By George Marshall
I started this column with the goal of writing about a team that had a particularly rough couple of weeks. I knew that some teams might show up more than once this season and I was prepared for that. But this is only my fourth post for "It Could Be Worse" and Edmonton threatened to make its second appearance already. I know it's dry in Alberta, but I doubt there will be a drought any time soon due to the constant downpour of tears from Oiler fans.
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| At least he got his stuff back (Courtesy: Matty Go Sens) |
So I'm just gonna leave you with this and move on to a team that had a better week than the Oilers but not by much: The San Jose Sharks.
These guys have a 10-10-4 record that's been described as "pretty terrible" by Sharks fans and has led to some speculation on Todd McLellan's job security. They recently had a 6 game stretch against Florida, Buffalo, Columbus, Carolina, Arizona and Calgary. You should either come out of that stretch with 2 wins or 1 Connor McDavid. They came out with neither. On the bright side, they're now the proud owners of a streak which involves the phrase "losing to Buffalo" which should lead to immediate disqualification from the playoffs right there.
But that is not the case. San Jose sits 5th in the Pacific division and knocking on the door of a playoff spot. With the "Unsustainable" Calgary Flames and the "Stop Screwing Around Already" Winnipeg Jets, both due for a slip down the standings, the Sharks could find themselves back in a comfortable playoff position when it's crunch time.
So what's the big deal? Oh yeah, this is the team that promised massive overhaul to their roster after their massive collapse to the Kings last year in the playoffs and they surprised us by...
...
...wait for it...
...
Adding John Scott.
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| Yes, That John Scott (Courtesy: thehockeywriters.com) |
Ok, so they didn't do really do anything. In fact, they probably made things worse.
But it wasn't for lack of trying. The Sharks seemed pretty set on moving Thornton and/or Marleau, even to go so far as putting Thornton with 4th line wingers... It worked with Spezza right?
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| Hanson-Thornton-Scott |
In the end, both players elected to stay with the organization and that may be a good thing. I doubt you can find many players out there as good as Thornton or Marleau anyways.
The main reason people have their fingers near the panic button in San Jose is because of how good they have been in the regular season and how that same success hasn't translated to the playoffs. Fans want more and more from this team.
I'm not saying the fanbase is spoiled but I am a Sens fan so any team that spends over 60 million on their roster seems pretty privileged to me. And with this privilege comes the heightened expectations, which always leads to frustration when your team underperforms.
It makes you wonder if Ottawa is doing the right thing: constantly lowering our expectations so any sliver of success looks like a miracle (the Blues game for example). In this case, things could be worse, relatively speaking.
And one more thing: Jesus Christ Edmonton, get your shit together!