WQF (3) Vancouver Canucks vs (6) San Jose Sharks (Sharks win 4-0!!!!).

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

good article on the gillis era:

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/03...n-a-free-pass/

The Good

· Getting homegrown talent to sign for less than market value. Kevin Bieksa, Alex Edler, the Sedin twins, and Alex Burrows all took less to stay in Vancouver. One of the keys to success in the salary cap era.

· Signing Dan Hamhuis to a six-year, $27-million deal. Took at least one million less than he could have had on the open market.

· Sticking by Kevin Bieksa through a couple of rough seasons and then signing him to a five-year, $23-million deal.

These three items only ended up on the "good" pile for some desperation on the part of the writer to give Gillis at least a few accolades. It always bugs me how the first two points somehow count as "good moves" by any General Manager. History has shown rather emphatically that 1) Players are more often than not easier to retain by the team who drafted and/or developed them. 2) "Hometown" players are much easier to acquire on the UFA market. In my estimation, the first two points could be argued positively for virtually any GM in the League outside of Edmonton. The third point is a real head-scratcher: how does five years of a 31-year-old Kevin Bieksa at just under $5 m. /season constitute a "good" thing??

Quite frankly, Gillis appears even more average than this review would suggest.

[bubbsy]

the bad list is pretty dead on in that article

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

These three items only ended up on the "good" pile for some desperation on the part of the writer to give Gillis at least a few accolades. It always bugs me how the first two points somehow count as "good moves" by any General Manager. History has shown rather emphatically that 1) Players are more often than not easier to retain by the team who drafted and/or developed them. 2) "Hometown" players are much easier to acquire on the UFA market. In my estimation, the first two points could be argued positively for virtually any GM in the League outside of Edmonton. The third point is a real head-scratcher: how does five years of a 31-year-old Kevin Bieksa at just under $5 m. /season constitute a "good" thing??

Quite frankly, Gillis appears even more average than this review would suggest.

I think he is bellow average considering the team he took over. He has left them in cap jail. He wont be fired, he will be given his chance to bring in a new coach before they let him go.

Whish the Sun would publish the same sort of article on Feaster. The bad list would be a lot longer than the good list.

[Locke]

This is a team built for the regular season and complaining.

Seriously, Bitchka is just whining the same whine that Gillis did last time.

The rot in that organization is there from the top down.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Apparently Bieksa went off on Couture and Thornton twice. The first time when only a couple reporters were around, the second time when more media were there. This is clearly just gamesmanship on his part. He wanted his message out there.

He should be more focused on the task at hand though, this is really poor timing on his part.

[CaptainCrunch]

http://www.spike.com/video-clips/gytf2i/land-shark

[Locke]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

Apparently Bieksa went off on Couture and Thornton twice. The first time when only a couple reporters were around, the second time when more media were there. This is clearly just gamesmanship on his part. He wanted his message out there.

He should be more focused on the task at hand though, this is really poor timing on his part.

He doesnt have much choice. He's going to be cleaning his locker out with a garbage bag by tomorrow.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by BigFlameDog

If he takes a couple more steps it is a near perfect Flair flop.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I could watch this for 10 minutes straight and not get bored of it.

So good.

[Azure]

In my opinion the team on the ice is good enough to win the cup. The fact that they haven't been able to, and are facing two early exits is not the fault of the GM or the coach. Players like Kesler, the Sedin twins and Burrows are not showing up. And when they do show up, it is to dive and flop around like fish.

They have nobody to blame but themselves.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Azure

In my opinion the team on the ice is good enough to win the cup. The fact that they haven't been able to, and are facing two early exits is not the fault of the GM or the coach. Players like Kesler, the Sedin twins and Burrows are not showing up. And when they do show up, it is to dive and flop around like fish.

They have nobody to blame but themselves.

This is exactly it. They have talent but no drive.

They play like a team that just wants to go home.

[Stay Golden]

Has SJ embellished some calls yep but...this is beyond the pot calling the kettle black.
Nothing more than VAN be completely desperate for any call to get tilted their way knowing they are just hanging on by a thread.
VAN holding a presser for the purpose of complaining or even just mentioning diving occurring by their opponent during a game to get on the PP is absurd.
This is like Kim Jong II discussing the keys to sanity.

Whale fat on the menu for the Sharks tonight!

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Azure

In my opinion the team on the ice is good enough to win the cup...

I disagree. Burrows is not as good a player as his career totals would suggest. The Sedins are trending downwards with age, and while they are still top-line players, they are much closer to the middle-of-the-pack in the top thirty than heading that list. Kesler is skilled and tenacious, but saddled by too much propensity for injuries to be effective more than sporadically. Both goaltenders do not possess game-greaking consistency. There is not a #1 defenseman to be had on the roster. The team is an average playoff team, and has aged past their status as a contender.

[Tinordi]

The window is likely closed on this iteration of the core. It will be very interesting to see their offseason moves, will they have learned the lessons from the Flames and do a pro-active rebuild?

Too many factors are out of their control but I could see some core pieces move beyond Luongo/Schneider.

[Tinordi]

Of course the counter argument is that most people said San Jose was done last year after steady seasons trending downward and now it looks like they're set up for a deep-ish playoff push with a core that is getting no younger besides the addition of Couture. Sometimes patience pays off. I do think that a rejuvenated Kesler next season with a legit PP guy on the backend could be all they need for another deep push.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Azure

In my opinion the team on the ice is good enough to win the cup.

I don't think so. Their goaltending and defense is good enough but they really lack elite talent at forward. The Sedins are on the decline and Burrows is looking like more of a 3rd line player (cap hit of $4.5 million into 2017 YIKES!), Kesler is a good 2-way center that will never score 30 goals again. After them the talent is not worthy of a Stanley Cup winning team. They have some good role playing bottom 6 forwards but if the Sedins aren't rolling they have nothing going on offensively.

[jschick88]

Sharks finding Bieksa's comments amusing. Burish said Canucks d-man should talk to Burrows and Kesler. #Canucks

#Sharks McLellan said his team has been accused of cheating and embellishing in series. Wonders if next be "accused of biting."

https://twitter.com/SUNRandySportak

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Of course the counter argument is that most people said San Jose was done last year after steady seasons trending downward and now it looks like they're set up for a deep-ish playoff push with a core that is getting no younger besides the addition of Couture. Sometimes patience pays off. I do think that a rejuvenated Kesler next season with a legit PP guy on the backend could be all they need for another deep push.

As said before the Sharks still have some key players like Pavelski, Couture, Burns, in their prime and made some shrewd deadling moves in bringing in Hannan and Torres. They have done a better job at stocking the cupboards as Marleau and Thornton age. Gillis much like Sutter/Feaster with Iginla and Kipper is riding his veteran players hard with little in prime younger talent to support them.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by jschick88

Sharks finding Bieksa's comments amusing. Burish said Canucks d-man should talk to Burrows and Kesler. #Canucks

#Sharks McLellan said his team has been accused of cheating and embellishing in series. Wonders if next be "accused of biting."

https://twitter.com/SUNRandySportak

The smarter thing was for McLellan to play this down as he knew he was getting asked about it. End this series tonight and move on.

But you gotta love it when there's some back and forth in the media. Makes things a lot more fun for the fans.

[jschick88]

Tonight should be fun!

Burish: "While he's up on his soap box, trying to save the integrity of the game and doing all that stuff,…"
"...I'd swing by Player No. 14 and Player No. 17 – The Beast – and have a little talk with them about diving and the integrity.
Then he can work his way over to our room. But I'd start with those two guy in his room.”

https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec