So Here's The Deal

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Thanks

-The Couch Tarts

To Kill A Salary Cap Bird

First, a general reminder of how trades work:


The Trade:

Luko and Ehrhoff for two Canucks prospects of mid range quality.

Breakdowns on White and Rahimi

The Low Down:

Ok, first things first. THIS WAS NOT A MOVE FOR HEATLY.

Random Reader: How can you be sure?!?!? zomgheatly!!!!!eleventy! We have cap space nao1 WE R GUNA SIGN HIM!!!!!!!

Me: Well, I can't, but that Sharks still have Torrey Mitchell to resign and they still need another D man and some assorted Forwards. You don't free up cap space for multiple guys to blow your wad on one.

Random Reader: ...Why do you have to say it like that?

Me: *BLINKS* Moving on...

This was, as had been stated pretty much everywhere else, a salary dump deal. We all know that Ehrhoff and Lukowich were worth more than two prospects and that the Sharks kind of got the short end of the stick here. However, coming from a position of no real power, I don't find this at all surprising. It was pretty clear that a move like this would have to be made before Sept 30th, (I think that's the cap compliance date), and it was simply a matter of time before it went down.

This trade gets the Sharks under the cap and gives them the wiggling room to sign the rest of the players they need in order to ice a complete team. It also gives the WorSharks a chance to move up to the big club on a more permanent basis.

[UPDATE] DW talks to Dan Rusanowsky about the trade. h/t to sandjoselandshark

Doug Wilson photos Copyright Getty Images
1st crowd photo was taken by Harold Dorwin and was found in The Commons section of Flickr
2nd crowd photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfist/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

images altered by Gray. End legal goodness

News at 11!

Luko and Ehrhoff out, two Canucks prospects in.

To be addressed at more length later. Now back to your regularly scheduled lunch break.

Panda Power!!!

(An aside by an absentee Couch Tart)

Two seasons ago, I went to the Tank to see the Sharks play the Maple Leafs with the guy I was dating at the time (who was a Sens fan and just wanted to mock the Leafs (I know, I know)). In front of us was a group of people wearing Crosby Team Canada jerseys and carrying a stuffed penguin. I couldn't quite understand the point of the penguin (other than the obvious Crosby penguin thing) and quietly mocked them and their silly penguin. Then they did something even more odd: they started taking pictures of the penguin. They took pictures of the penguin and the ice, the penguin and each other, and turning the hockey game into a mini stuffed animal photo shoot. So naturally I took pictures of them so that I could mock them later and share the mocking with others.

So cut to tonight at the Giants game for this:

In my defense, there is a logical reason behind bringing a stuffed panda to a baseball game. My new favorite Giant, Pablo Sandoval, has the nickname of the Kung Fu Panda. And other people have been brining pandas to games. And he made Bengie Molina hit a 3 run home run to win the game in true clutch Panda Power form. Yes, it's lame. Yes, I should be mocked. Yes, I'm ok with that.

Brad Lukowich

Is totally awesome and hilarious.

That is all.

To Be a Fly on Doug Wilson's Wall

There's been such a dearth of information this summer, I find myself wondering what it would be like to be in the room as the deadline for the Sharks to be cap compliant nears. What sort of conversations would I overhear on the phone? Who will get the bad news that they're being traded or sent down, and how will it be delivered. Does Doug Wilson ever yell? I mean like really get angry and crazy and yell? Will he have conversations with players that call for that sort of temporary loss of sanity? Do we want him to get mad? Well, yes, I think we do. He obviously was at the end of the season, but he's reverted to his normal, calmer, well tanned self.

Many fans that I have talked to are starting to lose faith in their GM. All talk, no walk, if you will. So much talk at the end of the season about changes, and yet, it's been so quiet. Yes, some players have left us, and I know DW isn't the big man on the free agency market. He never has been. And as he has said himself, the team won't be finished until the trade deadline. Which makes me wonder what he's planning. Visions of mass trading cascade loudly through my head, but I hope he doesn't do anything rash.

Marleau's name keeps popping up in rumors. I'd like to hear him say "Patty is safe." but he doesn't seemed inclined to say it. Oh sure, we know he didn't ask him to wavie his no trade clause, but saying that and saying he's safe are two different things.

Thornton and Boyle, we know, are safe. Everyone else seems to still be fodder for the rumor mill. Will he call these players and give them the boot just before the season starts? Or will those days pass quietly, with little fanfare and only a few notes of worthy of mention?

If only we could send in a little fly with a camera, we'd know.

Work in Progress, Perhaps Eternally

I'm not really pleased with how this is coming along but I have spent way too much time noodling his face and I can't seem to get it right. I promised to post it though, so, here is my rather poor attempt at drawing Ryane Clowe.




He looks kinda like what he'd look like if he was somehow half Clowe, half illegitimate love child of Boyle. No, I don't know how that's possible either, but, there it is.

*reference image links posted soonish. I need to find one again. D'oh!

Oh Captain, My Former Captain

Marleau, unseated.

This was coming, and we knew it, but it's still a bit of a shocker. This also means no one has an 'A' currently, either. Should be interesting to see who ends up with what letter come season start.

*H/T to MyMcLife by way of Working the Corners
Why can't Gray spell Captain right? The world will never know.

The Slow Simmer of San Jose's Summer

The scene in downtown San Jose after waiting all off season for Doug Wilson to make a move.

Depending on who you ask, this has been a summer of disappointment. No moves, no change, Doug Wilson has abandoned us! If we take a step back from that brink, we discover that there HAVE been moves, they've just been smaller and less splashy than many Sharks fans had been hoping for or expected.

The Sharks let a few players go. Mike Grier, Marcel Goc, Riley Armstrong, Tomas Plihal, Brain Boucher, Claude Lemieux, Jeremy Roenick, Travis Moen and Alexi Semenov are all gone. Some have signed with other teams, some have retired, and others are still looking for work.

As far as signings, Kent Huskins, Ryane Clowe, Rob Blake, Scott Nichol, Thomas Greiss and Henrick Karlsson were all resigned or acquired. Scott Nicol is the only real new blood, ignoring the fact that Sharks fans have yet to see Huskins play in teal. This has made his contract, and the lack of other signings, a point of contention amongst fans, who have been hoping for big splashy firings and signings. The fact of the matter is, the Sharks are already up against the cap, and they won't have any wiggle room next year when several big name members of team teal become free agents.

It also remains to be seen whether or not it makes sense to blow up the President's Trophy winning team in 2009. Sure, they flamed out in a spectacularly embarrassing fashion in the first round of the playoffs, but they were still the best team in the league last season, even with their late season problems. The team, for all it's weaknesses, still has some great potential.

Maybe the lack of splashy signing *coughdanyheatlycoughcough* is for the best. If it means Sharks fans don't have to spend another season watching the MSM and bloggers poop all over the team when it fails to meet their expectations, fine by me. But I'm not the majority. Most fans appear to be frustrated by the lack of moves. Cap space be damned, they want big change and they want it now. Only time will tell if DW will throw cap caution to the wind, or if he will chose to ice a very similar to team to the one that showed such promise last season.

Whhhhhhhaaaaaaaa???

Patrick Kane beats up cabby, gets a night in the sin bin.

I understand that there are two sides to every story, and I'd sure like to hear the Kane's. This is just weird. Who punches a cabby over 20 cents? (honestly, who punches a cabby?)

Gray Remembers Meeting JR

This story will probably overlap a lot with one that Mina could, and probably should, tell, but it is what it is.

Two summers ago I heard that JR was coming to the Sharks. Knowing his reputation, and with the story of him going to get a steak during a game that he was a scratch for still fairly fresh in my mind, I was a bit concerned. I might have been relatively new to fandom, but I knew JR's reputation for running his mouth and creating a bit of controversy. I also knew he hadn't been playing to his potential the past few seasons, and I was concerned that his signing might be more of a burden than a boon for Team Teal. Mina and I discussed this at length, and at some point I decided that if DW saw something in him, then it was there and it was better to just not worry about it. Doug says he'll behave, alright, he'll behave.

Teal and White rolls around. (the Sharks v Sharks preseason game played before final rosters are set. It's purely for the fans but it's a great time) It's the first chance I have to attend and I am super psyched. Wandering around, we see autograph lines wrapped around the main concourse for the bigger name players; Joe Thornton, Patty Marleau, etc. We decide to hit the shortest line and get autographs from Seto (not yet on the team), two or three other players I can't remember who aren't playing in SJ now, and JR. JR?! At this table? What?!

JR was the nicest guy in the row. The others were new to this level of fan support and turn out and were a bit shell shocked. Not rude, just, well, overwhelmed. But JR, JR was talking to everyone that walked by. He had a huge smile on his face and you could tell he was genuinely happy to be in San Jose. Ever concern I had about him coming to SJ left me at the point.He was animated and very cordial with all the fans who went past him. My turn came, and I welcome him to San Jose and told we were happy to have him. He lit up and thanked me, and said he was really happy to be here. That moment was small, but it totally sold me on JR. I'll let Mina fill in her side of the story, because it's even better and goes a long way to help explain our fondness for number 27. He played so well that season, it just cemented his place here as a fan favorite. His game 7 performance against Calgary was insane.

I have a Roenick jersey in my closet now, and despite his retirement I plan to wear it often this coming season.

He was only here for 2 seasons, but San Jose loved those two seasons we got.

Thanks JR!

-Gray

JR's Press Conference

Twitter is borked, so we can't tweet about this. We'll have much more later on today. Stories about JR as a Shark and while we'll miss him.

Tweets of Sadness

JR to retire.

We'll see on Thursday if this is for sure true. If it is, it will be a sad day.

UPDATE: Press conference set for Thursday at 11.

UPDATE 2: And the Merc with the confirmation.

Doodles

I'm a decent student. I take good notes, pay attention, but even I get bored. While I enjoyed many aspects for the workshop I attended over the past two days, I still found myself bored out of my mind, (and nearly out of consciousness), on occasion. 5 hours of lecture that start at 7:30am is a hard thing to sit through without the mind at least considering wandering off. (and that was just the first half of the day!) So, to amuse myself, I doodle. Yep, I'm old school. No rocking the texts or playing games on the phone. Nope. I still actually look as if I might possibly be paying attention when I check out. (and in fact, I am. ...Mostly)

Anyway, my mind invariably wandered to the Sharks, and then to Cycle Like The Sedins James OB's suggestion that I draw Doug Wilson. I considered how to render our dear GM and decided on what I feel must be how he's been feeling inside all summer.



Obviously pretty rough, but hey, I was in class.