San Jose Sharks’ Locker Room Clean Out Day Recap & Analysis
By Felix Chow
Apr 11, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings right wing Marian Gaborik (12), Los Angeles Kings center Jeff Carter (77) and San Jose Sharks center Tommy Wingels (57) battle for the puck during the third period of the game at Staples Center. Kings won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Not much in terms of announcements were shared with the media today by the San Jose Sharks on locker clean-out day. While head coach Todd McLellan remained uncertain about his future with the Sharks, this is what the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ross McKeon had tweeted out earlier today:
T-Mac says he expects a decision on his future by April 24 when he leaves for Prague
— Ross McKeon (@rossmckeon) April 15, 2015
So far, at least, it seems the players do believe in him “as a head coach and person” as forward Tommy Wingels put it.
As for the captaincy issue, the players are obviously getting fed up with all the questions asking who’s wearing the “C” or “A” even suggesting the media might have actually overblown the whole issue entirely as per Andrew Bensch’s tweet:
Vlasic not sure why local media cares so much about who wears letters, said "probably" when asked if we over blow it
— Andrew Bensch (@BenchWarmerView) April 15, 2015
That actually is a good thing in a way because it shows they’re committed to playing as a team and not worried about who’s really wearing a letter and committing to the leadership. However, I still think that has to be decided ASAP so there aren’t anymore impending distractions about it.
Other questions included players’ thoughts on the locker room culture and the whole “co-workers vs. teammates” issue. Here are tweets on both Joe Pavelski‘s and Logan Couture‘s thoughts on them.
Pavelski indicates comments like coworkers vs teammates was possibly overblown
— Andrew Bensch (@BenchWarmerView) April 15, 2015
Asked about the culture in the room. #SJSharks Couture said, "not great. That's just my personal opinion."
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) April 15, 2015
The players have hinted here and there that the locker room culture has indeed been an issue. Hell, we’ve known that all summer and season with all the off-ice drama about Joe Thornton being stripped of his captaincy and GM Doug Wilson deciding to make four alternate captains just because he felt it would help spread out the leadership responsibilities within the group. So, I’m not surprised about Couture’s comments at all.
I will say Pavs does have a point. We saw in the EPIX series that they didn’t seem like coworkers at all for the most part. They’ve had their team meetings. They’ve bonded well together. The way they responded to his locker room intermission speech against the Arizona Coyotes, I think, pretty much indicated that.
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Wilson himself also talked with the media, and took full responsibility for the fact the Sharks missed the playoffs for the first time since the ’02-’03 season. He also understood the fan frustration with the organization taking a step back, but cited that “every team goes through it.” That being said, he still didn’t shy away from the game plan he had from the start which was basically to integrate young players into the roster.
He also talked about his relationship with Jumbo Joe and claimed it was good, which I highly doubt it is. Otherwise he wouldn’t have called him out and Thornton wouldn’t have been irritated by his comments.
I swear, with every answer he gives, he just sounds more and more incompetent as a GM of this team.
Lastly, Thornton himself had some things to say like how he thought the Sharks responded to the playoff debacle against the Los Angeles Kings to which he essentially said they weren’t affected by the playoff collapse. He went on to say if anyone was affected by it, “we don’t want you here,” emphasizing the need for players to stay strong amidst adversity.
There was one other comment by Thornton which I thought was interesting, and Sharks beat writer of the San Jose Mercury News David Pollak tweeted this earlier:
Thornton's latest jab at #SJSharks McLellan, not GM: "Todd has to talk to his family. Maybe he should talk to this family as well in here."
— David Pollak (@PollakOnSharks) April 15, 2015
Immediately at first glance, the disconnect between the coaches and players just seems so big from that statement alone. But wait a minute, Wingels did say earlier they believe in their head coach. So maybe some players really aren’t on the same page as the coaches? I don’t know.
All-in-all, I have to say this off-season has lived up to its “interestingness” so far (and yes, I know that’s not a word). The wait for the announcements is killing me though, as it is for most of you other Sharks’ fans I would think. I can’t speak for everyone, but it’s certainly agonizing. Also, if anyone’s confused as to where this team really is headed, join the club.