And Then - Nothing Happened
June 20th, 2008 by cantstopthegrierAfter much speculation and hype, the 2008 NHL Draft came and went without any appearence by Doug Wilson and the San Jose Sharks. Who knows what he tried to do - rumors had Marleau going anywhere from Columbus to Nashville - but the return must not have been what DW was seeking or the other NHL clubs didn’t want what the Sharks were selling. So, we are left to speculate the following…
1) Patrick Marleau is going to be a San Jose Sharks for the next two seasons.
2) Brian Campbell is going to walk away from San Jose. Doug Wilson’s search for a number one blueliner continues.
3) The Phoenix Coyotes got way better today by adding Jokinen for two former 1st round picks (Boynton and Ballard) and a 2nd rounder. Florida upgraded their blueline but just got a glaring hole up front. Is this really the best offer they had??
4) Dan Ellis signed for 2 years/3M instead of testing the UFA market on July 1st. Huh? I don’t get it, sure Ellis was toiling away in the AHL one year ago - but he asserted himself as a #1 goalie and could have fielded offers from goalie starved teams like Los Angeles, Ottawa, Chicago and Edmonton. Instead, he stayed put and lost cash. Don’t get it.
Now I’ll turn it over to Mike with a few comments.
1) Filatov really looks like a little girl, but his low voice with no inflection was oddly soothing.
2) I think the Umberger to Columbus deal was pretty bad. Sure, Philly got Luca Sbisa with that pick, but Umberger is a known good quantity. Even in a deep draft year like this one the #19 is far from a sure thing. I guess Philly chose to sign Carter and Upshall, and ditch Umberger. They may live to regret that move.
3) Phoenix is going to be a big pain in the ass very soon, if not this year. Now they have Jokinen, they have Turris ready to play every day, and now Boddker this year. The blueline could still be shaky, but their offense is going to be scary. If Breezy can steal some games, they could make a run at the #8 seed.
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15 Responses to “And Then - Nothing Happened”
By Ivano on Jun 20, 2008
You’re right about Phoenix. They’ll be good next year, making Pacific strongest division in the NHL. Don’t overlook the fact that they also got Tikhonov. If he makes it to NHL next year, expect 20-30 goals from him.
By Jerry on Jun 20, 2008
Glad to see Marleau’s staying. Good riddance to Campbell and his overrated, money-grubbing ass. Phoenix got a whole lot better today. DW needs to shift his attention to rebuilding the Sharks defense.
By Troy on Jun 21, 2008
Really, I’d think going after a Liles or Orpik would be more ‘ideal’ for San Jose. Campbell is waaay overrated, and going after a more low-end player would allow them more flexibility in the cap.
As for the Desert, they stole Jokinen from Florida, but by trading two blueliners, I thought they’d go after a blueliner like Tyler Myers.
But props on the Jokinen trade, they’re deep in forwards, and they’ll be a playoff team in 2008-2009, mark my words.
By SoCalSharksGirl on Jun 21, 2008
Keeping Patty doesn’t automatically rule out the possibility of Campbell staying. If he takes a discount and the management allow DW to spend a little more, then we could still see the quarterbacking blueliner that we need. In an interview with DW on Sharks TV at the Draft, DW said talks are progressing and we should have an answer to the Campbell question by next week.
By Jerry on Jun 21, 2008
Brian Campbell giving the Sharks a discount? Management allowing DW to spend money? Hahahahaha! Yeah, right. Two reasons Sharks fans should forget about Campbell. 1) He’s going for the money grab. 2) He can’t hang with the physicality in the Western Conference. My money says he signs with a team in the East.
By cantstopthegrier on Jun 21, 2008
It’s a tough spot for the Sharks to be in. They clearly want Campbell, but Campbell and his agent want to see what some “eastern conference teams” are willing to offer. First of all, the teams rumored to be interested (Philly and Ottawa) don’t have any cap room. Philly is already at 48M with Carter, Eminger, Thoresen, Cote, Dowd and Randy Jones to deal with. Unless they are dumping a big salary like Knuble, how can they sign Campbell? And Ottawa - they are at 40M and need to sign a #1 goalie, Meszaros, McGratton and Vermette. So they are going to give Campbell 7M and be right at the cap with zero flexibility for the season? Makes no sense.
I’m chaning my tune…again…and going back to my original stance. Campbell is a Shark before July 1st. Unless there is something super serious going on at home (dying parent or something) then he will be San Jose for a long, long time.
By Jerry on Jun 22, 2008
cantstopthegrier - your man crush on campbell is making you delusional.
By Mike on Jun 22, 2008
Hehe. Don’t forget that you are in the minority here- Campbell is a coveted player around the league, and for good reason.
By bcsteve on Jun 23, 2008
cantstopthegrier, i must admit, i have a man crush on campbell too. and i disagree with the mentality that marleau is more important to our team. marleau was with our team the entire year and our PP didn’t pick up until the trade deadline. don’t forget that mclellan is PP coach. i’m getting more and more skeptical that we sign him before july 1. it’s been reported that he wants to be close to his family in ottawa and chicago needs him about as much as we do (nyr might make a play for him too).
DW has said that the payroll will most likely go up as a response to the question of whether we can keep both patty and soupy. the problem is that we have about 41M committed and i can’t see DW going any higher than 50. assuming we give him 7M per year, we would be at about 48M and would still need to sign boucher, JR, and our RFA’s. it’s too bad we didn’t trade marleau to cbj for the 6 pick. i would’ve loved to get a kid like del zotto or gardiner. there’s always next year…
By Jerry on Jun 23, 2008
You can disagree all you want bcsteve, but Marleau stepped up during the playoffs and Campbell shriveled up. Why do you think Campbell wants so badly to return to the East? Cuz there’s more open ice to work with. He was TERRIBLE against Calgary and not very good against Dallas. And you want to pay this guy $7-8 mil a year? No thanks. We can probably get both Liles and Orpik with that kind of money. Matt Carle has the same skillset as Campbell. Perhaps under McLellan, Carle will develop into the player DW envisioned.
Yes, Campbell is coveted around the league. But not for a good reason. He’s just the big name that everyone knows. Is he a good player. Heck yeah. Is he a great player? No way. So somebody (NY Rangers) is going to overpay for Campbell. But not the Sharks. Thank goodness.
By Jeremy on Jun 23, 2008
Don’t you just wonder how far apart the two sides are? With Atlanta seemingly ready to pony up $7mil, why wouldn’t you test the free agent waters if you’re Campbell?
As for the draft, you left out Montreal’s curious ability to negotiate with Sundin. I didn’t see that the Leafs are getting anything out of this arrangement. And it still amazes me how much of a God Gretz is to Canadians. Those ovations were a bit much.
By bcsteve on Jun 23, 2008
Let’s not forget that Campbell had a couple injuries suffered in the CGY series that affected his play throughout the postseason. And he still logged almost an hour of ice time in game 6. If we’re looking at stats, Soupy had 7pts and a +/- of 3 while averaging almost 30 mins of ice time during the postseason. Marleau had 8 pts, a +/- of -2 and he failed to block Modano’s shot. Yeah, he had those 2 SH goals, but he isn’t our best penalty killer by any stretch.
If anybody is overrated, it’s Orpik. His playoff performance shot his stock way up, but I’d be more willing to throw money at a player who has gelled well with us instead of someone with a relatively unproven track record who hasn’t played in SJ.
By Jerry on Jun 23, 2008
You’re right. Campbell logged a lot of minutes and he deserves credit for gutting it out. But let’s be real. EVERYONE plays with injuries in the playoffs.
You wanna talk numbers? Marleau’s line combined for 9 goals in the 1st round against Calgary. Even though Patty’s face got rearranged by Cory Sarich and Dion Phaneuf, did Campbell do anything about it? No. I know Campbell’s not a bruiser. But at least answer back by scoring or something. Campbell didn’t do squat. Yet, Marleau lifted his game.
I’m not saying Patty’s perfect. Far from it. I’ve been as frustrated with his inconsistency as any Sharks fan. Perhaps I’m just taking a huge leap of faith that things have finally clicked for Marleau and these past playoffs are just the springboard to bigger and better things. But teams don’t get fair value when trading away their star players (see: Joe Thornton or even Olli Jokinen). That’s why I’d rather keep Patty, let Campbell get his money elsewhere and sign 2-3 guys like Liles, Orpik and maybe even Malone.
Yes, Orpik’s playoff performance shot his stock up. But Orpik would bring exactly the type of kick-ass toughness that the Sharks sorely lack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpBXdefDulU
By cantstopthegrier on Jun 23, 2008
Love Brooks Orpik. Would love to see him in Teal - but any UFA is a long shot because Doug Wilson just doesn’t have much luck landing high profile guys. Orpik doesn’t replace what Campbell brings - so then are you leaning on Carle to fill that role???
By bcsteve on Jun 23, 2008
I completely agree that we could use some kick-ass toughness. But if you’re looking for a fighter, it has to be a winger and not a d-man. Plus, like Orpik, there is another Boston College product in Nick Petrecki, who should be ready by 2009-10, to play the physical D role.
It’s not that I want to see Marleau leave - far from it. It’s just that we can’t afford him if we need to add other pieces to the team. Like I mentioned earlier, we need to resign our RFA’s, which won’t exactly we cheap with the quality they bring. Then, we would need to go get Orpik and Liles, who could each get 4M/yr. It just makes little sense when we have similar prospects in Petrecki and Wishart who will be cheaper and can fill the enforcer and puck-moving roles, respectively.
The only way to keep both Patty and Campbell would be a backloaded contract, so when Grier and McClaren’s contracts are up after this season, there would be 4.25M freed up to cover the rest of it.