I'm not much of a Mike Milbury fan, but I appreciate his outspoken opinions on NHL broadcasts. He and Pierre McGuire have engaged in some epic cat fights on NBC, and I look forward to more meowing back and forth beginning in Saturday's NBC opening day telecast. In short, it's good to have brash, arrogant and confrontational Mike Milbury to entertain us at intermission.
And really, who cares what these guys have to say? They are paid to say something, even if it's what fans of Team A or Team B don't want to hear.
But I found it a little strange if not outdated that when asked by NBC Sports Network talking head Erik Kuselias who is the Western Conference's most overrated Stanley Cup contender, that Milbury chose San Jose.
This is what Milbury said to Kuselias (thanks to Kevin Kurz of CSN California to saving me from having to transcribe and just cut and paste from his story:
“That’s an easy one, actually. San Jose. For about three years in a row I picked San Jose to win the Stanley Cup, and I guess you just can’t fool me anymore. Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton are aging veterans who reached their potential years ago. It doesn’t look like they have the stuff of champions. Doug Wilson has stuck with them probably too long. I don’t know if he can get anything for them in a trade. This is a team that’s sort of limping along on past promises.”
Objectively, I don't have a problem with Milbury's general theme. I do take exception with his opinion of Thornton, who despite not being the proficient points producer of years past, is playing some of his best two-way hockey. But a lot of the other points make some sense. Where I disagree is the idea that the Sharks are considered one of the Cup favorites. I did some searching and found the following predictions by some legitimate media outlets:
The Sporting News: Sharks' predicted to finish ninth in the West.
ESPN: Not one of 12 various scribes or commentators went so far as taking San Jose to even the West, let alone drink from the silver loving cup. (Barry Melrose was one of two predicting San Jose to win the Pacific Division, so at least Team Teal has that going for it.
TSN: Predicts Penguins over Kings in the finals, and the network predicted the Sharks (and those Detroit Red Wings) were not expected to reach whatever expectations they will have entering the season.
Yahoo Sports: Greg Wyshynski predicting Blues-Rangers final even when mocked by host (and ABC7 Bay Area sports guy) Larry Beil about the former's annual Sharks to win Cup but come up short declaration.
Granted, I did find a blogger from SB Nation who picked the Sharks over the Rangers in the Cup finals, but five other bloggers in the same survey didn't have San Jose representing the West. I just think Milbury, like a lot of hockey analysts, have been burned by picking the Sharks in the past and had an easy and convenient answer to such a subjective question. A better answer from Milbury probably would have been a team like Vancouver, which was a first-round President's Trophy flameout last season after failing to finish the deal in the Stanley Cup final the previous year. The Sharks were clearly not a Cup contender in 2011-12 and don't appear like one in 2013 either.
In truth I think most rational San Jose fans aren't expecting much more than hopefully this team grinding through the regular season and into the postseason. Perhaps with more hunger and lowered expectations, the Sharks will be a playoff surprise instead of a perceived late spring underachiever. Overrated and the 2013 Sharks seem to be an oxymoron.
Meanwhile, here's a few best of Milbury -as both broadcaster and ill-fated New York Islanders general manager- moments to laugh at, embrace and savor:
And really, who cares what these guys have to say? They are paid to say something, even if it's what fans of Team A or Team B don't want to hear.
But I found it a little strange if not outdated that when asked by NBC Sports Network talking head Erik Kuselias who is the Western Conference's most overrated Stanley Cup contender, that Milbury chose San Jose.
This is what Milbury said to Kuselias (thanks to Kevin Kurz of CSN California to saving me from having to transcribe and just cut and paste from his story:
“That’s an easy one, actually. San Jose. For about three years in a row I picked San Jose to win the Stanley Cup, and I guess you just can’t fool me anymore. Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton are aging veterans who reached their potential years ago. It doesn’t look like they have the stuff of champions. Doug Wilson has stuck with them probably too long. I don’t know if he can get anything for them in a trade. This is a team that’s sort of limping along on past promises.”
Objectively, I don't have a problem with Milbury's general theme. I do take exception with his opinion of Thornton, who despite not being the proficient points producer of years past, is playing some of his best two-way hockey. But a lot of the other points make some sense. Where I disagree is the idea that the Sharks are considered one of the Cup favorites. I did some searching and found the following predictions by some legitimate media outlets:
The Sporting News: Sharks' predicted to finish ninth in the West.
ESPN: Not one of 12 various scribes or commentators went so far as taking San Jose to even the West, let alone drink from the silver loving cup. (Barry Melrose was one of two predicting San Jose to win the Pacific Division, so at least Team Teal has that going for it.
TSN: Predicts Penguins over Kings in the finals, and the network predicted the Sharks (and those Detroit Red Wings) were not expected to reach whatever expectations they will have entering the season.
Yahoo Sports: Greg Wyshynski predicting Blues-Rangers final even when mocked by host (and ABC7 Bay Area sports guy) Larry Beil about the former's annual Sharks to win Cup but come up short declaration.
Granted, I did find a blogger from SB Nation who picked the Sharks over the Rangers in the Cup finals, but five other bloggers in the same survey didn't have San Jose representing the West. I just think Milbury, like a lot of hockey analysts, have been burned by picking the Sharks in the past and had an easy and convenient answer to such a subjective question. A better answer from Milbury probably would have been a team like Vancouver, which was a first-round President's Trophy flameout last season after failing to finish the deal in the Stanley Cup final the previous year. The Sharks were clearly not a Cup contender in 2011-12 and don't appear like one in 2013 either.
In truth I think most rational San Jose fans aren't expecting much more than hopefully this team grinding through the regular season and into the postseason. Perhaps with more hunger and lowered expectations, the Sharks will be a playoff surprise instead of a perceived late spring underachiever. Overrated and the 2013 Sharks seem to be an oxymoron.
Meanwhile, here's a few best of Milbury -as both broadcaster and ill-fated New York Islanders general manager- moments to laugh at, embrace and savor:
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