Sharks 08-09 Review: Management

Management and Staff

Management can not be blamed for this.  You needed Money, so CEO Greg Jamison opened up the wallet and dished out some money.  The Sharks payroll jumped up into the upper tier of payroll.  You needed Playoff winners: So General Manager Doug Wilson brought in winners in Dan Boyle, Brad Lukawich, Claude Lemuix, Rob Blake, Travis Moen, Kent Huskins: All with Stanley Cup rings.

After bowing out of last year's playoffs, GM Wilson fired Coach Ron Wilson, and brought in youth with Todd McLellen.  In my opinion, McLellen had an average time.  I'd give him a "B".  he was a rookie coach and it showed at times.  I can not tell if his success was because he inheritied such a great team, or because he implimented a better system.  It worked at the beginning of the year.  And to the front you can't tell if there was any in-house issues.  I wonder if there was.

But here's the thing I didn't like about how Coach McLellen ran his team.  

1. At Calgary, McLellen changed up his lines.  His team was on fire.  but he decided to experiment by breaking up all of his lines.  This WAS a mistake as the Sharks got outplayed and destroyed.  "If it isn't broke, don't fix it."
2. Coming down the stretch, the Sharks top line of Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi was struggling.  They couldn't score, they were hurt, and they were not leading the team.  NOW is the time you break up the line.  CHange it up, see if there is another combination that will click.  "If it is broke, FIX IT."
3. Lastly, the injuries.  There were players who felt they were ready to go, but McLellen refused to put them in.  Can McLellen be cautious, sure.  But coming down the stretch it was important to make sure everyone was up to speed and had their game going.  I don't think he allowed enough time for this to happen.  Or at most, he gave alot of mixed signals to the media and public about when players were going to be ready or not ready.

When things are going well, it is easy to say "Nothing is wrong" but when things aren't, you have to figure out what to do to fix it.  Fixing it too early, or not fixing it at all lead to alot of problems. 

Next year I believe that McLellen is going to have "his team".  In reality, he inherited this team from Ron Wilson.  He's going to have to look at the entire roster and decide which players followed his lead, and which ones he doesn't want (Kind of what this blog is doing).

Lastly, I think this was a learning experience for Coach McLellen.  He's still one of the brightest minds in the game.  And it was his first year on the bench.  So he has a small excuse for some of his errrors.  But year by year he needs to recognize and fix these mistakes.  If he doesn't, he'll find himself out (ala Mike Nolan).  That's a long time coming.  And there's alot of time and hockey to be played between now and then.