Blinky finally got moved

[madcap9999]

20 quality years as a Shark, and certainly the greatest Shark of all time. It's an all time BA record tenure with one pro team. It’s also one of the longest tenures in US pro history. Quite a list he’s joined!

The longest-tenured players from the 4 major US pro sports

I would sum up his career here like this:

The good:
He had many, many great moments that fans will remember forever
When he was hot, he was super hot with several multi-point games in a row
He made several clutch goals in the POs
Was relatively healthy for most of his 20 years and stayed in great shape
Didn't stir the pot in the locker room too much
Ultimately, he'll most likely make the HoF

The bad:
He often went AWOL just at the wrong time in the POs.
When he was cold, he was ice cold
Arguably he was the unofficial cancer that caused the Sharks demise year after year, along with JT sometimes. He should have been let go 4 or 5 years ago.
Was overpaid the last few years
Well.. (same as above) he didn't stir the pot in the locker room too much lol. He would never be someone to get a team fired up.
Mr. Quiet and unofficial perennial Lady Bing candidate.

Good luck in Toronto, Patty - thanks for all the (mostly good) memories.

 

[madcap9999]

Oh, and add to the bad list: he was a craptacular captain.

 

[MrFlyingV]

20 quality years as a Shark, and certainly the greatest Shark of all time. It's an all time BA record tenure with one pro team. It’s also one of the longest tenures in US pro history. Quite a list he’s joined!

The longest-tenured players from the 4 major US pro sports

I would sum up his career here like this:

The good:
He had many, many great moments that fans will remember forever
When he was hot, he was super hot with several multi-point games in a row
He made several clutch goals in the POs
Was relatively healthy for most of his 20 years and stayed in great shape
Didn't stir the pot in the locker room too much
Ultimately, he'll most likely make the HoF

The bad:
He often went AWOL just at the wrong time in the POs.
When he was cold, he was ice cold
Arguably he was the unofficial cancer that caused the Sharks demise year after year, along with JT sometimes. He should have been let go 4 or 5 years ago.
Was overpaid the last few years
Well.. (same as above) he didn't stir the pot in the locker room too much lol. He would never be someone to get a team fired up.
Mr. Quiet and unofficial perennial Lady Bing candidate.

Good luck in Toronto, Patty - thanks for all the (mostly good) memories.

Excellent analysis but I am going to be a little more negative. 20 years was WAAAAY too long. I was thinking the same thing about being let go 4 or 5 years ago. After all the playoff failures, should have made a blockbuster deal to shake things up. Sharks spent too many years being conservative. Marleau / Thornton 1 Stanley Cup Final appearance. That says it all. Good but not great. Remember the Joe Thornton trade in 2005 and how excited we were? Thornton and Marleau in their primes together. Here come the Cups. Now their time has passed with no hardware to show for it. Also, he is overpaid now again. So Toronto is going to hate this deal. Marleau performs his best in contract years. Now he has a 3 year deal. Time to go soft again.... and that is one reason he stayed healthy...never did the dirty work. In some ways, I feel like Marleau robbed me of seeing the Stanley Cup in San Jose. 36 when Marleau joined the Sharks, I am 55 now, and year after year playoff underachievement (except last year). 20 effing years. I don't see a Stanley Cup any time soon in San Jose. May never see it in my lifetime. Look at this board now. Deadsville. That says it all. Marleau (and Thornton) have brought about a malaise now. Same ole, same ole for too many years. I barely watched any Sharks hockey this year. Couldn't take all the playoff meltdowns year after year with the same two "leaders" year after year knowing exactly how it was going to end. It got old, and I got old too.

 

[Hovertical]

I think one of the biggest reasons that he stayed so long is that the Sharks rarely sign any big UFA's (outside of their own) so despite all the negativity that seemed to follow him around they knew you could slot him in there for 25g (or more) each season. I can't hate on a guy who scored 500+ goals for the Sharks. I still blame the front office more for not going after some of the bigger name guys during certain seasons that would have helped stop those deficiencies. He was not a captain-esque player, and there's nothing wrong with that, but he was mostly consistent season-to-season and was practically an iron man - even playing through mono. I wish him nothing but the best in Toronto. I'm sure most of us would have taken the bigger payday too if we were in the same situation.

 

[MrFlyingV]

I think one of the biggest reasons that he stayed so long is that the Sharks rarely sign any big UFA's (outside of their own) so despite all the negativity that seemed to follow him around they knew you could slot him in there for 25g (or more) each season. I can't hate on a guy who scored 500+ goals for the Sharks. I still blame the front office more for not going after some of the bigger name guys during certain seasons that would have helped stop those deficiencies. He was not a captain-esque player, and there's nothing wrong with that, but he was mostly consistent season-to-season and was practically an iron man - even playing through mono. I wish him nothing but the best in Toronto. I'm sure most of us would have taken the bigger payday too if we were in the same situation.

True, but you would think when they brought Thornton in back in 2005, and then Boyle, that should have been enough. And you fill in around that. Those players took a lot of salary too. They had a lot of number #1 seeds in the west during their era and choked it away. In retrospect, in some ways I like the pre-Marleau / Thornton era better, the overachieving Nolan / Ricci teams who had less talent.

 

[Cbrower91]

You guys will be belly aching next year when this team is struggling to replace him in the line up, no one player on the current roster can fill all the roles that he played and still scored 25 a season

 

[Cbrower91]

That being said I'm glad Toronto over paid him and not San Jose

 

[MrFlyingV]

You guys will be belly aching next year when this team is struggling to replace him in the line up, no one player on the current roster can fill all the roles that he played and still scored 25 a season

I am not going to be bellyaching as I have resided to the fact that it is rebuilding time. Who relies on a couple 37 year olds for the future when young McJesus is about to win a few cups in Edmonton. 3 years at $6.25 million. Toronto has to be effing crazy. Even Thornton on a bad knee for 6+ million is stupid. Sharks need to suck and get themselves a McJesus. Be like Pittsburgh. Suck the most when a Lemieux and a Crosby are available.

P.S. I will never bellyache more than when Marleau and company were choking playoffs series year after year. Especially the one to the Kings up 3-0. That was the penultimate bellyache moment. What made it worse was the Kings winning every god damn Game 7 and winning two Cups being the anti-Sharks at the same time. The God Damn effing Kings of all teams. Humiliating. And then you have the Giants winning 3 World Series and the Warriors winning 2 NBA Titles this decade, while the Sharks are quickly becoming the forgotten franchise with failure after failure year after year.

 

[Likewall32]

Marleau has been replaced... We got Brandon Bollig -- we are Cup bound

 

[MrFlyingV]

Marleau has been replaced... We got Brandon Bollig -- we are Cup bound

LOL. Sounds like another "gritty" player Doogie loves. He lit it up for all of 11 goals for the Stockton Heat last year. That'll fill the seats at the Tank next year. By the way, Edmonton signs McJesus 8 years $100 million. I guess they know where their bread is buttered. Now the Sharks have to deal with this for 8 years.

 

[Cbrower91]

LOL. Sounds like another "gritty" player Doogie loves. He lit it up for all of 11 goals for the Stockton Heat last year. That'll fill the seats at the Tank next year. By the way, Edmonton signs McJesus 8 years $100 million. I guess they know where their bread is buttered. Now the Sharks have to deal with this for 8 years.

Hopefully they throw an offer sheet at drisatil

 

[MrFlyingV]

Hopefully they throw an offer sheet at drisatil

Yeah they are need help up front for sure. I was reading Kurz and he was saying Dougie is doing a good job in the offseason. He must delusional. I am happy with goaltending and defense but they are going be a disaster up front. They haven't developed a big time forward since Couture, and most young forwards have plateaued or regressed. Pavs and Thornton are old or getting old. I am still waiting for Hertl (Kurz being way optimistic about him than I), and Karlsson, Donskoi, Tierney, LeBanc, Carpenter, Meir, all scare me in a bad way especially the first 3 in the list are regressing or plateauing. You can't expect Burns to carry the offense again.

Anybody have an opinion on the Sharks development of young players? Not many are breakout stars. Is Roy Somner the issue? The guy has been coaching the AHL Sharks team since 1998 and not many real stars: Marleau, Pavs, Couture, Vlasic, any others in the last 19 years? I could fill up a 747 with all the busts and flash in the pans. Great trades and some free agents is what saved them with Thornton, Burns, Boyle, Ricci, Damphousse, etc and their goaltending.

 

[Cbrower91]

Yeah they are need help up front for sure. I was reading Kurz and he was saying Dougie is doing a good job in the offseason. He must delusional. I am happy with goaltending and defense but they are going be a disaster up front. They haven't developed a big time forward since Couture, and most young forwards have plateaued or regressed. Pavs and Thornton are old or getting old. I am still waiting for Hertl (Kurz being way optimistic about him than I), and Karlsson, Donskoi, Tierney, LeBanc, Carpenter, Meir, all scare me in a bad way especially the first 3 in the list are regressing or plateauing. You can't expect Burns to carry the offense again.

Anybody have an opinion on the Sharks development of young players? Not many are breakout stars. Is Roy Somner the issue? The guy has been coaching the AHL Sharks team since 1998 and not many real stars: Marleau, Pavs, Couture, Vlasic, any others in the last 19 years? I could fill up a 747 with all the busts and flash in the pans. Great trades and some free agents is what saved them with Thornton, Burns, Boyle, Ricci, Damphousse, etc and their goaltending.

Carpenter is the only one I'd be concerned about, I'm
Not expecting tierny to be much more then a 3rd line center. Leblanc showed great chemistry with Couture at points last season so I'm optimistic. Mier getting time in Marleaus spot might help but the jury is still out, plus Bodeker could rebound

 

[Cbrower91]

I'd kind of like to see the sharks sign Jagr and pair him with Hertl, I think that would have a profound impact on the kid

 

[sjrules99]

Right now, I can't see the sharks bringing in anybody. I think we will see carpenter, lebanc, and meier in the opening lineup.

On the bright side, it will be nice to see what the farm really has to offer with patty gone. I mean, between those three players, as well as oregan (possibly chartier and a few others) they have some young guns with promise. And of course Ryan and Heed absolutely lit it up in the AHL last year, and production from the D from anybody not named burns was minimal. If heed can handle the defensive side of the game, he might bring a much needed punch from the back end.

They also can reasonably hope for a better boedker year. If all the rooks falter, it could be a grueling painful year. But, if a few shine, then all of the sudden the whole outlook changes. Suddenly, dougie will have lots of cap space and attractive young players to dangle in trade midyear as needed.

I am fine with patty going. I am also fine with playing it slowly to see how the kids do. We will know come early december what the future holds. I am cautiously optimistic.

***Also, I think dougie may be giving the kids a chance to raise their trade value. No doubt that given the cap space this year, and more importantly next year when Jumbo's 8M is off the books means lots of space to add a player for the long term. (like a duchesne, tavares, etc.) next year, the sharks will have roughly 25M in cap space and the only free agents will be hansen, hertl, ward, tierney, and demelo. even after keeping hertl and co, they will still have 15-20M in space. with patty walking and jumbo signing just one year, dougie has a huge amount of flexibility to maneuver a deal. that's where the kids come in to play. In december, some team will be struggling, and the sharks can pounce to bring in a top line player and then sign them to a massive extension.

(pretend the kids step up and lebanc or oregan start lighting it up. then the sharks package one or a few prospects and next year's first rounder for a player like tavares, then sign him to an 8 yr, 72M deal). Then they would still have 10M+ on the cap next year to add another scoring forward. So while the current roster looks like it lacks a little punch, getting the kids that exposure could allow dougie to have the assets to move to set up the post-jumbo/patty era. He has laready locked up the #1 goalie, and top 2 Dmen forever. Now he just needs to lock down the #1C forever and hell have the core to build around).