My Two Cents: No More “Teal Comfort Zone” For San Jose Sharks
The Teal Comfort Zone
Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
In his article Kawakami pointed out that the Sharks franchise has become somewhat of a comfortable place to play especially for a number of the star players.
The Sharks are set up as a franchise where players can be comfortable and not have to deal with the pressures to win that they may experience in the larger or more demanding media markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. It has gotten to the point where the Sharks franchise almost provides an escape from the pressure of having to win a Stanley Cup. Though winning the Cup would be great, it’s almost an afterthought if the team does not. All the while other teams who have enjoyed a higher level of success than then Sharks are mentally a lot tougher, a lot sharper and more focused on the post season than Team Teal.
The Sharks do not seem to enter the post season with the same or even a similar approach as the teams who have ultimately beaten them have such as the Kings, Blackhawks, Cancuks and the fiasco against the eighth seeded Ducks back in the 2008-09 season. If the goal is a Presidents Trophy, your franchise is already failing before the regular season even gets started. I may only disagree with Kawakami slightly on the point that players who come to San Jose don’t come to the south bay to win the Cup; however that disagreement is very slight at best as this is something I’ve quietly wondered about on my own. Aside from that this article from May 25th is point on and worth the read if you can look at this topic objectively. I agree that the Sharks have been a place trying to win while attracting “nice guys.” I’m okay with the nice guys just so long as they understand that during games in the regular season and especially in the post season it’s not only okay to stop being nice, but it’s heavily encouraged. I don’t want to see nice during the game except for maybe when a given circumstance within the boundaries sportsmanship calls for it. Otherwise, stop being nice. I can guarantee the team they are playing stopped being nice about the time they arrived at the arena.
The Sharks have had a great deal of talent which has benefited them through many a regular season. This season it was enough for 111 points and the fifth best overall regular season record. However that’s all it was good for. Once the Sharks came from ahead to lose a seven game series to the Los Angeles Kings, and to lose it the way in which they did, all of that was not only forgotten but also became null and void along with all the seasons accomplishments and records.
Suddenly none of that mattered anymore. The Sharks only needed to win one of four games and never came close. To lose Game 4 was one thing since getting a sweep against the Kings was probably unrealistic. The series, however, was lost in Game 5 when everything changed after the Sharks were run out of their own arena within 10 minutes of the opening puck drop. As the series wore on, the Kings were able to make the needed adjustment because they were hardened from previous successes where the Sharks simply were not. It can be argued that the Sharks never were truly hardened for long term post season success. All of this has happened for a reason.
It may start with the ugly truth that the Sharks have never been an environment that has demanded internally when it came to postseason success. If any good comes from how this last post season ended, it’s clear the Sharks franchise can no longer ignore a problem that has become the big white elephant in the room. Team Teal GM Doug Wilson has stated that “status quo” is no longer an option. The Sharks must realize that if they don’t change a lot of their operating philosophy that has brought about and fostered post season failure year in and year out, they will no longer be taken seriously by even their own fanbase and would not deserve to be either.