Per TSN.  I’m perfectly fine with that.  I think we both said on the podcast last week that we’d prefer Lilja to Leach.

As far as Sullivan goes, he did score that nice goal on Saturday, but in my terrible amateur scouting opinion, he made several gaffes during that game, not unlike our golden boy, Nick Petrecki.  Lilja has to be the big favorite at this point to make the club.

Hey Jerky!  Don’t leave the game early!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwchenZolCE[/youtube]

I love this series of commercials.  And this one, linked by Puck Daddy today, is particularly poignant for Sharks fans.  Sure, it was a pretty wretched game until about 3 minutes into the third.  But don’t try to beat the traffic.  You would have missed an unbelievable flurry of goals, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.  Like this one:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmWY16C8C08[/youtube]

This prompted perhaps the latest goalie change I’ve ever witnessed, with  only 5:20 left in the game.  It was so late (and perhaps unnoticed, because Ellis is #35, Rinne #39), that it wasn’t even announced to the crowd.  My astute section neighbor noticed it.  Didn’t help much, because Rinne faced two shots, one of them a goal by Marleau.  Thanks for stopping by Rinne.

With both Pavs and Heatley on the ice bidding for the hat trick with the goalie pulled late in the game, who scored the empty netter?  Jay Leach, from 130 feet, his first NHL goal.  A perfect ending to one of the weirdest, craziest Sharks games ever.

Oh yeah.  Boys, try and show up a little earlier next time.

Who gives a rat's ass about Juliet? We need a puck mover!

The Sharks managed to serve up a stinker after a brilliant eight-game winning streak, losing to the Kings last night at home 6-2.  However, I’d say it was nowhere near as bad as the 7-2 thrashing the Sharks took at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks six weeks ago- that game managed to include three shorthanded goals against.  This one merely had three power play goals against, with the kill looking as bad as I’ve seen it this year.  Oh, and it snapped a streak of 29 penalty kills without giving up a goal.  So we have that.  Which is nice.

Actually, both special teams groups looked pretty bad all night, and the fact that Douglas Murray got a power play goal late should tell you something.  Now I’m a big Murray fan- he’s played better this year than I ever thought he would, but he’s not exactly an offensive juggernaut.  That better describes the Illusionist, the here-today-and-gone-tomorrow, the runaway bride, Jason Demers.  Although he’s not the reason why we lost.  And he’s not putting himself on the Worchester (and now Stockton) shuttle.  That is because of the rarely questioned Doug Wilson, and now I have questions.  I asked Dan Rusanowsky on the ChompTalk radio program about whether Demers’ demotion was because of cap or because of play, and he said a bit of both.  I just don’t get it.

Demers is making $543k this season, only a few thousand more than Brad Staubitz, although admittedly about double what the Sharks have to pay Jay Leach.  And while I have a certain amount of warm feeling toward the new guy, last night we saw a glimmer of why Leach has been of waivers a couple of times this year.  And I’m not just talking about him blowing a tire in the middle of the ice with no one around.  Leach certainly knows his capabilities, and those don’t include rushing the puck up ice.  With the Kings forechecking fiercely all night, the Sharks could have really used a guy that made a move around a forechecker and created a 3-on-2 in the neutral zone.   But that didn’t happen, and after some top line dominance in the first period, we saw the reverse of the Phoenix game on New Year’s Eve.  The Sharks didn’t get a goal out of it, and the Kings seized control after a missed assignment and two quick power play goals, and the rout was on.

I’d like to see how quickly Demers comes back from his Stockton assignment, which probably won’t include him playing a game, according to Pollak.  I’d hate to think this is a bit of hazing, making sure the kid pays his dues riding the bus.  Of course there are going to be some rookie mistakes, and I hardly see how racking up frequent flyer miles is going to change that.  Work with Trent Yawney and Matt Shaw after practice will.

As a final note, today is the last day to get your submissions in for the first Dudes On Hockey t-shirt contest – please get them in by 6pm Pacific.  You’ll have to listen to the last third of the most recent podcast to get the details on what that contest entails.  We have a good number of submissions so far, but I know there are more of you out there dying to get your hands on a piece of limited edition podcast regalia.

Goddam it, shouldn't I be the one starring in that stupid George Clooney movie?

Ryan Vesce, along with Jamie McGinn and Logan Couture, has been on the short end of the stick when it comes to the Worchester shuttle this year, and I heard a rumor that’s he’s being called up for the game tonight:

But unlike McGinn, Couture, Joslin, McLaren, and the rest of the crew that are accruing frequent-flyer miles at a fantastic rate, Vesce is a veteran player.  Some people may know a bit about the waiver rules in the NHL- they are based solely on age and years of experience.  Young guys like the ones I mention above are exempt from waivers, a process where any other team in the NHL can take a player for free and assume their contract.  But Vesce is 27 years old, way too old to be exempt from waivers, which he would need to clear to be sent to Worchester, and re-call waivers, which he would be required to clear to come back to San Jose.  How come we never hear about him clearing waivers, like the recently demoted goaltender Stephen Valiquette of the Rangers?

It’s because the Sharks are being extra careful  with Vesce, and taking advantage of some CBA minutia.  As some of you might know, I’m oddly fascinated by the various obscure rules of the CBA, and none may be more confusing than the waiver process.   The Sharks are manipulating his time carefully so that he’s not subject to either regular waivers (which is how he would be sent down) or recall (which is how he would come back).  This is a pretty neat trick.  The harder thing to get around is the recall (or re-entry) waiver process, and the Sharks are taking advantage of section 50.9(g) of the CBA:

The Re-Entry Waiver procedure will not, however, be applicable to Veteran Minor League Players defined as follows: (i) for goaltenders, Players who have:
(A) played in 180 or more professional games in North America (NHL, AHL and ECHL), and
(B) not spent more than 80 NHL games on NHL roster over the prior two (2) seasons or more than 40 NHL games on NHL roster in the immediately prior season; and (ii) for defensemen and forwards, Players who have:
Neither the salaries nor signing bonuses paid to minor league Players shall be counted against a Club’s Upper Limit or the Players’ Share. For a Player on a One-Way NHL Contract or a Two-Way Contract with a Minor League Salary and compensation that could be earned in excess of the following amounts:

2005-06: U.S. $75,000

2006-07: U.S. $95,000

2007-08: U.S. $100,000

2008-09: U.S. $100,000

2009-10: U.S. $105,000

2010-11: U.S. $105,000

2011-12: U.S. $105,000

the following rules shall apply:
(i) To the extent the Player does not require Waivers to be Loaned to a minor league affiliate, he can be freely Loaned and Recalled

Vesce makes $105k, right under the wire, so this first rule doesn’t apply- Vesce is not subject to recall waivers.  Now what about regular waivers- how does he get around that, being 27 years old, with NHL experience last year?

13.5 Waiver Expiration. The rights granted under this Article to Loan a Player(s) who is otherwise required to clear Regular Waivers to a minor league club expire for any Player(s) who, after clearing Regular Waivers:

(i) is not Loaned to a minor league club, or is Recalled from a minor league club (except on emergency recall); and

(ii) remains on an NHL roster for thirty (30) days (cumulative) or plays ten (10) NHL Games (cumulative).

So looking at the above chart, we know know why Vesce was sent back down on the November 14.  Because his waiver exempt status was about to expire.   Now with the new addition of Jay Leach, the Sharks are taking advantage of another waiver wrinkle – since Montreal got Leach on re-entry waivers, they only had to pay half of his salary, the Devils the other half.  And now that the Sharks got him on regular waivers from Montreal, they are required to pay the amount the Habs did, about half the league minimum.  Leach may or may not have been “a guy that our guys (scouts) have liked” as Pollak reported, but more likely it’s that “he’s a guy that our guys (accountants) have liked”.

The Sharks have started a new winning streak against a host of ex-Sharks sprinkled among the Canadian teams, and the Dudes break it all down.  Mike and Doug also talk about the demotion of Jason Demers, and the curious claiming of Jay Leach off of waivers from Montreal.  Finally, there’s a comparison of the top-4 defensemen of the Sharks versus other top Western teams, and the speculation that a trade could be an answer to this deficiency.  Be sure to listen to the Dudes on Chomptalk this weekend- Sunday night from 8-10pm on 1220AM (or stream at http://www.kdow.biz).  The blog-off voting can be found here.

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