Sharks extend Marleau

Words cannot begin to describe how exuberant I am now that TSN is reporting the extension of Patty Marleau to a two-year, $12.6 million deal that will keep him in teal until at least 2010. Two years is a bit short as the Sharks captain will still be 30 and presumably productive at the end of the contract, but another extension is obviously plausible. To echo Mike Chen's sentiments, I'm probably even happier the ridiculous trade rumors that saw Marleau go to Montreal for Ryder, Halak and a pick, Edmonton for Horcoff and Staios and a bevy of other NHL cities for cooked-up "offers" will finally cease. The annual cap hit will be $2.1 million greater than Marleau's current impact on the salary cap, which may inhibit the signing of an RFA or two come a year from now, especially if the team refuses to raise its internal budget. Regardless, however, this is a great day in Sharks history and, along with the extensions of Thornton and Michalek earlier this summer, should ensure that San Jose will be a Cup contender for years to come.

Sharks announce broadcast schedule

In an official press release Tuesday, the Sharks released the FSN Bay Area broadcast schedule for the 2007-08 season. 70 of the Sharks' 82 games will be televised, with two additional games scheduled to appear on Versus. 40 of the Sharks' 41 home games, all but a November 12th tilt against Phoenix, will be televised by the network, along with 32 of 41 road games. 11 of the 70 games will be broadcast on FSN+, with two more beginning on FSN+ then being joined by FSN Bay Area's flagship station following that night's Golden State Warriors game. As previously reported, Drew Remenda will be returning to the broadcast booth as FSN Bay Area's Sharks color analyst after a one-year respite with the CBC.

Ducklings to host Baby Sharks

In an official press release Saturday, the Anaheim Ducks announced that the team will be hosting a two-game series on September 8th and 9th that will pitt Ducks and Sharks prospects against each other. Presumably, the tournament is in part a replacement of the formerly annual Pacific Division Shootout, an event cancelled reportedly due to the regular-season games Anaheim and Los Angeles will play in London.

The Ducks announced their roster for the tournament, which includes 2005 No. 2 overall pick Bobby Ryan, 2007 first-round pick Logan MacMillan and brother of Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller, Drew Miller, who might be one of the few players in the league considered a prospect despite having his name on the Stanley Cup. The Sharks have yet to make an official announcement regarding the tournament, let alone detailing their roster, but it's probably safe to say the lineup will include the likes of Logan Couture, Devin Setoguchi, Ty Wishart, Nick Petrecki and Thomas Greiss.

Ice Bowl confirmed

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the first NHL outdoor game since the 2003 Heritage Classic saw the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens compete at an outdoor Alberta rink, has been all but confirmed. As expected, the Buffalo Sabres will play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, on New Year's Day 2008. The game will be nationally televised on NBC, who reportedly commissioned the event as a result of failing to land a college football bowl game. This comes after the network attempted to arrange a meeting between the Rangers and Islanders at Yankee Stadium last New Year's, which was unsuccessful.

In other hockey-related news, Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated, who has been handing out grades to teams based on their off-season performance for a few weeks now, has a Pacific Division report card up. The Sharks receive a B- from Muir, which is understandable due to their relative lack of player addition, but the contract extensions to Joe Thornton, Milan Michalek and Craig Rivet (all but the Rivet deal arguably below market value, mind you) have to be taken into consideration. The Kings deservedly finish at the head of the Pacific Division class with an A-. While their horrendous goaltending situation will likely inhibit them from their first playoff berth in five years, what GM Dean Lombardi has been able to accomplish this summer without mortgaging the future (*cough*Kevin Lowe*cough*) is commendable.

Regarding Mike Morris

Max Giese, a co-writer for Sharkspage, has an excellent piece up on Sharks prospect Mike Morris. Drafted 27th overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, Morris was considered a blue-chip prospect until a 2005 car accident hampered his development. However, the former Northeastern Huskies collegiate forward recently signed an entry-level deal with San Jose and is expected to report to training camp in September. Although it's unlikely he'll make the big club out of camp, he can expect solid minutes for Worcester and perhaps a call-up or two should injuries crop up. Anyway, a terrific read, I'd reccomend anyone interested in the Sharks' seemingly inexhaustible pipeline of young forwards to check it out.

It's official: Michalek re-signs

According to this Czech hockey server (and some helpful translation from Kukla), Milan Michalek, as reported earlier, has signed a 6-year, $26 million contract extension that will keep him in San Jose through the 2013-14 NHL season.

As I suggested previously, it looks like Derek Roy and Nathan Horton's identical 6-year, $24 million deals signed earlier this offsesason were used as comparables. The extra $2 million thrown in is probably to compensate any offer sheets Michalek could have received had he become an RFA July 1st, 2008.

UPDATE The Sharks beat writer for the Mercury News David Pollak is reporting that the deal has yet to have been entirely finalized, although he does mention the 6-year, $26 million extension reported on the Czech website.

UPDATE sjsharks.com is reporting the extension and have confirmed that it is a 6-year, $26 million deal. Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail weighs in.

All aboard the Forsberg train

Hey, NHL teams! Has the salary cap, despite its significant increase, hamstrung you from making significant offseason additions? Is the local media as well as your fanbase calling for the heads of the members of your organization's front office as a direct byproduct of your offseason dormancy? Do you desire to provide fodder for the aforementioned media types to discuss as an attempt to divert them from scathing editorials extolling your incompetence? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we have just the cure for your summertime anguish. Climb aboard the Forsberg train and see what our services have to offer!

By spreading a risk-free, noncommital rumor regarding your club's pursual of the oft-injured and declining, yet high-profile and inexplicably popular talent that is unrestricted free agent center Peter Forsberg, you'll be able to appease your rabid fans and critical reporters. How exactly am I to plant such a rumor, you ask? Unless you're the Colorado Avalanche, Philadelphia Flyers or Nashville Predators, the three teams Forsberg has played for in his NHL career, and therefore already have a basis upon which to spread such a rumor, you're going to have to start from scratch.

If you're like most NHL teams, it's fairly probable that you have a Swedish player in your lineup, or at least playing for your minor league affiliate. As it is a self-evident truth that Forsberg, being a Swede, is intrinsically connected to every active Swedish hockey player (It's true!), you should be able to base your otherwise baseless rumor upon that very connection. The percentage of this scheme imploding in your face is exponentially decreased if you are successful at coaxing that player into proclaiming his desire to play with Forsberg to the very media you plan to circumvent! Because, hey, it's quite plausible that every professional athlete loves to be both overshadowed by a player that is a shell of his former self and have his team's season become a sideshow with that very player being the centerpiece!

What's that? Your Norris-winning Swedish superstar is on record saying he barely knows, let alone is in an active friendship with, Forsberg? Come on, that kind of paranoia will get you nowhere in this league! What's the chance anyone possibly remembers that? Your final step in creating the rumor, before planting it in the media, is sufficiently covering yourself should, in fact, the plan backfire. While there's a chance (greater than the chance of Mike Myers' hockey-related movie succeeding, but significantly less than the chance of Rick Tocchet not crawling back to the Phoenix bench by Christmas) Forsberg will indeed sign with your club, there's probably a better chance of him signing with another team in pursuit of his services, playing out the string with MoDo in Sweden or retiring altogether. In order to prevent any of that nasty negative press when Forsberg ends up signing with a rival or decides to throw in the towel after your near assurance of his impending arrival to town, make sure to throw in a comment regarding his health status or that his elusive and drawn out "decision-making process" may lead to him pursuing a different offer.

After sufficiently padding your story, whisper the rumor into the waiting ear of a media type. We reccomend Eklund. With his credibility in the eyes of the online hockey community rapidly declining, it's quite possible you will receive monetary compensation in return for this "insider" information. Once Eklund stirs the pot, leak the rumor to a mainstream outlet and watch your Forsberg-related rumor sizzle. Within days, your previously-furious fans and formerly-ridiculing media will adore you for your competetive pursuit of the Swedish star. If all else fails and your fanbase sees through your blatant lies, don't worry. Just take a page from fellow front-office czar Darcy Regier of the Buffalo Sabres and, despite an off-season in which your club maintained the status quo or even lost the team's most important players to the clutches of conference competitors, simply raise ticket prices. That'll give them something other than your free agent-related incompetence to repine about!