Cause for concern

Don't panic!

Well.....

This Todd McLellan quote courtesy of CSNCalifornia's Kevin Kurz is all you need to know why the Sharks should be on red alert right now:


“I think everybody needs to be concerned about the performance of the team – players, managers, we’re all in it together,” McLellan said. “When you start pointing fingers at one individual, there’s three pointing right back at you. Let’s all clean up what we do, whether we’re a coach or a player, and let’s perform to our abilities.”


The Sharks, as I had feared earlier in the day, were not in a good position to defeat the torrid Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night. This one really wasn't close; the Sharks were not at the level of their opponent on this night, and the 'Hawks' 4-1 victory at the United Center that ran San Jose's losing streak to seven after winning its first seven incited McLellan's brutally frank response to the question about possible changes in store for his team (presumably including his own job status). ...

...McLellan could be the fall guy if this team doesn't get this turned around soon, and with another trip back to the Midwest to play St. Louis on Tuesday and then back to the -gulp- United Center again on Friday to play Chicago, the Sharks could fall further back before returning to some normalcy. The problem for McLellan is not so much that he's done a lousy job, it's the surplus of no-trade or no movement clauses for the team's most likely candidates to be shipped out that complicates the thought process of making a significant change to the roster. In many cases, the coach, right or wrong, becomes the de facto goat ....

...Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle, Brent Burns and Marty Havlat all have some form of clauses in their contracts that would make it difficult for General Manager Doug Wilson to trade any of them. There are ways to waive no-trade clauses, especially for players who may be unhappy with their role (Mr. Havlat, raise your hand) and thus agree to be dealt. But I don't see Marleau, Thornton or Boyle in any rush to want to go elsewhere. Given that it became clear without being official Logan Couture, who looks to me like this organization's next captain, was a non-starter last year in any potential Rick Nash conversation, it in theory further shrinks the pool of trade candidates. The Sharks probably don't want to move Joe Pavelski either; though in any blockbuster-like move in the mode of the 2005 Thornton coup the Sharks pulled off, Pavelski would be the candidate who could bring back an elite talent. But Wilson had his chance to shake up the roster in the offseason, couldn't pull the trigger on a  Nash deal and mostly stayed away from seriously chasing free agents. ...

...Here's what I see over the next week or two: Wilson will find a partner for a package that could include one of his defensemen (Justin Braun? Jason Demers? Douglas Murray just seems to have little value right now) and a young forward (Tommy Wingels?) for a veteran scoring top six winger with some skill who can change the offensive and power play woes the Sharks are suffering from. That's probably what Wilson would rather do than make a drastic move like firing McLellan during the season. But the aftermath of the Chicago game left an ugly bruise on this team, and the postgame comments seemed cryptic to me. One thing's for sure: the feel-good story of those seven consecutive victories has deteriorated into a low-budget slasher flick with a lot of blood being spilled.