There's a notion floating around on the interwebs that the San Jose Sharks aren't serious about their so-called rebuild. General manager Doug Wilson claimed recently that the squad is a "tomorrow team"—a comment that has been scoffed at by pundits around the NHL that think the GM is just trying to get leverage while trying to push Joe Thornton out of town.
James Mirtle of The Toronto Globe and Mail is among those. disbelieving pundits. He writes:
There’s some discussion in San Jose over what exactly “rebuild… really means here, and whether or not Wilson is merely putting up a smokescreen that will allow him to deal a popular veteran.If so, that’s a workable solution, if only to change the mix.
The reality is every core piece they have aside from Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and netminder Antti Niemi is under 30 years old.
Maybe Mirtle is right. Maybe he's not. It's hard to know for sure, but Wilson isn't softening on his comments as the summer wears on. If anything, he's getting stronger on his stance, almost as if he's aware of the criticism that is befalling him.
Wilson spoke on the NHL Network's NHL Live! today, and made his sharpest comments about the makeup of the Sharks yet. Brace for an incoming wall of text.(h/t to Kevin Kurz of CSNBayArea.com for the transcription.):
There’s a comment that was made by a group of my players, that we were co-workers and not teammates. Really, what that means is they really hadn't dug down to be there for each other and commit to what teammates have to do to be successful. Look at L.A. The things that they did, the game sevens where they just stuck with it, coming back against us, taking care of each other. Ours was somehow lost a little bit. Our players acknowledged it, I've listened to them, our coaches have acknowledged it. That’s what I’m talking about when it comes to culture, is being a great teammate and playing the way that we need them to play, not the way that they want to play.
He was then asked how the issues could be fixed. He proceeded with his scathing review of San Jose's commitment to being a team (or lack thereof):
It’s partly the people, it’s party the environment, it’s partly how they’re managed and coached. It’s a combination of all those things. There’s teams in this league that are very talented teams. But, why do you finish it off [like] the San Antonio Spurs in basketball, and the L.A. Kings? They were a close team and did all those little things for each other. Sometimes the pilot light goes out, sometimes there’s injuries, sometimes people need to look in the mirror and wake up again. That’s usually what you’re looking at. But, it comes back to teammate-to-teammate, saying, ‘you know what? I’ll be there for you.’ And, we didn't have it.
The NHL is by and large a "just stick to the note cards, Tony Stark" kind of league. Folks rarely speak frankly in public about the innermost workings of a franchise, and that adds even more validity to Wilson's comments. Unless he's bluffing—and it's tough to imagine why he would be—then the Sharks will look radically different by October.
Again, it seems to come back to the veterans that have had numerous chances to secure a Stanley Cup without doing so. The Sharks have been among the top teams in the NHL for a decade and have made 14 of the last 15 postseasons. Patrick Marleau has been around since 1998 (the second year in that string of 14) while Thornton has appeared in nine postseasons for the Sharks.
Talk about a decade under the influence.
It's tough to blame Wilson for finally saying enough is enough. As Mirtle and many others have pointed out, it's not like San Jose bowed out to a crummy wild card team this season. They lost in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion and hung with them blow for blow. If not for Antti Niemi falling off the rails in games four through seven, the L.A. Kings probably don't come back.
They did come back though, and it seems to have been enough to make Wilson want to hit the bright, red EJECT button.
The Sharks are heading down a risky road in an attempt to rebuild an 111-point team. Will they be better next season? That answer doesn't seem to be relevant right now. Wilson and Co, they don't seem interested in just hanging on the edge anymore. They're ready for some real change, and the ax is going to fall sooner rather than later. They want to match the Chicago Blackhawks and Kings in terms of long-term success, and they're going to shake things up in an attempt to get there.
Just some chatter here as we head into the weekend. What are your thoughts? Is Wilson just posturing and throwing up a "smokescreen," as Mirtle put it? Or is he sincere in his statements? Sound off down below or via Twitter (@FranklinSteele)