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9-2-0		5-5-0
1st Pacific Division		5th Northwest Division
1st Western Conference		T-10th Western Conference

The Sharks begin a grueling lengthy road trip tonight with a... oh, wait, it's one game and then back home.  Wonder if the team even bothered to pack.

The Avs have redefined the work streaky thus far this young season.  Colorado started by losing its first three games.  It then won the next five in a row.  This has been followed by losing its last two.  Nothing like consistency.

As to Los Tiburones, their main opponents tonight besides Milan Hedjuk and Paul Stasny et al will be the altitude and letting down after a tremendous win last Thursday at home against Detroit in a game where they out-Red Winged the Red Wings.  Hey, if you can't beat 'em do a better them than they do.

Enjoy the game, everyone.

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7-1-2		8-2-0
1st Central Division		1st Pacific Division
2nd Western Conference		1st Western Conference

Come tomorrow morning, if you are an employer on the East Coast and one or more of your underlings come stumbling in with eyes a-bleary and a coffee IV firmly in place do not make the mistake of berating them for starting their Halloween party a tad early.  They're just hockey fans who stayed up to catch this must-see battle of the ocean dwellers.

The Cephalopods are no doubt in a foul mood after getting torched by the Fowl... er, Ducks last night for five goals, three courtesy of Teemu Selanne, en route to an overtime loss.  Nevertheless they're still the Red Wings, the against which all others measure themselves.  The franchise that never rebuilds, only reloads.  Latest example is Marián Hossa, picked up as a free agent this past off-season and currently the leading points man on the team in the city through which the road to the Stanley Cup always runs.

That all said, while Detroit leads the league in goals scored they're also not exactly boasting about a defense that's tied for allowing the sixth-most goals thus far this young season.  When you venerable #1 goaltender (Chris Osgood) is carrying a 3.38 GAA and an .879 save percentage, you're not exactly putting the tentacles on anyone.  The Red Wings power play has been hot (32.4%, trailing only St. Louis) but the penalty kill is mid-pack at 81.4%.  If the game turns into an affair featuring more flying rubber than a sorority water balloon fight it should be to the Sharks advantage.

There is of course the Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker angle minus the parental portion as Sharks head coach Scott McLellan faces off against his boss of last year Detroit head coach Mike Babcock.  Which doesn't really mean anything unless one can glean some information based on their past working together that will translate into an advantage in terms of how their team should approach the other.

At any rate, plenty of star power and firepower tonight.  San Jose has a clear advantage in goal, which will help when facing Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holdstrom and the ageless Niklas Lidstrom among others.  This game matters as much as a game in October can matter.  Most definitely not one to be missed.  Enjoy, everyone.

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5-2-2		7-2-0
2nd Atlantic Division		1st Pacific Division
4th Eastern Conference		2nd Western Conference

Trick or treat time.

It's not often both teams from last year's Stanley Cup finals come to town in successive games.  If nothing else, other than guaranteeing a full house it provides an excellent opportunity now that all parties concerned are legitimately into the season to see how a couple of league powerhouses stack up.

While on paper the Penguins are weaker than last year due to the defection of Marián Hossa to Detroit and losing Sergei Gonchar to injury, they still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.  FrankD over at Pensburgh is dreading this game due to Pittsburgh's defensive woes, but I'm not exactly enthralled with the thought of seeing either of the above against a Sharks defense I'm not always comfortable with.

The last time the Penguins were in town was one of the best games in Sharks franchise history, a contest between Joe Thornton and Crosby as to which is truly the NHL's top dog.  Tonight promises more of the same as two of the league's best seek to make a statement at the other's expense just in case they see each other again this season.  And I'm not talking the game in Pittsburgh on February eleventh of 2009.

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6-2-0		1-2-3
1st Pacific Division		5th Southeast Division
1st Western Conference		T-12th Eastern Conference

Okay, let's try this again.

The Sharks will no doubt be a snarling bunch of selachimorphas after last night's 4-3 loss to the Panthers.  Not shooting wasn't the problem; San Jose fired 50 shots at Tomas Vokoun as compared to Florida's 35.  Unfortunately, two of Florida's shots were by Cory Stillman.  Between a former Predators goaltender and a former Flames (and Blues and Lightning and Hurricanes and Senators) forward who's obviously regained his scorer's touch, ah well.  There's also the (ahem) "minor" detail of how the defensive pairing of Rob Blake and Marc-Edouard Vlasic registered a minus three for the game...

Anyway, San Jose will be playing Tampa Bay tonight in a game where the only possibility of local interest stems from the probability that Game Three of the World Series between the Rays and the Phillies will most likely be rained out.  The Lightning certainly aren't void of talent; there isn't a team in the NHL that wouldn't love to have Vincent Lecavlier and Martin St. Louis on its roster.  Overall, though, it's difficult to remember this team won the Stanley Cup in 2004.  There's a promotion for tonight's game where fans who buy a flu shot from Walgreens for $25 can purchase a game ticket for as little as $10.  This is only appropriate as thus far Tampa Bay's fans (I assume they still have some) must feel like they have the flu whenever they contemplate the current state of their team, led by ownership that thinks Barry Melrose can lead the Lightning back to the promised land.  Really.  I mean, really.

There's no local television tonight, which is a pain as another promotion taking place at the St. Pete Times Forum tonight is called 'Pink Out Night' where all fans in attendance are encouraged to wear pink to raise awareness of and make donations to combat breast cancer.  Having had both family and friends suffer with breast cancer there's nothing amusing about it.  However, the thought of seeing a bunch of hockey fans in pink... and why not make the players wear it as well, selling both the game-worn and replica jerseys then donating the proceeds to cancer research?  C'mon, NHL.  One-off special jerseys are a slam dunk at the souvenir stand.

Anyway, David Pollack reports Brain Boucher will be starting tonight.  Whether this was pre-planned or because Evgeni Nabokov has been less than stellar the past three games is unknown.  And there's the whole "Dan Boyle returns to Tampa Bay" angle, but that's been covered by most every everyone already.

Enjoy the game.

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5-1-0		0-3-2
1st Pacific Division		5th Atlantic Division
1st Western Conference		15th Eastern Conference

It's a good thing for the Flyers that the Phillies are in the World Series, as for at least a few days it'll divert everyone's attention in the City Of Brotherly Love Not So Much.  Adding to their woes, the Sharks are in town.  Hopefully for their sake everyone will stay home to watch baseball.

This is the first home and away for Los Tiburones against an Eastern Conference team in who knows how long if in fact it's ever happened.  Although the schedule still isn't perfect in that all Western and Eastern Conference teams don't play once in each other's rink, still a far site better than the way it was where we all became royally bored with seeing division opponents thirty times a year.  Or at least it seemed that way.

According to David Pollack, expect to see Milan Michalek back in the lineup and on the second line.  Brad Staubitz will probably skate on the fourth line with Jody Shelley and Jeremy Roenick, so it could get interesting whenever said ensemble hits the ice.

Being that the game starts even as I write this, obviously I'll be missing most of if not all of the game.  Ah well.  Is this the east coast's revenge for when their teams come out here and the games start at 10:30 PM their time?

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0-3-1		4-1-0
5th Atlantic Division		1st Pacific Division
15th Eastern Conference		1st Western Conference

Like last night, the Sharks opponent is a team that's struggled coming out of the gate.  Hopefully the result won't be the same as last night's 4-0 roasting by the Ducks.

No Milan Michalek or Douglas Murray tonight, with Tomas Plihal a maybe.  Expect to see Alexi Semenov (oh joy) and Brad Staubitz on the ice.  Also expect to see a more aggressive power play in terms of skaters planting themselves in front of the Flyers net, especially after last night's 0 for 7 with the man advantage.

As to the Flyers, expect it to be a toss-up as to which group will be more boorish -- the ones on the ice in Philadelphia jerseys or the ones in the stands with Philadelphia jerseys.  Not a lot of finesse with either group.

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4-0-0		0-4-0
1st Pacific Division		5th Pacific Division
1st Western Conference		15th Western Conference

This could get interesting in a hurry.  The Ducks have been dreadful thus far this season.  It's not that they're losing squeakers; they're being flat-out outplayed by everyone.  J.S. Giguere is horrible, the defense isn't, and the offense is.  You get the picture.  Don't be surprised if there's feather to fin combat this evening (which would mean "so much for that  'we're not fighting but we're winning' story line," but oh well) as Anaheim tries to fight its way -- literally and figuratively -- out of its duck funk which is giving its fans a duck fit.

Latest word is no Douglas Murray or Tomas Plihal tonight, meaning Alexi Semenov and Marcel Goc should be in the lineup.  Milan Mickalek is a bit battered, but apparently will play.  The team has recalled Brad Staubitz from Worchester; don't know if he'll be in Anaheim tonight.

Still dealing with an illness in the family -- a heartfelt thank you to all for your prayers and concern -- but I hope to join everyone in the Comments area.

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1-1-0		3-0-0
4th Central Division		1st Pacific Division
T-8th Western Conference		1st Western Conference

I apologize for the standings at the top of the thread not being up to date when the game started.  There is a reason.

Yesterday, on my way home from a trip with Mrs. Dude to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary one of my brothers contacted me to let me know our aunt was in the hospital with congestive heart failure.  Immediately after work today we went to spend some time with her in the hospital.  I'll skip the details and simply note it was a rather brutal experience.  We got home after the game had started, and to be honest I wasn't in a mindset of it being of any great importance above listening to it on the radio as following the game that way rather than watching it helps get my mind more off of things.

Hopefully things will be better tomorrow and I can focus on writing a decent wrapup.

Okay, it's early.  Very early.  Still, it's difficult to not take encouragement from the way the Sharks have played in the first three games of this brand-new season.

Todd McLellan has obviously gotten his team's attention in terms of modifying its style from pass-happy timidity to let 'er rip, especially from the blueliners.  Rob Blake is obviously relishing his place on this team, constantly firing bombs to which his teammates up front are responding by crashing the net.

The issue during pre-season of the defense not being up on things to where it knew how and when to get back from pressuring up front has yet to rear its ugly head now that the games count.  Having Evgeni Nabokov in nets doesn't hurt, but at the moment Brain Boucher owns the team's lone shutout, picked up last night in L.A. as the Sharks needed naught but a single tally to win the game.

Also encouraging has been the play of Joe Thornton.  Gone is the repeated setting up shop outside the nearside faceoff circle.  Instead, Thornton is making plays from every location imaginable including from behind the net.  Very good stuff.

So yes, it's early.  But it sure is fun to watch.

Next up is a home game tomorrow night against Columbus.

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2-0-0		0-1-0
1st Pacific Division		T-4th Pacific Division
T-1st Western Conference		T-12th Western Conference

The away part of a back to back, and the Sharks first road game of the year.

I'm sick as a dog right now, so please forgive the lack of any extensive comments outside of noting the Sharks held the Kings to thirteen shots last night in a 3-1 victory.  Expect the home team to come out firing tonight.  It'll be interesting to hear how the locals react when Rob Blake hit the ice tonight in teal instead of purple.

Go Sharks... and I'm going back to bed.

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0-0-0		1-0-0
T-2nd Pacific Division		1st Pacific Division
T-1st Western Conference		T-1st Western Conference

Cana rival truly be considered a rival when they're little if any competition?  The NorCal/SoCal deal aside, given how the Kings are very much in rebuilding mode and seemingly have been for quite some time one almost expects to hear "like that's hard" after each "Beat LA" chant.

Generally, the Sharks and opening night go together like disco and music.  Just because words are often found in the neighborhood doesn't mean they form a harmonious convergence.  Last night was a terrific exception.

After a tentative first period by both teams, San Jose put on such a dominating display in the second one would have thought new coach Todd McLellan brought more than only a Detroit-like system with him but for good measure last year's Red Wings decked out in teal.  His philosophy of the defense aggressively pushing play not just into but in the other team's zone worked to near perfection, the puck almost never leaving Anaheim's end of the rink.  What's more, the days of hot potato passing wine and afraid if you shoot you'll get stuck by the thorns of roses were mercifully absent.  Instead, it was SAC time, in this case not Strategic Air Command but rather Shoot And Crash (the net).  Perfect for Jonathan Cheechoo's game, as his two goals attest.  The third was more even, but even then the Sharks kept the Ducks at bay in terms of scoring chances.  Or would that be at pond.

One surprising aspect of the game was how un-chippy it was.  There were plenty of hard checks being thrown by both teams, but almost no hugging without loving after the whistle had blown.  However, before the next five games between the two teams this season have run their course there is little doubt feathers and fins will fly.

Yes, it was only one game, blah blah blah.  Still, it was sweet.

Next up are the Kings tomorrow night at San Jose in the first of a home and home.

Player note: Devin Setoguchi, should he continue to play like he did last night, will be a slick scoring stud this year.  Having Joe Thornton feeding you the puck helps, but the kid has got both moves and hands that are the stuff of nightmares for all other teams.

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0-0-0		0-0-0
T-1st Pacific Division		T-1st Pacific Division
T-1st Western Conference		T-1st Western Conference

Nothing like getting things started off with a flourish, what say?

The Sharks made it official today: they will not offer Jeff Friesen a contract.

I suppose Tomas Plihal and Lukas Kaspar have more of an upside.  To be honest, I haven't seen eneough of them to know if we can expect anything from them.  I do recall Plihal resembling a deer caught in headlights whenever he was on the ice last year, which is why he wasn't out there very often.  Maybe he's over that, maybe he has potential, maybe maybe maybe whatever.  I'm still ticked that the Sharks waited until the last possible second before saying thanks for the memories and don't let the door hit you on the way out to one of the most popular players in franchise history.

Yes, I know you can't assemble a roster based on your heart and not your head.  That said, Plihal and Kaspar had better show something and show it quick to justify why they'll be in uniform tonight and the only Friesen uniform being worn will be on a few fans who still don their #39 jersey before heading to the Tank.

In other news:

• Kyle McLaren will accept an assignment to Worchester while the Sharks figure out what to do with him.  There are some possible scenarios in which he could be brought up, but it's most likely he'll be traded ASAP.  For San Jose's sake the players had better hope it's to an Eastern Conference team so they won't have to face him very often and that he isn't fully recovered from the injuries he's incurred in the past lest monster hip checks be applied on anything in teal.
  
• Tonight's probably line combos and defensive parings according to David Pollack, who since he got them from Todd McLellan ought to know:
  
  

  Marleau	Thornton	Setoguchi
  Michalek	Pavelski	Cheechoo
  Clowe	Roenick	Grier
  Shelley	Plihal	Kaspar

  Vlasic	Blake
  Lukowich	Boyle
  Murray	Ehrhoff

I'm pretty sure in a couple of days Joe Ike's voice will boom inside the Tank, "And now, let's meet your San Jose Sharks -- right after someone makes up their mind who they are."  Which hasn't happened yet.

As best I can decipher it, math is not the Sharks strong suit.  A NHL team during the regular season has a 23 man roster.  The roster does not include players on injured reserve, so for a couple of months Torrey Mitchell need not be considered.

Now, bear in mind Kyle McLaren technically is still on the roster if no one claims him off of waivers, but should he not be claimed by tomorrow when his twenty-four hours on waivers is up he will either be cut or asked to hang out with the kids at Worchester so his salary won't count against the cap.  The NHLPA would go bat guano crazy were the team to attempt talking him into re-negotiating his contract at a lower salary, so scratch that off the list of possibilities.  However it plays out, he's gone.

Also bear in mind the Sharks put Riley Armstrong and Brad Staubitz on waivers today in the hope no one claims them so they can be sent to Worchester.  Why weren't they simply sent there?  Couldn't be.  They've been up and down the maximum amount of times allowed.  So regardless of whether someone claims either or both of them they're gone.

And now, the math part.  In order to avoid the same mistake the Sharks seem to be making, let's get some professional help with this (all right, I heard that "you've needed professional help for years" comment out there):

Now, let us begin:

Two... two goalies (Nabokov and Boucher).  HA-HA-HA!

(dramatic flash of lightning -- no, not Tampa Bay -- and crash of thunder)

Defensemen... Blake, Boyle, Ehrhoff, Lukowich, Murray, Semenov, Vlasic.  Seven... seven defensemen.  Nine... nine players!  HA-HA-HA!

(repeat dramatic flash of lightning -- no, still not Tampa Bay -- and crash of thunder)

Forwards... Cheechoo, Clowe, Goc, Grier, Marleau, Michalek, Pavelski, Plihal, Roenick, Setoguchi, Shelley, Thornton.  Twelve... twelve forwards.  Twenty-one... twenty-one players!  HA-HA-HA!

(yeah yeah we know... dramatic flash of lightning, blah blah blah.  Get a new shtick already, will you?  Even the four year olds are getting tired of this one.)

Now, Lukas Kaspar is still in town.  As is Jeff Friesen.

So doesn't that equal twenty-three?

Then why does the Sharks Web site have the following:

There are a couple of situations that are still in play with regards to the roster. Jeff Friesen remains in camp as a tryout player and has obviously made an impression. At this point, he would be the 24th rostered player and that simply cannot occur.

If Friesen were to be eligible for opening night, he would have to beat out a player like Lukas Kaspar or Tomas Plihal. Kaspar though has played very well himself. The Sharks have not placed Mitchell on the long-term injury list, meaning they could still possibly see some financial relief.

Either way, the Sharks should have the lineup set quickly as Wilson doesn’t plan to let Friesen’s situation play out too long.

“The only player we still have the luxury of time with is Friesen,” said Wilson. “He is not under contract. We’ll wait for the injury updates. We want to see how Marcel (Goc) is. Lukas Kaspar had a heck of a camp. There are four guys competing for two spots. It will be sooner rather than later.”

When the lineup takes to the HP Pavilion ice on Friday, it will be who Todd McLellan wants to see.

“Todd will decide who plays,” said Wilson.

Friesen will continue to do what he can control and hope for the best.

“I’m focused on hockey,” said Friesen. “I’m still here, but they haven’t made any decisions. It’s as simple as that.”

“Jeff is still involved,” said McLellan. “He’s competed well for a job.”

So am I missing something, as in someone, here?

The talk is even with McLaren subtracted from the mix the Sharks have salary cap issues.  Grabbing the numbers from the NHLPA site, including Kaspar but not Mitchell (who's listed at $715,000) since as long as he's on IR his salary doesn't apply against the cap the Sharks have $53,181,667 on the books for this year.  The cap is $56,700,000.  So again I ask: other than my mind, what am I missing here?  I'm not seeing the problems.

If I'm off on either the number of players or the team salary, feel free to let me know.  In the meanwhile, back to waiting for opening night.

P.S.  Forgot to mention Goc is having back issues, so his status for the forseeable future is unknown.

True confessions time: I was too busy doing other things to listen to the Sharks final pre-season game tonight, a 3-1 win over the Kings played in Salt Lake City.  Actually, I was too busy trying to recover from the NASCAR race at Talladega today... which judging by the post-race post I have yet to recover from.  Ah well.

While the Sharks' opening night roster remains a mystery, it won't have either Logan Couture or Derek Joslin, the former returning to his junior squad and the latter going to Worchester.  No big surprise in either case; not yet ready for prime time.

Joe Thornton has managed to put a scare in all aficionados of Los Tiburones with a tweaked groin, but says he'll be ready for opening night this Thursday.  Brad Lukowich did play tonight, so apparently he'll be ready to go this Thursday.

And now comes three and a half days of impatiently drumming fingers on desktops and constantly looking at the clock muttering why doesn't it hurry.  Opening night cannot come soon enough.

It's 1-0 Sharks over Vancouver after the first period.  Riley Armstrong with the goal.  But that's not what I'm writing about.

A comment I've made before is how we in the San Francisco Bay Area have been fortunate over the decades in the number of terrific announcers we have enjoyed and continue to enjoy.  Isn't it time we included Dan Rusanowsky on the list?

Although he doesn't have the greatest voice, Rusanowsky is an excellent broadcaster.  He knows and loves the game, but doesn't over-announce by trying to fill every millisecond with sound and fury.  Neither a homer nor a Negative Ned, Rusanowsky concentrates on reporting what's taking place, occasionally stepping back to offer perspective or historical tidbits and then getting back to the action.

And then there's Jamie Baker.

Baker is that rarest of broadcasters: a genuine character.  Quick-witted to the point of zany, Baker shifts seamlessly between genuinely insightful commentary when appropriate, never stepping over the action for the sake of getting his bit in, and playing to perfection the needling loose cannon to Rusanowsky's ultra-straight man.  He is like a shot of oxygen in a stuffy room.  Baker is also extremely honest to the point of being harsh on players and teams he sees as underperforming.

One of the more memorable moments in Sharks broadcast history came during the year Drew Remenda was away from the team working on Hockey Night In Canada.  He came by the Tank one evening, and stopped by the pre-game radio show to say hi.  He and Baker started talking about the season so far and different players around the league, both going progressively faster as the they became two kids excitedly proclaiming the greatness of a given television show or video game.  Rusanowsky contributed little to the conversation, but this was no sign of his being disinterested.  He couldn't have gotten a word in edgewise if he wanted to.

Now if Una Mas and Orchard Supply Hardware would kindly make some new commercials as they're still running the same ones from last season.  Ah well.

Back at the game, it's now 2-1 Vancouver in the second with about eight minutes left.  Both goals (Bernier and Daniel Sedin) were on the power play.

Last night's final home pre-season game against Phoenix was a thoroughly enjoyable affair.  Although the defense has some gaffes leading to Coyote odd-man rushes which they converted more than once. the aggressive attacking style was far more entertaining than the sixty minutes of alternating between either playing hot potato with the puck and all shots on net immediately disqualifying you from the game or all defensemen believing it was illegal to cross the blueline on their end of the ice.  Obviously one pre-season game does not a season make, nor does it allow firm conclusions to be drawn.  Nonetheless, it was great to see.

Before getting into what I suspect will be the opening night roster, a few additional observations from last night:

• In the "take it for what it's worth" category, which is a nice way of saying probably not much, neither Derek Joslin nor Mike Moore struck me as being quite ready for prime time yet.  Joslin seemed the weaker of the two, spending an alarming amount of time being faked out or blown past far too easily.
• About the only bad thing you can say about Joe Thornton's game is how he's fallen into patterns too easily, doing the same thing again and again such as setting up shop just outside the near faceoff circle.  Last night he was making plays all over the place and being aggressive while doing so.  Very good stuff indeed.
• Devin Setoguchi looked terrific on the line with Thornton and Patrick Marleau.  Something tells me we could be seeing this become a regular rotation.

And now, based on last night what I suspect will be the lines and parings come opening night, everyone's health permitting:

The first line is every other team's nightmare.  On the second line, the hope is Michalek will pick up on Pavelski's gritty work ethic and not disappear for games at a time.  Should this happen it could put up some points.  Clowe and a rejuvinated Grier make the third line a true lunchpail crew.  Given how thin the Sharks are at right wing, my hunch is depending on the opponent you'll see Plihal and Friesen take turns at the position despite both being primary left wingers until it becomes clear which one is better suited for which side.  Shelley will be in games where his enforcer services might be required with again either Friesen or Plihal on right wing depending on which one plays the position better.

Now, the defense:

Lukowich and Boyle have been a tandem for a long time.  Vlasic and Blake complimented each other nicely last night, leading me to think they'll be paired together.  It'll never be dull when Ehrhoff and Murray are on the ice.  I imagine Semenov will be the seventh defenseman.

Only Todd McLellan and Doug Wilson really know, and for some strange reason neither one has dropped me a line letting me know their plans.  Go figure.  Anyway, the above is my best and hopefully at least semi-educated guess.  Chip in a comment with your thoughts.

A little hard to do an actual open thread when the game's not being broadcast.  On the other hand, just think of the thrill it'll be watching a recreation of those thrilling days of yesteryear when live sporting events were "broadcast" via telegraph to either be read aloud by someone at the local radio station (or more likely Western Union station), or simply printed and read.  That's the way it'll be with tonight's blog comments.  Let's hear it for modern technology enabling us... to reenact 1920.

According to a note on the Sharks Web site, Jeff Friesen will be on the ice this evening.  They must have become quite tired of the phone calls and e-mails when he didn't play in a couple of games.  There is one thing a tad annoying about the announcement:

Former fan favorite Jeff Friesen, a non-roster player trying to make the Sharks, will be in the lineup tonight vs. Phoenix.  He’s played in two games so far and has an assist.

Uh... "former?"

According to David Pollack, the lineup tonight is expected to bear a strong resemblance to what we'll see come Opening Night.  He notes that Devin Setoguchi will be on the first line with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, while Ryan Clowe will be on the third line with Marcel Goc and Mike Grier.  That said, it's not a demotion for or slam against Clowe, but rather an effort by Todd McLellan to shore up the line in the absence of Torrey Mitchell.  The second line will be Joe Pavelski, Milam Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo, with the fourth line consisting of Jody Shelley, Jeremy Roenick and Tomas Plihal.  Ah but wait, you say; what of Friesen?  Pollack's post which was written this morning makes no mention of his playing tonight.  He comments on this in his blog.  I'll let you know how the lineup shakes out.  Oh yes -- on defense no Douglas Murray (flu or reasonable facsimile thereof), but expect to see Rob Blake along with Dan Boyle, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Christian Ehrhoff, Alexei Semenov and prospect Derek Joslin.

See you in the Comments area.

Having dropped their last two games during the pre-season (3-2 at home to Vancouver last Saturday night and 5-1 to Phoenix tonight in Glendale) isn't as much a concern as how the team has mailed it in for five of the last six periods.  Yes, it's only pre-season with the pups seeing a lot of ice time and as a result getting schooled by the vets on the other team.  But it'd be nice to see less of the being schooled stuff and more of the Sharks doing the schooling.  Also a little alarming that Brian Boucher has given up eight goals in two games.

Last home pre-season game is tomorrow against the Coyotes.  No local radio -- that kicks in this Thursday at Vancouver -- but I'll liveblog the game anyway.  I need my pre-season work too, y'know!

Friesen Watch: After sitting out the last two games, he played tonight against Phoenix.  He had the second assist on the Sharks lone goal which was scored by Lukas Kasper, but wound up a -1 for the evening.

While breaking into the Sharks roster this year will be tough for any rookie, it's bodes well for the future to see strong play from the young'uns.  Last night, left winger Jamie McGinn notched a goal and an assist.  Some comments on him courtesy of the fine folk at Hockey's Future:

(Last year) McGinn scored 26 goals and 31 assists in 65 games for the offensively-challenged 67s. He started off his OHL career slowly and was shuffled around from line to line a lot. He really started to produce when he started to play with Logan Couture (NOTE: Couture is a Sharks prospect). He showed up and was the best forward on the 67s in last year’s Memorial Cup run, and a lot has been expected of him since.

He played for Team Canada at the U17s, and won a gold medal with Team Canada in the Under-18s.

Read HF's interview with Jamie McGinn.

Talent Analysis

McGinn is smart and well-coached by Hockey Hall of Famer Brian Kilrea. McGinn is not flashy and he makes the most of the abilities he possesses.

McGinn brings incredible energy to just about every shift, and is one of those players with the ability to turn the momentum of a game around. He cycles the puck really well which is important in today’s game. With so much offensive upside, he still does penalty killing work, so he is an all-around player. His lack of size (5' 11"; 179 lbs) will not hamper him too much, as he is very physical for his size. He won the fastest skater in the Prospects Skills competition.

Tonight the Canucks will be in town.  Should be fun.

The Sharks and Ducks are playing tonight in San Jose.  Thus far both scoring (1-1 after two periods) and fights (two) are down from the last time this teams met.  Which was two nights ago, in case anyone has forgotten.

There is a consistent thread from the last game.  Streaming audio on the Ducks Web site.  Nothing on the Sharks Web site.  Come on, people!