Worst fears about Willie Mitchell realized, but not how we thought they might
by waive kent huskins on Nov 8, 2010 4:40 PM PST
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PrintWord on the street is that one of summer's hottest free agents, Willie Mitchell, will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks due to a wrist injury. Many will recall how we were hesitant about signing Mitchell due to the likelihood of him suffering setbacks in his concussion recovery. In the end, old DW was not willing to roll the dice on pretty Willie and it looks like in the short term it was a good/lucky decision as Mitchell will miss significant time not including time to get reacquainted with game-time skating.
I wish him a speedy recovery although I must admit, shamefully, that it made me happy that we didn't sign him. Which makes zero sense I know, but somehow makes an ironic kind of sense considering it was injuries we were worried about, just not this kind of injury. And while we still need a new shutdown defenseman, looks like perhaps this one didn't turn out for us for the better.
Sharks 1- Rest of World 0
Go Sharks
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According to BoC, it’s a broken finger. Rudy isn’t happy. :)
Ever get the feeling we are on a collision course with reality?
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" -- Benjamin Franklin
Sucks for Mitchell
and I wouldn’t have wished it upon him. However, I’ll endeavor to find the silver lining; this will keep the Kings from being quite as hot as they’ve been and will give the Sharks a better shot at the division.
Can't really chalk this up as a win for us
Injuries happen, and this is unrelated to the reasons we didn’t sign him. If the Kings indeed suffer in his absence, I find it more of a sign that we should have made an effort to bring him to San Jose, as it validates the impact he had on their lineup.
They're not getting this kind of coverage at "Hockey Night In Canada" folks! - Randy Hahn
Uh … it’s a win for us cause Rudy isn’t happy … doesn’t need to be more reason than that … :)
Ever get the feeling we are on a collision course with reality?
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" -- Benjamin Franklin
Rudy being unhappy is just the natural order of things
I don’t really call it a win. It’s like saying that water being wet is a win. That’s just science.
They're not getting this kind of coverage at "Hockey Night In Canada" folks! - Randy Hahn
agreed
Who’s to say he would have suffered the same injury if he was playing with us? If it’s a broken finger that just sounds like an accident, not like he got hit and started having concussion like symptoms, which is something that if it did happen, it wouldn’t have mattered where he ended up.
I mean, maybe if he had signed here he would have been in a car accident and broke a few ribs, it’s not like the Kings could then say, “See! We shouldn’t have signed him because he got injured.”
Still, anything that helps us catch the Kings is good news to me.
Proud member of the "Bring Back Semenov" Club
"The only crying allowed in hockey is when you lose a playoff series, retire or JR is speaking publicly." - Jamie Baker
Agree that it's not directly a win for us
and injury is never a good thing or a thing to be happy about. And even though I’m aware circumstances involving this injury could have been completely different, it still does something to your heart I don’t know. Like when Ehrhoff dropped like 44 points and was a +32 the year after we left us. Some people were like “grrrr we should have kept him” while others said “who knows if that would have happened here?”
I know that my claim to find a bright side is QUITE a stretch. But it did pluck my heart strings a certain way
"Everybody had a part in this. As you can see, our fans love this. And we love them. And bring on the next team." -Joe Thornton
by waive kent huskins on Nov 8, 2010 11:28 PM PST up reply actions
Pluck You!
I do see your point certainly. And I’ll admit to a bit of schadenfreude.
Ehrhoff wasn’t going to be for us what he is for Vancouver. I think that’s more mental with him. He needed a change of scenery. And I think he was always better than we saw him as. But his departure cleared the requisite cap space for Heatley. Hard to argue with that.
They're not getting this kind of coverage at "Hockey Night In Canada" folks! - Randy Hahn
...
Uhh, Ehrhoff dropped 42 points for us before his release, with the only difference being his +/-, but that is because he went from being one of the top defenseman for us to middle of a talented pack. Less weight for him to carry helped him flourish with his partner defensively. I understand the nessecity to have cleared the cap space for Heatley, but I always look on letting Ehrhoff walk as one of the major blunders in the past few years. I would have seriously tried to deal Murray or Clowe away (cause of what their contract sizes were then comparatively) for draft picks than to have lost Ehrhoff.
People wonder why the blue line isn’t contributing much points wise, well look at the past 2 years and our D point production came from Boyle, Blake, Ehrhoff, and to a lesser degree assist-wise Vlasic.
2 of those 4 are gone, Boyle is shouldering the defensive load seemingly alone so he can’t dive in from the point as much as he’d like, and Vlasic seems to be under the Cheechoo syndrome like Seto is (meaning you get injured, and come back with playmaking decisions that could be made better by a hamster, caused by some subconscious fear of getting hurt again or failing or whatever).
I’m glad Demers isn’t folding under the pressure and is developing nicely but he is still learning.
The reason why Error was the best piece to move was not only his contract size, but stagnation if not decline in his performance. He was consistent and being inconsistent with his point shot. He took lots of BAD penalties in the worst of areas. He let people blow by or through him leading to offensive chances for the opposing teams.
Clowe on the other had was dominating then (he was producing really well) with the added bonus of being really young and early in his development at the NHL level.
Murray was one of the most improved Sharks player for the past few years and the only truly physical player we had. He made sure opposing forwards were honest in their routes and the way they handled the puck. We needed that. This team (with the reputation it had for being soft) wouldn have been picked apart because the opponents wouldnt ever have to worry about a bone crunching hit coming…
All in all, the moving of Error was the right call for both sides. It did him good to go to a new environment, and it did us good because we were able to acquire a world class forward.
by animadiversion on Nov 14, 2010 4:43 PM PST up reply actions
Not to totally destroy our little moment of ‘looking on the brightside’ but…I’d still trade Niemi for Willie Mitchell in a heartbeat, injured or not lol. He’s a great defenseman who should easily be back to 100% before the playoffs roll around.
Besides, it was just a random injury that could’ve happened to any player. Had he signed with the Sharks, he wouldn’t have even played in that particular game and wouldn’t have gotten injured anyways. THAT’S WHAT YOU GET WHEN U DON’T SIGN WITH THE SHARKS WILLIE MITCHELL! BROKEN FINGERS!!
NIEMI BREAKS HEARTS!
Fear The Fin: where one Finn wasn't IS enough.
Bird Watchers Anonymous: The few, the proud - Thrashers fans.
by Bockerz on Nov 8, 2010 6:53 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I'd trade Niemi for a Gatorade bucket
"Everybody had a part in this. As you can see, our fans love this. And we love them. And bring on the next team." -Joe Thornton
by waive kent huskins on Nov 8, 2010 11:28 PM PST up reply actions
I still would have rather had Willie Mitchell with a broken finger right now and have him available for the postseason.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"-Wayne Gretzky"-Michael Scott.
by SharksFanEst.1994 on Nov 8, 2010 7:34 PM PST reply actions
Sharks 1- Rest of World 0
Haha, like the Sharks could ever get a shutout with that defense.
by RudyKelly on Nov 9, 2010 7:06 AM PST reply actions 3 recs
i chucked
and i’m a sharks fan…. its funny because its true.
Hmmm.
If I recall correctly, Pavelski broke his foot last year… OMG! We shouldn’t have signed Pavelski!
"Douglas Murray is a humongous human being." – Drew Remenda
touche
It’s not rational I know. But honestly how many of us read the article about Willie’s injury and DIDN’T think about our failure to sign him at least a LITTLE bit.
"Everybody had a part in this. As you can see, our fans love this. And we love them. And bring on the next team." -Joe Thornton
by waive kent huskins on Nov 9, 2010 9:40 AM PST up reply actions
I thought about our failure to sign him and said. “Fuck, even with a broken wrist he’s better than half our defensemen… we should have signed him”
"Douglas Murray is a humongous human being." – Drew Remenda
don’t get me wrong I still lose sleep at night. I guess i’ve just been searching awfully hard for a bright side these days and sadly this is the best I could do
"Everybody had a part in this. As you can see, our fans love this. And we love them. And bring on the next team." -Joe Thornton
by waive kent huskins on Nov 9, 2010 1:59 PM PST up reply actions
I take out my anger on people who think Joe should have been suspended or that it was even a bad hit.
"Douglas Murray is a humongous human being." – Drew Remenda
I’ve given up. People are claiming perpendicular is lateral over on Bakes’ blog. It makes me want to cry. There is no explaining things to some people.
by animadiversion on Nov 9, 2010 2:40 PM PST up reply actions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V6BhDqfNL4
I would love to hear them explain to me how the hit on Eaton or Elias is legal in that video under their definitions.
"Douglas Murray is a humongous human being." – Drew Remenda
Psh.
You guys need to start specifying which Mitchell you’re talking about in the topic. I really don’t give a hoot about Willie Mitchell and my heart sunk when I read the title. Then a sigh of relief came.
'Like' my band. I mean, it'd be awesome if you did that.
I have changed the title to accommodate your fear :)
now the world has nothing to fear…except fins
"Everybody had a part in this. As you can see, our fans love this. And we love them. And bring on the next team." -Joe Thornton
by waive kent huskins on Nov 10, 2010 12:13 AM PST up reply actions
Well, the rest of the title is misleading as well. I expected to read about how Mitchell is an unstoppable force on the Kings and has shored up a young defensive core…
Fuck, aside from the broken wrist, that’s exactly what happened! My worst fears have come true!
"Douglas Murray is a humongous human being." – Drew Remenda
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