The Morning After: Marleau Remains A Shark

Partially because we talked it to shit last night.

But man, this was so crazy. Especially when ESPN has never really been in the “spread crazy rumors for hits” business. I want to know a few things this AM…

How does Patty feel? Who was Bucci’s source? Why is the ESPN story still up?

Something is going on here.

When Heatley was apparently traded to Oilers: It appears that Dany Heatley will be staying in Ottawa for the time being.
TSN reported early Wednesday morning that Heatley refused to waive his no-trade clause in order to facilitate a trade to the Edmonton Oilers.

When Heatley was apparently traded to Sharks: The Ottawa Senators have reached an agreement to send Dany Heatley to the San Jose Sharks, NHL sources told ESPN’s John Buccigross. The 28-year-old forward is set to be part of a three-team deal that would send the Sharks’ Patrick Marleau to the Los Angeles Kings and the Kings’ Alexander Frolov and Jarret Stoll to the Senators.

It’s just so odd.

I saw one of those “you have seen it here first” postings after a story that was either on espn or tsn.ca and the person had outlined the exact trade everyone crapped themselves about. It was time stamped hours before the shizzle hit the fizzle.

I wonder if the real trade isn’t involving Nabokov to Ott….
Yes its shameless speculation but its the goalie that teams depend on IN THE PLAYOFFS, and I don’t have a clue who any of the goalies in Ott are. Our Sharks don’t have a problem getting there but once there…well duh. Tis obvious we need a riser and not a faller in the big dance.

Maybe DW wants to promote a jr goalie or will trade later for a proven vet to push us through. Nabby could be sold as the Vez Trophy runner up/ workhorse that can take the Sens somewhere. Heater could add an obviously skilled skoring skater without the Sharks losing one. Both guys have flaws but both can be brilliant…

Just think of all the save Marleau posts and fan outcry whenever our beloved captain is threatened. I always flash back to the commercials highlighting the brutal beating he took in the playoffs 2 years ago and how he soldiered on…Contrast that with all the cries to “staple Nabbies fivehole shut”.

Go Sharks. Whatever happens.

ESPN still has the story headline link :“Heatley goes to Sharks in 3-team deal”.

There is a lot of crap on the web but mainstream media should be held responsible for this kind of crap.
Headline = uproar
Story = just kidding
I = pissed

I am going to unplug my internet connection as a protest.

for five minutes.

(back in 5 to see if anything happened)

That’s an uncertified account.

Damn it. Wanted to wake up with this picture being real..

Anyway. Good post there Mr Plank. I have to fully agree with you. With the way DW treated our former Captain this off season, I do not expect much from Patty. I imagine his head is already somewhere else, and if he doesn’t get traded, he’ll walk to a team that can appreciate him more and where he doesn’t have to be the no. 1 leader. We’ll watch from the sidelines as he scores another 80 points somewhere while we get absolutely nothing in return and while Heatley is scoring 50 goals somewhere else.

I fully expect Marleau’s stats to sink to a new low this season and I won’t blame him.

"Right now, obviously, nothing is officially done or it would have been announced by all parties. What I heard earlier tonight was that it was a three-team trade. First I had heard it was going to be tonight or tomorrow. Obviously they want to move him before training camp. So I sniffed around and my best source, who’s been perfect for me, mentioned he got an email from a front office personnel member. He forwarded me the email, and it’s a pretty significant name (laughs) in the NHL, and I thought ‘Boy, I would have gone on it just with my initial source, because he’s been great for me.’ Then he showed me this email, and it was completely supporting it.

“So I was surprised when it hasn’t come through tonight. Now, things are complicated, there could be other parts to it, but I still believe he will be moved. But it appears, as I was told, is not going to happen tonight anyway.”

I hope Marleau doesn’t kill anyone with a trident.

my dad works at Cordevalle (country club where many of the Sharks are members), and he said DW is playing there today in a tournament. This makes me think that if something is going down, it might not be until later tonight.

I told my dad to tell DW to keep Marleau, so we’ll see what happens. Not sure that my dad or I carry much weight, but I’m doing my part from 1600 miles away.

I’m kind of ashamed at the way the organization has treated Marleau this off-season. He’s done nothing but good for this franchise and community, and the org rewards him with constant trade speculation and stripping him of his captaincy. Are they trying to decrease his value? Its almost bush league tactics, and I am not a fan of them.

But thank god that the Heatley trade never went down. That would have destroyed all my faith in DW.

when management doesn’t believe in Patrick Marleau, I don’t think he believes in himself.

I think in my hot and cold attitude on Patty, I’ve never been able to put this as well as you did. I concur wholeheartedly with this statement.

Patty is a great player, my personal favorite on the team. But winning the Stanley Cup is all about those “intangibles.”

If Patty doesn’t believe in himself, he doesn’t lead, either vocally, or by example. This, in a nutshell, is the whole team’s problem, Patty’s not the only one suffering from this. But, let’s face it, he had the “C” for 5 seasons. That’s not nothing. At some point, guys ARE going to look to you for leadership. That’s also been part of the teams problem. “Someone ELSE will lead us.” At some point, someone has to stand up and take that role. If Patty, for 5 seasons with the “C,” didn’t do that, maybe he wasn’t what this franchise needed. It sucks for him, it sucks for his teammates, it sucks for management, and it sucks for the fans.

I don’t think there’ll be a shortage of teams interested. When Montreal inevitable collapses, they’re going to run someone out of town, leaving a nice juicy spot open for Patty on their roster. Ditto New York. And that’s to say nothing of whoever this year’s Chicago Blackhawks turn out to be who decide they are one FA away from putting it all together.

Again, all my personal opinions, based on my personal musings of Doug Wilson’s actions this off-season. Given his comments on KNBR, I think he’s pegged Dan Boyle as the next leader of this team, and will then be looking for Clowe, Pavs and Seto to grow into those roles.

Just one point of clarification though on my personal view: if any of this existed, it was well before the “breaking” of this trade. I doubt seriously one way or the other that this particular rumor will sway Patty’s opinion on staying in Teal. Whether or not the Sharks win the Cup this season is, in my view, what will determine whether Doug Wilson gives Patty a new contract. It’s Cup or bust for him and Nabby. $11M in cap space is nothing to sneeze at, and I think Wilson would opt for a rebuild.

First, I really really really don’t get the absolute hatred being spewed at the idea of getting Dany Heatley. I understand the reasons against getting him (allegedly questionable character, contract size and legnth, etc.), but I don’t understand how this would make it an absolute abomination if he came to the Sharks. I mentioned this a few times last night, but getting a 40-50 (and on Thornton’s wing, 60) goal scorer is not a bad thing! Maybe it will impact us down the road, but jesus tittifucking christ, I’ve never seen a fanbase so appalled at the idea of GETTING an elite player. Its baffling.

Maybe its because I’ve been an A’s fan for so long, but I really don’t get as attached to players as I do to a team. Marleau is a good player, and has been an awesome Shark. He’s represented the organization and the city with class. But if he is moved to get a better player (which Heatley is), then hellz yes I’m going to support it! Also, when was the last time an elite player actually WANTED to come to San Jose (as has been reported that Heatley does)? We’ve always had a hell of a time getting top players to sign as free agents here in San Jose. Now we have one that wants to actually come play for us. I’d think we, as fans, would appreciate that and embrace it.

Next, I think, if I’m Marleau, and DW really has been dicking with him this offseason, we won’t be resignign him anyways come next season. One of the big points about keeping Marleau around is the assumption that he would resign for a rather significant hometown discount. Where’s his motivation to do that now? Now, I’m not sure he’s been treated as poorly by the front office as people here are claiming (he’s not on the season tickets, who fucking cares? …and of course the C was going to be stripped…but they stripped Thornton of the A, as well, and said it would all be decided at camp. They didn’t single Patty out there). So this is really two-fold for me. One, if what I believe is true, and he hasn’t been treated so poorly by the front office and its mostly media hype and people on blogs overreacting, then there really is no issue here. But, if he feels like he’s been slighted and dragged through the mud, we probably don’t want him here this season anyways. Someone so fragile in mind is not going to hold up to the rigors of a full hockey season plus playoffs. If you’re going to freak out and play like shit because you aren’t on season tickets and was among the team leaders who had their letters stripped, then I’d rather you did that for another team. Players should always believe in themselves, no matter what those around them say…they should be trying to prove people wrong rather than believe them. I don’t think this is the case, but there it is!

Finally, as I think this is getting too long, and I should probably, you know, actually do some work at work today… this whole situation is a win-win for Sharks fans, as I see it. In one scenario, we get a top-flight offensive player who will be lethal with Joe Thornton feeding him the puck, and who actually wants to be here. In the other scenario, we keep a former Capitain, great two-way player, and all around good guy. I mean, I see nothing to shit a brick over here! The Sharks are going to be good this year, either way.

God, I really can’t wait til next Friday when I’ll be at the first home preseason game of the year. Go Sharks!

is that it seems like DW is acting based on what he reads in articles by Mark Purdy.

I worry that DW thinks that as fans, we are all up in arms about the most recent playoff disaster and that we wont be satisfied until heads roll. It worries me that DW made “stripping” the A’s and C’s so public so long before camp. It’s almost like he was trying to feed what he presumes to be a blood-thirsty Mark Purdy-like public. There is no good reason to drop that story so early, I would have preferred to have the new Captain and Assistants announced just before the first game. They could have made it more of a transition and less of a shitty photoshop on the front page of the merc.

There’s front office fuck up numero uno.

Not putting Patty on the tickets is classless. It’s not the “safe move” as was suggested elsewhere. It’s a dick move. If they had put him on the tickets, worst case scenario he gets traded and some of the tickets have pictures of our former captain/super nice guy. No one would look stupid or feel bad.

There’s front office fuck up numero dos.

I personally dont want Patty to go anywhere, no matter what, ever. I understand that isn’t reasonable, but that’s how love works. (no homo)

What I want even less than Patty leaving, is him leaving for the wrong reason. No heads should roll just because DW thinks that fans feel they should. I’d like to remind everyone, especially DW, that we kicked ass last year, and that maybe we don’t want to mess with that success too much. No matter how happy it will make Mark Purdy.

*As for Heatley, I’d be happy to have him on our team, but not in exchange for Marleau.

**God I hate Mark Purdy. And the merc for putting his shit closer to the front than David Pollak’s.

But I think people let their love of Marleau, coupled with an irrational hatred of Heatley, cloud their vision on this one.

So what? We watch every game screaming and yelling because of emotion, not cold hard stats. “Fan” is short for “Fanatic” and I don’t think they mean “Fanatic about statiscally beneficial trades.”

I would enjoy watching this team more with Marleau than with Heatley.

Sun Media has confirmed the Sharks have tried to get several teams — including the Kings, Habs and Oilers — involved in a three-way deal because the Senators have refused to accept Sharks winger Jonathan Cheechoo as part of a trade.

So SJ offered Patty AND Cheechoo to Ottawa?

Just posted on WTC. Even though we’re all down in the doldrums (reading the post and comments are pretty depressing actually), here’s some news that’s somewhat reassuring regarding the fake trade situation. Bottom Line is that Marleau said he wasn’t worried b/c “he hadn’t been asked to waive his no-trade clause and that would have to happen first.”

Even if that’s lip service or bull, it’s still nice to hear from Patty’s end. And while this doesn’t shut the door to all the speculation, I’m crossing my fingers that he’ll be able to perform in camp and when the season comes around and we don’t get a repeat of 07-08.

and then just bring him back for next season, it’s just not good for the team, we have to move him and fast.

I really don’t get why people are SO anti-Heatley. And what’s with this “Heatley wouldn’t help the Sharks with his skill”? That doesn’t make any sense, the way I see it is he’ll score 50+ goals, what’s wrong with that? His attitude? I don’t think it’s fair for one to say Captain issues are a locker room deal but Heatley has a bad attitude. If Heatley does waive his NTC to go to the Sharks somehow, I’m pretty sure that means he wants to play for the Sharks. He had a “bad attitude” with the Sens because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to play there.

And who care’s about Marleau being an important person in the community. Does that really effect the way he plays hockey? Does it help the Sharks win games? Not really.

With that said I’m still anti-Heatley. I just think the counter-arguments up there are BS.

Reasons why Heatley is a bad fit for the Sharks:

If Patty’s gone, the PK is starting to look much more thinner. From what I’ve heard Dany can’t play defense.

Sure Heatley will score a ton of goals, but is that what the Sharks really need? The top two lines are generally the same from last year, and I remember, those two lines were amazing.

He’d put us over the cap, therefore more of the Woostah boys would be playing.

If I didn’t say this before, but this is assuming the trade is Marleau for Heatley straight up.

is Heatley going to be a Shark or not?

Possible three-way deal with the Sharks, Blackhawks and Sens?

(Posted Fanshot)

Heatley for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a second round pick

5th round draft pick.

McLellan takes away the C from Marleau because he knows that he’s going to get Heatley eventually and that he wants a legitimate shot at earning it. Nothing like assuaging a possible diva by being really nice to him when he arrives.