Just a few quick hits before we all sit down for Game 2 of 82.

• Sharks win 3-2 in their season debut. It wasn’t pretty but a win is a win and we’ll take it this early against a non-playoff team like Columbus.
• Vlasic made the kind of error that continues to make you long for an upgrade in the top four when Ethan Moreau pulled the old “Winona Ryder” and stole the puck from Pickles purse and Umburger tipped it past Niemi.
• Niemi looked good, not great – but he made the saves he was supposed to. I don’t blame him for either goal.
• I didn’t notice Filatov much even strength for Columbus except for when he got hammered by Scott Nichol. Welcome back from Russia, ladybug!
• For those of you keeping track, the Ducks got completely hammered last night in Detroit and Andy Sutton went down with an injury, pushing their blueline from bad to Ishtar. Dallas pulled off an impressive win in New Jersey 4-3.

I’m going to make an official shopping list for a Sharks blueline upgrade in the coming weeks and I’m looking for your suggestions of who should be on the list and who shouldn’t. I’ll keep a running top ten and guys can move in and out based on their performance. We want a legit top four guy, not a Shane Hnidy (no disrespect intended…no, wait…full disrespect intended). We can officially cross Zdeno Chara off the wish list after the news he signed an extension for 7 years/45M. That pulls a premiere UFA off the market and makes our speculation even that more interesting.

GO SHARKS.