Should the Sharks Make a Move?
I'm of the opinion that Sharks fans are whiners and should stop trying to screw up a good thing they got going. Of course, I'd give anything to have a chance at the playoffs at the moment, so I'm a little biased. Still, it seems to me that this is exactly the wrong time for them to panic and make a rash move.
First, it's important to realize that they're still one of the younger teams in the league. Guys like Milan Michalek, Marc-Andre Vlasic, Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi, Christian Ehrhoff, Torrey Mitchell, Matt Carle, and Marcel Goc are only going to get better. They have the core of their team (Marleau, Cheechoo, Thornton, Rivet, and Nabokov) signed until 2010. If you're going to make a big move and trade away the future of your team, it should be then.
I know you've made the playoffs for a couple years now and haven't been able to do anything (it's awesome), but that doesn't mean you should make a move just because you're impatient. I mean, I don't want you guys winning the Stanley Cup, but I'm a fan of the way your team is comprised and it'd be stupid to waste that to get someone like Brian Campbell. (I mean, I guess if you can sign him, maybe, but I'd only give up like Setoguchi and a 1st for him. )
My roommate and well known hump, Megalodon, thinks the Sharks should go for it all this year. His reasoning is that Nabokov is a huge reason the Sharks are competitive and he's likely to start going downhill fairly soon. Once that happens, the Sharks will start sliding downhill and will get their asses kicked by the awesome LA Kings, who are superior to San Jose in every way. (Okay, he didn't actually say that, but I read between the lines.) I see the merit to that argument, although I think Nabokov still has a little more mileage on him because he didn't really start playing in the NHL until he was 25. I think the Sharks should instead hope that Patrick Marleau can get his shit together before the playoffs begin, otherwise they're likely to lose anyway.
I don't know, I don't really have a dog in this fight (Is that an expression? It sounds violent), so I thought I'd just throw this out there to see what other people thought. We'll probably have a post up tomorrow to account for any trades that may go down, but I'm sure you guys will get information faster by continuously refreshing TSN.ca. Look back here tomorrow and Wednesday as we start our playoff push. Well, everyone else will start their playoff push; I'll start drinking.
4 comments:
Guys like Milan Michalek, Marc-Andre Vlasic, Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi, Christian Ehrhoff, Torrey Mitchell, Matt Carle, and Marcel Goc are only going to get better.
I'm surprised at your optimism for the Sharks. Not all young players pan out. Personally, I'd rather trade one or two in the "young guys who might get better" category for the "young guy who is already good" category. Especially since the Sharks have several prospects who could be good enough to be on the big club in a couple of years.
Like Rudy, I'm not a Sharks fan either. I got my first taste of Shark's fans pain last year when I was rooting for them to beat the Red Wings only to watch them blow the series. I don't think they can win until either Ron Wilson or Patrick Marleau is gone from the team. I don't think Ron Wilson is a particularly good coach and Patrick Marleau hasn't done anything since being called out by Wilson in last year's playoffs. Which one goes is anyone's guess, but I think one of them has to.
As much as it pains me to say it, this Sharks team isn't getting out of the second round this year...at best. There are too many guys underachieving this year to have any hope of this team "flipping the switch" in the last month and into the playoffs. If they want to make a deal that will lead to a long-term deal with one of these mythical first-pairing, offensive defensemen (I mean, Christ, who doesn't need one of those? Shut up, Earl...), fine. But a rental is just throwing prospects away at this point. Nabby may not be getting younger, but I haven't seen anything to make me think he's going to go into a Marleau-esque tailspin in the next few years, and the Sharks have a decent stable of goalies to pick up the slack when he's done. Checking the stats for the last few playoff years, and I see Marleau pulling a Kipper if the Sharks trade him away--last season's meltdown against Detroit aside, he's not exactly dead weight in the second season.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Doug should write this season off and prep for next year. Use this time to start scouting for a new coach.
As much as I hate to agree with a Kings fan.....I don't want to mortgage the future for a rental player since we all saw how well it worked last year (hello Guerin). Campbell would be nice but it will take a lot to get him and he wants more than 6 mill/yr.
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