Quote:
Originally Posted by WTFetus
It's just weird that people are criticizing Thornton and saying he has a big ego when I haven't read anything of the sort since he became a Shark. And then the same people are calling out Marleau as Mr. Innocent and Mr. Team Player when he had that whole debacle with Ron Wilson (whether it was all RW's fault or not, it still happened).
Are we talking about the same Thornton who changed his game from sitting along the half-boards to playing a very good two-way game because he wanted to help the team win?
It just seems like you're basing your argument on a whole lot of nothing.
Not to mention it's a completely different circumstance of "being the man to not being the man". He's been the go-to-guy on the Sharks because he's been the best player on the Sharks. When he gets older, he won't be the best player on the team anymore.
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When there are two in conflict, there is
ALWAYS blame to both sides. However, in the case of Wilson and what I know, Wilson was beyond the pale. Marleau was at fault for not addressing the issues earlier. There were a lot of other Sharks who had issues with Wilson; if it was only one, the player no matter how good would have had a plane ticket out of town. If you want to go to coaches who have conflicts, look at Arbour. He picked on Potvin, because he know that DP could take it. His way of sending a message to the entire team. Potvin came to understand it.
JT will get on players for not converting chances. Not necessarily ideal. And he is stubborn about changing up his game on the fly. It is telling that he finally approached the coach rather than the coach approaching him. Part of coaching is understanding the game but also understanding when you as a coach can press buttons.
As far as Sharks rebuilding, that was happening around the time of Nolan's departure. They were definitely going to unload Nolan and Rathje. And part of it was monetary in that regard (recall that the team was sold around that time).