Something smells fishy in the land of schnitzel.

Thomas Greiss, the oft maligned, (and oft seated), back up to former Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov now finds himself in an odd situation. After a few glorious months were it seemed has was to be the backup for Nitty, a position in which he was guaranteed more ice time than he had under Nabby, and once which gave him the prefect set up to potentially steal the number one job away from our newly signed net-minder. Yes, things were looking up for Greiss. Then the Sharks signed Neimi and things got weird.

Suddenly, it was quite clear to everyone that Greiss' days with the Sharks were numbered. They already have some outstanding kids minding the nets in the AHL, so they can't just send him there. While the likelihood of him being used as trade bait was high, let's be honest here, his trade value isn't great, and he wasn't likely to find himself traded into a starting role anywhere.AT Teal and White you could see how deflated he was. Hell, you could see his thoughts as he stumbled in the net for white while the kid (Stalock) down at the other end of the ice maintained the shut out Nitty had started. Granted Niemi had left him in the whole by one, but Greiss looked shaky and unsure.

Now we find he has headed to Germany, his motherland with the team only to be told he will not start the exhibition game scheduled against his old rival, Adler Mannheim, tomorrow.

To quote a song from my favorite movie of all time "Something strange going on, something wrong."

The question is "what?"

Doing what I do for a living, I'm all to aware that there can be quite the difference between the public story, and the factually based one. Not everything can be made public, so conjecture fills the gaps and quite often fills them in incorrectly. Now we know the Sharks asked Nitty for his blessing before the signed Neimi, but not Greiss (at least not as far as we can tell. To be fair, we have no knowledge if he was asked on way or the other). That seemed odd at the time. And the club had been supporting him as their go to back up guy until they had a chance to bring Neimi in.(I don't actually feel that bringing Neimi is was a dick move. Hockey is, after all, a business and you do what you need to do to improve your team when an opportunity presents itself.) Suddenly Greiss is the clear third wheel and it seems like he's being treated as such, but the Sharks aren't known for that sort of behavior. So what's really going on?

It's possible that the Sharks, having signed a second starter, realized there was little room for Greiss in the organization at this time, and have been slowly shopping him around. The Wild are reported to be interested in him, and he has not (yet) been put on waivers, indicating DW's desire to get something in return when Greiss goes. Given this fact, they had to change their plans. They can't promise him anything, because nothing is certain, so they give him some chances to play, but otherwise have him sit so he can stay healthy and uninjured until a trade is finalized. No sense in getting this guy hurt before he has the chance to be moved elsewhere.

It could be that after the Neimi signing there was a bit of a falling out. It's happened before, albeit under a very different coach.Things like that are kept quiet if at all possible. Sure we all knew Patty and RW weren't speaking, but, it wasn't discussed by the team.

It's even possible that the Sharks have been doing everything to find Greiss a new home, and have been unsuccessful. They know they aren't keeping him, but they don't want to just drop him, so they publicly string him along, while doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get him somewhere good. They respect him too much to just dump him, so they keep him with the team despite it being rather clear that he no longer has a future on Team Teal.

It is also possible the that Sharks are just being douches for the sake of it, and are treating Greiss like crap because they no longer he need him. This really seemed to be the least likely of all scenarios, but it remains possible.

Whatever is happening, it's clear that Greiss has gotten the short end of the stick. What isn't clear is why.

Ah, the preseason. The nights are balmy, the weather is clear, the calendar claims it's fall, even if the forecast disagrees, and hockey is once again near.

I figured, despite it being a game against the Ducks, that this game wouldn't get that big of a draw. I was wrong. 15,500ish came downtown for a preseason game on a lovely, warm, Friday night. I know some of you are scoffing at the number, but considering capacity is 17,562, that's a damn good draw for a game that doesn't mean a thing. That's a helluva testament to the popularity of Sharks hockey in this area. It was as loud and rowdy as you'd expect a regular season game between the Sharks and Ducks to be.

Let me tell you, the people of San Jose are happy to have their hockey back.

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Scrimmage time!

New to this year's game was the inclusion on a live episode of the Hockey Hot Stove with Dan, Randy, Jamie and Drew. They usually do these every week or so during the regular season and post them up on the Sharks website for all to see. I guess they decided to start them earlier this year, falling in line with the Sharks compressed preseason schedule.

The crowd lit up when Dan's face was shown on the big screen. The cheers for the broadcasters were so loud, you'd think they were all players themselves. We love our broadcasters here. As per usual, Drew made a couple of jokes that fell so flat you could hear a pin drop in the Tank, while Jamie Baker kept giving him crap for having no hair. Drew can be hilarious but sometimes his comedic timing is off.

After they're little warm up show, the players came out onto the ice and were introduced. The old guard was of course welcomed back warmly, with the new guys receiving polite cheers or slightly louder ones if they were known from last season in Woostah. We made sure Kent Huskins got a loud cheer when his name was mentioned. He'd do the same for us, you know. That's the type of guy he is.

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Teal and White has become a ritual I look forward to each pre season. Lining up far earlier than you think you should to get into the Tank, only to go stand in line some more in search of signatures and a fleeting glimpse of your favorite players up close. Then they take to the ice in an exhibition scrimmage that is (typically) slow paced but fun to watch. It's a nice night that allows fans to just spend time in the tank with some familiar faces all while sitting as close to the ice as you can get. (because if you're like us, you're not getting that chance again until the next Teal and White game). Sure, we could sit in our seats but why? We have all season to sit in those.

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News from Sharks training camp, day one:

Niemi still in Hawks pads. Awkward. Lilja suddenly feels a lot better about the Wings gear he brought.

If he says "like" anywhere near as entertainingly as Vesa Toskala, Niemi will fit right in.

Wallin's 2.5 million dollar foot on the fritz. In related news, Sharks fans suffer sudden simultaneous hair loss.

Still no Captain.

Seeing Cheechoo in a Stars jersey pains me, but I wih him the best of luck. The man deserves to skate with the big boys again.

Terrible but true

It's official, folks.

Two Fins in the net, pizza you get?

We all heard the news today that Antti Niemi signed with the Sharks for a 2 year deal.

We also all heard how he didn't, how he may have, and how he might have offers from more team then the Sharks.

You may have also heard that water is wet, the universe in unfathomably large, and the sun is hot. (but not as hot as Douglas Murray)

Right now,  we do have some independent confirmation but nothing official. But despite that, it's still worth investigating just what may or may not have gone down this afternoon. All I know is, Greg Jamison picked a helluva day to announce he's stepping down.

First off, let me just state that I am not a member of the hard line opposition to Niemi being here. Whatever. If he is, he is, if he's not, he's not. I know he didn't win the Cup for Chicago, Chicago won it because they were that good. He just happened to be a part of that. Seeing as how I didn't really trust Greiss to be a solid backup in net this year, I'm not entirely surprised that the Sharks would be looking for another man in the nets, I'm just surprised it's one we basically all wrote off at the start of free agency. Now, that was clearly a mistake, but one many of us are guilty of. I do recall not being opposed to the notion back when it first became clear that Niemi was available, but I would say I was in the minority on that one. So much so that I backed off it almost completely. Now, here we are, with Niemi possibly in teal.

Gotta love the off season.

Several things puzzle me about this "deal":

1) DW spent the better part of the summer saying Nitty was our man in net. He wasn't going Niemi, he wanted Nitty, he got him and that's that.What does signing Niemi mean for Nitty?

2) Why wait this long to sign a Niemi?

3) Why grab another goalie when we need defensemen? And we really need defensemen.

4)Why string Greiss a long? Oh DW, you are such a tease!

Several things are possible here:

Niemi was taking HIS time to decide where he wanted to go.

DW was always looking for a second goalie to back up or tandem with Nitty, but was playing his cards close to his chest like always.

The Sharks came to the realization that Greiss was not the answer and aren't convinced our Stalock who art in net is ready for the bigs just yet. Clearly they knew they weren't going to be bringing Nabby back, so, without him to basically play all season and no real confidence in Greiss, you need a second option in net.

Niemi wasn't looking like a good deal...until now. Things change.

DW is certifiably insane.

I  put in the last one as a joke. I don't believe he's nuts, in fact, I trust that he has a plan. (he's like a Cylon that way) I don't know what this plan is, when we will see it in action or if we will even know it when we see it, but I trust it exists. For all the crap we give him as fans Doug Wilson clearly knows what he's doing. Sure, some of his deals have flopped, (*cough* Guerin *cough*) but what team hasn't had that happen to them? He looks for players he thinks will fit our needs and pursues them relentlessly. He has more information than we do, and a helluva lot more hockey knowledge. Even if his moves sometimes puzzle me, I do trust his judgement. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I feel like DW was plotting something along these lines all along. An opportunity to move had simply not presented itself until now.

We still need D, and with Niemi signed we most certainly will have to trade for it. It's quite likely, assuming this deal actually goes down tomorrow, that those wheels are already spinning. It was pretty likely they were spinning already. Signing D was looking less and less likely. Greiss is likely on his way out as I can't see DW being the type of guy to sign a man, move him out here, have him practice with the team some and then boot him off to another team. That's just poor business sense. (watch me be wrong. That would be a total dick move though and I just can't see Wilson doing that) He's been adamant that Nitty is the guy, and I seriously doubt he's going anywhere.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out tomorrow/in the coming days. Despite the need for D, this could be a potential boon for the Sharks. Stayed tuned friends. It's going to be a crazy ride!

We're approaching a new season and a new year in Sharks history. Normally, we commemorate the arbitrary assigning of numbers to what we have defined as a year by making resolutions regarding self improvements we'd like to make during the coming year. So I ask you Sharks fan, what do you want to change about you as a fan this year? Less reactionary? More reactionary? More passionate? Go to more games? Watch all 82 games on TV (assuming all 82 are on TV) Listen to Jamie and Dan all season long instead of Randy and Drew? All Randy and Drew? maybe start your own Sharks Late Night Confidential?

What are you looking to do differently this season? Let us know in the comments.

So on Thursday CSNBA had a nice BBQ down around 3rd and Harrison in the City. I was unable to go because I had work that day (so much to do, in fact, that I stayed late), but thankfully @Noctro, famous for the blocker he made for Nabby, was able to attend.

The shirt Noctro brought was large enough (we guessed) that if JoePa wanted it, he could keep it and potentially even wear it (you know, just once, to see how it fits), although our main mission was to have it signed by the man himself. It's a men's L so I will never wear it in public, but having something like that signed and framed would just be amazing.

Noctro did NOT disappoint and not only did he get the shirt signed, he got it on TV!

Holy crap! I was at work when I got word and I shouted this out to everyone in earshot.

No one believed me.

But here it is. Formerly LIVE video proof that the shirt was ON TV! All 5 seconds of glorious, glorious air time.

So JoePa apparently loved the shirt, which is great. His brother was also there to see it, so we suspect he'll be giving him crap about it for some time to come.  Sharkie saw it and ran right over.

That is obviously not me in that photo. Thanks Noctro!

Oh, and if you want your own FABULOUS ABIDE shirt, buy one here!