The Sharks signed Swedish Defenseman Joakim Ryan to a 2 year entry level deal. He previously played for Cornell University where he put up 19 Goals, and 59 Assists in 123 career games and was a 2012 draft pick (7th round, 198th overall) of the Sharks. This is what Hockey’s Future says about Ryan in their talent analysis:
Joakim Ryan is an undersized defenseman with incredible powers to his legs and a good offensive arsenal. He reads the play well and his shot is hard enough and low to the ice that it can be very deceptive for goaltenders. Given his size, defense will always be somewhat of a struggle. Right now he copes to the situation by utilizing his speed, but for him to succeed at the professional level, he will need to bulk up considerably otherwise he could only be considered a powerplay specialist.
My Thoughts: I have never seen him play with my own eyes but like the idea of him. I’d be curious to see how he pans out in the AHL.
The Sharks also signed Canadian goaltender Joel Rumpel out of the University of Wisconsin who although put up some mediocre numbers this year with a 4-23-4 record with a GAA of 3.49 and a .902 SV% behind what was a pretty bad Wisconsin team had put up decent a decent .929 SV% the two seasons prior.
My Thoughts: The Sharks goaltending depth is pretty terrible with JP Anderson potentially seeing his last contract from Team Teal this seems like a low risk move that could lead to high reward at least at the AHL level.
Sharks Defenseman Mirco Mueller missed the end of Thursday night’s game against the Red Wings after blocking a shot. Reports say his arm was in a sling and his wrist heavily bandaged after the game and today coach Todd McLellan announced the Muller would out indefinitely and will be re-evaluated after the road trip concludes.
My thoughts: I really thought Mirco has played a much better game since he returned after a long exile to the press box so it’s unfortunate to see him get hurt when he would have probably seen action until the end of the season. However the Sharks should let him heal to 100% as there is no reason to bring him back early. I wonder if this is a new injury or a re-aggravated injury suffered at the World Jr. Tournament. This will draw Matt Irwin back into the lineup. If they don’t call anyone up I hope they put Dillon with Hannan while using Irwin and Burns again.
Tomorrow the Sharks play an early game against the Philadelphia Flyers at 1pm local (10am Pacific). Both teams are all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at this point so I’m curious to see what kind of game it ends up being. Alex Stalock will get the start in goal for the Sharks in what may be his final start of the season if they choose to keep playing Niemi playoff chances be damned. I don’t think the sharks were wrong to ride Niemi like they had since Stalock got the shutout in his last start as you ride your starter in these situations especially if you didn’t trade him because the guys wanted him here. I know there are some who criticize the coaching staff for the Niemi starts but I feel this is just people talking with the benefit of hindsight and had Stalock gotten more starts would complain that Niemi being our starter should have been in net the whole time. A real lose/lose for the coaching staff. I personally would like to see Stalock get some more starts because I doubt Niemi is here next year.
I along with 2 other Shark fans recently started a new podcast called Teal Tinted Glasses if you would like to check it out please do so here:
http://ttgpodcast.blogspot.ca/2015/03/teal-tinted-glasses-episode-1.html
We will have it on all your favourite pod-catchers sooner than later.
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