All Shook Up

Okay. So. Let's review the last few days, because they've been quite eventful.

The NHL free-agency period kicked in on July 1st, and immediately the Sharks lost defenseman Brian Campbell--widely regarded as the top blueliner available in a slim market--to the Chicago Blackhawks. This means that the price Sharks GM Doug Wilson paid for Campbell at the trade deadline--a first-round draft pick and Steve Bernier--turned out to be the cost of a short-term rental. My reaction: not surprised, or even that disappointed, really. I was ga-ga over Campbell during the regular season, but he didn't contribute in the manner I had anticipated during the playoffs, and frankly I think the Hawks might have overpaid for him...with few top defensemen available as free agents this year, it's just the nature of the market that the price tags would be inflated.

However, I presumed that Wilson would move immediately to make his suddenly short-handed team better...but this didn't happen. For a couple of frustrating days, I watched while seemingly every other team in the league made moves to improve for next season, while the only story about the Sharks was a press release from the team describing prospect Nick Petrecki's visit to the White House. Yippee skip.

(All this time, I should add, rumors were floating around that the Sharks were one of a number of teams pursuing Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle, who is a similar player to Campbell. But Boyle had just signed a new contract with the Lightning in February, just got married to a Florida native, just started to build a house in the Tampa area, and had publicly stated that he didn't want to waive the no-trade clause that was part of his contract. Lame hockey trade rumors are a dime a dozen, and those involving players with no-trade clauses tend to deserve particular skepticism, because a no-trade clause means what it says--the player can nix any trade that the front office agrees to. So the scuttlebutt surrounding Boyle reminded me of the hurricane of hot air blowing around (for instance) Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin and Pavel Kubina as the trade deadline approached back in February--both were the subject of intense speculation, both possessed no-trade clauses, and nothing came of any of it.)

Finally, on July 3rd, Wilson stirred himself to action, signing veteran (read: old) L.A. Kings defenseman Rob Blake to a one-year, $5 million contract. My reaction: underwhelmed. Rob Blake has had a fabulous career that has included a Norris Trophy and a Stanley Cup, and I respect the hell out of him, but his most productive season was over a decade ago, and he's been in the league for longer than the Sharks have. Adding Blake while deleting Campbell would not have made the Sharks better, in my opinion, but with options dwindling (even less-desirable D-men such as the fading Wade Redden or the post-operative Michal Rozsival were off the market by this point) this seemed exactly the situation that fans of Team Teal were facing.

What I didn't anticipate--what I'm not sure anyone could have anticipated--is what happened next.

Actually, in fairness I have to say it's not entirely clear what happened next, at least not to me. There isn't a body of evidence out there in the public record that would make a court case. All that is certain is that only a very short time after signing a new contract, marrying a Florida woman, commencing work on a new house in the Tampa Area, and stating that he had no intention of waiving his no trade clause, Dan Boyle agreed to be traded to the San Jose Sharks.

The most extensive comments from Boyle that I have found are here. Boyle suggests that the Lightning's new ownership group criticized his work ethic and threatened to put him on waivers (this would've meant that he could be claimed by any team in the league and would have no control over where he would wind up). Some quotes by Boyle from the above, which is by Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune...

"When my work ethic is questioned, my offseason work ethic and the way I get ready for games and what I do is questioned, and it gets personal and I'm threatened, that is absolutely the way not to do business..."

"...I, for a long time now, have been under the impression that I was part of this team going forward, wanting input from me on other players, and never in a million years did I think that I was one of the guys that needed to go."

Given the circumstances, I believe Boyle. If true, this is a really classless, unprofessional, and disrespectful move by the Lightning organization, and totally against the spirit of Boyle's contract. I'm pretty sure I need to retract all of the generally favorable things I said about the new Tampa ownership group just a short time ago.

I'm certain this has disrupted Boyle's family life tremendously, and I feel kind of bad for him. At the same time, though, it's a gain for the Sharks. Maybe if Boyle can once more put his name on the Cup (he was part of Tampa's championship team), this time while wearing teal, it'll make the ordeal seem worthwhile.

Okay, this is getting to be a long post, so I'm going to stop for now. In my next post I'll have some thoughts about how I think this particular trade, and a further deal Wilson made as a direct consequence (Craig Rivet to Buffalo) will work out for the Sharks. Till then, stay cool...

Barry Melrose? Seriously?

"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step." - Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte

These are pivotal days for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 2004 Stanley Cup Champions are coming off a dismal year on the ice, but won the draft lottery and selected blue-chip Sarnia Sting center Steve Stamkos at number one. Only days before the draft, new and enthusiastic ownership took control of the team. The principal member of the ownership group: Oren Koules, one of the producers of the Saw movies (who, according to IMDB, also appeared in an uncredited role as "Dead Cellmate" in the first installment of the franchise). The Lightning also are reportedly going to announce that Vinnie Lecavalier--the best player ever to wear their uniform--has agreed to a nine-year contract extension for $77 million as soon as the terms of the current CBA allow them to do so. And to replace the fired John Tortorella, the rookie ownership group hired Barry Melrose.

Cue record scratch sound.

Say what?

Melrose had a brief stint as an NHL coach, working behind the bench of the L.A. Kings for a few seasons in the early nineties--a stretch that included that franchise's only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. After this he probably would've faded into general hockey obscurity had he not commenced a tenure as a hockey analyst for ESPN, a job he has held right up until the present. Among hockey fans he is pretty much regarded as an analyst who was once briefly a coach, not a coach who later became an analyst (although probably he gets the most adulation for stubbornly clinging to the original hockey hair style--the mullet--in a day when such daring coiffures are largely passe).

This move had been rumored to be in the cards since even before Tortorella got fired--indeed, a lot of hockey observers were talking about it like it was a lock--but I have to admit I didn't buy it. Would any NHL franchise actually engage as their coach a guy who hasn't been involved with the league in any way for over a decade--a decade that has seen a roller coaster of change? So when the official announcement came along I was still able to shake my head with disbelief.

As you might guess, reviews have been mixed. (Thumbs up here, thumbs down here). Personally, I have an instinct to think the move is absurd--which is why I never really believed it would happen in the first place. If the Sharks had pulled a stunt like this, I would have blown a gasket. Most of the debate that I've read seems to swirl around the issue of whether Melrose will even be remotely competent behind an NHL bench in 2008. Some say yes, some say no. It begs the question: is there seriously nobody else out there--in the AHL, in junior hockey, or currently serving as an NHL assistant--who could be expected to be better than Melrose? How about Tim Hunter, the former Sharks assistant--yes, he's about to reunite with Ron Wilson in Toronto, but what if the Lightning had called? That's just one name I happen to know...people smarter than me could surely add many more and better names to the list.

I wouldn't characterize myself as a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, but as an advocate of Sun Belt hockey I feel I have a bit of a stake in the outcome of this scheme. The Lightning are a Sun Belt success story--despite a dismal year on the ice last season, the crowds that turned out during and after the Bolts' championship have largely stuck around. (The team ranked eighth in the league in attendance last year). With Lecavalier on the verge of a major commitment to the franchise, and potentially Crosby-esque help on the way in the high-scoring Stamkos, the Lightning might be just a rebound in the standings away from truly planting firm hockey roots in Florida. Is this really the time to take such an extraordinary and bizarre gamble with the head coach?

I dunno. Maybe. Despite the temptation to pillory Koules and his colleagues as clueless, starstruck hockey newbies, they seem to be taking a so-crazy-it-might-work attitude to their entire endeavor. I'm finding myself being won over by their enthusiasm: they seem giddy at the prospect of owning a hockey team, in the way that I expect I would be giddy if I ever owned a hockey team. In an act of gentle human decency that genuinely moved me and a lot of other hockey watchers, they selected David Carle--brother of Sharks' defenseman Matt, and diagnosed with a chronic heart condition that forced him to retire from hockey only days before the draft--in the last round. Koules: "The kid worked his whole life to be drafted in the NHL, and I didn't see a reason he shouldn't be." (Quote is from here, story many other place on the net). And if we're discussing relative competence of NHL ownership, let's remember we're comparing the new boys in Tampa to a group that has demonstrated beyond all doubt their comprehensive incompetence in recent years.

So I say let's give this new bunch a chance. Hiring Merose is no doubt crazy...but maybe it'll turn out to be crazy like a straw.