What Was Doug Wilson Thinking? (Seriously...I'm Interested)

In appearances before the public, Sharks GM Doug Wilson is the picture of pacific confidence. He tends to wear a small, patient, wry smile when being questioned, as if he had anticipated the query with comprehensive accuracy and is mildly amused by this, then typically issues a bland and pleasant response that is less informative than an AP wire story. It's as though he took very much to heart the scene in Bull Durham in which Crash Davis instructs Nuke LaLoosh on the benefits of clichés. ("You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends.")

I find it tough to get inside the guy's head...he's inscrutable. It would have been really fascinating to somehow have had a peek inside his skull as the events immediately following the opening of the NHL free agency period unfolded--the departure of Brian Campbell, then the acquisition of Rob Blake and the trade for Dan Boyle.

As I alluded to in my last post, it's the timeline of events that's so interesting. Brian Campbell was off like a shot to Chicago as soon as the free agency period began, signing on the dotted line on July 1st. This article, which appeared in the St. Petersburg Times print edition on July 3rd, suggests very strongly that Dan Boyle was not inclined to waive his no-trade clause, despite the rumors swirling around him. A few quotes from the above:

[Boyle's agent George] Bazos...explained he got a call Tuesday from "Lightning management" that he said indicated, "It's not their intention to move Dan. They're going to try to work out whatever they need to work out in other ways."

Bazos said [of Boyle], "He's staying put. You can't replace Dan. ... When rational people sit down and take a look at it and say, realistically, if they want to move Dan, how are they making the team better, they can't do it."

The timeline on the Blake situation is less clear-cut, but it appears that even he was still in discussions with the Kings at the time the Sharks lost Campbell.

In other words, it doesn't seem like Wilson could have known that Blake and Boyle would be available at the time he chose to let Campbell walk. He let Campbell walk anyway, probably judging that his cost was inflated by the relative scarcity of defensemen on the free agent market and that the Hawks overpaid. (I would agree with this...so does the Hawks' GM, for that matter).

So did Wilson know a bunch of stuff that the media and the general public did not? Did he have a sense that Blake and the Kings were at an impasse, and expect that Blake could be lured up the coast? Did he have the foresight to recognize that Tampa would have to move Boyle, like it or not, to make their salary structure work? And, furthermore, was he confident he could tempt the Lightning D-man to San Jose (rather than Ottawa)?

Or did he just let go of the ledge, hoping that he would land on his feet?

My posts in the July 1st - July 2nd time period betray my growing desperation as Wilson made no moves whatsoever and quality options for helping the team appeared to dwindle, as star after free agent star shot off to the other arms of the NHL galaxy. But, in the end, I would say the guy did land on his feet, not just filling the gap left by Campbell but actually improving the team. I'll discuss some reasons why I think this is true in my next post.