Avalanche make offer for McLaren
According to TSN.ca the Colorado Avalanche have offered forward Alex Tanguay and defenseman Martin Skoula for Boston defensive holdout Kyle McLaren and forward Martin Lapointe.

Boston would dump $5,250,000.00 this season from Lapointe's contract, pick up a quality young defenseman for holdout McLaren, and obtain the playmaker it lost when Samsonov went down with a wrist injury. For Colorado, just the thought of a McLaren-Blake-Morris-Foote blueline is a scary one.

The Boston fan in me likes the trade, but the Sharks fan says this might force Colorado to purchase extra Stanley Cup polish this season.

Manute Bol -- the world's tallest 3 sports star

7 foot 7 inch Manute Bol transitioned from three point NBA threat, to celebrity boxer, to tallest man on skates for the Indianapolis Ice of the CHL.

Manute reportedly received $35,000 for a fight with William "The Refrigerator" Perry on Fox TV's celebrity boxing earlier this year. Known to donate a large portion of his NBA salary for 11 seasons, Manute will also donate his hockey salary to the Ring True Foundation.

The Ring True Foundation supports south Sudanese children and can be reached at [Phone: 866-547-8326].

Shark Notes
- Teemu continues to show class, even when the topic turns to the Winnipeg Jets.

- Maybe next year there will be more Sharks on this arbitration list than those that hold out into the season.

- Victor Chi on the Sharks reaching the quarter pole of the 2002-2003 season.

- Marleau last 5 games - 5 goals, 2 assists.

Russian Fab Five
Gary Thorne writes in USA Today that former Shark Igor Larionov
[1 goal, 7 assists] has a taste for fine wine and looks to bring his hobby to Russia after his playing days.

Here is an update on the four other members of the legendary Russian unit: Viacheslav Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov, Vladimir Krutov, & Sergei Makarov.

Blog outage
Our server is finally fixed. Thanks for hanging in there with us. We will set up a backup mirror over the weekend. Go Sharks!

Shark Notes [Rathje for Norris edition]
- Mike Rathje saw his team lose 3 straight 1 goal games and what was his response?

Averaging 25+ minutes a game, racking up 11 shots on goal, and scoring 3 goals and an assist in 3 games.

- 2003 NHL Allstar balloting has begun, remember to vote for Lynn Loyns early and often.

- A little over a month after a Jan Hlavac Jeff Jillson collision, Mike Ricci suffers the same knee-on-knee injury in OT.

Alexei Zhitnik gave Jan Hlavac the knee torpedo last night in Carolina. It was so blatant a suspension should have been handed out on the spot.

- Yes, that was your humble webmaster [AKA: Elvis] on FSBA's in the pool last night. The organization has always looked to create an interactive environment for the fans.

- Fox Sports Bay Area's web page is no longer, but NHL columnist Jim Kelley is still available.

Stuart phone home
Ross McKeon of the SF Chronicle reports that Brad Stuart has returned to his home in Calgary. After reaching an impass in negotiations, the two sides agreed to take some time off and regroup.

Stuart is looking for considerably more than the Sharks $1.072 million offer, but San Jose is reluctant to increase its $47,785,000 payroll.

Why are the Sharks losing?
[email from Melissa] Three straight 1 goal losses, why are the Sharks losing?

[A] I don't know. Obvious reasons are the likely culprits, Thorton's injury, Brad Stuart's holdout, Nabokov's late start to the season. Even with those problems the Sharks are a solid 5 on 5 team, but they consistently lose games on special teams.

San Jose is dumping the puck in on the power play less, and Rathje is taking more shots on the point, but the team is still struggling to set-up and execute. Nolan and Sturm have excelled on the penalty kill of late, practice makes perfect.

Hockey Cheerleaders
Last year the New York Islanders introduced the Ice Girls, this year the Dallas Stars give us their version.

If you are going to have cheerleaders, do it right like the Espoo Blues of Finland. Finnish cheerleaders are not forced to carry shovels.

While cheerleaders may add a little entertainment value to the game, how about adding netcams to the SJ Arena so fans can actually watch the game better?

[Update] Cheerleaders with a purpose - Ottawa Senators are thinking about taking the plunge.