July 1st: “Finnish” What You Started
July 1st, 2010, 9:02 pm
What Doug Wilson wants, Doug Wilson gets
Canada Day is done and the Sharks have a new goalie in town, Finnish netminder Antero Niittymaki, who is going to make my spell check crazy for the next two years. This was a shocker, especially since there was so much chatter about the evil Marty Turco and so much hype about former Nashville goalie Dan Ellis. The lesson learned is we all should have listened to Doug Wilson when he said last week that they are looking for a butterfly style goalie – a change of technique from the athletic style of the Franchise Goalie Formerly Known as Nabby. The Sharks signed Niittymaki to a 2 year/4M deal, allowing the Sharks to change styles in net and also not break the bank in the process. Here’s the pros and cons to this deal, as I see it.
PRO: Niittymaki has had a Halak/Niemi type run on the biggest stage in the world by playing out of his mind in the 2006 Winter Olympics, winning a Silver Medal for Team Finland and the MVP of the Men’s Tournament with three shutouts and a 1.34GAA and .951 SV%. This is the type of pedigree I was hoping for in our new goalie – the ability to take over a series. The change of pace/style might be refreshing for this franchise.
CON: Niittymaki has not found this success at the NHL level in consistent stretches and has no real NHL playoff experience. He’s never been the clear #1 goalie and he certainly wasn’t given the title today in San Jose. It sounds like the Sharks will ride the hot hand, which certainly worked for Philly, Montreal and Chicago this season. Doug Wilson was extremely aggressive in signing Niittymaki and I guess gets kudos for getting his target, but given the cash more established goalies like Dan Ellis (2 years/3M in Tampa Bay) and Chris Mason (2 years/3.7M) got later in the day, you would think that DW could have waited and got his man for $500,000 less.
I was shocked earlier today by the move but I think I’m okay with it. I honestly didn’t see what all the fuss was about with Dan Ellis and maybe he’ll prove Yzerman a genius – but that guy peaked in 2008 with his playoff performance against the Red Wings and has been average ever since – and all I can remember about Chris Mason was how the Sharks embarrassed him in the playoffs when he was in Nashville. So, if Doug Wilson and company researched the options and after striking out with Halak, this was the next best thing – I have to trust them. Who’s to say Greiss won’t play the lion’s share of the games or that Alex Stalock won’t be breathing down their necks in training camp. It will be a good old fashioned roster spot battle and that type of fever seemed to work wonders for teams last season.
Manny Malhotra is gone – to Vancouver with a 3 year/7.5M deal. That’s too much cash for Faceoff Master Manny – no thank you. Doug Wilson made the right call here to walk away from the classy Malhotra and I think this is an excellent opportunity to follow another trend that worked this last year – the shutdown pest center. That isn’t Malhotra, he’s too much of a gentlemen and didn’t have the consistent defensive drive that a guy like The Rat Bolland did against the Sharks (notice Bolland is still in Chicago).
We have to all calm down and remember the Sharks Western Conference Finals team roster didn’t take shape until September. I still believe with the 8M of cap room that significant changes will take place and Doug Wilson will add that defenseman we crave, but now via the trade market. Could we see an ironic switch of positions with Vancouver looking to dump the 3.75M contract of Kevin Bieksa on San Jose? Last year the Sharks sent a valuable player in Ehrhoff with the DW special salary dump guy (Lukowich) for two nothing prospects. Could the Sharks get Kevin Bieksa for two prospects we’ll never miss?
So many funny moves today, please chime in with your best and worst deal of the day. So far, I’m taking Darryl Sutter bringing back the poster boy for losing, Olli Jokinen, to Calgary as the WORST contract and a sure sign that Sutter has gone completely bat-$%&# crazy. The best move of the day goes to the Pittsburgh Penguins for getting Z. Michalek on a four year deal worth 4M per season. An outstanding value.
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While Jokinen coming back to Calgary is high comedy, it doesn’t top Sather signing Derrick Boogaard for 1.65M for 4 years! They guy has absolutely no value other than fighting and he only had 9 fights in the NHL this year in the rough and tumble West. That’s almost 200k per fight. With the number of enforcers decreasing the only guy he’s likely to fight on a regular basis is Shelley in Philly (at 1.1M!!! which would have been my worst signing of the day if not for Boogaard).
I give the best signing to the Pens also, but for Martin over Z. I like Martin more and his cap hit isn’t that much higher. The Pens defense just seriously upgraded for the foreseeable future.
I like Edmonton signing K. Foster. He might be overpaid, but not if he continues his offensive production. I like his size and at 1.8m, I see this as a homerun swing for the fences. It’s gonna be bust or a homer.
I dislike a signing I heard about but seem to be hazy on the details. Some GM signed an old veteran blue liner who’s never made more than about 1m, is very slow, and just decided to give him a solid 2.5 mil…! … Oh wait that’s us!
Wallin was making 1.75 for the last 4 years.
Wallin given a raise on what he did for the Sharks is Sutter and Sather like signing.
Those 2 GM’s are awful–Sather gave Redden 6.5 over 6 years for God’s sake.
NO !##@!@!ING PODCAST? wtf. now i have to read words? UGGHhh.
I think Niittymaki is going to do just fine, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him match Nabby’s .912 SV%. It’s one of those signings that could be amazing, or cheaply brushed aside. I see very little downside. Interesting talk from DW about Stalock. It seems Greiss is really going to have to earn TMac’s confidence, something he failed to do in limited action last year.
Agreed on Manny. Good for him on getting his payday, but there are guys here (Couture) who can do his job, probably better and for cheaper. Ferriero is probably a poor man’s Malhotra without the faceoff skills.
Worst of the day has to be Boogard, best signing I nominate Ray Whitney going to Phoenix. I think the Sharks are still the clear favorites in the west, but Phoenix just re-established their place as closest challengers to the throne.
Dudes –
Personally, I’m not putting too much stock in 2006 Winter Olympics. First, he still fell short of the gold medal. Second, he only won one extra knock out stage game than Nabokov who was also playing out of his mind in that tournament. Russia-Finland semi-final was more about Russia underestimating Finland than Nittymaki standing on his head, although I do think he had a SO in that game. But Russia got frustrated early with few allowed goals, and never quite found its game. Kovalchuk even got sent off for boarding. It was embarrassing.
But I agree with everything else. Out of Mason and Ellis he probably was the best option. He’s already 30, so I don’t think there is much upside left. But it is what it is now.
I am still hoping for additions on defense, but I’m kind of tired on waiting on a miracle every summer, even if DW does tend to come through.
Silver for the Finns is still pretty good. I don’t put a lot of stock in it because that was over 4 years ago now and even then that’s a hot streak of what… 5 games? That’s not even 1 series, much less 4.
I am curious what he can do with a decent team in front of him. He was there for the bad years in Philly and then went to a bad Tampa team right when Philly really started getting good.
@evil douche
It’s called exaggeration for effect.
Kind of a cool addition, but one I pegged as a third tier goalie available. Reminds me a lot of Toskala, both the good and the bad. A lot of shots in the playoff come at you in a split second, so if he is hunched over trying to get eyes on a puck, you can beat him up high. For the most part, very solid positionally down low. I think a big part of his success or failure will be the performance of the defense in front of him.
First time I saw Niemi in warmups, it is hard to get across over tv how quickly he gets down into position. Lightning quick. For me the holes I saw was when he had to get back up, and then move side to side. I don’t think Niemi or Leighton were all-world in the Finals. With Jonas Hiller, he was pretty tight getting across, very little to shoot at. Pronger and Niedermayer made it that much harder to get at rebounds. With Niemi, there were holes under the arms, five hole, room up high. More shooting area.
Only seen Niittymaki a couple of times, but it will be interesting to see how he does. He fits perfectly what the Sharks said they wanted to do. Sign Setoguchi, create another competition in training camp to add a couple of young forwards, and then take your time trying to land a big d-man before the deadline. Regular season position means nothing. Use three quarters of the season as a shopping excursion to see who you like best.
Thats a good point, PJ. Why not wait to see if a team like Boston falls out early, and is willing to deal Zdeno Chara? A midseason trade of Clowe, Huskins, Mitchell plus a pick or prospect should be more than enough for a 3 month rental of him.
Chris Phillips and Andrei Markov are a couple of other guys that come to mind.
In the end, the Sharks are more than good enough to make the playoffs, probably as a top 4 seed as of right now. Who doesn’t think that, with the current rosters, San Jose probably would be a favorite against Chicago? Especially considering it looks like they will have to lose one more of Niemi, Hjammalrson, or Sharp? Who else is better in the West, right now? Maybe Vancouver? LA if/when they get Kovy? This roster will be better than it is now in April.
I demand an hour long podcast for missing this week. How did we not get a Canada day special?
Mike and I both have been out of town – we will have a new episode in two or three days. Happy Fourth!
Okay, fair enough, Have a good fourth!
That’s good news, not as good as a top defenseman but good.