Tough to Look Back

This can't be easy for Ron Wilson.

Although he's been getting solid reviews for his coaching work this season with the severely undertalented Maple Leafs, Wilson has to be feeling the extraordinary success of the San Jose Sharks.

On one hand, many of the players that have powered the Sharks to the best record ever in the NHL history after 30 games were not only coached by Wilson and his assistants, Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler, but taught their first NHL lessons by that crew.

Wilson still has ties to that organization, still talks to Sharks players, still discusses hockey matters from time-to-time with GM Doug Wilson. On the other hand, of course, the way in which rookie coach Todd MacLellan has guided the Sharks to such a powerhouse, 52-point showing so far is, to some degree, an indictment of that which Wilson couldn't do.

Maybe he'd just been there too long. Maybe some players - everybody mentions Patrick Marleau - were no longer able to flourish under Wilson's coaching strategies.

The reality of course, may also be that many of the younger Sharks - Devin Setoguchi, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Ryan Clowe, Christian Erhoff, Milan Michalek - are a year older now, and that the addition of Dan Boyle to the back end has proven to be a major plus for a team that lacked that type of presence on the back end.

Wilson's team, of course, also had some very strong regular seasons, and it will be what MacLellan can push the Sharks to do in the post-season that will really matter. He came into this job from the rival Detroit Red Wings with keen insight into what made the Sharks beatable in the spring, and may thus be able to focus on those areas when the second season begins.

Any which way you cut it, however, this can't be easy for Wilson. The Sharks must still feel like his team in many ways, and he is such a proud man you know he believes he could have done exactly what MacLellan is doing had he been given the chance.

But he wasn't.

Comments

[John]

Not just Dan Boyle, but also Rob Blake. The addition of those two, plus the development of other young defencemen is a very large factor in the Sharks great start. But still, it's only December ...

[gargalen]

Wait till the playoffs - Sharkies have done this before. So good in the regular season (not to this extreme in the past), but when the 2nd round of the playoffs roll around they fall. We'll see what happens this time around - it's Stanley Cup or bust.

[Jammer]

He was definitely given the chance. Yes Boyle and Blake help, but RWilson in San Jose last year took a team of great offensive players and tried to make them in a trapping team that tried to sit on one goal leads. It was clear for years he was the wrong coach for this Sharks team. He did an amazing job when he first came to the Sharks when he inherited a team low on talent and got them to overachieve big time. But as the team got more talented he seemed more and more out of sync. His constant line shuffling was ridiculous - look how much better the offense is now that the top 2 lines are allowed to play together and flourish.

[Bill Hunt]

It's not about the first 30...it's about the last 28.

[Penny]

As a Sharks’ season ticket holder I can tell you that while the new players have been partially responsible for the Sharks fantastic start, the main reason for the Sharks' fantastic start to this season is Todd McLellan.

[Raymond Kay]

Rob Blake's edge, Dan Boyle's assertiveness from the back end, Jody Shelley's follow-through, and even Jeremy Roenick's bravado have made a change in the way that team carries itself. The Sharks take it to you and keep it up now. Patrick Marleau and Milan Michalek have found the grit to go along with their skill, and Doug Murray and Ryane Clowe have found the skill to go along with their grit. Guys like Devin Setoguchi and Joe Pavelski are free to attack the net because they have backing, and Mike Grier and Jonathon Cheechoo aren't the only ones busting their butts night in and night out. And Jumbo Joe Thornton doesn't have to do it all for this team to succeed. This team has found it's stones.

And Ron Wilson has his own full plate in his new job. He has nothing to be ashamed about in his years in San Jose. I seriously doubt he even has the time to look back.

[James Mirtle]

Marleau's a real key there. Wilson feuded with him all season and he had a horrible year; McLellan makes him a key part of the team's top line and he takes off.

Clowe and Vlasic are also coming of age, which helps.

[Marijan Kalman]

Hockey has a player in coma after fight and you are writing about some irrelevant team that never won anything.
What has to happen, this young men has to die so "hockey establishment" might have to mention him.
All the fuss from hockey hypocrites about Avery's comment, but not a word about player that might die.
Fighting that should be banned NOW.

[Michael Nestlehut]

Much has been said about their playoff failures, but little has been said about the strength of their first and second round match-ups that always seem to soften and beaten down the Sharks when they would advance.
Cup winning D-men additions definitely help and help out the younger defensemen.
I wish them luck and health.

[Ryan TUcker]

wasn't there another rookie coach that got off to an "historic" start last year?? And how well did Ottawa do down the stretch and in to the playoffs last year? Are we too quick to rush to jugement over everything these days?

[Guido]

this is why coaches get fired - their time simply runs outs. it happens often that one coach gets to only a certain level and it takes another coach to come in to get you over the hump. the irony is that it seems it doesn't matter who the coach is, and sometimes they can play both parts on different teams.

[Jason]

Name one player in SJ that talks to Wilson. You can't because they all hate him and his coaching style.
As Don Cherry said, Wilsons style will only work on young teams with borderline NHL players were he can force his views on the player. Wilson can not coach a quality team which is why he's doing well with the Leafs who are a bunch of scrubs. Wilson is a hack coach and disrepects his players. Benching Kaberle was an insult. Kaberle has never once done anything that deserves a benching. Theres about 15 players who should be benched long before Kaberle gets benched but that doesn't happen. Wilson pushes on the players who won't push back like Marleau and Kaberle. He didn't bench Joe Thorton when he he started out the 05-06 year -5 but he sure jumped on Kaberle pretty quick for his -5 stat this year. Wilson is a coward and the evidence is in who he picks on.
Wilson is a below average coach and thanks to his scare tatics, he's going to win just enough games so the Leafs don't get a top pick.
Hope every one of his supporters remembers this when he's fired in 2 years. His friendship with Burke will not save him when the team gets some good players.

[Paul]

Jason,

Mr Kaberle gets paid good money to be a top defenceman on the Leafs. If he isn't performing then why shouldn't the coach take him to task. The problem has always been that coaches are too soft of the supposed stars and now there is a coach who has broken that mold. Nothing wrong with that now is there?

[Jason]

Paul:
Yes there is something wrong with it and I clearly pointed it out. Wilson has a history of calling out certain type of players but not others. Lets take a quick review of people Wilsons has "Taken to Task" as you say:
Kaberle,Blake,Marleau,Colaiacovo,Stajan,Steen,Nabokov,Kariya,Selanne.
Not exactly a list of the toughest guys in the NHL is it?
My point is Joe Thorton got a pass after he played absolutely bad defense for the first two months of the season and was a -5 which just happens to be exactly what Kaberle was. Why did he not call out Thorton? The reason he didn't is because he's a bully and coward. He would rather pick on the quiet laid back type which all of the above mentioned players are. Wilson is smart enough to know what Thorton would have done if Wilson tried these tactics with him.
Also, I made the comment that there should have been 15 others that should have been called out long before Kaberle.
Wilson has a noted history of this kind of behavior towards these type of players and you don't see a problem with this? Drink the kool-aid if you want but Wilson will be the one responsible for this team being in the same spot in two years. This team will win just enough to get the 8th to 10th pick in the draft. Next year Burke will get decent players and Wilson will ride them until they quit playing hard for him just like what happened in Anahiem and SJ.
Anahiem won the cup right after Wilson left and SJ is on fire may do the same. You see a pattern??? Mark my words, you'll be sorry buying into what Wilson sells.