Entries with the tag: todd mclellan
For Your Consideration: Todd McLellan
by Mike Chen on 04/03/09 at 03:20 PM ET
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It’s a generally accepted philosophy that the winner of the Jack Adams award can’t go to someone coaching a team that was supposed to be good. You wind up with people saying that a monkey could pull line combinations out of a hat and they’d still win with that lineup.
With that in mind, you’ll find that Jack Adams talk swirls around people that have taken young teams to the next level, like Pete DeBoer, Ken Hitchcock, Andy Murray, or Barry Trotz. As for someone like Todd McLellan, the Sharks were supposed to be good anyways, right?
Well, sure, on paper. But when you play more than half the season with about half of your starting regulars injured, maybe you should get some consideration for coach of the year.
Filed in: San Jose Sharks, | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: jack+adams,
todd+mclellan
San Jose Sharks v4.0
by Mike Chen on 10/15/08 at 02:55 PM ET
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With a victory over Columbus, the San Jose Sharks have gotten off to their best start ever and Todd McLellan’s short coaching record remains unblemished. It’s difficult to judge things this early in the season but anyone who’s seen a Sharks game so far can tell you that this team is far, far different from any previous Sharks team. There’s a swagger to the whole squad, a confidence that was never there under Ron Wilson.
Under Kevin Constantine (Sharks v1.0), the Sharks were a defense-goaltending squad that overachieved on the backs of miraculous Arturs Irbe saves and Sergei Makarov/Igor Larionov chemistry. The Darryl Sutter days (Sharks v2.0) were about grit and power, almost to the point where skill was being squeezed out—ask Teemu Selanne about that. Even in 2003-04, when Ron Wilson (Sharks v3.0) transformed a bunch of speedy second-liners into Conference Finalists, that was more about system and synchronicity, the proverbial lightning in a bottle. The post-lockout Wilson squads were hit and miss but even at their best, everything seemed like a controlled affair. And these guys under Todd McLellan (Sharks v4.0—hey, the tech speak works, we are talking about a Silicon Valley team, after all)? There’s just a different shine to the whole package, a feeling like all the parts are finally working cohesively together.
Filed in: San Jose Sharks, | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: patrick+marleau,
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Marleau on Thornton’s Wing
by Mike Chen on 09/19/08 at 08:16 PM ET
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The ever-vigilant Dave Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News has posted that the Sharks will open training camp with Patrick Marleau on Joe Thornton’s wing. The duo will be flanked by Ryane Clowe, not Jonathan Cheechoo:
Here’s how the top forward lines will look on Day One:
Patrick Marleau-Joe Thornton-Ryan Clowe
Milan Michalek-Joe Pavelski-Jonathan Cheechoo
Marcel Goc-Torrey Mitchell-Mike Grier
Tomas Plihal-Jeremy Roenick-Devin Setoguchi
I’m personally not a fan of putting Marleau and Thornton on the same line together except for the power play.
Filed in: San Jose Sharks, | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: joe+thornton,
jonathan+cheechoo,
patrick+marleau,
san+jose+sharks,
todd+mclellan