Player's Coach or Ex-Cop?

With the Red Wings and Penguins turning the Semis into a preseason morning skate, there is not much to talk about except for the Sharks new coach. The San Jose Mercury News has 2 separate articles saying that the "perfect" candidate is Pat Burns. Ex-Cop, Stanley Cup Winner, 3 time Jack Adams winner, Ties to Joe Thornton, it all makes sense. With the majority of the team in the prime of their career, it makes no sense for Doug Wilson to bring in a 'young" coach who will take 1-2 years to integrate his system. The only issue is that he is still under contract to NJ till July 1st. Does Doug Wilson want to wait that long to find a coach? Does Burns really want to move West? Those are things that Doug Wilson needs to find out.

The coaching search is not the only issue to resolve. Changing the coach and not the players will show that Ron Wilson was used as a scapegoat for the season. With the cap expected to rise, the Sharks will have plenty of cap space (10 million plus the rise of the cap). Most of that money will go to Brian Campbell if he decides to re-sign. Raises will be expected for restricted free agents Pavelski and Clowe. But that still leaves enough money to sign another scoring forward and some more blueline help.