SHARKSPAGE

Post-season interviews with San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan and EVP/GM Doug Wilson

End-of-season media interviews with head coach Todd McLellan and EVP/GM Doug Wilson. Coach McLellan talked about his initial emotions after the Chicago Blackhawks series:

It sets in now. You are wound up with a lot of emotion in the loss to Chicago. We realize where we got to and what we failed to do. In some sense, you are proud of the group that they battled and overcame in some areas, and there are some things you are disappointed in. There are a lot of mixed emotions. Over the next few weeks we will be able to sort through them, talk to players, and figure out where to go from here.

McLellan also detailed changes minor and major that may be conducted in the offseason, and then offered a word of warning for his staff, Sharks players, and fans in the Bay Area:

We have to be careful we are not walking around and patting ourselves on the back. We set some new standards for the organization. The players lived up to them. Ultimately, we were beat by a very good Chicago team. I felt we could have played better, could have challenged them more. The season is a success as long as we do something with the growth next year. If we take a step backwards, we can’t look at this as successful one bit.

EVP/GM Doug Wilson detailed his initial reactions after the Western Conference Final loss to Chicago, and waded into issues of offseason salary cap management, and the pending unrestricted free agency of former captain Patrick Marleau and starting goaltender Evgeni Nabokov:

The first thing you do right now is decompress. We always give everybody an opportunity to be heard, and review the season. Right out of the gate I am damn proud of this hockey team, the coaching staff, and the fanbase for the support they gave us. It is a different feeling than we have had. We made huge strides as an organization, the standards, and the expectations. I do thank this group for that. The key is to build upon that. A lot of good things happened this year, a lot of success. We didn’t get ultimately where we wanted to get to, but I do feel this organization is now in a place where the standards to understand what it takes to get to. A lot of guys in this room have a lot to do with setting those standards.

Under this (salary cap) system, you always have a lot of work to do. That is the reality of this business. We work hard to make this a place players want to be. It is teammate to teammate respect and self motivated people that want to be people who are like that. That is why this dressing room is the most important thing in this organization.

We are very proud of (Marleau and Nabokov). They competed hard, and were very great teammates. This isn’t the time, and people should not get into the point of premature assessments or jumping to conclusions. We will make those decisions going forward. These are people who have done tremendous jobs for this organization. Both of them are outstanding hockey players. We will deal with that in the near future.

[Update] San Jose Sharks Rob Blake reportedly leaning toward retirement – San Jose Mercury News.