No baby yet, so I thought I’d kill some time.

I noticed this release today on the Sharks official website, confirming what we all assumed was Step One in the offseason plan. Doug Wilson’s J-O-B is safe and he will be the point man for the changes this summer.

STATEMENT FROM THE OWNERSHIP GROUP OF SHARKS SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT:

“The on-ice results of our team this season are not acceptable to our fans, our organization or our ownership group. We will not lower our expectation that every San Jose Sharks team we put on the ice is capable of winning the Stanley Cup. Despite the fact that our team has experienced a tremendous amount of success over the past eight seasons, we are not satisfied with those results and neither is Doug. The ownership group has confidence that Doug will make the necessary changes to ensure our club remains among the NHL’s elite franchises.”

So Step #2 we’d all assume is will Doug Wilson continue with T-Mac as the teacher in his hockey classroom? You’ll notice T-Mac did not get the same vote of confidence from the ownership statement.

Mike and I are on record on this weeks podcast that we think it’s time for a change. Despite four years of making the playoffs, the lack of consistency, the brutal drop off on the penalty kill, and the apparent change in winning style in the NHL could steer DW in a different direction – especially if he’s stuck with many of the same players. It certainly will be easier to change the coaching staff than trade some of these contracts (Marleau, Thornton, Niemi) in an unknown CBA climate.

If T-Mac gets thrown overboard, one name I want to throw out is St. Louis Blues assistant coach, Brad Shaw.

Who the hell is Brad Shaw? Well, he’s an assistant coach on a team that whipped the Sharks fannies eight out of nine times this year and we know what a fan Doug Wilson is to paying homage to teams that are successful. Brad Shaw was voted by the 2011-12 NHL Players Association players poll as the assistant who most deserves a Head Coaching job. He played 377 NHL games as a defensemen and was Co-Captain of the Ottawa Senators in their second year in the league, something DW can relate to as a Captain of an expansion team himself. Maybe the most important connection between the two men is they both were dominant defensemen for the Ottawa 67’s under coach Brian Kilrea, a brotherhood that DW appears to take pretty seriously when evaluating hockey talent given his draft history. Maybe he would consider it when looking for another coach…

Nothing to see here yet…but if T-Mac gets canned, I would see if Doug Wilson has Brad Shaw on speed dial.