Congratulations to Ron Wilson and the San Jose Sharks, the first team to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, after they defeated St. Louis in the decisive Game Five of their first round series.
The series win is the first for Wilson since he led the Washington Capitals to the Finals in 1998. As a Washington-based hockey fan who was here for that run to the Finals, it's great to see Wilson having success with a new franchise, especially after the way he was dismissed from Washington following the 2001-02 season.
It was just one of the big mistakes the Caps organization has made in the past five seasons, and one they should regret as much as any of the others.
The Caps organization has made plenty of mistakes over the last 30 years, but I’m not sure firing Ron Wilson is that high on the list (trading defensive wizard Doug Jarvis at the end of the ’86 season for offensive help that never materialized and watching a first-round loss to the Rangers on a series of late defensive collapses is my nominee for number 1).
Wilson had pretty clearly lost the team by ’02, and it wasn’t as clear then to anyone as it is now how close to its sell-by date that player roster was. Now the gamble to replace him with Bruce Cassidy – there was a real howler.
Of course, you can’t ignore typical Cap’s luck – they win the “lottery” to draft the next can’t miss in Ovkevitch (sp?, I know) the year the agreement with the Russian federation expires. One thing about being a Caps fan – you always have your evenings free pretty early in the spring.
Let’s not forget the tendency to underachieve by STL’s high priced players…another spring where Tkachuk, Weight and Demitra failed to deliver any emotion. I know STL expended a lot of energy in their drive for the playoffs, but their performance left a lot to be desired.
It might be time to look at starting over in St. Loo.
Also, you have to think SJ fans are rooting hard for VAN to make a comeback against Calgary. A potential matchup against COL would be much worse than VAN w/o Bertuzzi.
Are you so sure it was a mistake firing Wilson? Yes he is a good coach, nobody had any doubts about that, but since the Stanley Cup run in 1998, he had lost in the first round twice and missed the playoffs twice, all with a high-priced payroll and a team full of stars. I realize that the Caps are not in the upper echelon of NHL franchise, but tell me of any franchise that would have kept him in the bench in light of that four-year record of futility?