Sharks not destined for greatness
By Scott Burnside
ESPNEWS Highlight Of The Night
At the start of the playoffs, we posed this question about the San Jose Sharks: If not now, when?
And in the wake of yet another stunning playoff collapse, the answer seems patently obvious: Never.
At least not until dramatic changes are made with a franchise that has become California's hockey answer to baseball's Chicago Cubs. A team that in many ways is the model franchise in its uncanny ability to identify, draft and develop young players without the benefit of high draft picks is also a team, at the risk of hurting some feelings in the congenial Sharks organization, quite clearly lacking anything resembling heart.
Where is Dorothy when you need her, eh, Joe Thornton? Or Patrick Marleau? Or Evgeni Nabokov? Or any of the other battle-tested, experienced, Cup-hopeful Sharks who were pummeled 4-1 in Game 6 in Anaheim on Monday night?
San Jose has become the second Presidents' Trophy-winning team since the lockout to lose a first-round series to an eighth seed. The difference between the Sharks and the Red Wings, who rebounded from such a humbling departure in 2006 to advance to the West finals in 2007 and win a Cup in 2008, is that Detroit seems to get it.
The Sharks? Not so much.
Going back to 2004, the year before the lockout, the Sharks have averaged 107 points during the regular season. But after reaching the Western Conference finals in 2004, they have failed to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs in four straight seasons. So, is it fair to suggest the Sharks simply choked as opposed to being beaten by superior competition?
Well ...
They blew a 2-0 series lead against eighth-seeded Edmonton in the Western Conference semifinals in 2006.
They were less than a minute from taking a 3-1 series lead against Detroit in 2007 before captain Marleau missed an assignment, allowing the Wings to tie the game. The Sharks lost in overtime and didn't win again in that series.
Last season, they were fortunate to beat Calgary in the first round in seven games before wilting against a determined Dallas team in six.
This season, like all the others, was supposed to be different. GM Doug Wilson had added Stanley Cup experience in the form of Rob Blake, Brad Lukowich and Dan Boyle, and he even dug up Claude Lemieux and inserted him into the lineup. (Lemieux played in just one playoff game after appearing in 18 regular-season games.)
All that experience yielded 2-0 and 3-1 deficits in this series and six postseason games overall.
Wilson even managed to pry top defensive specialist Travis Moen out of Anaheim at the trade deadline, as Ducks GM Bob Murray achieved the almost impossible act of retooling his team on the fly.
You could hardly find a more congenial, thoughtful man in the game than Wilson, but here is the hard truth: Virtually every move he has made to try to put this team over the top has failed miserably.
Bill Guerin couldn't get the job done two springs ago. Craig Rivet and Brian Campbell were supposed to stabilize the blue line but were replaced by Blake and Boyle and Lukowich, and, well, you know.
And at what cost to the team's future? First-round draft picks and prospects have literally sailed out of San Jose in pursuit of the championship mix. Wilson fired coach Ron Wilson because Wilson couldn't get the team over the hump and replaced him with former Detroit assistant Todd McLellan.
The Sharks' GM has seemingly played every card, yet the results are still bafflingly the same. This spring, no Sharks player scored more than twice against the Ducks. Thornton is a convenient whipping boy, but if the shirt fits, wear it. He had five points to lead the Sharks but was minus-3 and dominated by youngster Ryan Getzlaf throughout the series. (The two dropped the gloves to start Game 6, but even that didn't work.)
Marleau? He scored an overtime winner in Game 5 but had just three points.
Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski combined for 56 regular-season goals but came up with one between them in the series. Ryane Clowe and Milan Michalek had a combined 45 regular-season goals but came up with two goals and three points between them against Anaheim.
Nabokov was widely outplayed by Anaheim netminder Jonas Hiller, a backup goalie from the hockey hotbed of Felben-Wellhausen, Switzerland. Nabokov's pedestrian 2.82 goals-against average and .890 save percentage in this series provide yet another example of a top-level Sharks player who cannot deliver the goods come playoff time. Welcome to the club.
So, what now?
The culture of losing is deeply embedded in this team. Ownership will need a strong stomach if it wants to change the pattern. Many owners lack that kind of stomach. We'll see what kind of stuff ownership is made of, or whether it will be more of the same in the Choke Tank.
Scott Burnside covers the NHL for ESPN.com.
