2014 NHL Offseason

[Cujo]

So, the Sharks broadcast booth will be a bit different next season...

It was absolutely Remenda's fault San Jose blew a 3-0 series lead to the Kings. Now that he's been kicked to the goddamn curb, look for the Sharks to go 16-0 next postseason and hoist the Cup..

Yet, Wilson still believes career losers like Thornton, Marleau and Coach George Lopez can STILL get the job done in the playoffs when they've alrady been given 3082 chances and failed. What a :censored:ing trainwreck!

[DaRadniz29]

As a Sharks fan, this move baffles me completely. Apparently the direction the Sharks want their broadcast games to go is down. I know, I know "trust in DW" and as a proponent of that a few seasons ago this move is making the trust meter fluctuate towards the low end a lot.

My initial gut instinct was a player that recently resigned hours ago didn't want Remenda around, for whatever reason. In any case, thanks Drew and may you succeed in whatever you do next.

I don't know they will get to replace Remenda, but I'm kind of thinking it might be Buster. I don't know it's a passing thought, or if I'd really be on board with Nolan becoming part of the broadcast team. I'd prefer he be on the bench in some aspect. I don't know how well Nolan would do coach wise, but imagine Nolan coaching the Sharks facing off against Roy's Avalanche - might be the first on-ice fight. If so do they sit in the penalty box? it would be funny if the had to.

[The_Admiral]

DaRadniz29, you have this habit of referring to Sharks players/personnel exclusively by pet names which those of us among The NHL's Worst Fans cannot always readily intuit. I guess what I'm saying here is "who is Buster?"

[ninersdd]

Nolan

[SFGiants58]

This whole damn Sharks organization, in one gif:

[oddball]

I do find this idea of certain players being "career losers" interesting, but does that make a player such as Kevin Westgarth a "career winner" who won a Cup with the Kings in 2012 and yet played in like 4 games after Darryl Sutter took over? II'm just curious on how you classify a pathetic excuse for a hockey player who does nothing for his team and yet wins a Cup vs. guys who've shown they could play the game. It's an honest curiosity. Because on the Kings you have players such as Willie Mitchell, Robyn Regher, Marion Gaborik who all played for years and didn't win a Cup and now they have. Were they guys who were "career losers" and couldn't get it done in the playoffs before and now they are "clutch" and winners? I mean let's look at Sydney Crosby who won a Cup in 2009, does the fact that it's 5 years later and there have been no Cups make him a loser? Are you saying he got lucky in 2009? I'm seriously trying to understand they dynamics of a "career loser". Would that mean if Ray Borque didn't win a Cup with Colorado, would that make him a "career loser" who never could get it done? If you put Thorton on the Kings and they win a Cup, is he still a loser? You look at Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, before they came to the Kings, they never won anything, and yet now they are vital cogs to a championship team. Please explain, or is this just fan frustration of seeing other teams win and not yours?

[DaRadniz29]

DaRadniz29, you have this habit of referring to Sharks players/personnel exclusively by pet names which those of us among The NHL's Worst Fans cannot always readily intuit. I guess what I'm saying here is "who is Buster?"

Yeah I do have that tendancy, without realizing that not everyone knows who I'm talking about. Yeah, ninersdd beat me to it but "Buster" is Owen Nolan. I was going to do a Peanut (Remenda)/Buster reference joke, but decided against it.

Also sometimes I just don't feel like typing out the full names of Owen Nolan, Doug Wilson, etc.

Career loser I think is a misnomer, because Thornton and Marleau have really good career numbers and regular season success. In addition, Marleau has really good playoff numbers for the most part, yet none of that translates into playoff success. I think that is maybe part of the reason(s) players are so flabbergasted when they exit the playoffs in the first or second round. Also does career success mean a damn thing when playoffs are what truly defines one career? And is playoffs, and in a more specific state, winning the Stanley Cup, the only true measure defining a player's career?

Edit: I also find it increasingly strange that the Sharks NHL page and Facebook page don't have anything on Drew leaving. Inside Bay Area and Mercury News are where I heard of it. If I missed it on either site, let me know, but I've been looking and looking and nothing.

On the Mercury News Sharks page, you can vote if you want Drew back. Is it me or does this seem like a very odd PR stunt game of "let's do something drastic, like fire the fan's favorite color analyst, so the team rallies around him, and indirectly us."

[The_Admiral]

No, of course not. Joe Thornton will go down as one of the greatest playmakers in the history of the game. And the weird thing is, for all the Sharks' postseason flameouts, Thornton himself hasn't been the problem. He puts up points. So does Marleau. I don't know how it is that they keep failing to take games over. Maybe the real fault of the Sharks is that they keep building teams with no depth. I thought they were getting better at that this year, but they still have too many guys who are just there. Maybe it is that Thornton doesn't have the mental constitution to win at the highest level. I'm thinking back to that time he took a dumb penalty off the draw in the 2010 WCF because Dave Bolland made him mad or something. It was such a lack of discipline in such a big game.

[zpqmaowl]

Is it really choking if you lose to a better team, like they've done for the last five years?

[The_Admiral]

I don't know, but blowing a 3-0 series lead and getting swept as a #1 seed certainly aren't credits.

[IceCap]

Is it really choking if you lose to a better team, like they've done for the last five years?

I think this season put the last ten years of Sharks hockey in perspective.

[The_Admiral]

I think they're missing a golden opportunity by not getting in on the Connor McDavid race to the bottom. The assets they have would bring back tons of picks and prospects. A fresh start would be good for them, but clearly they're content to keep whacking at the piñata with the guys they've had for the last six to nine years.

[BigBubba]

I really thought the Sharkies were for real this year after their re-tooling last summer. Silly me.

[Kramerica Industries]

I think they're missing a golden opportunity by not getting in on the Connor McDavid race to the bottom. The assets they have would bring back tons of picks and prospects. A fresh start would be good for them, but clearly they're content to keep whacking at the piñata with the guys they've had for the last six to nine years.

Haha, you have no idea how strong the desire is around these parts to see the Rangers tank in 2015 to the extreme of finishing in the worst/second worst position in the NHL, only for the Lightning to slip into a McDavid/Eichel position.

It's really, really, really unlikely, but, I dunno, I guess we like dreaming. Almost as much as I like putting commas in that last sentence.

[Alex Houston]

I still plan on waiting the full duration of the postseason to see how exactly this all plans out, but the leadership in Silicon Valley does have me a tad worried. Signing Brown when Burish is an albatross in AHL-land doesn't seem to make sense and even though I've read well written reports for days now about how San Jose shouldn't be blown up, I can't help but feel that some kind of purge at this point might be in need.

It's also worth noting many in Sharks country probably have a different standard at this time of what constitutes success anymore for the franchise. Some might be content to let them meander through the playoffs, only to lose to better teams, while others like myself believe anything less than a Finals birth is just another disappointment. Perhaps if they had gone the route of the Ducks and made two Finals in the last decade, the severity of a change gets diminished since the optimal result seems so close. Supporting that notion is remembering they're only three years removed from back to back conference finals appearances and could've very well added a third one if they don't blow that Game 3 at Staples in 2013.

Really, I see the Sharks as being the odd team out in this current dynasty-forming time in the Western Conference. They've been a good team, but never a great team and considering they've been relevant for a decade, which is an eternity in professional sports, it's only a matter of time before they fade away from the limelight and get stranded in development hell.

Of course, the last time they had a major disappointment in recent history, they went to the conference finals the next two years, so who knows?

[Muggens]

Joe Thorton is an albatross to the Sharks. Always has been. Big Jumbo Moping Joe has to go and so does Marleau. Time to rebuild with youth. The Bruins got rid of him for a reason. As a Sharks fan it pains me to admit that the Kings & Ducks have been built better and with more savvy.

[Cujo]

This whole damn Sharks organization, in one gif:

[Muggens]

This whole damn Sharks organization, in one gif:

Pretty much spot on.

[Muggens]

I know this belongs in another thread but I just had to (apologies in advance):

San Jose Sharks All-Time Face Of The Franchise:

[spartacat_12]

I do find this idea of certain players being "career losers" interesting, but does that make a player such as Kevin Westgarth a "career winner" who won a Cup with the Kings in 2012 and yet played in like 4 games after Darryl Sutter took over? II'm just curious on how you classify a pathetic excuse for a hockey player who does nothing for his team and yet wins a Cup vs. guys who've shown they could play the game. It's an honest curiosity. Because on the Kings you have players such as Willie Mitchell, Robyn Regher, Marion Gaborik who all played for years and didn't win a Cup and now they have. Were they guys who were "career losers" and couldn't get it done in the playoffs before and now they are "clutch" and winners? I mean let's look at Sydney Crosby who won a Cup in 2009, does the fact that it's 5 years later and there have been no Cups make him a loser? Are you saying he got lucky in 2009? I'm seriously trying to understand they dynamics of a "career loser". Would that mean if Ray Borque didn't win a Cup with Colorado, would that make him a "career loser" who never could get it done? If you put Thorton on the Kings and they win a Cup, is he still a loser? You look at Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, before they came to the Kings, they never won anything, and yet now they are vital cogs to a championship team. Please explain, or is this just fan frustration of seeing other teams win and not yours?

I think in order to be considered a "career winner" a player needs to be a vital contributor to a number of championship teams throughout their career. Kevin Westgarth may have himself a Cup ring but nobody would ever say he's superior to a player like Joe Thornton or Marcel Dionne. Guys who develop the reputation of being "career losers" tend to be players with the skill and a supporting cast that gives them the chance to compete for championships, but when push comes to shove can't handle the pressure. Athletes like Steve Yzerman, Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan, and Lebron James had these labels for years but were able to shed them by finally winning it all. Crosby winning in '09 was more about his maturation as a hockey player than his evolution into a clutch player, but Vancouver 2010 cemented his legacy in hockey history. Richards and Carter were much younger than Thornton when they joined the Kings, and by that time had already lead the Phantoms to a Calder Cup and brought Philadelphia closer to the Stanley Cup than Jumbo Joe has ever been. If Thornton manages to get a ring before he retires then all of this will stop (it'd probably be a feel-good story akin to Bourque in '01), but I just don't see it happening, at least not in a situation where he's a team's first-line center, and definitely not in San Jose. Joe Thornton will definitely be in the Hall Of Fame, regardless of whether or not he wins it all, but he just won't carry the same legendary status of guys like Messier, Niedermayer, and Toews. If you don't believe me just listen to Torts: