Doug Wilson, the GM for the Sharks, fired Ron Wilson, Coach of the Sharks, today. They also said they will begin a search for a new head coach immediately. This does not come to a surprise to me seeing that only 5 days ago Ron Wilson was quoted on TSN.ca saying “That's all irrelevant. You look at my record, it's second to none, literally, in the sport, so I'm not even worried about that,” when asked about his job security. This decision was made many months ago by Doug, the Board and Ron himself … and I can prove it by the last paragraph in the story on TSN. Doug Wilson was quoted as saying "People will tell you we've accomplished some really good things the last three or four years, and that's wonderful. The disappointment is we haven't accomplished what's ultimately our goal, and we're not going to stop. We're going to push through, and decisions will be made when they get made."
According to NHL.com:
"Ron helped foster a new era in San Jose Sharks hockey with some record-setting regular season performances,” said Doug Wilson. “However, ultimately we have decided that it is time for a different voice and a different approach to lead this team. We are proud of what we’ve accomplished as an organization but we feel that this team is capable of achieving greater success. I want to thank Ron for his level of commitment and desire to make our organization successful. Our entire organization wishes him well.”
The 2007-08 Pacific Division-champion Sharks were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a four-games-to-two series loss to the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Wilson, named the sixth head coach in franchise history on Dec. 4, 2002, leaves the Sharks as the team’s all-time coaching leader in wins (206) and winning percentage (.535), and postseason games coached (52). In four-plus seasons, the Windsor, Ontario native posted a 206-134-45 regular season record and a .535 winning percentage in 385 games with the Sharks. During his tenure, the team won two Pacific Division Championships (2004, 2008).
Wilson also leaves as the franchise leader in post-season games, posting a 28-24 mark in 52 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He led the team to a berth in the Western Conference Finals in 2004 and to the Western Conference Semifinals in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Wilson reached several milestones while serving behind the Sharks bench, including his 1000th game as an NHL coach on March 18, 2007 at Colorado, his 500th NHL win on Feb. 9, 2008 vs. Nashville. He notched his 200th win as Sharks coach on March 18, 2008 at Los Angeles and surpassed Darryl Sutter for the franchise all-time wins list on March 1 at St. Louis.
Here is a quick snapshot of Ron Wilsons accomplishments as the Coach for the Sharks:
There is a good pool of candidates for Doug Wilson to contact over the next couple weeks. Two that come to mind are Joel Quenneville from the Avalanche and Paul Maurice from Toronto are both holding their “Will Coach For A Cup” signs. Since Toronto has all but laid their cards out on the table, it appears the San Jose Sharks will have plenty of interviews starting to line up – I mean, who wouldn’t want to coach the Sharks. They are the most consistent team in the NHL. Over his career Wilson has coached the San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks, compiling a record of 518-446-127 over his 1,091 games. He coached the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Final during the 1997-98 season but Washington was swept by the Detroit Red Wings.
Sean Avery is transitioning from agitating hockey player to fashion magazine intern. Thats right, according to ABC News (www.abcnews.go.com) Sean has a soft side!
I remember growing up and when I was playing anything outside with my friends there was one major rule ... No making up rules as you go along. Not in Colin Campbell's game though, apparently he can just make up rules and "interpretations" as he sees fit, depending on who is affected.
Lets keep in mind the Simon / Pronger incident when reading this story! Here is what happened last night that is causing quite a stir in the NHL offices:
I am sure my interpretation of this maneuver by Sean Avery is going to be argued relentlessly. I think there is nothing wrong with what Avery is doing here. He is not in the crease, he is not coming into contact with Marty, he is doing his job and that is to distract and help his team score a goal. What difference would it make if Sean's back had been to Marty and he was doing those same movements trying to distract him? My other question is directed at Paul Martin who stands 2 feet away from Sean and does nothing for a good 10 seconds, and then he tries to give him a cross check that is ineffective.
According to Marin Brodeur "I've played for 15 years in this league. I've been watching games for 33 years. I had never seen that in my life, I don't think that kind of behavior should be done in front of the net, but there is no rule for it." Well since Marty is not fond of it, don't worry, Colin will fix that for you sir.
The NHL moved quickly this morning by making an "on-the-fly rule interpretation." Seriously, that's what it says in the article ... along with this - "An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play," Colin Campbell, the NHL director of hockey operations said in a statement.
"That's not something that anyone writing the rule book has anticipated, and I don't think that we view that as part of our game," said Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford, an NHL goalie for 13 seasons. "With that being said, Sean Avery didn't do anything to break any rules. "With every rule that is written, or how we try to change the game, somebody gets creative. Sean has gone beyond being a little bit creative on this one."
That is exactly what you get from Avery, a talented player always looking for ways to push the envelope. He rarely stops talking on the ice or the bench, whether it's to opponents, teammates, officials or anyone who will listen. Once again folks, Mr Campbell shows us how easy it is to re-write the rules for this great sport. I find it interesting that they filed this under unsportsmanlike conduct instead of interference since the "interpretation" of the movement is intended to interfere with the goaltenders job of keeping the puck out of the net.
I guess that was overlooked when they decided to make this "on-the-fly" rule change ... good job Colin Campbell ... thank you for making this sport "better." *insert sarcastic "yeah, Right" here!*
I always thought the NHL gave the first draft pick to the worst team from the year before … what I did not realize is that there is a weighted system to determine the order of selection for the first 14 picks and that will take place Monday, April 7, at 8 p.m. ET at the NHL’s New York City office.
As stripped from the pages of NHL.com – “The League, in cooperation with TSN, further announced that the results of the Draft Drawing will be televised live by TSN in Canada; VERSUS in the U.S.; and NHL Network in the U.S. and Canada. Furthermore, the results will be streamed live on NHL.com and TSN.ca and broadcast live on XM Satellite Radio. It will be only the second time the Draft Drawing results will be televised live, and the first time since 2005, when the Pittsburgh Penguins won the right to select first overall and drafted Sidney Crosby.”
So - let me ask you all this - would you believe that they went and sold the rights to this honored and coveted process … the NHL has now named it the “Scotiabank NHL Draft Lottery” … amazing! For those that want to know (and don’t pretend you don’t care) I might be badmouthing it, but I’ll be glued to the TV on April 7th at 8 p.m. ET - it will originate from the NHL on TSN studios in Toronto. TSN’s James Duthie will host the program, with Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie and analyst Mike Milbury.
The Draft Drawing involves Clubs that do not qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, or the Clubs that acquired the first-round drafting positions of those non-playoff clubs. Here is how the super secret formula works (again, according to NHL.com) … the club selected in the Draft Drawing may not move up more than four positions in the draft order. Thus, the only Clubs with the opportunity to receive the first overall selection are the five teams with the lowest regular-season point totals, or the Clubs that acquired an eligible Club’s first-round draft pick. The 2008 NHL Entry Draft will take place at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario. The first round will take place on Friday, June 20 commencing at 7 p.m. (local time) and the subsequent rounds (two through seven) will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 21. No club will move down more than one position as a result of the Draft Drawing. Under the weighted system, the club with the fewest regular-season points will have the greatest chance (25%) of winning the Draft Drawing and will pick no lower than second. Based on team finish, the percentage chance of being selected in the Draft Drawing is:
This post is in rebuttal to the recent post by Chris Lucas over at Lucas On Sports regarding Gary Bettman and the NHL … while we at Ice Junkies agree with a few things in this post, there are some ideas thrown around that we need to interject our 2 cents worth. You can read the post by clicking here - What Gary Bettman Can Do To Save The NHL and you can follow Chris over at Twitter, he is @Hockeyskates The other driver of our rebuttal is the comment from “Chris in Canada” and his thoughts as to how he would make the NHL better also. So, sit back and enjoy – and thank you for taking the time.
It is annoying when Hockey purists complain about the league having teams in southern states just because they don't think they are "hockey states.” We at Ice Junkies believe if you want the league to grow, that has to be part of it. If you trimmed down the teams in the NHL you would not be able to see the difference between "good" players and "great" players. We would love to see another team in Canada … but it's ridiculous to say that the league has too many teams when you look at the standings this year and how close the race is for the playoff spots. The talent isn't being spread thin at all, in fact, if you had less teams it could be harder to find these gems because there would not be any room on NHL franchise rosters for young players or tough role players. You'd never see a guy like Darren McCarty, Georges Laraque, Steve Ott, Daniel Carcillo, etc … they would all be in the AHL. If you look at Anaheim and why they won the cup, they won it based on role players … by limiting the number of teams the league would lose that ability, like Travis Moen in Anaheim, would he have made it onto the roster? A player like Daniel Carcillo, who clearly has offensive skills, would never get to learn how to play in the NHL because nobody would want to take a chance on him when they are inundated with star caliber players. Also, when great players hit a slump, unless they have the seniority, in a league with less teams to absorb the field - they would be thrown back into the farm league and some of the great ones might never be "found" by allowing them to grow through the droughts - because no matter how you slice it ... AHL Hockey and NHL Hockey are day and night. Your stars in AHL could easily be flops in “The Show.” Look at the Busch League and Nextel Series in NASCAR.
Now, we do agree that having two teams in Florida is unnecessary when there are places in Canada begging for a team, but saying that Carolina (Stanley Cup winner), Phoenix (who has been great this year), Columbus (who actually has a decent following) don't deserve teams is, in our opinion, a clear display of bias and jealousy.
Regarding shortening the season, we do not support that idea in any shape or form, for us that's part of hockey. It's supposed to be the toughest sport on the planet and the length of a season is a part of it and to say "No one wants to watch in October when it really doesn’t matter until April and June!" proves to us that someone’s not quite as hardcore as they want to pretend. Anyone who says October doesn't matter isn't paying attention - teams know this and fans clearly care about October looking at attendance stats it's not like no one is coming to hockey games until the end of the season.
As much grief as Eklund gets around the Blog Universe, he does make some good points … and a couple days ago he discussed this exact point about tightening the NHL and the teams that are playing. You can read his post here (of course after you finish this one.) The Oil Rises. An NHL 1/3rd tighter, plus the Virtual Final Standings.
Let’s talk about the Commish now, We think Bettman has done one great thing and one terrible thing. The great thing being the salary cap structure and the new CBA (which many said he would never get) and the terrible thing is the agreement with Versus. With Versus the main problem is the lack of a real marketing push to spread the game into the mainstream (though the winter classic was brilliant) – Versus just does not have the market share to help the NHL expand its viewership and introduce this sport to new audiences. Frankly, you won’t grow the sport without ESPN and NBC. While the best way to generate a solid fan base is to have them experience the passion and excitement of the NHL in person, you won’t do that until people can see what they’re missing when they’re not even looking for it. Chicago is a great example of this. Now that the Hawks are back on local television, their attendance levels are finally climbing out of the gutter.
You can't put all the blame on Bettman either, though part of his role is to be the scapegoat, but the owners have a big say in how the sport develops and keep in mind that the NHL has actually gotten healthier under him (much like the NBA did). So while we are unhappy about some of the stuff he's done, he's at least made it so that the sport can continue.....it wasn't going to under the previous system.
Martin Gerber made his 11th straight start this evening in a huge game against conference and national rivals the Montreal Canadiens. He has a 2.60 GAA over that span with a .915 save percentage. Tonight's start, however, did not go as planned. Gerber allowed 3 goals on 14 shots and was pulled after the 1st period. The much maligned back-up, Ray Emery, has taken to the ice for the first time in nearly a month.
Emery, who led the team to the Stanley Cup finals last year, has had the kind of year, both personally and professionally, that makes PR management firms smile. He's struggled on the ice, dropped the gloves with a teammate, been late to practice numerous times prompting his coach to throw him out, had altercations with the police and been singled out for his questionable work ethic. It's the kind of year that can taint a career.
Emery, after returning from wrist surgery, split starts with Gerber which seemed to be a point of contention for him. In many ways, he had a good amount of responsibility in the firing of John Paddock, the Senators coach, only a month ago. Bryan Murray, the Senators GM, took over as head coach, a role that is pretty familiar to him after being behind the bench throughout the playoffs last year. Since Murray has taken over Gerber has been the starter as the team tries desperately to develop some consistency and find a way out of a slump that has less to do with goaltending and more to do with the team as a whole..
Now Ray Emery has found himself unexpectedly back on the ice in a clutch game that his team truly needs. Thus far, he's made 5 saves and couple of critical stops and the Senators have been able to cut the lead to two. My prediction is that this won't be the last time we see Ray Emery this season and we won't go through the playoffs without him in the net. Whether he will yank the starting reins away from Gerber, I'm not sure, but I think he could be the surprise player of the post-season. The biggest obstacle he'll need to overcome is the damage he's caused to his teammates' faith in him. A team has to believe in their goaltender, otherwise that doubt manages to spread into all aspects of the game. If Ray Emery can lead the Senators to victory tonight it may just be the first step to doing exactly that.
Post-Game
Ultimately, it wasn't mean to be for Emery or the struggling Senators. After Ottawa cut the lead to 2 midway through the second period, the Canadiens roared back scoring four goals in less than 8 minutes. The Senators seemed to wake up in the third and were able to score four goals but fell 7-5. Emery was good early on, but it wasn't enough as the Senators are clearly not a playoff hockey caliber team right now. Martin Gerber will search for retribution as he makes his 12th straight start tonight against the high-flying Buffalo Sabres.
It was the blockbuster trade of the deadline and possibly one of the most shocking deal I can remember. Pittsburgh Penguins, who’d only been loosely rumored to even have an interest in Marian Hossa, swooped in at the last second and sent Sidney Crosby’s best friend right winger Colby Armstrong, sniper Erik Christensen, 1st round draft pick Angelo Esposito and a 1st round draft pick to the Atlanta Thrashers for Hossa and defensive-minded forward Pascal Dupuis. The reaction was mixed from everyone, including myself. I didn’t mind Christensen, Esposito and the 1st rounder, but giving up Armstrong stung a bit. The Penguins have struggled to play the kind of nasty, gritty game that is often necessary in the playoffs and they sent one of their few guys who could excel in that environment. Of course, the other big question was whether or not Hossa would purely be a rental or if the Penguins had found their Jari Kurri for their Wayne Gretzky.
Marian Hossa entered the league as an Ottawa Senator when they drafted him 12 overall in 1997. At 6’1, 210 lbs he’s an incredible skater with remarkably soft hands. It’s nearly impossible to move him off the puck in the offensive zone and he possesses one of the best shots in the league. He’s consistently put up impressive regular season numbers failing to hit the 30 goal mark only 2 times in the last 10 years and in one of those he scored 29.
He spent 7 seasons in Ottawa before being traded to the Atlanta Thrasher in exchange for, the then troubled, Dany Heatley. Hossa, himself, hadn’t been able to avoid trouble. On a follow through from a slapshot, Hossa’s stick came up and clipped Toronto Maple Leaf’s defenseman Brian Berard in the eye. Berard collapsed to the ice in a pool of blood and was rushed to the hospital. The initial diagnosis was that he would most likely never see out of that eye again. After 7 operations he regained 20/600 vision in the eye and eventually returned to the NHL. While the play was clearly an accident there were many, including Maple Leafs GM Pat Quinn, who felt like it was actually a dirty play. Hossa apologized to Berard and his family and both were said to have accepted the apology.
Heatley, on the other hand, was involved in an off-ice incident that resulted in the death of a friend and teammate. Dan Snyder and Heatley were driving back from a season ticket holder function with Heatley behind the wheel. According to police, Heatley was driving in excess of 80 mph and lost control of his Ferrari. The results of the crash were devastating and Dan Synder died at the hospital without ever having regained consciousness. Heatley himself suffered a knee injury that cost him the next season, but he was at risk of spending time in prison for the accident. Heatley was found guilty of first-degree vehicular homicide, which carries a 3-15 year prison sentence, but Synder’s family pleaded with the judge to keep Heatley out of prison. Ultimately, he was sentenced to 3 years probation and was traded 6 months later. Heatley himself requested the trade, claiming he wanted a fresh start.
Hossa excelled in his new environment playing alongside young phenom Ilya Kovalchuk. His first season in Atlanta was a career year for him where he put up 39 goals and 53 assists. He followed that up with an even better performance and helped the Thrashers reach the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with his first 100 point season. All in all, he scored 82 goals and added 110 assists in those first two seasons for the Thrashers and Atlanta seemed to have the one-two punch of superstar forwards that coaches dream of. Unfortunately, Atlanta was swept in the first round and Hossa had little impact on the series registering only 1 assist and finishing with a -6 in the four games. In fact, the biggest knock against Hossa has always been his lack of playoff production or at least that’s what we were hearing leading up to the trade deadline.Over his career, he’s played in 55 post-season games accumulating 13 goals and 22 assists with a -9 rating. These are the stats that were thrown around by analysts as they evaluated Hossa’ value to a playoff bound team but if you look at these numbers a little more closely things are not quite what they seem.
If you remove the 99-2000 season, which was only his third year in the league where he put up 56 points during the regular season, the numbers seem to change pretty drastically. Furthermore, if you look at 01-03, the two years in which the Senators went deep into the playoffs, Hossa’s stats don’t look so unimpressive. Over those two years he played in 30 playoff games and put up 26 points, which is a solid effort for any forward. In fact, if you compare those percentages to what Teemu Selanne did the last two season for the Ducks, 29 points in 37 games, it’s about on-par with what you’d expect from a star forward. In fact, his numbers are better than Selanne’s. I’m not sure a player can ever produce enough points in the playoffs, but it’s seems a bit unfair to accuse of him of disappearing during the post-season.
Career Postseason Stats
Totals
Team
GP
G
A
Pts
+/-
PM
PP
SHG
GWG
S
SPct.
1998-99
Ott
4
0
2
2
1
4
0
0
0
11
0.00
1999-00
Ott
6
0
0
0
-8
2
0
0
0
14
0.00
2000-01
Ott
4
1
1
2
1
4
0
0
0
12
8.33
2001-02
Ott
12
4
6
10
2
2
1
0
0
42
9.52
2002-03
Ott
18
5
11
16
-1
6
3
0
1
54
9.26
2003-04
Ott
7
3
1
4
2
0
1
0
2
32
9.38
2006-07
Atl
4
0
1
1
-6
6
0
0
0
10
0.00
Career
55
13
22
35
-9
24
5
0
3
175
7.43
The Thrashers have desperately been trying to build a solid fanbase in the south and even sold away some of their future for playoff rental players last season so allowing Marian Hossa to walk at first seemed illogical. It eventually became clear that Hossa wasn’t too interested in staying in Atlanta. I’ve heard many concerns over the franchise in general, especially in relation to their minor league and developmental programs, and this decision seems to echo them. Ultimately, he forced their hand and the Thrashers simply couldn’t let him walk for nothing. They got a fine package in return as Armstrong and Christensen have both played well since arriving in Atlanta, Esposito could be a future star in the league and the upcoming draft is deep enough for them to snatch a valuable player with the last first round pick. Atlanta was probably has happy as could be expected.
The Penguins, on the other hand, took heat for the trade. Many felt like Hossa was purely a rental and the Pens wouldn’t be able to afford him next season with Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Malone all requiring new deals in the near future. However, I’m not quite certain that they can’t. I looked up some of the salary numbers and I don’t claim these to be particularly accurate but they should be in the ballpark.
PLAYER
POS
TEAM
D.O.B.
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
In the NHL
HOSSA, MARIAN
R
PIT
79/01/12
$7,000,000
$7,500,000
$7,500,000
GONCHAR, SERGEI
D
PIT
74/04/13
$5,500,000
$6,000,000
$5,500,000
ROBERTS, GARY
L
PIT
66/05/23
$2,500,000
retire
SYDOR, DARRYL
D
PIT
72/05/13
$2,500,000
$2,500,000
UFA
SYKORA, PETR
R
PIT
76/11/19
$2,500,000
$2,500,000
UFA
WHITNEY, RYAN
D
PIT
83/02/19
$2,500,000
$3,000,000
$3,500,000
GILL, HAL
D
PIT
75/04/06
$2,075,000
$2,100,000
UFA
EATON, MARK
D
PIT
77/05/06
$1,600,000
release
FLEURY, MARC-ANDRE
G
PIT
84/11/28
$1,600,000
$5,000,000
$6,000,000
MALONE, RYAN
L
PIT
79/12/01
$1,450,000
$3,000,000
$3,500,000
LARAQUE, GEORGES
R
PIT
76/12/07
$1,300,000
$1,500,000
RUUTU, JARKKO
L
PIT
75/08/23
$1,150,000
release
ORPIK, BROOKS
D
PIT
80/09/26
$1,075,000
$1,500,000
$1,500,000
MALKIN, EVGENI
C
PIT
86/07/31
$984,200
$984,200
$8,000,000
DUPUIS, PASCAL
L
PIT
79/04/07
$880,000
$1,500,000
$1,500,000
CROSBY, SIDNEY
C
PIT
87/08/07
$850,000
$9,000,000
$9,000,000
STAAL, JORDAN
C
PIT
88/09/10
$850,000
$850,000
RFA
SCUDERI, ROBERT
D
PIT
78/12/30
$700,000
$725,000
UFA
TALBOT, MAXIME
C
PIT
84/02/11
$650,000
$700,000
RFA
LETANG, KRISTOPHER
D
PIT
87/04/24
$560,000
$685,000
$625,000
KENNEDY, TYLER
C
PIT
86/07/15
$550,000
$550,000
RFA
SABOURIN, DANY
G
PIT
80/09/02
$500,000
$525,000
UFA
TAFFE, JEFF
L
PIT
81/02/19
$500,000
$800,000
$800,000
JAMES, CONNOR
L
PIT
82/08/25
$475,000
$475,000
NHL totals
$40,249,200
$51,394,200
$47,425,000
The 07-08 numbers should all be pro-rated based on the amount of time that player will spend with Pittsburgh. As you can see I released a few players, assumed Gary Roberts would retire and signed the proper players to new contracts (the numbers in bold). Again, I don’t claim any of this to be accurate but I don’t think it’s too far off. Whether or not the team will want to spend close to the cap remains to be seen. Even if they do signing Hossa does put Pittsburgh at risk once Malkin’s new contract kicks in which will have to be in the neighborhood of 8-9 million. I think Pittsburgh will try to sign him and perhaps the lure of playing with Crosby and Malkin on a team that will be competing for the cup every year will be too much to turn down, wishful thinking I know, but it’s pretty clear that re-signing him was not the initial goal anyways. The goal appears to be this year’s playoffs and a trade like this tells everyone that the team wants to win right now. So the big question is whether or not Hossa can make the difference.
Hossa’s “career” in Pittsburgh started rough as he only lasted 10 minutes in his debut before a knee on knee collision sent him to the dressing room and forced him to sit for 8 days. He finally returned on the 16th at home against the Philadelphia Flyers where he had a goal and an assist with a +2 rating. This, of course, was without Crosby who continues to rest his high ankle sprain. Hossa didn’t line up with Malkin, as expected, but seemed to bounce between lines as is typical for Michele Therrien, the Penguins coach. One line that did seem to show some serious potential had Staal flanked by Dupuis and Hossa. This line continues to show up occasionally and seems to have a great balance of solid play in their own zone with the capability of producing scoring chances at any time. In the following game Hossa finished with 5 shots on goal and an assist in a game where the Penguins played poorly against the New York Rangers. In his third game he played nearly 20 minutes, his most since coming to Pittsburgh, but failed to register a point. His lack of points that night had everything to do with Mike Smith, Tampa Bay’s goalie, making 6 or 7 mind blowing saves in the third on nearly every Penguin. Hossa could have , and should have, easily finished with 2 or 3 points.
So far, Hossa seems to be settling in quite nicely even without the guy who will ultimately be feeding him the puck during the playoffs. He’s shown that he can play on nearly any line and has shown flashes of the brilliance for which he’s been heralded. When Crosby returns, which should be next week, we’ll finally get to see how this experiment/gamble paid off. One things for certain, if the Penguins win the cup no one will question the trade, but if they struggle and are then unable to re-sign Hossa, the hockey world will be anything but forgiving.
