He’s Back!!! We’ve been saying for weeks that the Cheechoo train appears to be back on track. He is finally healthy and doing all the things a Cheechoo does, outstanding positioning, burying his opportunities, playing an aggressive brand of hockey – he led the team with four hits last night, and a flair for dramatic, important goals. Cheechoo never forgot how to play, turned in a poor effort or lost his desire to compete – he was still recovering from offseason surgery. We can only hope that the Sharks have learned that by rushing Cheech back and having him out there at 50% wasn’t an advantage for the player or the team – and I hope they don’t make the same mistake with Clowe in the coming weeks. Ryane will be looking to make an immediate impact and I’m sure he’s eager to redeem himself for the organization and the fans who he let down with his Christmas DUI – but the Sharks need to be sure he is ready to go before letting him roll out there. Clowe is far too valuable for future seasons to watch him struggle down the stretch.

Last night was a very good win against one of the hottest teams in the NHL. Nashville played hard but in the end they couldn’t compete with the Sharks star power in Michalek, Thunder Joe and Cheechoo. It was a win the Sharks sorely needed after limping through with overtime wins against Columbus and Chicago. There may have been a collective sigh of distress when Patty Marleau came up gimpy with a groin injury during the game – but not because the team is going to miss him on the ice. If he’s out for an extended period of time, this could put a major wrench in the foundation of trade plans DW has been laying the last few weeks.

Okay, now a few odds and ends. Wade Redden can kiss my @#$. From different message boards, it appears Ottawa fans view Redden the same way we view Marleau, when the team struggles, the blame is usually cast towards Redden. As David Pollack pointed out in his blog yesterday it does confirm that the quiet mastermind is up to something, and his obsession with a #1 blueline doesn’t appear to have waned. I still think the prospect of a deal with Buffalo and Tampa Bay could be out there. How about a deal for both Prospal and Boyle? The Sharks have the best young players on the market.

Mike and I have begun to ponder – is Pickles really just a slightly more skilled Josh Gorges? Lately, Vlasic appears to taking a lot of punishment, doing some of the little things well but overall just fading as a can’t miss prospect. Is this just a 2nd year slump? What can we as Sharks fans realisticly expect from Vlasic long term? Right now, I see him as 6’1/200 pound defensemen who is unwilling to use his size and timid to jump into the play. I think his future is slightly cloudy and it’s possible he could be nothing more than a guy who can poke check the puck and take a hit. Hello Gorges.

I think the biggest question looming out there in the next two weeks is who are the sellers going to be at the deadline. Many teams are on the brink of making the playoffs. Will Toronto’s recent streak of points in four of their last five lead them to buy instead of sell? I will write more on this tomorrow. GO SHARKS!