Good article in the Merc today by Purdy that follows up on what we talked about yesterday. Does he have Shaved Ice on his favorite bookmarks?

My diagnosis: They have a climate-control crisis. The team temperature never seems to rise or fall. Behind or ahead, the Sharks operate at the same constant level of intensity. Some nights, that’s enough. Other nights, when the temperature needs to be turned up, it’s definitely not. And of course, when you’re talking about a hockey team’s attitude, you tend to look at the captain. That would be Patrick Marleau. He is the ultimate Mr. Climate Control. A coincidence? Marleau’s biggest asset might also be his biggest weakness. His demeanor seems to stay the same, no matter what goes on around him. He’s never too excited. He’s never too depressed.

Check out the rest below. He makes the similar argument I did yesterday that, with Marleau at the helm, this team may never rev up the intensity enough to take the next step. Marleau knows he plays on the even keel, but his self comparison to Vinny D is pretty off the mark. Vinny has several season of 70+ PIM’s, so I’d say he played with a little more tenacity.