Killer Instinct: Hasso Plattner Should Sell Sharks

Yesterday evening, as you all know, San Jose Sharks’ owner Hasso Plattner issued a statement to fans basically saying that he acknowledges the disappointment of the fans for not making the playoffs, however Doug Wilson will still stay in place as general manager of the organization.

Not surprisingly, the highly vague statement resulted in an outcry from pretty much the entire fan base, including myself.

Really, it’s salt in the wound after everything this team and Wilson has put us through last season. From the inconsistent efforts out on the ice, to the lineup decisions, etc. I mean, the list can go on and on.

And here is Plattner probably sitting God-knows-where in his office chair nodding at everything Wilson says like a bobblehead, most likely without even knowing how hockey even works. For this reason I — along with almost every Sharks fan on Twitter — think he should sell the team, and I use the term “should” loosely, because we all know he won’t.

It’s an absolute disgrace to the organization and what it once stood for as a model of “consistency and success.” You have a guy who’s basically signed off with Wilson on everything that ranged from stripping the ‘C’ off Joe Thornton and giving him, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, and Marc-Eduoard Vlasic the ‘A.’

He watched Wilson pretty much reignite the whole captaincy issue at the worst possible time when the Sharks were trying to fight for a playoff spot. And he signed off on Todd McLellan’s parting along with former assistant coaches Jim Johnson and Jay Woodcroft’s and video coordinator Brett Heimlich’s firing.

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Now, I get it. Wilson’s plan all along was to get rid of the coaches because they needed a rebuild from coaches to the players. It was obvious from the get-go why McLellan would’ve wanted out anyway. It wasn’t that his message wasn’t getting through to the players. Hell, the message most likely wasn’t even to the players specifically.

Rumors throughout the season indicated that the former head coach and Wilson weren’t seeing eye to eye, and hell, Wilson was even overstepping his boundaries as general manager. I was reading The Hockey Writer’s Andrew Bensch’s article after McLellan opted out as a free agent, and he made some very good and interesting points (and fittingly headed that section as “McLellan Wasn’t Allowed To Do His Job”).

There were rumors that McLellan hadn’t agreed with the move to put Brent Burns back on D at all, which is understandable. His stats and on-ice play indicated that Burns was inept at playing a really solid defensive game. I know the Sharks still lack offensive scoring depth regardless, but that’s where Burns excels, just firing at will and actually producing shots on net and goals for the team.

I’m sure McLellan also didn’t necessarily agree with stripping Thornton of the captaincy. Hell, captain or not, Jumbo Joe’s proven he’s still got a lot left in the tank. Sure, he’s not getting younger, and as much as it pains me to say it, he might actually have to go if that’s what gets the Sharks to the Stanley Cup Finals.

But there’s no doubt that Thornton’s a Hall of Famer. His stats and play out on the ice show it. And he’s even more capable of handling himself as a player and person. He did what he should’ve done even if it probably wasn’t at the right time when Wilson called him out, but he stood up for himself. His teammates still acknowledge him as an important part of the group, a leader.