Some people are content to watch this team flame out in the second round every year, so long as they make the playoffs. And that’s totally alright. But it’d be nice if they didn’t call those of us who want better “delusional”.
Yes, Doug Wilson is unquestionably in the top half of the league at his job. I’d say top third. But that’s not enough. Tell me honestly, who thinks that the Sharks are going to win a Cup under Doug Wilson? Because if you don’t think they will, why fight so hard in his favor? Because you’re scared someone else will do worse? They might! But they also might do better! Doug Wilson is a known quality: good at keeping his team competitive, never good enough to win a Stanley Cup. Who is satisfied with that? I’m not.
To be completely honest and fair, I WAS one of those people. I was content with just getting to the dance, and then hoping a stroke of luck occurred and we made a run. However as usually occurs with people, contentment leads to boredom, which leads to apathy if nothing ever changes.
At this point I have one foot in the door of apathy towards this team. I KNOW DW will not do anything shocking or different. He will continue to be a reactionary GM, never trying something new, but following the example of Cup winning teams and forever trying to adjust to the league, instead of making the league adjust to his team.
He will continue to make some good trades, that make us all amazed how he got the player, then trade for some obscure 4th liner for way too high a price, and make us all facepalm. He will continue to allow coaches to stay around too long, whether they be head coaches or asst coaches. He will continue to draft safely leaving the team with zero, or nearly zero top end talent, forcing himself to have to go out and spend assets to make the head turning trades for great players.
So after over a decade of this, yeah I am ready for a change. Doug has had more then a fair shake to get his team a cup, and failed.
Your expectation is ridiculous. there are 31 teams and 1 winner each year. We all want to win, and DW at the helm has given us an incredible chance to win each year, except that "1 step backwards, 2 steps forwards" year, and that year worked long term. Stan Bowman and Dean Lombardi are the only GMs who have won multiple cups with the same team since the lockout, and Lombardi is already gone. Winning isnt easy nor is it squarely on the GM.
Definitely wasn't DW's fault we didnt show up in Games 1 and 5 vs Vegas, but definitely was DW's doing that we even made the playoffs. If you think the GM's role is to also be the coach and also be a player, then yes, we should fire DW. But if you accept that the GM's job is to create a contending team year over year with shrewd trades, good drafting, and smart signings, then why would we fire him? His decisions to not overreact and save some cap space for bigger FA fish or trades worked out well! He said we would replace Marleau's production from within, and guess what, we did.
You had way more fodder to call for his head in 2007-2012, when we traded/signed guys like Wallin, Rivet, Huskins, Moen, etc. Since 2014, I dont we have lost one trade, except maybe Hansen if you consider him a waste of cap space. Every other trade has been a win or mutual win. Drafting and player development has been very solid, with the rise of players like Meier, Donskoi, Tierney, Labanc, Ryan, Heed, Hertl, Goodrow, Karlsson, etc.
To answer your question, if we decide to go rebuild, i'd want him gone. I'd rather start fresh all around. But as long as we are still contending (which we are), there is no logical reason to fire him, despite your unrealistic expectation that we should win every year
I never once stated we need to win the cup every year. Thats an absurd statement that no one should ever make. Hell I havent even said we needed to have more than 1 cup in the last 15 years. I only said not winning a single one with the same GM for 15 years has finally made me ready for a change.
This is wholly different then me, or anyone else, freaking out had it only been like 3-5 years into his tenure, and each year we were competitive. As I said above, I was someone who defended DW in the past, for exactly the same reason you seem to be defending him.
So Ill ask you the same question I asked the person I originally quoted. How many decades are you willing to give DW without a cup, as long as we stay competitive? At what point does simply making the playoffs become not enough for someone like you?
Wilson is drafting and trading very well...this team may not have many superstars but many young talents and experienced vets. Wilson is hardly responsible if DeBoer is too stupid to properly use the roster he got. Sharks roster is a lot better than the one Vegas has yet still the outcome was completely different. Who's responsible for that? Surely not Wilson. The only mistake Wilson made was not to fire his idiot coach.
Wilson is 100% responsible for Deboer, and every player on the ice. They all are on this team because of him. Certainly he cant coach and play on their behalf, but the buck stops with him (well actually the owner) as it should, since he is the man responsible for anyone being on this team. If its year 1-2 of a GM's tenure, and he is still molding HIS team, sure, dont blame him for idiot coaches, or players that have underperformed. After 15 fricken years, this team is 100% his creation, from top to bottom, so it is absolutely his fault for the teams outcome. Not minutely, but on the overall.
Sharks roster is in no way a lot better than the Vegas roster. Unless you pretend this whole season didnt happen, and guys like Karlsson are still 15 pt players, then yeah I guess you would think that. Vegas was clearly better than the Sharks this year. The only reason anyone here thinks differently is because they have convinced themselves that Vegas is just one huge fluke, or that there is a league conspiracy to make Vegas do well. Its total BS. They are a team that is lead by an absolute dominant first line, and a bunch of depth players who all pull the ship in the same direction. Also helps that Fluery is having a crazy resurgent year, and they have a Coach that really seems to be doing a great job.