Sharks Season Ends (the real post)

Ok, time to push the commentator out of the way and really look at the Sharks postseason and offseason. Yes I am very disappointed the Sharks are out of it. This team is so much better than it's 2nd round exit. But the record skips record skips record skips like a broken record. And the Sharks are bounced again in the 6th game of the 2nd round.

Round 1: I knew the Sharks would have a tough time with Calgary. I would have preferred Minnesota or Colorado. For some reason I knew the Sharks would lose Game 1. But it would be a wakeup call for the rest of the series. I don't really think they woke up till Game 5 and Game 7. They played hard and ended up winning a very grueling battle.

Round 2: a change of pace since there was less hitting. I think that was a mistake. I thought the Sharks should have hit alot more and pressure the Defense. I mean this is the playoffs and it's time to step it up. The Sharks could have won this series. It was just unfortunate. Game 1 the Sharks hit 2 posts. Game 2, Lil' Joe slips leading to the Dallas tying goal. Game 3 had the quick whistle while the puck was still moving into the net. Granted, Game 5 had 2 goals called back on Dallas too.
Being down 3-0 is almost impossible. It takes so much out of you. You have to play at a desperate high intensity game for 4 straight games. Meanwhile Detroit, winner of the other series in 4-0 sweep, is sitting around in lawn chairs, drinking martinis, relaxed without being knocked around. So you see, even if the Sharks won, they probably wont win the next round. Dallas won't win the next round. They will be beat up and worn down by the Sharks.
What the Sharks did was show some heart (finally). They did not collapse like they did the last 2 years. This year, if they were going down, they went down swinging. It would have been easy for Sharks to give up being down 3-0. But they fought hard. Unfortuneately I think they figured out how to play the playoffs too little too late.

Offseason: This will be an off-season of change. Someone will be going. I love Ron Wilson. He is a great coach. But look at where the Sharks season has ended. Round 2 Game 6. For 3 straight years the SAME SPOT. 3 years, we have not improved to the next round. So if you asked the question, "Did we improve from last year?" the answer is NO, we haven't. I think it is time to bring in a new Head Coach.
You have to bring in the RIGHT head coach. Someone who has a similar system. And the coach has to be better than Ron Wilson. If the new coach isn't better, or a system drastically different, it would be starting over. I don't think this team needs to start over.
If the RIGHT head coach isn't available, then I would keep Ron Wilson. If Ron Wilson stays, someone has to go. It might be one or both of his coaches, Tim Hunter or Rob Zettler.
If not the coaches, which players are going to go? Rumors are back to Marleau since his no-trade clause kicks in after the playoffs complete.
Unrestricted Free Agents, by Priority/Importance

• Brian Campbell - The guy we covet. But where were you in the playoffs???
  
• Jeremy Roenick - Why not another year with the Sharks? We love you, you love us!
  
• Tomas Plihal - Stepped up in the playoffs to give an extra push. Like to see you next year!
  
• Patrick Rissmiller - In and out of the lineup. Good on the PK, but Marleau and Pavelski might be taking over next year.
  
• Curtis Brown - Youth movement coming in. Sorry C Brown. You're a good role player but I don't see you fitting into the team.
  
• Dmitri Patzold - 3A (or 3B) in goalies. Don't think you will make it because the Sharks have some good goalies in the system, Griess being one of them.
  
• Alexei Semenov - Slow and old; some toughness. But there are guys waiting in the Minors (Wishart)
  
• Sandis Ozolinsh - Old and Slow; really fell out of favor for lack of defense.

Restricted Free Agents. NOTE: Avoid the Dustin Penner situation, where Penner was given a HUGE contract that priced him out of Anaheim's salary cap.:

• Ryane Clowe / Joe Pavelski - Without you guys giving the Sharks 2ndary scoring, where would this team be???
• Christian Ehrhoff - Finally maturing into a good Defenseman. your Shot misses the net too much though.
• Marcel Goc - Where are you Marcel??? You were so strong last year. Then you disappeared this year. You're gonna come back, but you're going to need to step up to beat out the young guys next year.

The Minors. These guys should push into the lineup next year.

• Forwards: Tom Cavanagh, Lukas Kaspar, Logan Couture
  
• Defense: Darek Joslin, Ty Wishart
• Goalies: Thomas Griess, Taylor Dakers

The window of opportunity is down to 3 years. Thornton, Cheechoo, Marleau, Mihalek, Nabokov are all one more year older. It will be another difficult offseason for Doug Wilson. Oh and by the way D-Wilson, in 3 years, your time will be coming up too...