[News] No more C for Jumbo Joe?

[CSharp]

Originally Posted by FlamesPuck12

What the hell is a 'Marlow'?

Marlow sounds more English

[mile]

Maybe Couture or Pavelski will be the next captain.

[Vedder]

Originally Posted by cKy

It isnt like they had a 1 game upset. They have consistently lost for years.

They've been to the conference finals twice in the last 5 years, and were a couple bounces away from beating LA and likely advancing there again last year. Thornton and Marleau are still productive, Pavelski and Vlasic are still in their primes, and Couture is just entering his and still likely to get better. They have some other good young pieces. Instead of trying to force out their captain I think they would have been better off making roster tweaks and making another run at it this year.

They might still. Joe seems to like it there and might not be all that bothered. It just seems like a counter productive move to enter training camp with this side show.

[bluejays]

I don't think it's bush league at all. Thornton may still put up the points but he's extremely slow and that's leading to so many problems defensively. Plus he takes stupid penalties under pressure. While it's clearly not all his fault, this is the first step SJ's taking to dealing the guy, and if they can get solid younger prospects to step in right away, they will. There will always be a sucker GM who'll pay a premium for a guy like Thornton. SJ's better off with a 1st and 2nd line faster, 60 point guys then to have a lugging guy like Thornton being a defensive liability in the playoffs.

[darthma]

I remember when they did this to Mike Modano in Dallas. They gave it to Brendan Morrow instead. Morrow really brought them to the promised land...

Unlike Thornton, I don't know that anyone ever questioned Modano's heart or drive. I am never impressed when a team does this to their captain. I think it sends a poor message to the players. It's a very short-sighted way of conducting a team, and I don't know how it relates into a higher level of competition. Instead, you have a player playing for you that you just shamed. Must be great for morale.

[MissTeeks]

“@PollakOnSharks: McLellan says he had talked with Thornton about "clean slate" plan for #SJSharks captaincy; reached Thornton and he says otherwise.”

“@PollakOnSharks: Thornton on losing #SJSharks C: "It’s a big honor and it’s a big responsibility so it’s a little strange when they take it away from you."”

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Sign Thornton and Marleau to big contract extensions and then strip the letters off their jerseys.

Nothing can go wrong here.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

That team is going to implode at some point this year. It's a good thing they have Couture, Pavelski, and Hertl to build around because I think you will see both Marleau and Thornton gone at some point this year.

BTW, for all the apologists for the lack of Sharks playoff success, they have a .586 winning percentage over the last 11 seasons, including 5 division titles and many top 3 finishes. In that time they have made the conference final twice (Calgary I'm sure we remember well, and Vancouver), they have zero Stanley Cup Finals appearances and zero Stanley Cups (obviously). They have lost in the first round 3 times, including last year's epic collapse against L.A. They are awful come playoff time for whatever reason, and the captain needs to share the blame for not being able to lead the team forward.

Boston moved Thornton way back in '05 because they didn't feel like he was fighting hard enough through an injury in the playoff crunch. I remember it well, he had cracked ribs and it was painful enough to throw him off his game, but obviously they knew something about Joe back then and realized he would never lead them to a championship. I think they made the right call as the Sharks' post-season futility has been well documented.

[Blarg]

M-A-R-L-O. Marlo

[Viking Whale]

Originally Posted by FlamesPuck12

What the hell is a 'Marlow'?

main ingredient in smores

[T@T]

Seems Drew Doughty's comments didn't sit well with management or this is an answer to a "NO" answer when asked to waive a no trade clause.

Either way SJ is embarking on a cyclone path.

[Yoho]

Receipts don't lie.

Joe had his chance to lead this team for years and they failed to go anywhere, let's see how someone else does, if he doesn't like it I'm sure a trade can be worked out.

[FAN]

Since they haven't traded away any of their key core players, it's time they made a change. Can't hurt. But it's not going to be a solution since the leadership group will remain the same only that the new captain will now have a bigger voice.

[Mr.Coffee]

Yeah I dunno, if I was the GM, I wanted to blow it up and my star player was blocking trades? I'd be pretty tempted to start doing things to speed up the process.

NHL stars handcuffing franchises seems like a no win for... pretty much everyone except one guy. And even then... maybe not even.

[Erick Estrada]

There's no nice way to strip the captain of his title but it had to be done as the leadership group simply wasn't getting it done. We saw it first hand in Calgary what happens when a leadership group stagnates and if Thornton has hurt feelings he's going to have to deal with it or request a trade. Either way it works out well for the Sharks as they can move on with him supporting a new captain or they get their preference to move him.

[Vedder]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Yeah I dunno, if I was the GM, I wanted to blow it up and my star player was blocking trades? I'd be pretty tempted to start doing things to speed up the process.

NHL stars handcuffing franchises seems like a no win for... pretty much everyone except one guy. And even then... maybe not even.

Yeah, poor Sharks, handcuffed by the players they extended in January.....

They made their bed.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

I was surprised when Wilson didn't get canned after blowing that 3-0 lead to be honest. Don't get me wrong, he's a good GM and has built some good teams over the years but after all the other failures how does that not do him in when HE chose to double down on Thornton and Marleau. Did he really not consider the possibility of another disappointment? And what might need to be done if it kept happening? And now this captaincy mess... it reeks of desperation. I bet he's fired if the sharks start slow, maybe even by December.

[kenk-la]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

That team is going to implode at some point this year. It's a good thing they have Couture, Pavelski, and Hertl to build around because I think you will see both Marleau and Thornton gone at some point this year.

BTW, for all the apologists for the lack of Sharks playoff success, they have a .586 winning percentage over the last 11 seasons, including 5 division titles and many top 3 finishes. In that time they have made the conference final twice (Calgary I'm sure we remember well, and Vancouver), they have zero Stanley Cup Finals appearances and zero Stanley Cups (obviously). They have lost in the first round 3 times, including last year's epic collapse against L.A. They are awful come playoff time for whatever reason, and the captain needs to share the blame for not being able to lead the team forward.

Boston moved Thornton way back in '05 because they didn't feel like he was fighting hard enough through an injury in the playoff crunch. I remember it well, he had cracked ribs and it was painful enough to throw him off his game, but obviously they knew something about Joe back then and realized he would never lead them to a championship. I think they made the right call as the Sharks' post-season futility has been well documented.

The Sharks have been to the conference finals three times over that span, or does their series in 2010 against Chicago not count?

To your point I've never seen a team strip the captaincy off two different players and have those two players still both play on the same team. Having said that, I just don't think both of those guys will be gone by seasons end, nor do I think the team will "implode." The Sharks have the pieces, but they haven't had the necessary puck luck or had an easy path. Thornton and Marleau are still productive players who are fan favourites, they have massively underrated players in Vlasic and Pavelski who are in their prime, Couture is coming into his prime, some young prospects (Hertl, Nieto, Mueller), decent defense corps, and solid goaltending with Niemi and Statlock.

[FAN]

From a PR standpoint, this was a pretty stupid move. If the Sharks decided they want a different captain, they can just decide on who they want and talk to Joe. A lot of players would ask Joe for his blessing before taking over the captaincy anyways. And mentioning Marleau at all is even more stupid. Assistant captains change all the time. Don't even need to make an announcement. People just start to notice.

[Freeway]

Originally Posted by cKy

The name of my brothers dog. It's probably the dumbest animal alive.

Has a team ever had 2 former captains still playing on the team after they lost the C? What a weird dressing room that must be.

2003-04 Flames had Lowry and Conroy.