zzzzzzzzzzzzz…….

Is it over yet?

Good lord – That was ninety minutes of my life I will never get back. What was a well intentioned opportunity for the Sharks fans to speak their minds and ask questions of the “brain trust” Doug Wilson and Greg Jamison – it turned into a free for all of lame questions and bizarre ramblings that left the panel puzzled and me utterly frustrated. While there were a few interesting tid-bits of information uttered between the cliches from DW and Jamison and awkward pauses from Cheechoo, I left early – I just couldn’t take it anymore. The Sharks must screen these questions – there were people babbling about the 49ers in the 80’s, musing about the power play and inviting Cheech to visit them in Gilroy. The voices in my head – make them stop. Next year, please screen the questions, make the fans write them down and have your moderator ask them.

Now for the interesting info.

1) As predicted, J.R. has resigned for a rumored one year/1M dollar deal. Excellent work by DW. In response to a question challenging whether or not the Sharks have been active in the free agent market in the past, his comments were that the Sharks take care of their own – case in point, resigning J.R. The Sharks have kept Thunder Joe, Marleau, Michalek, Rivet – all before they hit the open market. Looks like we can expect more of the same with DW locking up key pieces like Pavelski and Clowe….and I think Brian Campbell. DW also brought up how the Sharks have been active in the trade market….could this be a clue.

2) DW also stressed that everyone is responsible for Ron Wilson being fired, and that this would NOT be the only change made before next year. Someone won’t be back. Looks like that someone isn’t Cheechoo since DW was heaping praise on him all night – so he can sleep at night knowing he won’t be uprooted this summer.

3) DW dropped a major hint that the Sharks are looking for a hard nosed coach, a “butt kicker”. So, cross Melrose, Granato and my suggestion, Mike Sullivan, off the list. Wilson says they have a list of 40 candidates, people who have contacted them expressing interest including AHL, Junior, College and former NHL coaches. He emphasized that former NHL coaching experience is not a pre-req for consideration. The way he was talking, it seemed as if current assistant coaches, Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler, were no longer in the running. He never mentioned them once.

Unless there are some major changes in the format – I’m gonna skip this event next year. While interesting in spurts – overall the State of the Sharks was a snooze….

So I nailed the conference finals pretty well, only off by a single game combined in both series. Overall, I went 6-2 in the opening round, 2-2 in the conference semis, and 2-0 in the conference finals, for a combined record of 10-4. Respectable, but not transcendent.

As for the finals, I have only one hope, and my prediction reflects that hope. I want the series to go as long as possible. The conference finals were pretty anticlimactic, with both series jumping out to 3-0 leads. I just want to see some good hockey, with games in doubt until the end, which is more that I could say for the ultimate games in the last round.

I’d say the story of the playoffs so for has been the way the Pens have quietly played very good defense. With the 8,000 time Norris winner and old man river, everyone expected the Wings to be strong defensively, and they haven’t disappointed. But the largely unknown Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi, Kris Letang, and Hal Gill have played very well for Pittsburgh. And their only well known D-man (Gonchar) has played even better, despite being known as a scoreboard threat. I expect the series to be the most offensively exciting series of any we’ve seen yet this year. And I hope to the gods of hockey (that’s means you, Barry Melrose) that the series goes at least six.

Detroit in seven.

So grier gets the season ticket holder pack a couple of days ago, and lo and behold, the Sharks have raised ticket prices again. Not that much of a surprise I guess, but the real surprise is that it was over 10%. Again. We are in section 124, and our first year, 2005-2006, we paid $54/seat. Now, for the upcoming season, we will have to play $67- a 25% increase in only two years. Factor in the roughly $500 I paid for playoff tickets, and we’re talking well over 3 grand a year. I guess I can’t give my wife any crap for shopping now.

Because of this blog and my burgeoning radio career (which don’t exactly offset the cost), I’m almost obligated to renew. I suppose I could move upstairs, but as my mother has often said, a luxury once sampled quickly becomes a necessity. Also, we like the people we sit with, and I’d hate to ditch them. There’s really only one reason why SVSE raised prices- because they could. The market will bear it. I think the games last year were about 98% full, and there’s enough elasticity in the market to handle another 10% increase.

The thing that smarts almost more than the price hike is the fact that the Sharks were 27th in the league last year in payroll, and over $5M below the league average. Only Columbus, Nashville, and Phoenix spent less. That’s not going to change. So for our extra ten percent we’re likely to see some players run out of town (or not re-signed) because the Sharks don’t want to spend to the new cap limit, around $56M. I can imagine some very testy questions being posed tomorrow night in the Ice Insights discussion.

I’ve been formulating my offseason suggestions for GM Doug Wilson. There are several areas that need attention and, I think from his quotes in the paper and what Drew Remenda said in his interview on KNBR this week, us Sharks fans can expect change not only behind the bench, but in the roster as well. While I think a few changes are needed, Doug Wilson’s attention will likely be focused on evaluating which of the team’s current UFA’s and RFA’s will be back in Teal and which will be looking for new digs on July 1st. This is the first step to identifying this team’s core strengths and weaknesses – and along with this process must come the evaluation of which of the Sharks prospects might crack the roster. Who will be Mitchell and Segoguchi in 2008-09? Let’s start with the players who could walk away in July without any compensation, the unrestricted free agents – which the Sharks have ten.

The Sharks have 38M committed in salary for next season and we can assume the cap will be increased to around 56.3M. The Sharks have generally floated around 10M under the cap, so I think it’s fair to assume the team will only spend around 46M – so obviously there are many choices to make. I’ll try to keep track of the salary spent and how much the Sharks are under the cap, and who a player’s in house replacement might be. In no particular order.

PATRICK RISSMILLER – The Rizz has been an important part of our 3rd line the last two seasons, but we saw a considerable decline late this year. The Sharks lack of gritty 3rd line is near the top of my list of things to address this offseason and cutting ties with the Rizz is part of this process. A few guys on the UFA market are better options, and there may be one on this list or in the Sharks system – possibly T.J. Fox, Matt Jones, Tom Cavanaugh, Steven Zalewksi or Riley Armstrong. Good luck somewhere else, Rissmiller.

JEREMY ROENICK – J.R. has already implied he is coming back and I think, unless someone slips DW some crazy pills, J.R’s new deal should be announced shorty. I’m guessing one year/1M. Sharks cap now at 39M.

JODY SHELLEY – I love Shelley, but he didn’t win a single fight after going to the Sharks. He is still a great disturber and showed more offensive upside than most goons in the league, but Doug Wilson might be looking for a more functional agitator, someone like Sean Avery perhaps. Remember that little rumor of Bernier for Avery that was rejected by the Rangers – according to the NY Post, DW was ready to pull the trigger….I think Shelley isn’t coming back. Just a hunch.

ALEXEI SEMENOV – To me, this is easy. Goodbye. Get lost. The Sharks have better talent in their minor league system waiting to play the role of 7th d-man than Frankenstein, like Joslin, Spang or Brennan Evans. Save the cap room and cut ties with this waste of roster space.

SANDIS OZOLINSH – It looked like a genius move at first, but something happened down the road that derailed the Ozo-Comeback Train. He plummeted to the bottom of RW’s depth chart and there is nada chance that this reclamation project returns to Teal. Time to retire Sandis.

BRIAN CAMPBELL – I still believe that Campbell is going to resign with San Jose before the July 1st UFA bonanza begins. He wants to be loyal, he has friends here and the Sharks fans treated him like gold. While he isn’t the proto-type #1 d-man, those guys are hard to find. Unless the Bruins are willing to trade Chara for Marleau (not gonna happen) then Campbell is going to be back in Teal. He was willing to stay in Buffalo for around 5.5M, it was the term that turned him and his agent off. Campbell signs in San Jose, six years/36M. Sharks now have 45M in salary.

BRAD NORTON – Oh! My back! Never set foot on the ice, just cashed his checks and rehabbed his back. Seriously, I guess he has a major back problem and might need to retire. Good luck to you, Brad Norton – just not in a Sharks uniform.

BRIAN BOUCHER – Another guy who will be brought back. I think DW learned that not having a veteran backstop is not worth the risk. 1 year/750k. Sharks now at 45.75M.

DEMITRI PATZOLD- He was so good, the Sharks exposed him to waivers multiple times. Bye Bye Bye.

So, with J.R., Campbell, Boucher all back, the Sharks have to move to Taking Care of Our Own Part 2: Roster Casualties. With as deep a crop of talented RFA’s as anyone in the NHL, who is going to get traded to clear precious cap room? There are several candidates….but one step at a time.

Here’s a link to a recording of a Drew Remenda interview on KNBR.  Some interesting insights about the coaching vacancy, and other matters.

Step one has been taken. The long speculated, oft-debated coaching career of Ron Wilson has ended today in San Jose. While you can’t dispute the record and the success Ron Wilson has had behind the bench for the Sharks, he had taken this franchise as far as he was able to – season after season of playoff disappointment demanded that the Sharks head in a new direction. I think the timing of the decision shows a ton of class by the Sharks organiziation and Doug Wilson himself, to relieve RW in time for him to be considered for the head coaching openings across the league. Could he land in Toronto or Colorado? Possible….but not likely.

So, who will be the 7th coach in Sharks franchise history? Doug Wilson says that current staff Rob Zettler and Tim Hunter will get consideration, but that seems like a stretch to me. It’s quite possible those boys will be on staff until the new head coach is secured and, depending on their clout, both Zettler and Hunter could be “reassigned” within the organization. The list of candidates will make the rounds in the coming days. Pat Burns? Pat Quinn? Joel Quenneville? Bob Hartley? Dave Lewis? Paul Maurice? Larry Robinson? Dare we even say…Barry Melrose? Is it possible the Sharks will go way off the beaten path and hire a successful AHL coach? I would be suprised.

I’ve got a name for you – How about former Shark player and ex-Bruins coach, Mike Sullivan? He is a former teammate of Doug Wilson, having played in San Jose from 1991-1994 when he was claimed off waivers by the Calgary Flames. He has coached Joe Thornton in Boston and took a bum rap by GM Peter Chiarelli in the overhaul in Beantown. He took the Bruins to the playoffs in 2003-04, winning the Northeast Division title. Once Thornton got traded for that awesome package of Sturm, Stuart and Primeau – Sullivan’s team took a nose dive and the new GM wanted to start fresh, canning Sullivan in the process. After a little Google’ing, I found this collection of opinions from Boston sportswriters on Sullivan. It sounds like he was known as a players coach, has been described as “energetic and innovative” and was the type of guy in Boston who could get his boys to play hard night after night, sticking by his players and letting them play through the rough times. Sound like someone familiar? NOPE. Exactly. Mike Sullivan is everything Ron Wilson isn’t. He might not have the experience and definitely took some knocks for that in Boston, but this potential move smells of Doug Wilson. Someone unexpected and with a totally different philosophy. He has winning records as an AHL and NHL head coach, has International coaching experience as the head coach for the U.S. Men’s Team at the 2007 World Championships in Russia and was an Assistant Coach at the 2006 Olympics for the U.S.

I’d suggest keeping an eye on his name in the coming weeks. He is currently an assistant in Tampa Bay and, while there is certain to be debate, could quite possibly be the right man for the job in San Jose. He gets hired and Zettler (another former teammate and original Shark) and Hunter stay onboard to try and take this team to the next level we’ve all been waiting for. And remember…you heard it here first.

TSN reports that Ron Wilson has been fired by the Sharks. Let the speculation ramp up as to who the next coach will be, there are lots to choose from.

The season may be over for the Sharks organization and fans, but preparations have already begun for next season. I’ll be the permanent co-host on The Teal Spiel when it picks back up in September. The last show of the season was last night, and it’ll be moving to a different format for the rest of the summer. I know Chetan is working on a number of changes and improvements for the show, and I’ll be announcing those when they happen. It’s entirely possible the show will be on a different night or time (or both), and when all that is sorted out, I will let you know.

But it wont be quiet around here all summer; grier and I are already planning on taking the day of the draft (June 21) off from work. And I’m also considering taking July 1 off to watch the TSN free agent coverage all day. My obsession with hockey apparently has not yet peaked.

Want to know how much I hate Dion Phaneuf? This much.

Ok, maybe I’ll lose a little credibility, but I didn’t have that much to begin with. Either way, I avenged my first round loss against grier by beating him handily in the second round prediction department, 7 games off to 10. Good Rangers pick, by the way.

I did watch the Wings take Dallas apart last night, and I remembered when Detroit was up 4-0 in the second that I never posted my CF predictions. Now you have the Western one. Quick observation- Detroit makes decisions about 5 times faster than the Sharks do. If the guy with the puck isn’t going full speed, he quickly passes it to someone who is. There’s none of this “draw the defender to you to open lanes” crap. They make their own lanes with speed. Even when they have nobody around they still press the pace. And I was pretty shocked to see how effective it was against a speedy team like Dallas. The Stars got their counter-punch in the turnover that led to Morrow’s goal (how automatic is that guy?) but if Detroit has the puck 75% of the time, there’s not going to be enough mistakes to capitalize on.

For the East, now that Timmonen is out for Philly, they’re going to have even more trouble stopping the waves of Penguins looking for scoring chances. Only if Biron finds another gear (and I don’t even know if that’s possible, given how well he’s been playing) will the Flyers have a chance. Pittsburgh in five.