A perennial regular season favorite, and a playoff frustration just as often, the San Jose Sharks again hope to buck the trend this year.
Yet, as they've created a high-scoring offense, augmented by a top puck-moving defender and a variety of pieces around him, they'll enter this season with their biggest question mark in net.
Say what you want about Evgeni Nabokov, whether he was over-rated, soft, or not worth his asking price (or eventually got from the KHL), you knew what you were getting.
With a selection of Antero Niittymaki, Antti Niemi, and Thomas Greiss between the pipes, the Sharks are in more of a "wait and see" period, while hoping someone steps up.
Niittymaki is untested through the rigors of a full NHL season. He's played more than 50 games just once (with two 40-game seasons), and while the stats are good, it will be interesting to see him adjust to the run-and-gun style of the Sharks, a team that allowed the eleventh-most shots against last year (Playing for Tampa Bay was a good warmup, as they were eighth-worst in that category).
The transition may be even more awkward for Niemi. Chicago allowed the fewest ...
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Article written by Bryan Thiel
The San Jose Sharks: BT’s 10 Bold (Or Not So Bold) 2010-11 NHL Predictions
October 8th, 2010 by Bryan Thiel Leave a reply »
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