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News out of San Jose is that the Sharks have
finally had enough of the defensive minded
Darryl Sutter. Last year’s success for the Sharks we think was due
mostly to the talent on the team, rather than the coaching. There is no way
that offensive weapons like
Patrick Marleau,
Marco Sturm,
Teemu Selanne,
Brad Stuart,
Owen Nolan and
Vincent Damphousse should be toiling in a defensive system that sees the
team dump the puck in, or send only one forechecker in the zone, and thus
limit their offensive opportunities. Granted, this year’s start wasn’t
helped by the non-signings of
Brad Stuart and Evgeni Nabokov, but c’mon – no way should
Mike Ricci (no offense to him) be leading the team in goal scoring. So,
what does this mean for the Sharks, well let’s tell ya.
Firstly, if you are not yet the owner of any of the aforementioned Sharks,
then you should be b/c offensive life can only get better. Chances are that
GM Dean Lomabardi will bring in a coach with a system that will focus on
putting pressure on the puck at all times, with the hope of letting his
offensive stars get extra opportunities to score. One has got to wonder how
it is that
Jeff Jillson only warrants 12 minutes a game, and only on the power
play. Few lessons to become an all around player can be learned when one
only plays special teams. It seems very likely that the new coach will
likely focus on using the top three lines more, in the hopes of generating
more offense, and thus in winning some more games. If current interim
coaches
Doug Wilson and
Cap Raeder are able to get results, the duo may just ride out the rest
of the season until a permanent head coach can be named, but it seems more
likely that Wilson may get the job permanently, or that Lombardi may look to
top candidates like
Ted Nolan,
Butch Goring, or the hottest rumor –
Larry Robinson.
Whoever the new head coach may be, expect the Sharks not to be so toothless
for long as they simply have far too much fire-power to remain such
under-achievers. |
