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Decoding Doug Wilson; SharksBuzz at 9 p.m. PT

August 19, 2009, 4:48 PM ET [ Comments]

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San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson took to the airwaves last night, popping up on KNBR to explain the decision to strip Patrick Marleau of the captaincy and shed some light on the team’s direction moving forward. The Sharks have gained several new followers over the last calendar year, so I figured I would translate for those who are unfamiliar with Wilson’s vague, clichéd answers. For those of you who have followed the team for years, my translation helps clarify the same responses we’ve been hearing each of the last four offseasons.

DW: “We’ve gotta do what’s right for this hockey team, and while we believe in collective responsibility sometimes change comes in many different ways.”

Translation: We have to make enough changes to appease the fans, without doing anything that will disrupt the core of the team, hold players accountable, or result in actual change.

DW: “We decided to make the change, and where that change ends up will be based on how people come back and how they prepare and what they show in training camp and the leadership of this team. People will have to step up and not talk about, but go do it.”

Translation: We decided to make the change, sending a clear message that we will only tolerate having our captain’s leadership openly questioned for four consecutive seasons. Despite repeatedly defending Patrick Marleau’s leadership abilities, drawing comparisons between him and legendary players like Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic, players will have to deliver on their inflated value and worth to the team that we present to the fans and media.

DW: “While these things aren’t pleasant, it’s my job to do what must be done for this team. Patrick understood that this decision was made by me to go forward and put a clean slate in.”

Translation: I fired Ron Wilson, I traded Craig Rivet, and Brian Boucher will not be back. I just couldn’t go around addressing every other issue other than the biggest one, which continues to be our lack of offense and non-existent power play once the playoffs begin. Now we finally have a clean slate, because I took a letter off of one player’s jersey while keeping the entire underachieving forward unit as is.

DW: “You can have all the talent in the world, but you’ve got to come to the rink and nothing else matters but to find a way to be successful.”

Translation: I’ve put together the most talented team I can. I really can’t do much more than that.

DW: “This whole decision again, the collective responsibility, reflects on a lot of people that need to step up. … Basically your performance on the ice, or your preparation to get ready to be performing on the ice, is what speaks volumes.”

Translation: Marleau is taking the fall for several players who failed to perform during the postseason, but I couldn’t just trade everybody. In fact, I couldn’t actually trade anybody because the Leafs wouldn’t give me their first-round pick for Ryane Clowe, and I refuse to part with Jonathan Cheechoo until he proves he’s unable to crack an ECHL roster.

DW: “The letters will be decided in training camp and how people perform and how the group responds. Leadership, nobody is going to be let off the hook on leadership, whether it be Joe Thornton, whether it be Nabber, whether it be Danny Boyle, Robby Blake.”

Translation: Training camp, and the team you see during training camp, doesn’t have any bearing on anything, but I’m going to say it does. Please disregard this later on, when I point out that the only thing that matters is how this team looks at the deadline and performs during the playoffs.

DW: “Leadership is there. A guy like Joe, he can’t avoid it and he shouldn’t, he should welcome that opportunity. I like what’s he’s already done. He’s come back a month early, he’s sent a message to his teammates, he’s in the best shape of his life, and he’s not talking about it he’s just doing it. And that’s what I think this whole team is going to be about this year.”

Translation: Joe Thornton is the biggest highlight on my resume, and I will continue to promote him to any and all who will listen. He’s not talking about it, he’s going out and doing it. That’s what the whole team is going to be about this year, just like last year and the year before that, when I told you it wasn’t about saying it, but going out and doing it.

DW: “We’ve made some changes, we’ve got 8 or 9 guys aren’t coming back, we’ve got some other young guys that I know are going to give their left arm to get a chance to play on this hockey team.”

Translation: I’ve made some big changes. I’ve gutted the depth lines, replacing Mike Grier, Travis Moen, Marcel Goc, Jeremy Roenick, Tomas Plihal and Claude Lemieux with Scott Nichol. Brian Boucher has been replaced by Thomas Greiss, while Kent Huskins and his $1.7 million salary have replaced Alexei Semenov and his $650,000 salary as our seventh defenseman. Ryan Vesce would give his left arm to play on this hockey team, but Joe Pavelski would be a better hockey player with one arm than Vesce is with two.

DW: “We haven’t made the final decisions on how this team’s going to be built come March 4th or March 5th, whenever the trade deadline is, but we will give the opportunity to some people to show that they have stepped it up and they have changed and they have grown.”

Translation: I’m going to get another veteran winger at the trade deadline, who will fail to have any noticeable impact and disappear during the playoffs, but I haven’t decided if I’m going to give up another first-round draft pick or two promising prospects for him.

DW: “This is a very good hockey team, but in this league talent does not always win. A lot of it’s got to come from the group, and they’ve got to look at each other and say, ‘Are we going to let that happen again?’ ”

Translation: This is one of the most talented teams in the league, but they’ve got to look at each other and say ‘Are we going to enter the playoffs as one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup, only to lose to a team that works harder and wants it more, for the fifth year in a row?’ If the answer turns out to be yes again, then I’m going to sit here next summer and tell you those players have got to look at each other and say ‘Are we going to let that happen again?’

DW: “Some people are going to have to evolve, and they’re going to have to change. If they don’t, then it’ll be other players that we will go get and we’ll bring them in. I’ve always said that we will constantly look at these pieces that, until the trade deadline this team won’t finally be built, and the frustrating thing is, the real results don’t show up until playoff time.”

Translation: If Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo, Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski don’t change and evolve, I’ll have to move Jody Shelley for another heavyweight who can skate on the fourth line for four minutes a night. This team is a work in progress until the trade deadline, at which point I will cross my fingers and hope for a different result with the exact same players.

DW: “Dan Boyle and Rob Blake I think were almost too respectful to the group that was here. They left at the end of the year pretty upset and bothered, so they’re not going to have any problem flexing their muscles or speaking their mind.”

Translation: I brought Boyle and Blake in to make up for the leadership void caused by Thornton and Marleau, rather than replacing the two players who are known around the league as playoff chokers. They’re not going to have any problem telling me how disappointed they are next summer, after Thornton and Marleau fail once again.

DW: “Big Joe knows that he can’t avoid anything.”

Translation: Big Joe knows that he can’t avoid anything other than media questioning and personal responsibility. He can continue to be the first player off the ice each practice, duck the media during the playoffs and fail to produce after March, and I will still say he is untradeable. I will not be trading him because some in the mainstream media still believe I pulled off the coup of the decade, acquiring him from a Boston team that gave up on him after realizing he would never lead a team to the Stanley Cup. My wagon is firmly hitched to his large, underachieving star.

DW: “I had a very heated discussion with Nabber about the things he needs to do and I have great respect for his response. His response was, ‘You know what, you’re right. I didn’t do what I needed to do, I could show more leadership.’ And he even said, ‘Look, if it’s what’s best for the team you can trade me.’ That tells you about somebody putting his butt on the line and caring about it.”

Translation: Nabokov couldn’t stop pucks during the playoffs. Eventually he agreed that he couldn’t stop pucks during the playoffs. He said it might be best for the team to trade away a goaltender that can’t stop pucks during the playoffs. I told him that was nonsense, that he’s our guy and we’re sticking with him whether he stops pucks or not.

DW: “The coaching staff have picked the captains the last couple of times, and I think at times it was to motivate that individual player, to get him to a higher level. The decision that will be made through Todd and I will be based on what’s best for the team. Every decision going forward is going to be based on this is about the team, not about an individual player.”

Translation: Marleau inherited the captaincy because he was talented and there wasn’t another logical choice. Have you looked at the 2003-04 roster? Who else was a candidate for the captaincy, Nils Ekman? Alyn McCauley? Alex Korolyuk? Having learned from mistakes of the past, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Logan Couture will not be named the San Jose Sharks’ captain prior to the 2009-10 season.

DW: “The competition, there’s some guys within our organization, guys in Worcester that have paid their dues. They’re coming into camp expecting to take a spot from some other people. They’ll get a first chance, and if they can’t do it we’ll go get some other people that can and will.”

Translation: I will be repeating the game plan from the last couple seasons, when I looked to unproven youngsters like Tomas Plihal, Jamie McGinn, Brad Staubitz and Lukas Kaspar to fill holes in the lineup, only to supplement them with cheap veterans like Claude Lemieux, Jeremy Roenick and Sandis Ozolinsh. There are a lot more holes to fill this year, so get familiar with Jed Ortmeyer, Ryan Vesce and Derek Joslin until they fail miserably and I dig through the rolodex to find Todd Harvey, Jeff Friesen and Marcus Ragnarsson.

***

Shark fans everywhere are confused, frustrated and bloated — seeking answers to their burning questions and looking for a place to sound off on their favorite team. Luckily, we’re providing both. I’ll open up the mailbag at the end of the week, answering any question under the California sun, so send them my way at [email protected].

Also, for those of you who need instant gratification we’re having a special episode of SharksBuzz tonight at 9 p.m. PT. We’ll be discussing the recent developments and examining the options for the worst good team in the NHL, so tune in and give us a ring at (724) 444-7444, talkcast ID# 74909.



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