Ever since blowing a 3-0 series lead against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, the San Jose Sharks have been a team ripe for change.
First, there was the stripping of the captaincy from Joe Thornton and assistant captaincy from Patrick Marleau. Rumours circulated all summer that one, or both, of the long-time franchise leaders would be traded after team owner Hasso Plattner expressed his disappointment over the loss to the Kings.
“I am very disappointed in the way our team finished the 2013-14 season,” he said in a release in May. “Doug Wilson and I have met over the past two weeks. He has shared his support of the coaching staff, as well as his recommended changes to our team’s roster, and he has my complete support moving forward.
“I am confident that with the proposed changes, Doug and his staff will build a team we can all be proud of.”
Despite Wilson supporting his coach in the summer, there’s been a sense Todd McLellan has been on the hot seat through this season. And though the Sharks currently hold a playoff spot, something has been off with this year’s team, which usually dominates its way through the regular season.
According to a report in the Globe and Mail Thursday, this has caused dysfunction in the organization.
The report went into detail about Adam Burish’s release from the club. According to the report, Burish was waived because of a disagreement between Wilson and McLellan. The coach wanted to play him, while the general manager preferred younger players such as Barclay Goodrow and Chris Tierny to have the ice time. Making the story more interesting is that it states Burish found out he was waived from teammate Joe Pavelski rather than someone from the management team.
On Thursday evening, Wilson took issue with the story and told Kevin Kurz of CSNBayArea.com he didn’t mishandle the Burish situation and that he and McLellan are getting along just fine.
According to Wilson, however, Burish was informed of the Sharks’ decision by his agent Markus Lehto, who was kept in the loop during the process.
Lehto confirmed to CSNBayArea.com that Wilson told him of the team’s decision to put his client on waivers the day before doing so, and Lehto subsequently told Burish.
Wilson said he has “never once” told McLellan who should be in the lineup, and there is “zero truth” to any suggestion that there is dysfunction between the general manager and head coach.
