The Sharks Need to Start From Scratch

The San Jose Sharks playoff loss to the St. Louis Blues was probably the most embarrassing series I ever watched and it proves that big changes need to be made to this roster. Year in and year out, the Sharks tweak their roster with hopes of winning the Stanley Cup and each year they come up short. Tweaking the roster will no longer do the trick. This team needs to be blown up.  The Sharks need to get rid of most of their current players and start all over again with a brand new team. The reason I say this is because the Sharks are not getting any younger. As the players age on this team, the Sharks are only going to get worse and pretty soon they will not even make it to the playoffs. Most of the players on the Sharks have been with the team for quite a few years and have failed to win the Stanley Cup for San Jose. So what makes the Sharks think they will win it all when the players are getting older? If this current Sharks team couldn’t win it all in the prime of their careers, they certainly won’t when they reach the end of their careers. Better to trade many of the current Sharks now while they still have value to other teams, rather than wait for the players to get older and then not have any trade value.

                The Sharks currently do not have many prospects in the minor leagues and their farm system was ranked by some as one of the worst in the NHL.  This happened because the Sharks traded so many prospects and draft picks in the years past for players who could help the Sharks win it all. The risk hasn’t paid off for the Sharks and now they need to rebuild their farm system by trading away current players for draft picks and prospects.  Rebuilding the Sharks will not be easy for some Shark fans to take as it will mean that they will miss the playoffs for a few years and will be a team that no longer is contending for the Stanley Cup. I admit that it will be hard for me to see this team in a rebuilding mode, but in the long run it will be good for the future of this franchise. A few years of being a bad team will mean the Sharks can get some high draft picks and those picks can be used to rebuild their farm system.

After a few years of rebuilding their farm system, the Sharks will have many prospects ready to play for the team and give them a better identity then they had before. Maybe after years of rebuilding the Sharks, the team will have players who have heart and will play big in the postseason when it matters most. A new identity for the Sharks may mean the team no longer has a reputation of being playoff chokers but rather a team that can win the Stanley Cup. The Sharks current roster has an identity of playoff underachievers.

Guys like Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau have been the face of this team and they are the reasons this team hasn’t gone all the way. It is because they don’t have the heart to win the Stanley Cup. You can’t have a new identity and a new team until those players are gone. Yes, both of those players have no-trade clauses, but I am pretty sure if Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson made it clear to them that they are not wanted anymore, they would waive their no-trade clauses. Who wants to play for a team that doesn’t want you?  Thornton was a good Shark and brought a lot of excitement to this team especially during the regular season. He is without a doubt the best player to have played in a Sharks uniform. However, his postseason numbers are not as great as his regular season numbers. Add to the fact that Thornton will be 33 next season and he is already shown signs of aging.  His passing isn’t as great as it use to be and he has gotten slower. Thornton should be traded while he still has value to other teams, and the Sharks can easily get prospects and draft picks for him.  Marleau should be traded for the same reasons as Thornton. Marleau has been a great Shark with great moments in the regular season and postseason. However, he also will turn 33 next season, and he also shows no heart in games that matter the most. Wilson should trade Marleau while the team can get good players in return.

Wilson shouldn’t stop with Marleau and Thornton. He should also trade an aging Dan Boyle, a slower Douglas Murray, an average goalie at best in Antti Niemi, an inconsistent Ryan Clowe, a physically weak defenseman in Marc-Edouard Vlasic, an injury prone Martin Havlat, and an overrated Torrey Mitchell.  All of the players I just mentioned have flaws to their game and can also bring the Sharks some players from other teams in trades.  It would also free up salary cap space to give the Sharks a chance to sign new players. The only players I would not trade are Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski. Both of those players are still young and have a lot promise in the future with the Sharks. Everyone else is trade bait to me.

Last but not least, Wilson needs to fire head coach Todd McLellan. McLellan clearly had a horrible system in place for a talented team like the Sharks. Instead of having the team use its speed to bring the puck into the offensive zone, he had them play a game of dump and chase the puck in the offensive zone. The Sharks had a horrible year at scoring because of this system. Plus the Sharks penalty kill was horrible and that blame should be on the coach for implementing a flawed defensive game. McLellan for four years had one of the best teams in hockey and yet he couldn’t win them the Stanley Cup. It’s obvious he didn’t do a good job at motivating this team.

All of the changes I mentioned above have to happen for the sake of the franchise. They had a great run with the current group of Sharks but all great runs have to come to an end. The Sharks need to start from scratch. If they wait till later, it could hurt the franchise in the long run. Better to cut your losses now while it’s not too late.