ESPN Insider article? anyone still have access?

[naes666]

if so, can someone post this please?

2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs - Time for the San Jose Sharks to rebuild? - ESPN

 

[CJdublé]

Yeah here you go:
The process will be the same in San Jose. GM Doug Wilson will meet with his players and will meet with his coaching staff and his ownership. On Tuesday, there will be a media availability in San Jose revealing explanations that might shed light as to why Logan Couture, Douglas Murray, Joe Pavelski and Dominic Moore underachieved at the biggest time of year.

The process will be the same, but the timing will be different. It's way too soon for San Jose to be doing this evaluation.

After significant changes, including the addition of Brent Burns and Martin Havlat, among others, the Sharks didn't play well enough to extend their season against the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference quarterfinals. They were beat by a better team, that much was very clear. But their struggles started earlier than that. Had this talented team found the motivation to kick into gear sometime before the last week of the regular season, it probably wins the division and earns a No. 3 seed. It is probably still playing.

But it is not.

"[The Sharks are] not the only good hockey team that feels that way right now," one NHL source said Sunday night after the Canucks joined the Sharks, Red Wings and Penguins as the first four teams eliminated from the NHL postseason. It might be the best collection of talent ever knocked out of the playoffs, as Mike Babcock likes to say, right off the hop.

Sure, misery loves company, but that doesn't make this any easier on the fans in San Jose, who had expectations this year of a Stanley Cup. Wilson and coach Todd McLellan guided this team to two consecutive Western Conference finals and looked poised to finally break through. The opposite happened, and the questions are starting to circle the Sharks in San Jose. None bigger than these five:

1. Is it time for dramatic change at the top?

Disappointed fans are going to want blood after such a disappointing season, and some will point to Wilson as the problem. It might sound strange, but on some level Wilson is probably OK with that. He has said consistently in the past that he'd much rather have a passionate fan base over apathy, and an apathetic fan base stops caring who makes the decisions at the top.

Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News wrote a fantastic column breaking down the ownership situation in San Jose and explaining why that will play a part in Wilson's likely return. Wilson, to his credit, has created a high standard in San Jose, and that will lead to criticism when his standard isn't reached, but when you stack up his accomplishments against his 29 other NHL colleagues, the suggestion of firing him looks almost outrageous.

Since he joined the organization in 2003, only the Detroit Red Wings have more playoff wins. San Jose makes the postseason every year and it has done it with a modest payroll. If you watch how Wilson operates, you notice that he doesn't have the luxury of burying contracts in the AHL or Europe. He refuses to frontload deals and doesn't have any of those ugly, long-term contracts on the books. The actual amount of money spent year to year puts San Jose right in the middle of the pack in the NHL. And yet, the team is consistently making the playoffs and occasionally making a push for the Stanley Cup. This wasn't Wilson's best year, but he's far from the problem in San Jose.

2. What about McLellan?

Purdy wrote that if Wilson returns, so will McLellan since the two are on the same page philosophically. With four playoff appearances and two trips to the conference finals on his resume, McLellan has earned the right to return, although it might be time for a staff shake-up at some level. The Sharks' penalty kill was awful during the playoffs, finishing at just 66.7 percent. That follows a regular season in which the PK was No. 29 in the league at 76.9 percent. That follows a 2010-11 season in which the PK was No. 24 in the NHL at 79.6. Something isn't right there.

3. Has the window of opportunity to win a Cup truly closed on the Sharks' core?

[+] Enlarge

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images
A Patrick Marleau trade could bring some needed pieces to San Jose this summer.
This is the tough one. In these playoffs the Sharks looked old and slow. That's not a good combination in today's NHL playoffs. We're going to assume that Colin White (34 years old), Jim Vandermeer (32 year old) and Moore (31) won't be back. If you identify the Sharks' core as this group -- Ryane Clowe (29 years old), Couture (23), Patrick Marleau (32), Pavelski (27), Joe Thornton (32), Burns (27) and Antti Niemi (28) -- the average age is higher than you'd like but still one that can compete at a high level for the next couple years. Dan Boyle is 35 years old but is still skating and has a good couple years left. We're definitely concerned about Murray, one of our favorite players and personalities, who is starting to age quickly. He's becoming a player who, if he's not 100 percent healthy, is a liability on the ice, and that's something the Sharks will have to deal with sooner than expected.

What hurts San Jose most is that there isn't an influx of young talent coming. The best young players are already there in guys such as Couture and Justin Braun. To land Burns, the Sharks had to part with Devin Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle and a pick that turned out to be talented center Zack Phillips, who had 80 points in 60 games this season with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Saint John Sea Dogs. Coyle and Phillips would be welcomed reinforcements in San Jose next season but instead will be part of the future turnaround in Minnesota. This may be the biggest issue for San Jose, because the problem with the Sharks isn't one of high-end talent. It's depth. San Jose, a team that lost money this season, can't spend its way into filling its bottom six with playoff performers and isn't pumping enough young talent into the NHL roster to make up for it. It's a problem Wilson will have to fix this summer.

4. Is it time to break up Thornton and Marleau?

Yes. Thornton was the Sharks' best player during this postseason with five points in five games, winning 61.1 percent of his faceoffs. Pavelski was the bigger problem among the Joes, missing on numerous high-quality scoring chances and winning just 43.4 percent of his faceoffs. That's a troubling percentage for a player who took a team-high 76 draws during the playoffs. Something was off this postseason in Pavelski's game, and don't be surprised if an explanation emerges this week. Marleau, again, was a complete non-factor. He was just 45.8 percent in the faceoff circle and didn't register a single point in five games, despite averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per game. Marleau has two years remaining on a contract that pays him $6.9 million per season. He also has a no-movement clause. Thornton, who has been criticized in the past for the Sharks' underperformance, has found a way to raise his game during the postseason. The same can't be said for Marleau. Wilson needs to take a hard look at what Flyers GM Paul Holmgren did last summer in trading Mike Richards and Jeff Carter and find a version of that aggressiveness that is appropriate for his team. We'd find a way to keep Thornton around, but Marleau could be a piece that pumps needed youth and speed into this roster.

5. Is it time for a dramatic rebuild in San Jose?

The reality is that's not an option. Carolina GM Jim Rutherford has explained in the past that his market wouldn't allow for the selling of star players for draft picks and prospects and a few years in the basement to pull off a Pittsburgh or Chicago-like turnaround. It would take years to win the fans back. San Jose is the same way. That building is constantly packed but it's packed because the Sharks are constantly competitive. The organization prefers the term retool to rebuild, and there will be some serious retooling in San Jose this summer.

The Sharks will take a hard look at Rick Nash when Columbus is ready to re-open that trade talk. They will have some money to spend in free agency if the right player is available. When the salary cap drops after the new collective bargaining agreement is announced, as many league sources anticipate it will, the Sharks will be among the teams ready to absorb contracts when other general managers are looking to sell.

Last summer, in explaining his aggressive moves in reshaping a roster that went to the conference finals, Wilson said this: "We don't feel that we're reactive. We're proactive." This summer can't be any different.

 

[MacJ88]

+REPS for CJ, thanks man, good read.

 

[naes666]

thanks much, REP for you!

 

[CJdublé]

Welcome welcome, I have insider access through 2015 so feel free to ask for future articles.

 

[MacJ88]

Welcome welcome, I have insider access through 2015 so feel free to ask for future articles.

 

[Likewall32]

This part of the article says it all:: "What hurts San Jose most is that there isn't an influx of young talent coming. The best young players are already there in guys such as Couture and Justin Braun. To land Burns, the Sharks had to part with Devin Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle and a pick that turned out to be talented center Zack Phillips, who had 80 points in 60 games this season with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Saint John Sea Dogs. Coyle and Phillips would be welcomed reinforcements in San Jose next season but instead will be part of the future turnaround in Minnesota. This may be the biggest issue for San Jose, because the problem with the Sharks isn't one of high-end talent. It's depth. San Jose, a team that lost money this season, can't spend its way into filling its bottom six with playoff performers and isn't pumping enough young talent into the NHL roster to make up for it. It's a problem Wilson will have to fix this summer."


Yea Burns, you fuckbucket!