Battle of Backups won by Patzold

At least for now, it appears that 24-year-old Kazakh goaltender Dimitri Patzold will serve as Evgeni Nabokov's backup. In a press release, the San Jose Sharks announced the demotion of Patzold's primary competitor for the backup position, Thomas Greiss, to the AHL along with forwards Graham Mink and Lukas Kaspar. Greiss had the flashier preseason numbers, with a 1.45 goals-against average compared to Patzold's rather ugly 3.50, but as noted in an earlier post, and reinforced by Doug Wilson's comment that the move "allows Thomas to play consistently in Worcester," the odds were against Greiss from the start. Since the Sharks' brass largely perceives the German netminder as San Jose's "goalie of the future," and since starting 85% of the games in Worcester would be far more conducive to Greiss' development than opening bench doors for the majority of the season, it was essentially determined that Greiss would spend most of the season in Massachusetts.

However, coach Ron Wilson stated that the occupier of the backup goaltending position will be continually evaluated as the season progresses, meaning that Greiss could potentially be stopping pucks in San Jose somewhere along the line this campaign. But with starter Evgeni Nabokov tabbed to play upwards of 65 games, one wonders if the role of backing up Nabby is significant enough for this level of controversy and convolution.

Can Sharks live up to preseason hype?

For one reason or another, the Sharks have been receiving a lot of love from media prognosticators this preseason, tabbed by many to either win the West, the Stanley Cup or both. First, the Canadian Press predicted the Sharks would win the franchise's first Cup this season. Then, The Hockey News polled knowledgeable pundits, with the Sharks being the Cup favorite among those media types as well. Soon to follow was EA Sports' simulation of the NHL season, concluding with the Sharks vanquishing Pittsburgh in six games for Lord Stanley. Now even ESPN has bought a pair of teal-colored glasses, with its most popular hockey-affiliated personalities, John Buccigross and Barry Melrose, crowning the Sharks the class of the West, with Buccigross predicting them to finish first in the conference and Melrose proclaiming San Jose the best team in the league. I'll get around to my own predictions in a couple of days and, while I think the Sharks will win the Pacific Division, even I'm not drinking the Sharks' Kool-Aid to the extent that I believe they are the unequivocal Cup favorites. Challenge for Lord Stanley they will, but unless the Sharks' five-on-five play improves to the level that they no longer need to rely on an oft-sputtering power play for offensive chances and the team defense continues to be a strong unit in the absence of Scott Hannan, it's tough to say whether San Jose will drink from the Cup next June. But there's definitely reason for Sharks fans to be optimistic as the season nears, and you don't need a sizable contingent of the hockey media to tell you that.

Odds and Ends

It's been relatively quiet around these parts as of late as I prepare for the upcoming season with predictions that should be up here before the season begins in North America, though preceding the commencement of the London games is looking unlikely. The Sharks are currently 3-0-2 in preseason action as the franchise's shootout woes continued last night in Calgary. In light of Torrey Mitchell's foot injury against the Flames, it's looking like Devin Setoguchi remains the lone rookie with a legitimate shot at making the roster up front, with the vacant backup goaltending position still largely up in the air. Thomas Greiss seems to be the early favorite, but Patzold wasn't bad against the Canucks on Saturday. With not much else Sharks news to report, here's some tidbits from around the league:

• "Dollar" Bill Wirtz, oft-vilified owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, named recently by ESPN as the fifth-worst owner in all of pro sports, has passed away. I would assume this news is met by most Hawks fans with restrained jubilance. On one hand, it's socially unacceptable and ethically questionable to celebrate the death of a fellow human, especially one as philanthropic as Wirtz, but at the same time, this is the man whose terrible marketing decisions, most notably his policy on blacking out Chicago home games, have incinerated a once potent fanbase and have turned who knows how many potential fans away from the Hawks. Again, my condolences to the family, and by all accounts, Wirtz was a good man outside the realm of hockey, but having tarnished the image of an Original Six franchise, which is as sinful as it gets in the NHL, the Hawks can look forward to better days in Wirtz's absence.
• How many hits to the head that result in significant injuries must occur for Colin Campbell and the rest of the NHL's pathetic excuse for a justice system to make a statement significant enough to pre-emptively discourage any similar incidents in the future? That unnecessarily lengthy question is likely, in some form or the other, in the minds of many hockey fans in light of last night's concussion to Ottawa forward Dean McAmmond. In preseason action, no less, Philadelphia forward Steve Downie raced the length of the ice and pummeled an unsuspecting McAmmond, resulting in the latter's concussion. Compounding the matter is that McAmmond had just returned after off-season rehabilitation following Chris Pronger's elbow to the head that the Senator sustained during last season's Stanley Cup Finals. Unconscionable act by rookie Downie that should certainly be punished by exponentially more than the standard 2-3 games Campbell and Co. seem to dish out at every misdemeanor.
• Finally, on a Sharks-related note, the San Jose Mercury News have finally gotten their act together and established a Sharks blog, titled Working the Corners. So far, Sharks beat writer David Pollak has been the sole contributor, but it's fathomable that other Merc writers involved with the team, like Mark Emmons or perhaps even columnist Mark Purdy, may contribute. The advent of heavier online coverage for the team is just further evidence that print media's future lies in the confines of the intertubes, a fact that's becoming more profound by the day, as several big-name newspapers begin the transition to a solely-online publication. Regardless, congratulations to David, and hopefully he continues to provide valuable insight on the Sharks. Several beat writers around the league, including the Kings' Rich Hammond and the Avs' Adrian Dater, maintain very successful blogs, and there's no reason Pollak won't follow suit.
  

Sharks Gameday: The Rise of Torrey Mitchell

Vancouver Canucks (2-0-1) @ San Jose Sharks (2-0-1)


I'll admit I knew precious little regarding Sharks prospect Torrey Mitchell prior to this month. Yeah, I read a few stories last March regarding his agreeing to a contract with the Sharks and subsequent stint in Worcester that had AHL coach Roy Sommers giving the forward rave reviews, but I didn't pay too much attention. I mean, how good can a guy drafted 126th overall be, right?

Pretty damn good, apparently, if the radio commentary of "Dictionary" Dan Rusanowsky and David "I have a speech empediment" Maley along with a few Mercury News stories are to be believed. It would appear that the Sharks have once again struck gold with a post-first round pick out of the NCAA, a trend that is evident in the development of Matt Carle and Joe Pavelski.

A University of Vermont alum, Mitchell is dazzling with his speed, skill and two-way effectiveness and, along with fellow prospect Devin Setoguchi, is making a legitimate case for an opening-night roster spot and is sure to get a long look now. Mitchell is scheduled to play between Patrick Marleau and Milan Michalek tonight as the Sharks host the Vancouver Canucks in preseason action at the Tank. A 3-1 decision over the Ducks last night raised San Jose's exhibition record to 2-0-1.

The Sharks announced another series of roster cuts on Thursday and PJ over at Sharkspage takes a look at the remaining training camp roster. Eliminating longshots Tomas Plihal, Craig Valette, Riley Armstrong, Graham Mink, Brennan Evans, Derek Joslin, Brad Norton, Tom Walsh and Taylor Dakers, and assuming Patrick Marleau will stick at left wing, we're left with a depth chart that somewhat resembles this:

Marleau--Thornton--Cheechoo
Michalek--Pavelski--Clowe
Brown--Roenick--Grier
Rissmiller--Goc--Bernier
Kaspar--Mitchell--Setoguchi

Vlasic--Rivet
Ehrhoff--McLaren
Carle--Murray
Semenov--Davison

Nabokov
Greiss
Patzold

I'm not a big fan of playing Marleau up at LW, but Ron Wilson has given every indication that's exactly what he plans to do. I could very well see Marcel Goc and/or Joe Pavelski traded to make room for Mitchell or Devin Setoguchi, but there's a chance either of the latter two will start on opening night anyway, granted they build on already impressive preseason showings with good games tonight against Vancouver.

Sharks score first win of preseason

The Sharks defeated the Ducks in Anaheim last night by a score of 1-0, registering their first preseason victory this year.

By all accounts, goaltender Thomas Greiss, expected to battle Dimitri Patzold for the Sharks' vacant backup goaltending position, was phenomenal. Although he was only forced to make 19 saves for the shutout, several of them, at least according to Mercury News reporter Mark Emmons, were of the acrobatic variety. This certainly is good news for the young German netminder, especially on the heels of Patzold's 6-5 shootout loss to the Kings Tuesday night, when the Kazakh gave up five tallies and bit hard on a deke by the Kings' Dustin Brown in the shootout.

Now, as I mentioned previously, reading too far into preseason victories can yield disastrous results. However, the Ducks, after trimming 18 players from their training camp roster as the team gears up for their September 29th season opener against the Kings in London, save for third-stringer Jonas Hiller stopping pucks rather than J-S Giguere, iced a lineup that very much resembles the squad that will face Los Angeles in that England opener. Sure, Francois Beauchemin, one of the team's steadier defensemen, wasn't playing, but with Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne and Dustin Penner no longer with the team (regarding the first two, at least not currently) and Sami Pahlsson and Niedermayer replacement Mathieu Schneider injured, the Ducks' roster was essentially complete.

On the other hand, while the Sharks had Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo at their disposal (albeit without a competent left wing), Patrick Marleau, Milan Michalek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic et al were not playing, yet the team still defeated Anaheim 1-0.

Again, reading too much into this game is clearly not the smart thing to do, but it'll be interesting to see if the Ducks fare any better Friday when the teams meet at the Tank.

Sharks Gameday: Who says preseason doesn't count?

San Jose Sharks (0-0) @ Los Angeles Kings (1-1), No TV

As a disclaimer, It's unlikely I'll be able to get up a gameday post for every Sharks game this season (What do you think this is? Battle of California?), but when I have time on my hands or a particularly marquee matchup is upcoming, I'll try to post one.

I neither have much time nor does an exhibition game against the Kings constitute a marquee matchup, but seeing as this game will mark the first time our beloved Los Tiburones take to the ice in NHL competition in four-and-a-half months, it's probably worth noting.

But what's even more notable is the general stigma that pre-season is meaningless, a sham, an artificial construct to drive up revenues. While that may be true in that pre-season success doesn't necessarily translate to regular-season victories and players who tear it up in September don't always go on to have big years, where the pre-season is very relevant lies in the determining of roster spots.

One could argue that Marc-Edouard Vlasic would not have made the Sharks had it not been for an outstanding preseason. Vlasic impressed the Sharks brass enough during exhibition season to claim a roster spot, and was consistently the Sharks' most reliable defenseman for the rest of the year. Many other of my training camp queries will likely be answered as the pre-season rolls on. A Mercury News article earlier this week featured a Ron Wilson quote that implied Evgeni Nabokov would start 3-4 preseason games, with the remainder to be divvied up between Dmitri Patzold and Thomas Greiss.

So while the Stanley Cup isn't won in September, the pre-season is extremely significant to depth players jostling for roster spots and with the Sharks still uncertain on who will claim both their sixth and seventh defense slots on the depth chart as well as their backup goaltender, exhibition games this year will definitely be worth paying attention to. But above all, hockey's back, which in and of itself is a reason to celebrate.

Sharks unveil new jerseys

Meh. The numbers on the front will take some getting used to, and the bottom stripe causes the design to somewhat resemble the Sharks' retro dubs, but overall, it's better than I expected. The whole advent of the "Rbk Edge" design is nothing more than a cash grab, but as far as cash grabs go, this doesn't look half bad. I'll probably have additional perspective when I actually see one of these in person. Sharkspage has additional coverage, including a YouTube video of the press release itself.