Jeff Friesen interview

Here is a link to Jeff Friesen's post-game interview with reporters last season, after his first visit to San Jose as a duck.

Is Rathje's request unreasonable?
Suter makes $1.8 mil, Rags $1.675 mil, Mush $2.7 mil, and the newbies Hannan and Stuart at $.7 mil and $.975 mil respectively. And I haven't mentioned bonuses.

Is $2.25 mil out of line? $1.6 gets him even with Rags, for now. When Selanne gets $9.5 mil and has done very little, I wonder ... Is Rats request unreasonable?

Adam Graves featured on NHL.com
Sharks left wing Adam Graves is the featured player on NHL.com's - the heart of hockey.

Adam Graves has 1 assist in 11 games so far this season.

Jillson vs Rathje
With defenseman Mike Rathje sitting out due to an extended contract dispute, rookie Jeff Jillson has made the most of his opportunity. With one PP goal, and four PP assists, Jillson changed the look of the Sharks power play.

Jeff is able to keep the puck in the offensive zone, make quality passes, and keep his shots on net through traffic. It remains to be seen how quickly he will improve in other areas of his game [skating, 5-on-5 defense], but the future looks promising.

Korolyuk trade rumor
Sporting News columnist Larry Wigge speculates on a Phillips for Korolyuk trade in todays edition of inside dish.

SJ vs CLB game audio
If you have trouble with the MSN audio stream of the Sharks game tonight, try listening from two Columbus radio affiliates 1460-WBNS or CD 101FM. Note: After a disappointing 5-2 loss to Edmonton Thursday night, fed up Bluejacket fans threw beer bottles onto the ice.

Went to a fight and a hockey game broke out
During a minor league match between the Quad City Mallards and the Asheville Smoke, multiple brawls ended the game prematurely. "The referee called 14 major penalties for fighting, six 10-minute misconduct penalties and five game misconduct penalties."

Sharks vs Hawks
Not only are the Sharks going to have to stop Zhamnov [4G, 7A] and Amonte [3G, 6A] tonight to pick up a win, they should keep Eric Daze [6G, 2A] from getting a breakaway.

Watch Mr. Daze bury the game winner Oct. 18 vs. Nashville on the Blackhawks highlight page [2nd from bottom].

ESPN2 blacked out
To all the fans that emailed yesterday about the blacked out Sharks-Buffalo game, refer to this post Malcolm Bordelon made last season on FSNBA and the issue of DirecTV/NHL Center Ice Blackouts.

New Sharks third jersey
A press release today announced the Sharks are going with a Raider-esque, all black, alternate jersey this season.

It is one more indication that Al Davis is making behind the scene moves to buy the team. You heard it here first.

Jillson heads rookie class
MSNBC covers the strong 2001 rookie class including: Vaclav Nedorost, Dan Blackburn, Ivan Ciernik, and of course Jeff Jillson.

Closer look @ Selanne
It's time to take a closer look at Selanne. Re-watching the 1st period of the Devils game I saw several instances when Selanne made defensive zone blunders. If this were Korolyuk, he would have been benched! In fact, I thought the team played better against Boston when Teemu wasn't on the bench in the 3rd period. That fact disturbed me.

Perhaps the error of the Sharks is to always pass to Selanne rather than making the play themselves. I get a copy of the Wild game tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how he and the team played there. One can say that Teemu isn't fully tuned into Sutter's defense first system of play ... one can also say he is still a duck!

Rating the NHL
San Jose placed fourth this week in the Sagarian NHL 2001-2002 rankings. It will be interesting to predict the outcome of tommorow's game using the numbers. The Sharks (4.85) are favored over the Devils (2.43) thursday by a 2.17 goal margin. Dont forget to factor in +.25 for home ice advantage.

Melrose truism
"Small market clubs will always compete for the playoff spots, while the high-payroll teams will be the ones competing for the Stanley Cup." - Barry Melrose

Third period comeback

After playing more than fifty minutes of uninspiring hockey, the Sharks exploded for three goals late in the third period. Brad Stuart snapped an innocent shot from the point that deflected off Marco Sturm's stick, then dipped under Byron Dafoe for the first goal. Three minutes later, Jeff Jillson kept the puck in the offensive zone, started a pretty Jillson-Damphousse-Nolan tic tac toe pass, which Nolan tapped into the back of the net. The game winning goal came at 19:44 in the third period. After a wild scramble in front of the net, Marco Sturm lifted a back hander high over the sprawled Byron Dafoe to put the Sharks ahead 3-2.

Flashback

How does the glowing hockey puck work?

The real question is why would you want to make it glow... but "when Rupert says make it glow, you say how bright?"

Mike Rathje - a retrospective

Drafted in 1992, 3rd overall.
93-94 SJ :: 1G, 9A, -9+/- 94-95 SJ :: 2G, 7A, -1+/- 95-96 SJ :: 0G, 7A, -16+/- 96-97 SJ :: 0G, 8A, -1+/- 97-98 SJ :: 3G, 12A, -4+/- 98-99 SJ :: 5G, 9A, +15+/- 99-00 SJ :: 2G, 14A, -2+/- 00-01 SJ :: 0G, 11A, +7+/-

Wireless Sharks messages

CNNSI offers a new NHL team alert feature. Send hockey updates to your email account or wireless device.

View from training camp

I did like Toskala ... watch for him. He has a very good awareness and is very agile. Cheechoo looks a lot better and I was impressed by his stick handling but he still has skating problems in pinches, gets bottled in and coughs the puck up. His safest move would be to fall on the puck. Watch for Brandon Smith and Fibiger. I liked them both. Fibiger is much like Heins in stature and ability. Of course we all know Jillson ... he's good but needs more time in AHL. [via Burkesgirl]

Minnesota @ San Jose

The Wild open the season today in San Jose, with newly acquired Dwayne Roloson starting in net.

The focus for the Sharks tonight should be on the blue line. The Mike Rathje watch continues... Ice time vs Detroit: Suter - 25 min. Ragnarsson - 23 min. Hannan - 21 min. Stuart - 15 min. Marchment - 14 min. Heins - 12 min. Jillson - 8 min.

No Stars

[via section 117]

Graves video interview

Fox Sports has a 2 1/2 minute video interview with Adam Graves. Adam talks about coming to San Jose, his former clubs, and his passion for the game.

Game On!!

Howe on the Wings ... free
Ticket to the game ... $39
Hasek debut ... $97,560.98 Sharks start season #11 ... priceless

Family Pack Oct 6 vs Wild

Sharks family pack includes 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas and 4 Sharks tickets [$68, $104, $132, $152]. Sign up here

Fantasy hockey time

The season starts today, so sign up for smallworld fantasy hockey. Division: Sharks Chatters pass: irbe

Faceoff.com has a good fantasy tipsheet if you want to try to win.

CBC Pacific Division preview

CBC has an excellent preview of the NHL Pacific division, although the Robataille-less Kings shouldnt make the headline.

Rathje contract holdout entire season?

Mike Rathje is willing to sit out the entire season in search of a 3-3.5 million dollar deal, reports the Contra Costa Times.

Rathje played in 81 games last season, with a +7 +/-, and 11 points.

2001-2002 Season Starts

Sharkspage is up once again. 15 minutes before the season starts. Feel free to email me any comments on season #11. GO Sharks!