubt the Sharks will win tonight, and nobody would be surprised to see a lopsided blowout, with the Leafs coming off a 3-1 victory over Los Angeles last night. At some point Wilson will be displayed on the big screen, and I sincerely hope Shark fans pay him the respect he deserves, with a loud and long standing ovation. Some will boo, undoubtedly, but pay them no mind. They're just morons.
[email protected]
Some call it a different voice. Some call it a different system. Here's an article from a couple weeks ago explaining exactly why the Sharks are having success they couldn't achieve with Ron Wilson behind the bench. I know, I know, timely as a broken watch. Enjoy.
The Biggest Difference Between Todd McLellan and Ron Wilson
As a teenager, I had a number of incidents that diminished my parents’ trust in me. Missed curfew by a couple hours and stumbled through the door reeking of Tommy Girl? Gone. Skipped class only to have my parents catch me in an adjacent restaurant parking lot as they waited in the Great Canadian Bagel drive-thru? Kaput. Blamed a less-than-favorable report card on a mix of nearsightedness and borderline autism? Adios.
After each of these incidents my parents told me it would take some time to regain their trust. They said I would need to shape up and fly straight for a few months until I demonstrated I was responsible enough to restore privileges that had been taken away, like driving the car, staying out past midnight, and eating nutritious food. I suppose I wasn’t much different than the San Jose Sharks, who have spent each of the last three regular seasons building the trust of fans, coaches and management only to have it destroyed by a disappointing postseason.
There are a number of differences between current Sharks coach Todd McLellan and his predecessor, Ron Wilson. Wilson shifted the lines when the team performed poorly, occasionally juggling his lineup long before the first period had come to an end. McLellan shifts the lines when the team performs well, often realigning his players in the third period to maximize efficiency and protect a lead. Wilson never found fault in himself, opting to lay the blame on players, referees, fans, the Zamboni driver, and anyone else with fewer than 500 career NHL coaching victories. McLellan has pointed out his errors after a couple of games, claiming he didn’t prepare the team well enough or made a tactical mistake behind the bench.
While they differ in several areas, trust is the biggest difference between the two coaches. By the end of his tenure in San Jose, Wilson didn’t trust his players at all, particularly his forwards. He admitted as much in an interview with Elliotte Friedman earlier this season on Hockey Night in Canada. When asked about the George McPhee quote, “If I could do it over again in Washington, I would have kept Ron Wilson and traded a few of the players,” Wilson responded, “I think Doug Wilson might say the same thing too… at some point.”
Wilson’s lack of trust in his forwards resulted in a shift to more conservative play during each of his last three seasons, relying on strong goaltending and a shutdown defensive system rather than scoring punch.
Goals Per Game
2005-06 – 3.23, 7th
2006-07 – 3.12, 6th
2007-08 – 2.63, 19th
Goals Against Per Game
2005-06 – 2.87, 11th
2006-07 – 2.40, 5th
2007-08 – 2.28, 3rd
Now, why would San Jose opt for a smothering defensive system when they had offensive dynamos like Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek up front? Wilson claimed he was trying to stay ahead of the curve, but in reality he didn’t trust his big guns to deliver when it mattered most, so he installed a system that wouldn’t rely as heavily on goal scoring. Can you really blame him? San Jose’s forwards are notorious for going cold when the playoffs heat up, so it was only natural for him to attempt a different route to the Cup. Taking a look at Wilson’s current team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, we find that he’s abandoned his defensive approach.
Toronto Maple Leafs
3.05 GPG, 7th
3.37 GAPG, 28th
Why wouldn’t he instill the same defensive system he employed in San Jose? Personnel might have something to do with it, but mainly it’s because Wilson trusts his players again. They haven’t let him down in May, leaving him struggling for answers and facing lengthy exams just to retain his job. Of course, Wilson isn’t without fault. It was his job to get the Sharks over the hump and he didn’t do it, despite a wide variety of tactics and gamelans. But he isn’t the only one at fault for the Sharks’ underachieving ways.
Todd McLellan stepped into the coaching job this summer and he’s produced strong results during his short time in San Jose. The team is strong up front, icing three lines that can score and control the play, and he trusts his players enough to let them wheel and deal, taking risks while playing an up-tempo style. McLellan doesn’t have a reason not to trust his players. He hasn’t spent a summer searching for answers after scoring goes in the tank, or agonized over the reasons behind a second-round collapse. Shark fans are hoping he never has to, but would he respond any differently than Wilson had?
Late last month, McLellan shared a story from his time as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings. During an overtime game last season, Pavel Datsyuk attempted a brilliant move that would have left him in the clear with a breakaway opportunity. He almost pulled it off, but the puck was tipped away and resulted in a scoring chance for the opposition. After the game, as the players were boarding the team bus, Chris Chelios called out, “Where’s Pavs?” Everyone tensed up a little, wondering what was about to come next. Chelios didn’t blast the talented forward, or rebuke him in front of the team, he simply told him, “That was an excellent chance, and the next time you have a chance to do it you do it again.”
McLellan explained that, as a coach, his advice might not always echo Chelios’s but you have the give the special players chances to err sometimes. “Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich play together, but they approach the game quite differently,” McLellan said. “If Lukowich steps into Danny’s style of play we’re in trouble. Coaches don’t treat players equally, but they have to treat them fairly.”
Ron Wilson is a fantastic coach, but by the time he was fired he wasn’t allowing his players the chance to make mistakes. There simply wasn’t any more trust coming from the coach, because he’d been burned too many times before. I lost my parents’ trust a number of times, in a variety of ways. Thankfully, they didn’t always trust me, but they allowed me the chance to regain it once I had lost it.
McLellan trusts his players, and, just as my parents did with me, he’s not going to let them settle for mediocrity. He won’t allow them to break curfew or skip class, and knows the Sharks are too good a team to chalk up another second-round playoff exit to nearsightedness and borderline autism.
[email protected] 
Join the Discussion:
»