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Was This San Jose’s Plan?
by PuckStopsHere on 09/01/10 at 11:22 PM ET
Comments (3)
Seeing that the Chicago Blackhawks were pushed very tightly against the salary cap, the San Jose Sharks signed Niklas Hjalmarsson to a four year $14 million offer sheet. It was clear that if Chicago was to match the offer, some other key player on the 2010 Stanley Cup champions would have to be let go. The obvious choice was Chicago goaltender Antti Niemi. Niemi was a restricted free agent who was going to salary arbitration. It was clear that the Blackhawks would not be able to afford the kind of salary he would receive. Niemi got a $2.75 million arbitration award, which Chicago walked away from and signed Marty Turco. San Jose has turned around and signed Antti Niemi to a one year $2 million contract.
San Jose was in a situation where they could use a competent defenceman to replace the retiring Rob Blake and a competent goalie to replace Evgeni Nabokov, who left to the KHL.
San Jose managed to force their conference rival in Chicago to part with either a young talented defenceman or their number one goalie. Both were players that San Jose could use and had salary cap room to add to their roster. If Chicago declined the Hjalmarsson offer sheet, then he would be San Jose property. If Chicago were to match the Hjalmarsson offer sheet, then Niemi would be sprung free. Antti Niemi is probably the best available goalie that San Jose could find (assuming Nabokov was not an option). Given the lack of a market for goalies this summer, San Jose could be rather confident that they could sign him if he was sprung free. It was pretty clear that Antero Niittymaki and Thomas Greiss would not be sufficient goaltending for a Stanley Cup contender.
Niittymaki is a goalie who has had injury problems in the past. His career best saves percentage in an NHL season is .912 in the 2008/09 season when he played 32 games. That isn’t the kind of goalie you expect to lead you to a Stanley Cup. Thomas Greiss is completely unproven. He played a career high 16 games last year. A three goalie tandem including Antti Niemi is far more likely to deliver good enough goaltending to win a Stanley Cup, given that there doesn’t look likely to be any elite teams in the league.
San Jose still has a need for another defenceman and may have salary cap room to pull it off; assuming anybody of substance is available. It may make more sense to wait until trade deadline time to acquire the defenceman. Likely a better player would be available and San Jose would not need to pay his contract for the entire season.
Anyway, the San Jose Sharks got themselves into a great situation. They hurt their rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks and they set themselvesu p to acquire one of Niklas Hjalmarsson or Antti Niemi. They now have Niemi. That is not a bad turn of events.
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Tags: Antero+Niittymaki, Antti+Niemi, Chicago+Blackhawks, Niklas+Hjalmarsson, San+Jose+Sharks, Thomas+Greiss,
Comments
Remember that Nittimaki got Finland to an Olympic final… he can be a good goalie
Posted by Pharazon from England on 09/02/10 at 04:52 AM ET
I still think Nabokov was unfairly blamed for the Sharks playoff failures. He was consistently one of the top goalies in the NHL for the past 5 years. That said, Niittymaki and Niemi would make a stable duo.
Posted by landsharkhockey on 09/02/10 at 06:27 AM ET
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It’s possible to take your comment about Niittymaki—“That isn’t the kind of goalie you expect to lead you to a Stanley Cup”—and apply it to Niemi prior to the start of last season. It seems almost impossible these days to predict who is or isn’t capable of winning a Stanley Cup in net, and the Sharks would have been wiser to use the money for Niemi on defense—or even a repacement for Malhotra on the 3rd line (and address defense later through a trade).
I say this as a Sharks fan—and one who thinks Niemi could be even better this year, with a year of NHL experience under his belt and maybe more stamina and a better understanding of the NHL rink and style. I just don’t understand Doug Wilson’s plan this summer; it seems mostly aimless.
Posted by nosferatu from oh on 09/02/10 at 12:21 AM ET