SHARKSPAGE

Hockey Notes – October 5th

SAN JOSE SHARKS RELEASE DEFENSIVE TRYOUT #6 ANDREAS LILJA

– The San Jose Sharks announced Tuesday that veteran defensive tryout Andreas Lilja was released from the team despite making the season opening trip to Germany and Sweden. At the start of training camp, Lilja told Sharkspage he was going to play his game and try to make the team as a solid defensive defenseman. “I am just going to do what I do,” Lilja said. With Niclas Wallin and Kent Huskins expected to form an experienced third defensive pairing, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan opted to tab rookie defenseman Mike Moore instead of Lilja for the depth 7th role.

“Andreas had a very competitive camp and played well for us but we also have several young defenseman who played well,” Todd McLellan told SJsharks.com. “They have put in their time in the organization and we feel that they have earned and deserve an opportunity to compete for a spot on this team.”

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound nine year NHL veteran registered 1 goal and 1 assist in 4 preseason games played with the Sharks. The move trimmed the San Jose roster to 24 players, one more than the 23-man NHL roster maximum required for the start of the season. San Jose is allowed one extra player for opening the season in Sweden. 13-year NHL veteran Mathieu Dandenault and 9-year NHL veteran Dan Hinote joined the 2009-10 Sharks training camp on tryout contracts, but neither made the team’s opening night roster.

– Andreas Lilja’s gamble does not pay off – The Sporting News.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Lilja turned down a one-year, $1 million summer offer from the Red Wings, for whom he had played the last five years — including their Stanley Cup-winning season of 2008. On Tuesday he was told he will not be offered a contract by the Sharks…

Lilja’s spot on Detroit’s defense has been filled by Ruslan Salei, and now the 35-year-old Swede faces the awkward deadline of finding a job by Oct. 10 or having to leave the country. His children reportedly already are attending a Detroit area school.

– Via Comcast Sportsnet reporter Brodie Brazil’s twitter feed @brodiebrazilCSN, a photo of the Sharks taking the ice at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden this morning. Photo is available here.

– The San Jose Sharks AHL affiliate in Worcester maede 6 roster cuts this weekend to get down to 25 players. Forwards Chris D’Alvise, Matt Jones, Chris Lawrence, defensemen Cameron Brodie, Ryan Constant and goaltender Kevin Reiter were all released on Saturday. Goaltender Tyson Sexsmith was also assigned to the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder on Tuesday. With Alex Stalock and UMass Lowell’s Carter Hutton remaining on the AHL roster, and Antti Niemi, Antero Niittymaki and Thomas Greiss on the NHL roster, one of the NHL or AHL teams could carry 3 goaltenders at times this season.

The W-Sharks begin the 2010-11 AHL season October 9th against Bridgeport. Highlights from Worcester’s recent game against Hartford are available here.

– ESPN 2010-11 NHL predictions: The NHL experts on ESPN make their predictions for the upcoming season. San Jose and Los Angeles sweep the Pacific Division predictions with 3 each, but only Pierre LeBrun predicts the Sharks will take home the Western Conference and the Stanley Cup. In a video segment on ESPN, E.J. Hradek and Barry Melrose make their predictions. Melrose takes Washington and Vancouver, Hradek went off the board to select Chicago and Pittsburgh. In the Pacific Division preview with Hradek and Matthew Barnaby the Kings get a measure of respect while the Sharks get a decidedly mixed review. The Sharks start the ESPN NHL power rankings ranked 8th.

– Interesting look at the NHL’s new marketing campaign focusing more on individual players than hockey from the Globe and Mail: No hockey in NHL ad campaign. The television, radio and internet campaign features five spots centered around Sidney Crosby, Mike Cammalleri, Ryan Miller, Jonathan Toews, and Alexander Ovechkin. The athletes are featured in gritty offseason training environments, overlayed with background questions of their team’s upcoming performance. Each finishes with the title, “Questions will become answers.” 30 spots in all were produced by the NHL, one for each market.

– The CBC’s Elliotte Friedman on the Toronto Maple Leafs defense, twitter, and his 30 thoughts tour of the NHL:

24. Courtesy Pierre LeBrun: Joe Thornton said he really likes having a right-handed shot to set up (which helps explains Jonathan Cheechoo’s 56 goals). Didn’t have one last year, as both Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau shoot left. Devin Setoguchi – who scored 31 with Thornton in 2008-09 – won’t get a better chance to erase last season’s disappointment.

Marleau-Thornton-Heatley started 2009-10 on seperate lines, but the gold medal line was brought together early and seldom looked back. Pairing Thornton with Setoguchi and Clowe could kickstart the two second line wingers, but MTH will still be a power play force and could be reunited given any extended turbulence. It should be noted that 6-foot-2, 225-pound left wing Ryane Clowe, who started last season with 1 goal in his first 19 games, has been dominant with puck and body position down the wing in training camp. 23-year old right wing Devin Setoguchi signed a 1-year, $1.8 million contract this offseason. Setoguchi has the speed and offensive instincts to be an impact offensive player. Another year of experience, and another year on the wing of Joe Thornton, could help him put it all together.

– Dany Heatley finished off the Sharks preseason as the goal scoring leader with 4 goals and 2 assists in 4 games played. Center Joe Pavelski lead the team in assists with 5 in 4 games played.

– Which U.S. network will broadcast the NHL in its next TV deal? – Greg Wyshynski for Yahoo’s Puck Daddy.

Currently, NHL teams receive around $2.5 million per season in TV revenue from the NHL’s national deals. There have been estimates that the total will increase to just under $4 million per team per season if the rights fees increase by 50 percent.

The post was based on an in-depth look at the NHL’s national television broadcast situation by the Sports Business Journal’s Tripp Mickle and John Ourand. The big question marks remain the outcome of the Comcast-NBC merger and what ESPN’s financial commitment to the league would be. Comcast-owned Versus is the leading candidate to retain NHL cable broadcast rights.

Early signs suggest that a bidding war is developing. The league is expected to enter an exclusive negotiating period with Versus later this year, and Versus has made no secret of its desire to renew with the NHL, which consistently brings the highest ratings to the Comcast-owned sports channel. NBC also has said that it would like to keep its rights package.

But others are lurking. ESPN said it wants to be involved. And sources said Fox Sports is considering whether to bid on a package.

If NHL broadcast rights fees were increased to nearly $4 million, it could push the Sharks over the top for their first profitable season. Two years ago the Sharks hockey operations lost $5 million, but profits from other businesses cut that loss to $2 million according to Forbes. Outgoing President/CEO Greg Jamison told Mercury News beat writer David Pollak that the team still finished in the red for 2009-10, but with 8 home playoff dates that number could have been much lower.

– Former East Bay Sharks beat writer Roger Phillips wrote several pre-season San Jose Sharks previews for NHL.com: Sharks’ popularity taking off in Northern California, Boyle would fit in well as Sharks’ captain, and Pavelski small in stature but full of heart.

Phillips may be the source of the San Jose “goaltending factory” nickname a number of years back. It was an East Bay journalist during the era of Nabokov, Kiprusoff, Toskala and Hedberg who wrote that San Jose was a factory churning out quality goaltenders. This blog shortened it to “goaltending factory”. Asked Phillips during training camp if he remembered the quote, but he did not.

NHL.com’s sr. editorial director Phil Coffey also previewed the team here.

– Wise guys: Sports’ smartest athletes – SportingNews.com. Anaheim Ducks enforcer George Parros finished 4th, San Jose Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray finished 16th.

– Of the six NHL teams beginning the season in Europe, the Sharks are the only team with a full compliment of television/radio play-by-play hosts and analysts according to the Boston.com. The Sharks season opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets from Stockholm, Sweden will air Friday on Versus at 12 noon. The Sharks second game against Columbus on Saturday will be shot live in Stockholm, but will be produced at the Comcast studios in San Francisco. That game will also air at 12 noon on Comcast Sportsnet California.

– According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, former San Jose Sharks defenseman/captain Rob Blake may be targeted to join the NHL head office. He was scheduled to meet with the league last week. The NHL already brought in former player Brendan Shanahan as VP of hockey and business affairs. During his retirement ceremony this summer in San Jose, Blake talked about wanting to surf and coach youth hockey during his down time.

– 30 TEAMS IN 30 DAYS: SAN JOSE SHARKS – TSN.com’s San Jose Sharks 2010-11 season preview by Jamie Bell.

– New media is great, blogs are great, and this may very well be the first sports blog online, but before blogs there was LCS Hockey. Their 1998 Tribute to Sweden is still worth a visit. Of particular note is the helpful LCS guide to common Swedish phrases.

[Update] Andreas Lilja made the journey, but found out today he didn’t make the team – David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog.

[Update2] Evgeni Nabokov still making transition to European hockey – NHL.com.

The move hasn’t paid immediate dividends. Nabokov and SKA haven’t gotten off to a strong start. The team has won three straight (Monday’s game against Carolina doesn’t count), but that was after defensive lapses led them to a 3-3-2 start. Nabokov, who admits he’s still adjusting on and off the ice, has won only three of his seven starts, with an .897 save percentage and 2.83 goals-against average.

Nabokov and SKA St. Petersburg were successful in an exhibition against the Carolina Hurricanes. Highlights from the 5-3 exhibition win are available via NHL.com here.

[Update3] Blood lust in Stockholm, Swedish fans eager for fights in Jackets-Sharks games – Tom Reed for the Columbus Post-Dispatch.

“You think of Sweden and you think of skill,” Boll said. “And I figured that’s all they liked to see.” Turns out Stockholm is spoiling for a good fight this weekend.

It’s why Boll, a player with 13 career goals and 555 penalty minutes, has become one of the most sought-after interviews in the Jackets’ dressing room. Fighting is banned in Swedish hockey leagues, but some fans are hoping to see gloves shed and fists pumping in the two NHL games between the Jackets and San Jose Sharks, on Friday and Saturday.

The dream matchup: Boll vs. Douglas Murray, a Swedish-born defenseman for the Sharks. Murray possesses a decent punch and a world-class nickname, Crankshaft.

Not sure what the word for gauntlet is in Swedish (gatlopp?), but it may have just been thrown down by Jared Boll.