Kaspar On Waivers/1st Round Review

In case you haven't heard, the Sharks put former 1st rounder Lukas Kaspar on waivers. There's not much to say about it other than Kaspar hasn't really been given much of an opportunity to do much of anything, so it seems rather strange that the team would have him start in the big leagues, only to get sent down to the AHL via waivers six games in.

While Kaspar hasn't exactly set the world on fire, he hasn't been a total disaster like, say, when Jeff Jillson tried to justify his first-round selection. He's made rookie mistakes and he's had one pretty sweet goal against the LA RudyKellys.

Well, since we're all pondering Kaspar's demise, let's take a quick look at who else the Sharks have drafted in the first round. San Jose has this reputation of being excellent drafters but when you look at the list, you see a bunch of good, not great players:

2005: Devin Setoguchi
2004: Lukas Kaspar
2003: Milan Michalek
2002: Mike Morris
2001: Marcel Goc
2000: Tero Maatta
1999: Jeff Jillson
1998: Brad Stuart
1997: Patrick Marleau
1996: Andrei Zyuzin

I think Michalek will peak at being a 70-point guy and Setoguchi's certainly got the hands and speed to be a 35-goal guy. Goc? Well, I suppose there's always a need for a reasonably reliable defensive fourth-line center. Brad Stuart's a solid defenseman but he didn't turn into the stud everyone anticipated while Andrei Zyuzin's waiver-wire fodder.

The exception here, of course, is Marleau, who can be somewhere between good and great depending on when you take a snapshot of his career. I don't think Marleau ever had the goods to be an Art Ross kind of guy but he's definitely turning into a more well-rounded and gritty player than I ever thought he'd be.

Not-So-Bold Sharks Predictions

Opening night is just around the corner and I find myself much more cautiously optimistic this season than last. Perhaps it's the coaching change or perhaps it's because last season felt like a genuine "lesson learned" type of thing that you have to fight through in order to achieve greatness (at least to me); whatever it is, my gut tells me that the inconsistencies and brain-fart moments won't be as commonplace for the Sharks this year.

That being said, here's my collection of random not-so-bold predictions about certain players. I like to think they're educated guesses, and if you're cautiously optimistic like me, you're probably predicting similar things.

Joe Thornton will break the 30-goal barrier. Hell, his coach already called him out on driving the net more and we've seen that he can score goals when Joe puts his mind to it. Also, he'll eclipse 90 assists again simply because he'll get more offensive help from the blueline on the power play. Joe's final point total: 32 goals, 94 assists.

Patrick Marleau will have a good year. I've said it several times here at BoC but I truly believe that Marleau turned a corner back in February. For those of you that missed the oft-repeated story, in a listless defeat against New Jersey, Marleau stood up in the locker room and told his teammates that he simply had to be better and that he should be held accountable. To me, that's the mark of a mature player and a leader and give Marleau credit for living up to it by playing with more consistent grit and fire than we'd ever seen. Patty's final point total: 35 goals, 50 assists.

Jonathan Cheechoo will rebound...somewhat. Coach Todd McLellan stated that the Cheechoo/Joe Pavelski/Milan Michalek line was his best during the preseason. Well, it's not because of Cheechoo and his whopping two assists in five games -- pretty bad for a noted goal scorer. Still, Cheech has shown before that he could score 25+ goals with a grinder like Mike Ricci as his center, and he's also been extremely streaky. With McLellan's emphasis on shooting and driving the net, I think Cheech will find his groove again and perform to the level that we saw late last year when he was finally healthy. Cheech's final point total: 40 goals, 23 assists.

Dan Boyle will be awesome...eventually. As much as I love Dan Boyle (I'm a super-fan from his Tampa Bay days), I'm guessing we won't see his true capabilities until about 10-15 games into the season when he gets really comfortable with his new teammates. He won't provide those crazy Brian Campbell spin-o-ramas but he'll still be the best defenseman the Sharks ever had. Boyle's final point total: 16 goals, 42 assists.

(Short aside: Want to know how to irritate Dan Boyle? Find a bunch of his old superhero-themed bobbleheads from Tampa Bay and send them to him. At the Teal & White game, I brought my bobblehead for him to sign, thinking I'd be the only fan with a cool rare piece of memorabilia. When I handed it to him, he grimaced and said, "Oh god. Those things were awful. I hated them." Whoops.)

Ryane Clowe will be ok but not great. There's a lot of media hype about Clowe since he had a relatively strong playoff and his numbers were decent in the games that he actually played. Still, we've never seen a full season from Clowe and I haven't seen anything to make me think he'll be the second coming of John Leclair. Instead, I see Clowe as more a poor man's Ryan Malone: a gritty, in-your-face winger who can score during critical times. Clowe's final point total: 17 goals, 24 assists.

Rob Blake will be good for his age. I don't think anyone's expecting 1998 Rob Blake to be showing up here. If he's reasonable defensively, provides some physical player and locker room leadership, and helps out on the power play, that's all we can ask of the guy. He's overpaid but it's a one-year deal, so there aren't any real long-term consequences. Blake's a Stanley Cup mercenary and that's fine by me. Blake's final point total: 12 goals, 30 assists.

Christian Ehrhoff will finally get it. Ehrhoff's got all the components to be a great two-way defenseman -- fast skater, big shot, improving defensive sensibilities. He's just never put it together consistently. Last year, assistant coach Rob Zettler told Ehrhoff to focus on the defensive side of his game and it worked; as the season went on, Ehrhoff became increasingly reliable in all situations. His monster shot, however, remained wildly inaccurate and if he could have just gotten some more of those on net, the power play might have been different. This season, my gut tells me that both Blake and Boyle will help Ehrhoff fine-tune his game so that he can be a complete player. Ehrhoff's final point total: 14 goals, 28 assists.

As for how the team will do in the end, I'm not going to make any prognostications because so many things rely on unpredictable factors such as injuries and breakout rookies. I will say this, though: I get the feeling that unlike last season, I won't be embarrassed by the team's wildly inconsistent and head-scratching play. I know, that's not exactly the most telling of statements but if you've been through the ups and downs of the last two Ron Wilson seasons, you'll recognize that that's a significant step forward.

Sharks All-Time Players: Mike's Take, Part 1

Gee, that subject is kinda grand in a Star Wars: Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back kind of way.

I'm taking RudyKelly's challenge of coming up with a "Best Of" team (plus, there's not much to talk about right now and my own blog and business are waiting for server repair). I'm doing something slightly different, mostly because so many Sharks players have had up-and-down seasons, so I'm going to pick a single season to represent each player.

Also, you'll notice that the centers and right wings far outweigh the left wings. There really haven't been too many spectacular left wings in Sharks history (Ray Whitney became a great player after the Sharks dumped him). Perhaps Milan Michalek can change that some day.

1st Line:
C-Joe Thornton 05-06
MVP, league's leading scorer, and catalyst for turning a stuck-in-neutral San Jose Sharks into a league powerhouse, Joe Thornton will probably go down in history as one of, if not the most talented forward in Sharks history. From day one, Thornton was an absolute monster, and his first season in teal provided so many memorable "holy crap" moments -- from his booming slapshot off the post in his first shift in Buffalo to his total undressing of Washington's defense and Olaf Kolzig -- that the memory of Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart, and Wayne Primeau faded pretty darn fast.

RW-Jonathan Cheechoo 05-06
In 2005-06, you couldn't tab Thornton without mentioning Cheechoo. As Thornton's triggerman, a fully healthy Cheechoo (something that hasn't happened much over the past two seasons) fired off so many spot-on one-timers fed from Thornton that an early goal had you thinking, "Maybe he'll get another hat trick." But Cheechoo wasn't a one-trick pony that year; while groin issues have prevented Cheechoo from being able to be as scrappy as he could be, a good chunk of his goals in 05-06 came from being persistent all around the net for rebounds, second chances, and "hit it till the damn thing goes in" goals.

LW-Jeff Friesen 97-98
Ten years ago, Friesen was the projected franchise and future captain; seemingly on the upswing, Friesen broke 30 goals for the only time in his career. In that season, Friesen used his speed, hands, and wrist shot to become the Sharks' most dangerous weapon. He'll never recapture that, but we'll always have our memories of #39 speeding down the wing past opposing defenders.

By the way, did you hear Freeze is back in San Jose on a tryout?

2nd Line:
C-Patrick Marleau 05-06
While Marleau became captain and the go-to guy in 03-04, it wasn't until after the lockout when Marleau put it all together. Before the Thornton trade, Marleau was seemingly the only Sharks player that was effective that season; after the Thornton trade, Marleau became even more deadly with defensive pressure split between the two centers. while Thornton had Cheechoo on his wing, Marleau wound up with rookies Milan Michalek and Steve Bernier -- and even then, he propelled them to one of the best lines in the Western Conference that season.

RW-Owen Nolan 99-00
By the time 2000 rolled around, Owen Nolan was a legitimate Hart Trophy candidate. While ultimately potting 44 goals, Nolan was a force in all aspects -- special teams, hitting hard along the boards, and scoring goals through sheer force of will. That year, Nolan finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting and solidified Darryl Sutter's hunch in making him the captain.

LW-Milan Michalek 06-07
Michalek's sophomore campaign had him working up to star-player status, notching 26 goals and 40 assists, mostly on a line with Joe Thornton. This, much more so than in his rookie year, showed Sharks fans how devastating Michalek's speed could be. In fact, even on a team with Patrick Marleau, Michalek's bursts up the wing made him appear to be the fastest player on the team.

To be continued... (though PJ and Cheechew are welcome to make up their own list).

What a difference a pick makes...

Trevor Linden could have ended up being the captain of the Dallas PrettyDamnGoods...

Once people get past the fact that hockey is being played in a state dominated by fantastic steak houses, BBQ, country music and oil money (oh, don’t forget the Dallas Cowboys), they actually realize that the Stars have been a fairly successful little hockey franchise.

And if you had to point to one moment that made (or conversely, could have broken) the Stars in Dallas, just look at what the then-North Stars did with their No.1 pick in 1988. After some debate, the Stars rolled the dice with little Mikey Modano instead of the safer pick of Trevor Linden.

This great article inspired such a chilling thought. You at least need to check out the second photo of Modano, who looks like an '80s teen comedy villain (I can almost hear him screaming "Daaarsh!")

Trevor Linden isn’t chopped liver either – he’s more like barbecued chicken to Mike Modano’s Texas T-Bone (boy, that sentence makes me look gay, but damn it I’m sticking by my steak analogy!!).

It’s impossible to imagine the Stars without Mike Modano.

Would they still even be in Texas if the meat-and-potatoes Linden would have been their pick?

Who would be shagging Willa Ford right now?

Could the Vancouver Canucks have been a dynasty riding high on the unfair abilities of a Modano-Bure-Mogilny line while Mark Messier and the New York Rangers still would be left hunting for that elusive Stanley Cup??

Modano is on the short list of the best American hockey players to ever lace up skates alongside Chris Chelios, Mike Richter, Jeremy Roenick and others. And the Stars are easily one of the most successful American hockey teams outside of Canada and the Northeast. There's more to the Stars success than just that draft pick, but I'd argue that only the Penguins would have been more lost without their superstar Mario Lemieux.

I shudder to think of what I would be writing about right now if not for that draft pick. (Current events…Tim Russert…Paul Pierce... ugh)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

So, what are the most important draft picks the other (or perhaps I should say, real) Battle of California teams have made?

I’d love to hear some stories of the good times and the regrettable, not-so-good times.

If I had to venture a guess it would be:

Paul Kariya (Anaheim)

Patrick Marleau (San Jose)

Luc Robitaille (LA).

But I’m all ears... Maybe we can even come to a consensus on the biggest draft-day bust of all the Battle of Californ-ee.

More on Patrick Marleau to Columbus for Nikolai Zherdev trade rumor

Two thumbs down on both trade suggestions proffered from the Columbus media so far. No to the initial suggestion of Patrick Marleau and a player to be named later for Nikolai Zherdev and the #6 overall draft pick in 2008. Also, no to any combination of Nikolai Zherdev, Dan Fritsche or Stefan Legein and the #19 pick coming to San Jose for Patrick Marleau.

Rumors are starting to spread throughout the NHL now about a possible Blue Jackets trade with the Sharks. The rumor over the weekend was Nikolai Zherdev, Dan Fritsche or Stefan Legein and the No. 19 pick to San Jose for Patrick Marleau. I spent most of Saturday pursuing this and was told by a handful of close-to-the-situation sources that there's no truth to it, that the two clubs have not put together the framework of any specific trade as of yet. No names have been mentioned.

More detailed thoughts on the trade rumors are up on Sharkspage. Other free agent defenseman on the market if Brian Campbell can not be re-signed: Montreal's Mark Streit, Blue Jackets defenseman Ron Hainsey, Ottawa's Wade Redden, and even former Shark Brad Stuart.

The Sharks can do better than Zherdev in a Marleau trade

Nikolai Zherdev is the kind of hockey player who could live a totally separate life on YouTube and in the icy worlds of Electronic Arts hockey games. He is, at times, a poor man's Rick Nash on a Columbus Blue Jackets team with precious few attractions.



But all of these facts do not detract from the argument that the Sharks could probably find a better deal if they're going to trade Patrick Marleau. Now, I know the 6th pick in the draft would (allegedly) be involved, but although the Sharks are a young team they'd have to be drinking the Upside Kool-Aid to make a deal this foolish.

Although I'll admit I felt much more confident about my stance before looking at Marleau's abysmal 2007-08 regular season stats. Yeeesh.

Still, my post-3 OT, 3 a.m., hasty gut reaction is that Marleau is much better than his stats would tell you and that Zherdev has locker room cancer written all over him (not exactly the magic potion for a Sharks team many feel is in need of a heart transplant). Not to mention the fact that, even on a bad team, being a career -52 in three seasons is a tangible sign of a faulty hockey player.

Then again, I'm no Sharks expert. I'll let the our superior trio of Shark Snarks handle the majority of what I'm sure will be quite a busy sowing circle regarding The Guy Who Was Drafted After Jumbo Joe.

Credit goes to Greg W(ishinsffkskfskfsi...seriously, that guy has a devilishly hard-to-spell last name), the Ultimo Dragon of hockey bloggers, for bringing this rumor to my attention.

Sharks vs Dallas Stars Game 5 photos

More notes and photos from the Sharks 3-2 OT win in game 5 will be up here soon. Now accepting nicknames for Joe Pavelski.

What A Difference A Year Makes

I don't get the print edition anymore, but this was the front page of the Mercury News Online sports section:


What a difference a year makes. I mean, really, could you imagine the A's delaying their stadium build?

Popcorn chicken sized hockey thoughts

• I have surprisingly little to say about the Stars-Ducks series so far. Part of that, naturally, is because I am in the same “completely missed game 1” boat as Sleek.

But I think it’s based mainly on the fact that my mind cannot compute what’s happening.

It is sort of like when you have a girlfriend everyone hates, but for once she’s smiling and cracking jokes and not being a femme Godzilla. And it’s sort of nice…but you keep waiting for the inevitable blowup to happen.

Honestly, the Ducks’ second period comeback seemed like a “glaring at your friend for making a harmless joke” type moment. Until, somehow, the Stars just destroyed the Ducks in the third period. With all due respect to the Ambassador of Fun and Friends, I didn't see this coming.

• The worst thing for the Ducks might be that the Stars are the last team in the league to sit on a 2 game lead. Brendan Morrow might take a human life if they don’t win a playoff series this year.

• With all the success Mike Ribeiro is having so far, it has to make Joe Thornton look even worse. It seems like playoff softees are shedding that label one-by-one each year (first it was Alf in Ottawa now Ribeiro) but yet Thornton underachieves again and again.

• Patrick Marleau is redeeming himself with some solid play this year, but I think he scores more cool points simply for bleeding profusely twice in the same game. It brought me to a question for atypical stat heads: what’s the (un)official record for a player who bled the most times in one game?
  

(Please, no Cammi Granato jokes.)

• That being said, the Sharks have to blow this thing up if they lose in the first round. Both of their losses are real groin kicks. Then again, they've done everything the hard way this year...
  

• Should Elisha Cuthbert be embarrassed because she slept with Sean Avery? Tagging her would be an outstanding revenge plot for Brodeur (we might have to convince him that Cuthbert’s his sister in law, though).

I’m trying to think of the best analogy for the Brodeur – Avery feud and the first thing that pops into my head is Seinfeld vs. Newman. (Avery, obviously, is Newman).

• My first '08 playoffs submission to the Single Period of Hockey I’d Show to Someone to Prove the Sport’s Superiority would probably be the third period of game two in the Wild – Avs series. Just beautiful, hyper speed high octane playoff hockey. If that didn't impress you, you’re a waste of carbon.

Zapruder slow motion video of the Sarich elbow

Here you can see the elbow in slow motion, he plants it directly in the face of Patrick Marleau. Cory Sarich was not penalized on the play.

San Jose Sharks vs St Louis Blues photos

A few more notes and photos from the Sharks 4-1 win over the St Louis Blues are available here.

Free Chris Pronger!

Godzilla vs Patrick Marleau

A classic remake.

Sharks-Blackhawks photos

Here are a few photos from the Sharks 3-2 OT shootout win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. More here.

Holy Freakin' Crap

Or, more properly said, Holy Fucking Shit:

Patrick Marleau: +1
Joe Thornton: -3
Owen Nolan: 3 goals

Sharks acquire Jody Shelley

Why? I believe this is the reason:

Ron Wilson: "Patty, if you don't start playing consistently, Shelley will beat the shit out of you."

Patrick Marleau: "Oh." (furrows unibrow with confused apathy)

How to fix Marleau/Wilson

Ok, it's just my own opinion, but I think you could point to tonight's home game against Detroit as The Most Important Game Of The Season. Yeah, there are games against Anaheim, but this represents a battle against 1) the best team in the league 2) the Sharks' own home woes 3) the team that smacked them down last season. And by now, everyone knows that Patrick Marleau and Ron Wilson are still in the middle of some passive-aggressive hissyfit.

If I'm Doug Wilson, I fix this tonight by inviting the two into my office for an afternoon meeting. In my perfect world, the following conversation takes place between three grown men. Actual spoken words in quotes, subtext in parentheses.

Doug: "Dudes..." (Dudes, what's wrong with you?)
Ron: "Dude!" (It's not my fault. It's Patty's fault.)
Patty: "Dude. Seriously." (Dude, not this again.)
Ron: "Dude..." (Dude, get over it.)
Doug: "Dudes!" (Stop it. Be grown ups. Talk to each other)

Doug gets up and goes to the door. "Dudes." (Dudes. Work it out.) Doug leaves.
Patty: "Dude?" (Hey Ron?)
Ron: "Dude." (Yeah?)
Patty: "Dude. Seriously." (Man, the way you keep throwing me under the bus sucks. I mean, I know I'm not Mike Grier, but I've got a pretty good track record of being a quality NHL player. I'm a human being too. I have emotions. Work with me here. I need some positive reinforcement.)
Ron: "Dude...dude." (You're right. I have been bitchy to the media. That's my bad.)
Patty: "Dude?" (Honest?)
Ron: "Dude." (Yup. It's my bad. But I need you to step up too.)
Patty: "Dude!" (You're right. It starts tonight against Detroit!)
Ron: "Dude!" (Damn straight. You're our captain. I need you and Joe to lead the charge.)
Patty stands up and puts his hand out. "Dude." (All right. We're committed to winning this together.)
Ron stands up and takes Patty's hand. "Dude." (Yup. Here we go.)

Doug opens the door. "Dudes? We cool?"
Ron: "We cool."
Patty: "We cool."
Doug: "Dudes." (Let's go get Detroit.)

Three lightly researched nuggets

Here are some somewhat random NHL and BoC thoughts of varying quality:

• The Kings have been on the brain ever since I foolishly compared the Marc Crawford – Patrick Roy Avalanche to the early 90s Cowboys. After some (reckless) thought, I think the Kings need to try to engineer their own version of the Herschel Walker for a bunch of draft picks that stocked the Cowboys dynasty trade.

OK, enough with that analogy: the Kings need to take a page from John Davidson’s playbook and make a trade deadline feast out of their short term players. The Kings indeed should follow the Blues' lead by giving up their dead weight for quality draft picks (just look, the Blues even like their former coaches!)

Rudy did a fantastic job detailing a player who is there biggest bargaining chip, Rob Blake. When you consider the rarity of a tough, skilled veteran D-man compared to the loafing mediocrity of a Bill Guerin or Keith Tkachuk, the Kings theoretically could get a helluva package.

Smaller names include Ladislav Nagy (what the hell happened to him?) and Brad Stuart. You know, more or less every recent FA signing.

• There is talk out there about a possible Jaromir Jagr trade. Now, I don't know how feasibly the polarizing Czech superstar could fit into the Sharks payroll (am I guessing wrong that they'd have to finally legitimize the Patrick Marleau trade rumors by moving him for the formerly mulleted wonder?), but that still gets the old imagination tingling.
  

Again, I'm too lazy to get into the nuts and bolts of the salary cap in this deal. But could your feeble minds conjure a more terrifying line combination than Joe Thornton + Jaromir Jagr + fire hydrant?

That would be one of the most talented and often mocked super-lines in recent NHL history.

• This isn't really BoC specific, but after watching the Winter Classic game and learning that the Buffalo Sabres' merchandise outsells that of the Buffalo Bills, can't we all agree that a good Sabres team is good for the NHL?

It's really depressing to watch such a high flying, good-for-the-game group unravel like this. Even though it probably falls at the feet of Sabres management, let's just blame it on that stupid Buffaslug logo.

Captain Benchwarmer

I think Patrick Marleau and Ron Wilson need to go on an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch or something to work out their "issues" (or hell, call a freakin' marriage counselor or something). I noticed yesterday that Captain Patty wasn't on the ice for a good portion of the third period, though he did go out to congratulate Evgeni Nabokov once the game ended, killing any sort of injury theory.

No sir, our dear captain's ass was benched for the better half of the third period. In fact, according to the NHL's play-by-play log (since they got rid of the damn shift chart thing that was pretty awesome), the last time Patty was on the ice was during the BJ's second goal. After that, he might as well have been warming his mitts in Ralph Wilson Stadium, it's better than sitting his ass down in Ron Wilson's Doghouse.

Two schools of thought on the second goal: it's hard to blame Patty since he's got a broken stick, but at the same time, the iso-cam showed him hustling back to get a stick, but then kinda floating into the play. It's hard to judge whether or not he was just being lazy/stupid or if he was taking the winger's position at the point -- we'd need an overhead cam to get the whole picture for that.

Marleau Should Be Mentioned In Trade Rumors All The Time

Yes it is only one game but it looks like something has lit a fire under captain Marleau. If you missed it, internet buzz picked up a possible Sharks/Canadians trade involving Marleau, Bernier, and Pavelski from the Sharks and Koivu, Ryder and others from the Canadians. What made these rumors interesting was that they were attributed to well known hockey insider Bob Mckenzie. Mckenzie even had to come out and refute his involvement in these rumors. Even the newspaper in San Jose had an article on these rumors. Whatever the cause, Marleau really came to play tonight. I made a point of watching him tonight and he did something I yell at him to do nightly....skate. Marleau is at his best when he uses his speed offensively and defensively. Just hope he continues this style of play.

On the other hand, what the hell is wrong with Kyle McLaren? Yes I realize his grandmother just passed away, but he just has not looked like himself this year. I don't remember one time where he has used his trademark hip check this year. Tonight he coughed up the puck at least 4 times that I remembered. Even Ron Wilson made him a healthy scratch for the first time in his Sharks career last week. McLaren needs to be the physical presence that the Sharks are lacking on the backend. Shoot, maybe I should start a rumor about McLaren being shopped to the Penguins to wake him up. McLaren for Ryan Malone...kidding

Drew Remenda's Shark-Thoughts, now in Chen-Style!

(NOTE: The following post was penned by our own Mike Chen, who is battling his workplace's firewall filters and thus e-mailed me his post. Everything past here is pure Chen. --Sleek)

Drew Remenda was just on NHL Live on XM/NHL.com. A quick summary of what he said:

• Jeremy Roenick was surprised at how quiet the Sharks bench was when he first came here. He asked Tim Hunter if that was how it always was and Hunter replied with "Yes, but they play with passion." JR begged to differ and began talking with the young guys to not treat the game as a job but enjoy and relish in being a pro athlete.



• Joe Thornton is the acknowledged team leader on the ice (as the go-to guy) and off it (as the fun social dude) and no one, especially Patrick Marleau, has a problem with him being in that role.



• The Sharks win because of Evgeni Nabokov and Thornton right now. Everyone else has underachieved (duh).



• The team's play is represented by the way they've drafted -- very skilled, very quiet guys. Drew said that that's more or less the bed they made, and that it's really up to players like Mike Grier, JR, and Joe Thornton to change that. He also cited players like Curtis Brown, Marleau, Nabokov, and Kyle McLaren as the ones who have to help the quiet young guys like Marc-Edouard Vlasic become passionate players.



• The issue of Marleau's play came up and I was really surprised at how candid Drew was. He said that the rift between Marleau and Ron Wilson still hasn't healed, despite what they say to the press. Doug Wilson has acted as the intermediary, but Drew says that Doug is leaving it to Marleau and Wilson to find a workable solution. A caller suggested taking the C off Marleau, and Drew's own personal thoughts (not speaking for Doug Wilson -- let's make that clear) is that doing that is a no-win situation because (a) it devalues Marleau if it ultimately leads to a trade (and that's a big IF -- he's NOT suggesting that or advocating that at all) and (b) it loses Patty from a player/coach perspective, though if you look at Dallas, Mike Modano seems to have shaken that off (that's my own input, not Drew's).



• He doesn't anticipate a major shake-up, but if things don't appear to be trending up heading into January, that's when something may happen. However, he doesn't think it will be that way. He couldn't answer whether or not the team will show up in the playoffs, though. Apparently, the philosophy going into this is that it has to start and end with the players. I may be reading too much into this, but it sounds like that ultimately Ron Wilson has the support of his GM.

So, basically what you see is what you get is what we all suspected. And it also sounds like if the team turns it around, the signing of Jeremy Roenick may have been way more valuable off the ice than we all thought.