Leaving town tomorrow, so unfortunately I don’t have the time to properly write up what’s been happening, so I figured I’d create a new post for draft weekend discussion.  Topics of interest:

• Drafting Charlie Coyle 1st round (who?)
• Ducks getting both Cam Fowler (at 12!) and Emerson Etem
• Trade of Keith Ballard to the Canucks
• Sharks re-signing Wallin and Nichol (Wallin?  $2.5M?  I sincerely hope we only saw an injured Wallin last year)
• Possibility of trading Nabby’s rights for something
• Seto?
• Hamhuis sweepstakes
• Anything else your little hearts desire

I hope you’ve been following our thoughts recently on twitter. Link on the right there.

Via Hockey or Die:

First, San Jose Sharks defenceman Niclas Wallin, who has been limited to two playoff games thanks to an unspecified lower body injury, is apparently going to return to Europe in the near future.  According to a report, Wallin has agreed to a two-year contract with Lulea of the top Swedish league, but it’s unclear if he’ll be going there next season or if he’ll play another year in the NHL first.

I hope this isn’t true.  I say we take up a ‘Hamburgers’ collection- sweeten the pot a little.

Podcast tonight.

Not to say the Sharks couldn’t immediately fall into another slump starting Saturday in Vancouver, but the play over the last two games has shown to me real promise.  Less east-west drop passes and stickhandling, more north-south drives to the net and grit in the corners.  And although the win last night against Dallas was far from perfect, it’s the general approach to the game that seems the most encouraging.  Less fuss, more effort.  Clowe with a move on Robidas that looked like the dressing-down he gave Ehrhoff a week ago.  Seto going a thousand miles per hour and hitting everything possible.  Nabby challenging shooters.  Steve Ott playing like a cheap-ass.  Nice to see the world is back on its axis.

Certainly the biggest downside of last night’s game was Rob Blake’s early exit.  Sure, we’ve been on him quite a bit lately, but his play the last two games was on par with the best he’s had as a Shark.  Although I still would like to seem him get a couple of fewer minutes, especially since Vlasic is back, it’s hard to argue with his success the last two games.  The question is, can he keep it up?  If he’s a little banged up and needs to sit out a couple of games, that could be a blessing in disguise.  We can certainly use him battling in front of the net and getting the point shots on net like he’s been doing recently.  What we don’t need is him fatigued and looking a bit like the proverbial pylon.

Also nice to see the ice-time has settled out a little, defense-wise.  I was just looking at the Vancouver box score from last week, and Huskins had over 22 minutes of ice time to Wallin’s 14.  Very strange.  But last night, Wallin had 15:08, Huskins 14:18.  That’s more like it.  Although Boyle had almost 30 minutes, with a whopping 7:40 on the PP.  That’s three minutes more than anyone else.

Speaking of Wallin, thanks to Jeremy for creating this YouTube gem.  Make sure to comment and rate.  I’ve watched this at least 5 times already, and laughed out loud every time.  Well done, sir.  It’s no doubt the best video on YouTube that combines Wallin, techno, and food.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKkgOMrmiVw[/youtube]

The Sharks gut out a win against Detroit in their building, and the surprisingly good road trip continues.  Mike and Doug try to put it all in perspective, break down the newest Shark: Niclas Wallin, and take a ton of listener email.  Also, listen to get the contest details to win your very own limited edition DOH t-shirt!

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Move over Vlasic, here comes the Sniffle Monster

I’m fighting an upper body injury (code for the common cold) and the current plan is for us to record this week’s episode Thursday after the Red Wings game. We figured since we were running late, we might as well wait until after the Detroit game, right? So there’s still plenty of time to send in more questions for this week. We’ve got a ton to discuss, including the Sharks trade for Wallin, other moves around the league and the Sharks pre-Olympic road trip.

As for tonight, the Sharks have posted an impressive 7-0-2 record against the Blue Jackets in their last nine, so there’s no reason to believe that anything is going to change in that regard. The Sharks have been finding ways to win on this road trip and should be able to overpower the Blue Jackets. The interesting sidestory to tonight’s game might be for Sharks fans to pay some attention to two Blue Jackets defensemen, Jan Hejda and Fedor Tyutin. If you’re looking for two potential guys who might be moved at the deadline to get some new blood into Columbus, it could be one of these gentlemen. Both would look good in Teal, with Hejda being more of a shutdown defender and Tyutin being more a puck mover. The emergence of young Anton Stralman might make Tyutin expendable,  and Tyutin would be my preference.  To snag either of these two guys, it would require Doug Wilson trade someone from his current roster, which according to interviews this week he seems unwilling to do.   We all know Doug Wilson isn’t willing to tip his hand, yet Dudes on Hockey and our friend at ESPN E.J Hradek have been pointing to the Sharks need for an upgrade in the top four that the acquisition of Wallin doesn’t seem to address. Could DW still use his depth up front on the current roster to land a player like Tyutin or Hejda (ed. note: Fear the Fin just posted about a trade for Hejda)?

Take it or leave it, just a little something extra to watch for in tonight’s game. Talk to you tomorrow after I have endured treatment from the Dudes on Hockey training staff, and by that I mean Mike in a little nurse’s outfit and a sponge bath.

On second thought, I’d just rather be sick.

The Wallin deal was a done deal, then dead.  And now, after we got word this morning the deal for Wallin is back on, we get word just now that the deal is already complete.  Sharks get Wallin and a 2010 5th round pick in exchange for the 2nd round pick we got from Buffalo in the Craig Rivet deal.  We’ve covered some stuff about Wallin in the posts below, so I invite you to read them.  But my main reaction is this- meh.  I’ve heard some say that Wallin is a steady defensemen, and I’ve heard some rumors that say the management (and fans) in Carolina couldn’t wait to get rid of him.  Given Carolina is in the cellar right now, that doesn’t sound like a good thing.  Also given he played for Carolina, that means we haven’t seen much of Wallin, and only those with a rehab-worthy Center Ice habit would be able to speak about his play this year intelligently.

For me, that means I’m reserving judgment on this deal for at least five games.  Just to recap a quick thing I said in the recent podcast- if the Sharks are trying to replace Boyle and Vlasic with trades, that will be a fruitless effort.  Pointless.  The Sharks cannot go deep in the playoffs with those guys injured.  However, as we’ve said ad nauseum all year, the defense is the weak link on the team.  Even though we’ve advocated getting a #2 or #3 guy, this deal may work out well.  It’s possible Wallin may be a vast improvement to the #5 spot, and it’s also possible that the Sharks aren’t done making trades.  What do you think?

I'm gonna fake it to San Jose and go long on the no trade clause. Hike!

Oops. We just got duped, y’all.

Wait – I take it back. I don’t think we duped, I think there was a deal in the works and someone opened their big mouth (a source within the Sharks, Canes or Wallin’s agent) before Doug Wilson could finish a critical part of the deal – extending Nic Wallin. While none of this makes a ton of sense on the surface and raises more questions than answers, one thing is clear: Doug Wilson is shopping and looking to improve the defense in some way. Does this mean Wallin was his one and only fix up to the deadline? Was Wallin being acquired to replace Huskins, who would then be part of a 2nd deal to get a draft pick or another player? Is Doug Wilson hopefully thinking bigger and contemplating using his best assets to land a player who could make a bigger impact on this team’s Stanley Cup fortunes than a 3rd pairing defensemen like Wallin? I think we all hope so.

I don’t want to speak for Mike, but I’m pretty sure he’s happy this didn’t go through and from what I can gather from other Sharks blogs, they concur. So if you’re shopping Dougie Wilson and you’re reading this at the Nashville airport, I hope your trade deadline adventure yields what the Sharks need: an impact d-man. Most of the teams we play on this trip have a potential trade target on their roster: Fedor Tyutin in Columbus, Dan Hamhuis in Nashville, Francois Beauchemin in Toronto and the previously mentioned Barret Jackman in St. Louis last night. We’ll see if Dougie can wine and dine someone in the next week because it seems pretty clear to me, there might be more impact moves made before next Sunday’s roster freeze than at the actual trade deadline in early March.

If I were Seto, Clowe, Huskins or Mitchell – I might have one bag half packed…

Like the great Ray Charles, I am writing this post blind. We have probably all read the reports of the Sharks swinging a deal for Carolina defenseman, Niclas Wallin, by this point. Right now, we have no clue what we gave up – so as of 5pm pacific time, I’m going to take a wild stab, cause I’m just that kinda guy. Who’s with me?

Here’s my best guess. Vlasic is hurt enough that he is going to miss this entire road trip and Doug Wilson threw up after watching Joslin and Leach last night, so he had to make a move and make it now. He knew Wallin could be had, and had for cheap, so he called Big Jim Rutherford in Carolina and fleshed out a deal they had already likely discussed a few times. The catch is that the Sharks don’t have the cap room to absorb Wallin’s 1.7M deal (he is a UFA at the end of the season) so Vlasic’s injury now frees up 3M of that room if he’s placed on Long Term IR until after the Olympics.

Everybody with me so far?

So the Sharks get Wallin and I’m gonna guess that…well….hmmm….they traded Mike Moore – how about that? They gave up an AHL d-man to get the job done. Could be Joslin, but after last night, I’m not sure why they’d want him. The Sharks get a serviceable 3rd pairing d-man who hits people (127 hits) and can block shots. Is he the sexy #2 we want for Boyle. No. Is he better than Leach and Joslin…and maybe even Huskins? Yes.

Has he won a Stanley Cup? Yes.

Am I totally way off base here? Probably. We’ll see.

7PM: STILL NO WORD. RUMOR HAS IT THE TRADE WILL BE ANNOUNCED AFTER THE HURRICANES/FLAMES GAME TONIGHT. MIKE MOORE PLAYED FOR WORCESTER IN THEIR 8-4 WIN OVER SPRINGFIELD, SO HE LIKELY ISN’T IN THE DEAL. I DIDN’T NOTICE ANY MAJOR PROSPECTS OUT OF THAT GAME EXCEPT FOR THE GUYS WHO WERE TRAVELING (JOSLIN, MCGINN) AND THE INJURED (COUTURE). WE’LL SEE….

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