Yeah, Congratulations, Whatever

Some random thoughts amidst the Saturday morning confusion…

• I suppose I have to congratulate Detroit on winning the Stanley Cup again.  Well, I’ll congratulate them for Christy’s sake.  This is especially important since given her résumé and drive I strongly suspect all of us at SBN will be working for her long before she turns thirty…
  Seriously, the Red Wings are the standard by which all other teams must measure themselves.  If the Sharks ever want to be on an even footing with the octopi, they need to match their discipline and relentless pressure.  In the playoffs.  And the regular season.  Certainly having a mix of veteran and youthful players, all superb — Niklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, etc — helps.  The Sharks have some talent too.  The difference is Detroit’s players play up to the level of their ability night in and night out while the Sharks are prone to either mailing it in due to overconfidence in their ability or refusing to pay the necessary price of winning in the NHL.
  As to Pittsburgh, as has often been pointed out Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers lost the first time they went to the finals.  There’s too much talent on that team for them not to be back and win it all before many more years pass by.
  The fine folk over at Pension Plan Puppets were kind enough to ask me my impressions of Ron Wilson, given how he’s apparently the frontrunner for the Maple Leafs head coach position.  My musings on same are here.
  Some other fine folk at We Bleed Teal (great Sharks blog) are running a poll as to whom denizens of the Tank cherish as their favorite team captain in the franchise’s brief history.  Stop over there (link here) and cast a ballot.  My vote is for Owen Nolan, although Mrs. Dude prefers Jeff Odgers.
  Yes, I’ve read the Marleau-to-Columbus rumors.  Whatever.  As I say on the NASCAR blog — and when it comes to rumors, at it most frenzied the NHL has nothing on NASCAR — call me when the press release comes out./