Two for Elbowing

McErlain: Milbury simply embarrassing

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Instead, keep your eyes on Mike Milbury, who sends things off the rails. Click Click here to watch.

Milbury is a bit more than over the top when he throws his arm around Ovechkin's shoulder like he's a buddy and tells him to get a haircut. Ovechkin is 22 and the league's presumptive MVP. He deserves not to be treated like a 16-year-old. When you look at it that way, it can't be surprising that Ovechkin -- who got off a zinger with his crack about Milbury being a cat -- said nothing interesting.

It was a bad interview. Worse, there's proof that it is possible to have fun with an Ovechkin interview -- without it being insulting.

Take a look at this clip from Canadian television, in which Michael Landsberg finds a different way to elicit funny and illuminating comments from Ovechkin. He even gave Landsberg a prediction, something he refused to give Neumeier and Milbury.

Eric's completely right here, and it's embarassing. But it's also part of a larger issue with major US media, especially the "talking heads" and "writing heads" who are paid to sound important: trying to be part of the story instead of letting the story develop. Not that canadian media is immune to this, not by a long shot.

it's really more of the "reporter" mentality compared to the "commentator" mentality. You see LOTS of this in the toronto media, for instance, among the experts and pundits who trip over each other to be first and most on any given piece of information they consider intersting. And yes, there are guys on CBC just as guilty of this, starting with Ron MacLean and his baiting of the league and Bettman on regular occasions. And his intermission cohort, oh, whatever his name is.

hell, I had great hopes that they were going to upgrade the quality of the 2nd intermission this season, but look how quickly Al Strachan and the rumormongering returned instead of studied discussion. because there's a large segment of the audience that drools over that stuff. Which is fine. It's just not what I want.

(nor are bloggers immune to this. Look at who some of the bloggers being moved into larger-visibility situations -- Eklund, or dear Greg, the new Puck Daddy at yahoo. Greg's not exactly spending his time analyzing gap distances in the 1-2-2 forecheck -- he's doing a good job of being hockey's Mike Arrington, flaws and all. Which works, and I'm not complaining. but me, I'd rather be analyzing the gap distances of a 1-2-2 forecheck....)

So it's really not about US or Canada, or TV/print. or old media vs. bloggers. it's really about good work vs. bad work. and frankly, Milbury has a name, but he rarely, if ever, does good work on TV. I know he's not high on my list of names I'll hire when I take over CBC sports...

cup final -- nice win by Pittsburgh.

apologies for relative silence. To be honest, I've seen little of this round and the previous round because of things going on. I'm down in SoCal again visiting family, and that complicates my ability to talk about hockey.

Having said that, saw most of the first two Detroit wins in this round, and listened to parts of the Pens comeback last night on XM radio, and was very happy to hear how Pittsburgh was going to make this a series.

More when things allow, but it's nice to see we'll have a good final round, not a sweep.

and back to hockey talk when I can.

So what did the Dallas series prove to us about the Sharks?

A couple of quick musings on the Detroit/Dallas series. Dallas came out of the 4 overtime game with little rest, and proceeded to hand Detroit three games before getting their game back and making it a series.

Sound familiar? And both Mike Modano and Brendan Morrow were quoted in the press about how that overtime game took it out of them.

A lot of this is biology; it takes a certain amount of time to flush out the lactic acid and replace the glucogen. It doesn't matter HOW GOOD your conditioning it, if you don't have time to rest up, you simply can't perform at a top level. Detroit only had 1 extra day of rest over Dallas, but that one extra day was enough for the legs to recover.

And it wasn't until about game four that both teams got back to equivalent levels of physical exhaustion.

So it's really safe to claim that even though San Jose beat Calgary in 7, Calgary making the series that tough was the key factor in losing to the Stars. And the Sharks series was a key factor in the Stars losing to the Wings.

That's why killer instinct is so important. That's why you need to put a team away and finish off a series when you can. It's because a four game series gives you the ability to play full out in the next series, where a seven game series leaves you worn out and easy (easier) pickings in the next round.

And the Sharks lack of a killer instinct against Calgary cost them a chance at Detroit. And that lack of killer instinct (which fluttered in and out of view all season like a butterfly, kicked in hard for that 20 game run, and then wandered off again in search of nectar...) is what ultimately cost Wilson his job.

Crash Davis points out that the difference between a AAA catcher and a major league catcher is a hit a week. Figure out how to go 2-4 one game a week instead of 1-4, and you're in the bigs. the problem is: it's just not easy to DO. But the ones that make the majors are the ones that do find a way. Not the most talented guys -- the ones that find a way to make it happen. Talent helps, but it's not the prime determiner of success.

The same is true in hockey in its way.

An example I like to use is goaltending. Take a goalie that lets in four goals in a game. For each goal in isolation, you may look at it and go "man, I don't know how he could have stopped it".

But taken in the larger view, the top goalies will find a way to stop ONE of those pucks. or two. That's what makes them the top goalies. It's easy to look at any one goal and think "tough save" -- but look at a series of them, and you start realizing that the goalie needs to make SOME of them, or they shouldn't be your goalie.

Same for teams. You can look at the Sharks playoff run (and I have), and find reasons why, if a bounce went this way instead of that, if Pavelski didn't blow a tire, if this penalty wasn't called, if that penalty WAS called, the results could be very different.

All very true. And I did exactly that. but sitting back and thinking on it a bit more, and talking about it with others, I started to realize the same thing about the Sharks that I did about those goals: yeah, the breaks went against the team, but the team needed to find ways to win anyway in some of those games. And it only would have taken a game or two to fight beyond those bad breaks to change the calgary series or the dallas series, because they really were that close.

Good teams have three attributes taht are relevant here:

they make their own luck through hard work and execution. Many times "luck" is nothing more than battling to be in the place you know you need to be at the time you need to be there.

they don't let a bad break beat them. They find a way to overcome it.

And where possible, the top teams -- and just look at Detroit here -- make sure that they're not in a position where a bad break CAN beat them. If you're up 2-3 goals and in the offensive zone, a bad break simply isn't as damaging as if you're protecting your own goal and thegame is tied late, or you're only up one goal.

And that, in a nutshell, is what's missing from the Sharks. they played too many games too close to the edge, and when you do that and the breaks go against you, you lose. That's a lack of the killer instinct, it's letting your victim get back up and take a swipe at your kidneys. If you do, sometimes they'll connect, adn then you have problems.

That's why Wilson got fired, he didn't find the way to inject that killer instinct into the team. And that's the primary job of the new coach (I wish him luck). And if you want to see it in action, watch the Red Wings.

So it's no surprise that this is the team Doug Wilson is looking to for inspiration on taking the Sharks to the next level.

Two for Elbowing: Conference Finals projections

Two for Elbowing: Conference Finals projections:

And Sharks/Dallas? Dallas deserves to move forward. Good luck to them.

1-3. Ouch. but still 7-5 for the playoffs. I still have time to screw that up.

And so I will.

And I went 1-1 in the conference finals, so I'm at 8-6 and guaranteed a winning record for the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row. Not too bad.

Okay, Okay. I've been under-estimating Detroit long enough. All year. I didn't pick them that strong going into the season, I thought they were getting too old and the goaltending suspicious. In the playoffs, I kept assuming reality would kick in (forget that President's trophy, it's a mirage!).

Osgood has a rep for being the worst goalie to ever win a Stanley Cup ("oh, hell, I could have won a Cup goaltending for that team". right. yeah.) -- and may soon be the worst goalie to have TWO rings. He's done nothing but impress me all season, and especially in the playoffs. Hasek has impressed me as well, because he's finally learned a trick never before seen in his career: the ability to shut up and be a team player when he's not the #1 dog in the locker room. Never figured I'd see that, either.

And now Frandsen is approved to start practicing.

I think this is going to be one hell of a series. I'm probably not going to want it to end. But ultimately, I think Detroit's going to take it -- and I'll bet now that Pittsburgh will be in the finals again next year. here's hoping they lose AGAIN to San Jose, otherwise, I expect the pens will win the Cup next year. tehy're close.

but for now, no more disbelieving in Detroit. I think San Jose would have been a better match up against them than Dallas was, but I'm not convinced the Sharks would have won. Adn I don't think Pittsburgh will win starting Saturday.

So, Detroit in 6. and I hope for a couple of good, long overtimes.

Coach Q shows up in San Jose for a visit

Coach Q shows up in San Jose for a visit - The San Jose Mercury News Sharks Hockey Blog -:

Joel Quenneville arrived here on a United flight from Denver on Wednesday and it’s a safe bet that the former Avalanche coach is on Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson’s list of 40 candidates to replace Ron Wilson.

Interesting....

Saying "Thanks" to Peter Magowan

Killion: Perfect storm sends Magowan into retirement - San Jose Mercury News:

Magowan said on Friday, in announcing his retirement, that he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren.

We interrupt the hockey talk for a minute to thank Peter Magowan for everything he's done for the Bay Area Sports fan.

It's easy to forget, or choose not to remember, just what his contribution to the Bay Area is. Before Magowan stepped in, we were staring at 100 loss seasons by a team playing in Candlestick park (a place that made the Cow Palace look attractive, and still does), at least until that team moved to Tampa.

Remember when the Tampa Bay Giants was a done deal? No, most of you probably don't.

Magowan was a key player in stopping that. Magowan brought us Barry Bonds, back when Barry Bonds was merely a stupendous baseball player. He found a way to get a new ballpark built, and a gorgeous one, despite a lack of cooperation from the city, continuing hassles by the NIMBYs, and without public funding.

And now he's going to retire, leaving the next cycle of the Giants to others. Unfortunately, most of the media seems too be forgetting what he's done in favor of whacking him for his mistakes, and while I'm not minimizing those, it seems to me if anyone deserved a day where people just said "hey, thanks", Magowan did.

So hey, Peter?

Thanks. Enjoy not having to deal with the local media any more. Enjoy your grandkids. you deserved it. And some of us recognize what you've done, and appreciate it more than you might think.

(p.s: to Anne, and Mark, and Ray, and Tim: when your time comes and your last columns are written and your cohorts take you off to lunch to say goodbye, I hope they all stand up and call out a toast in your honor, and then spend the rest of the afternoon making fun of all of the stupid columns you've written over the years, rather than reflecting on all of the good ones you've done. It's only fair and balanced, ya know?

It's not about ignoring the mistakes, it's about putting it perspective. that all could have waited for a second column a little later, you know? But heck, that's just not how things are done, right?)

More thoughts on Ron Wilson and the next Sharks coach..

I've been thinking and talking offline more about the Sharks and Wilson, how we got here, where we go, more or less following up on my previous musings on the topics.

Ultimately, Ron Wilson wasn't fired because he failed. He didn't; just look at his numbers with the Sharks, and this season. 2nd best record, Division championship, 5th team left standing, and game 6 in the second round of the playoffs. Oh, and basically running the table the last quarter of the season....

The problem ("see, THERE's your problem!") is that this simply isn't good enough, given this team's talent. There have those of us who've felt -- and I believe Doug Wilson would agree -- that this team underperformed, both on an individual basis and as a team.

So if I'm Doug Wilson, I would need to sit down with Ron Wilson and have a very uncomfortable (but short) conversation, that goes something like this:

Given that this team didn't play to its full potential (It was damn good. It should have been even better), what can you do as a coach to help these players reach this potential that you haven't already done?

And given you've had five years as coach, if you haven't done it yet, why not?

In other words, Ron Wilson's damned no matter what. By this time, he's taken this team as far as he can take it, and everything he does from here on are variations on a known theme. Given the Wilsons likely had this discussion after LAST season -- and yes, the team and Wilson both improved, just not enough -- it's hard to see Doug Wilson saying "hey, let's go one more year and see what happens".

That's why Ron Wilson's unemployed today. Not that he did a bad job by any means, but he did the best possible job he could with this team -- and it wasn't good enough.

And honestly? That seems to be how to define Ron Wilson's career: he can turn players into a really good team, but can't quite get them over the hump. Anyone need to build a franchise? He's your guy (and Atlanta ought to be talking to him already; that may be the best fit for him now. Or maybe Florida).

Now, I don't envy the next coach. He comes in with even higher expectations, if that's possible. He has to be: (a) as good a coach as Wilson, (b) a better motivator than Wilson, (c) personable, and (d) even better able to work with and get these players to buy into his system. that's a bit set of shoes to fill.

It's not as simple as replacing Wilson with a hard-ass coach (no Pat Quinn or Mike Keenan) or a "player's coach", although I get the impression that Doug Wilson thinks that the players need someone who'll give this team more of an edge, so he seems to be leaning towards hard-ass.

The Sharks need a coach that can instill a "no prisoners" mentality into the team; a good start there is a coach who's a former player with that kind of mentality. That drives my thinking on the next coach as much as anything, and it changes my list somewhat.

It makes me now think that NHL playing experience is key, and so is NHL coaching experience. That means, at least to me, that Roy Sommer isn't a good candidate, and makes me lower Mike Sullivan further down my list.

But let me digress a bit -- Two things about the Sharks organization I like is that they care about their alumni, and that they are loyal to those that are loyal to the organization. Roy Sommer has been coaching at the AHL level for the Sharks for years, and many of the Sharks prospects succeeded at the NHL level. At some point, I believe he should get a shot at the NHL (assuming, of course, he wants one) -- and maybe it's time to bring him to the San Jose organization as an assistant under the new coach, perhaps the eye in the sky guy.

And I'd love to see Rob Zettler and Tim Hunter stay with the organization. Will they stay assistant coaches under the next regime? Unlikely, but wouldn't it be appropriate for them to take their next step forward with the team as well? I'd love to see the chance for them to go and take the helm at Worcester and get experience as a coach; I'd tend to think Hunter as the bench boss, but both of them deserve a chance to move forward and stay with the organization.

And having said that, back to the coach...

So after a couple of days reflection, what's my short list?

Pat Burns - may be an old-school coach, but also seems to understand the newer generation players. Has a good Joe Thornton connection, and Thornton has gone to him when he's had questions in the past. That seems like a good recommendation, and he has a solid resume, and wants to get back in the game. I wouldn't mind seeing it happen in San Jose.

John Anderson - coach of the Chicago Wolves, in reality the best coach who hasn't gone to the NHL. His IHL/AHL winning percentage? Right around .700, coaching a team taht in many cases had no affiliation, or one with a weaker team. If Bruce Boudreau is an example of the trend to moving from re-hiring the same set of coaches, then John Anderson is probably the next one to be brought up from the minors. And his teams win.

Joel Quenneville - I like what he did in Colorado, and I think his attitudes are compatible with the team and what the Sharks want to have happen. And he's a lot like Wilson, so I dn't see a need to tweak the team or the system heavily to fit into his visions.

Tony Granato - Speaking of Colorado, Granato is exactly the kind of player the Sharks need to have more of, and the kind of person that players can look up to and learn from. He's someone I"d like to see have a good senior assistant staff with, but I think Granato could do some interesting things in San Jose. And he's an alum. And a heck of a nice guy. And his sister's cute. Wait, that's not a reason to hire him... forget I said that.

How about Dale Hunter? Not an Alum, but... again, exactly the kind of player we need the sharks players to be more like. Currently an owner, president and head coach of the OHL's London Knights. He doesn't have the NHL coaching experience yet, but again, with the proper support structure, that wouldn't worry me so much. I know it wouldn't worry him...

So right now, those are my five favorites. Fortunately for Sharks fans, I don't get a vote. It'll be interesting to see what Doug Wilson does, though.

Coaches NOT on my candidate list:

Barry Melrose: there's a reason why he's worked for ESPN all these years. And a reason why he'll continue. Anyone who seriously floats him as a coaching candidate for any job should be someone you stop taking seriously.

Drew Remenda: they'll rehire Kevin Constantine first. Mostly because Remenda knows he's a much better TV guy than a coach. And he wasn't a bad coach, FWIW.

One local pundit suggested Mike Ricci, and even seemed serious about it. My only thought: that's a good reason to stop reading this person's writings about hockey. Ricci is many things, msot of the positive for the organization, but at least Jamie Baker has experience coaching his daughter's rep team. Might as well make Joe Thornton player/coach. Heck, that'd probably work better. And that's no rip against Mike Ricci -- but Ricci isn't qualified to be an NHL coach yet and won't be for many years, if ever. And no, I"m not linking to him. Don't want to either embarass him or make it easier for you to find him...

here's one for Penguins fans...

And only $20...

(T-shirt available from Mule Design)

Sharkspage on Ron Wilson

Great coverage of the Wilson firing on Sharkspage. Go read it.

Sharkspage - San Jose Sharks, Hockey, NHL sports blog:

Sharks EVP and General Manager Doug Wilson announced late this afternoon that Ron Wilson was fired after four and a half years behind the bench in San Jose. Ron Wilson was hired as the sixth San Jose Sharks head coach on December 4th 2002, recording a 206-134-45 record, .535 winning percentage, and two Pacific Division Championships (2004, 2008) in 385 regular season games.

Who's the next Sharks coach?

The media is pulling out all of the old names: Quinn, Burns, Hartley. Amusing, but... that's why they're media, and the media guys doing that are guys you should stop paying attention to. They're pulling it out of their butt, and not worth the time you waste reading them.

Who's going to be the next Sharks coach? I certainly don't have the answer, but I can think of a few names that I expect the Sharks to think about.

One is Roy Sommers, who's been cultivating the kids and doing the loyal person thing down in Worcester (and K.C., and Kentucky, and...). At some point, someone's going to notice him and give him a shot in the NHL, or the Sharks are going to move him up to the parent club. He's good, especially with younger players, and a lot of the current sharks were taught by him and coached by him during development. Which sounds a lot like the story of Bruce Boudreau, no?

Joel Quenneville intrigues me. He did some good things in Colorado, can deal with younger players, and has success. His system would work well in San Jose.

But two names that the big name folks aren't as likely to think of, and both have Sharks connections:

Tony Granato, former Shark, former Av coach and Av assistant coach.

Mike Sullivan, former Bruins coach, and former Shark.

Both have history with Doug Wilson, both have good coaching credentials, both have history with the Sharks (which is important to the Sharks, alumni credit goes a long way here) and with Doug Wilson, and both are really class individuals who handle people well.

And frankly? Colorado could do a lot worse than hire Ron Wilson.... especially if they hire Melrose, or Quinn, or Hartley, or...

The day of re-hiring retread old-school coaches is going away folks. Except for old-school media types (and franchises like the Leafs, who will hire a "big name" and then wonder why they continue to suck....). The hockey player of today is a different kind of player, and it's time for the newer, up and coming coaches who understand that to come and coach. Not just bring back the same old names that have been fired 20 times before for the same old reasons...

Don't believe me? Look at Calgary and Keenan. Brought in to "take taht team to the next level". the "next level" was the same number of regular season points, and the same first round exit. Way to go, Mike. Nice improvement. Only now, the players up there are unhappy,b ecause Mike's not exactly a "people" guy, especially around goaltenders. Fortunately, the Flames goaltender isn't anything special, so it doesn't matter if he's unhappy, right?

right.

The ONLY "old school" coach I'd consider hiring for any position in the NHL is Pat Burns. The day for guys like Quinn and Hartley and Keenan is past. Smart franchises understand that... Adn the Sharks are a smart franchise.