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.

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.

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.