The Battle of California: Ron Wilson: Yay or Nay

The Battle of California: Ron Wilson: Yay or Nay:

I find myself flip-flopping on the whole Ron Wilson debate

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If you look at their record, you’d think, “Hey, that’s not bad.” And if you look at Evgeni Nabokov’s play, it’s been the one consistent standout all season. And the defense? Well, we all thought it’d be a huge problem, but the team is paying attention to details for the most part, and players like Douglas Murray and Christian Ehrhoff are actually stepping up while Sandis Ozolinsh has been a nice surprise.

Ok, so now what? Ron Wilson points out that if he didn’t have the ear of the team, they’d be terrible defensively, and he’s probably got a point there. But is it possible for the offense to just be filled with bad luck from top to bottom, minus Joe Thornton?

For those people that say that Patrick Marleau’s done and should be jettisoned in whatever manner possible, those folks haven’t been watching the past few weeks. For whatever reason, Marleau’s shown a marked difference from mid-November on; he’s using his speed a lot more — and a lot smarter — and he’s generating his share of scoring chances. Now, for whatever reason, they’re just not going in. The same can’t be said for Jonathan Cheechoo, who can’t seem to get a shot off to save his life, though logically, if you think about coming off a double-sports hernia surgey (essentially ripping apart both your groins), it makes sense that his timing, speed, and strength are all off.

So, you have the best defensive team in the league and a bunch of underachieving superstars who are lucky to put up two or three goals per night. Are things really that bad? There’s a fine line between winning and losing, and if you can trust your defense and goaltending, most of the time, you’ll wind up on the better side of that. And if the offense wakes up, then you should be dominant in the league.

Ron Wilson — yay.

He’s not the problem. the problem? this is still a really young team. huge amounts of talent, but it’s still growing up.

I put in my two cents worth the other day; I still stick with it:

Two for Elbowing: On not writing enough….:

Marleau, who simply seems distracted at home (he’s a new dad, and either he’s not getting enough sleep, or he’s a little too “into being daddy” — either way, as he adjusts, I expect this’ll work itself out, and people who want him traded or removed as Captain should just sit back and be a bit patient. not that they will…)

Carle, who simply seems lost out there many nights. Wilson tried switching him to the other side one game to make him think his game through a bit more, and THAT was an unmitigated disaster. I’m still really high on Carle, but he’s having a rough season. He’s still a kid, this stuff happens.

Cheechoo, who’s not healthy. Serious double hernia surgery offseason — it’s not fully healed yet. Even if it was, I wouldn’t blame him for not being fully confident about it being healed. he doesn’t have the jump, he’s not using his upper body as much as he needs to, and the reality is, we need to understand that these kind of injuries take more time than just the time needed for the incisions to seal and the sutures to dissolve. He’ll be fine, you just can’t hurry these things (without risking more injury).

A coach that’s lost the team has a team that doesn’t care and doesn’t try. This team’s different — it’s playing really well on the road, and losing focus at home.

Let’s step back from JUST the home record for a second. The Sharks are third-best team in the west at 1.21 points per game (that makes them one of the five best teams in the league — Detroit at 1.5, St. Louis as 1.27, and a tie for third at 1.21 with San Jose, Vancouver, and the Devils). Right there, that should end the debate. This isn’t just a “sitting around .500 team”, this is STILL an elite team. It’s just not dominating every night, and it hasn’t put its game fully together at home.

The team is 6-2-2 in the last 10, 11-3-3 on the road, and “only” 4-6-2 at home. It’s in first place in the pacific, for god’s sake, at 34 points (tied with Dallas, but Dallas has played 2 more games).

This starts sounding a lot like “if you don’t go 82-0, you suck” zone. It’s not even a case of “if they can just hang on until they get it together”; this team’s doing really well — for a team that isn’t playing nearly to capability.

And yes, that’s true. this team could be a lot better. At some point, it will be, too. When do you want a team to struggle, in the first part of the season, or in March and April? If this team were digging itself a hole, I might feel differently. It’s not — it’s sitting at the top of the league; the grump is over it being a top-5 team instead of a top 2 or top 3 team. That’s just not a serious problem, folks.

The big problem seems to be this — the team isn’t focussed at home. Too many distractions — wives, girlfriends, babies, laundry, plumbers. The stuff that when you get away on the road melt away and let you focus. One aspect of growing into the game and being a veteran is you learn how to get through all of those distractions and focus at home, too. This team hasn’t quite done that yet.

That’s not Wilson’s fault. it’s simple maturity. This is, I believe, the 2nd youngest team in the league. Focus isn’t something a coach can teach, it’s something players learn for themselves. About all Ron Wilson could do — and maybe he should for a game or two — is have the team stay in a hotel in pleasanton the night before a game and stick guards on the floor to keep the girlfriends out, so the team can go through a road routine, including bussing them into the arena. It might actually get their attention…. although I’ll bet the wives wouldn’t be happy.

there are 20 teams in the NHL that would love to have the Sharks problems (and players) right now. think about it.

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