San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl scores a goal past Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick during the first period in game one of the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center at San Jose.The Associated Press
The longest summer in San Jose Sharks history officially comes to an end Thursday when training camp for the 2014-15 season opens – and it couldn't come soon enough for coach Todd McLellan.
He wants the focus to be on the things the Sharks traditionally do well – win regular games and make the NHL playoffs with metronomic-like consistency – and put their fascinating and almost comically mishandled off-season behind them.
Everything changed in San Jose following last spring's opening-round playoff collapse against the Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks pounded the Kings in the first two games at home. After winning Game 3 in L.A. they looked like a legitimate threat to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Then it all unravelled in a week.
With four chances to clinch the series, they proceeded to lose them all, something that had previously happened only three times in NHL history.
The Kings went on to win their second Stanley Cup in three seasons. Back in San Jose, Sharks' general manager Doug Wilson seethed for a while and then promised changes – that they would now become a "tomorrow team" and that their hierarchy would undergo "a reset."
This sort of response was wildly out of character for Wilson, who usually runs the most buttoned-down franchise in the league. Presumably, Wilson was feeling buyer's remorse over his decision to sign both Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau to contract extensions during the season (and lauding them for their loyalty to the organization by taking hometown discounts). When neither had much of a playoff, Wilson made a complete about face and broached the possibility of trading them. That overture was politely but firmly rebuffed.
Now, teams can coax players into waiving their no-trade, no-move clauses by making life uncomfortable for them – and the Sharks did what they could. In mid-summer, the Sharks announced they would go into training camp without any captains or assistants – a "clean slate" was how they positioned it. So Thornton no longer has his captain's C and Marleau, who previously had the C taken away, now doesn't have an A either.
Everybody starts from ground zero, which sounds good in theory, and should keep the players on their toes in the early stages of camp and the preseason. How Thornton reacts will be especially interesting, although it is worth noting that he was run off once before in his career – by the Boston Bruins, in the midst of the 2005-06 season – and he responded by scoring 92 points in 58 games for the Sharks to lead the league in scoring. In doing so, he became the first player in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy as MVP in the same year in which he was traded.
That is the sort of response the Sharks need from him again. The thinking is that Thornton, playing with a chip on his shoulder, can still be a force in the league. Thornton, playing as a happy-go-lucky chap, doesn't have nearly the same impact.
The NHL's Western Conference is stacked once again this year, so for any team that missed the playoffs last season – including all four teams based in Western Canada – somebody needs to slip out so that one or more can get in.
Many have their eyes trained on the 111-point Sharks who, despite losing Dan Boyle to free agency, return a talented core group that was both shaken and stirred by the events of the off-season.
McLellan's role is the key. He has the second-best winning percentage (.657) in history among NHL coaches with 200 or more games of experience, just ahead of Scotty Bowman and just behind Tom Johnson. An excellent motivator, McLellan will need to push a lot of the right buttons in the months ahead.
If Thornton responds to the challenge with a big year, and Marleau does too, and the goaltending sorts itself out and Brent Burns figures out to play defence again after spending the last couple of years up front, the Sharks might be okay – even more than okay.
But if it all starts to go backwards, then the 2014-15 regular season will only reinforce the events of their tumultuous summer. The time for talk is over. The time to start producing and performing is finally at hand.