"Sharks Are Pro-Antii Niemi" or "Faith No More For Greiss"

Nick Kypreos was the first to break it, but it seems Antii Niemi is now a member of the San Jose Sharks, reportedly agreeing to a one-year, $2M deal that'll see him duel with fellow countryman Antero Niittymaki for time in the crease and to see how many "i's" they can put into their names.

Now, the thing with this is two-fold. Why would the Sharks be stocking up on goalies, especially for a one-year deal?? Do they lack that much faith in Thomas Greiss as a back-up that they're making him stay in the AHL for another season?? While it could be that, maybe they've lost faith in Greiss and are waiting for Alex Stalock or Tyson Sexsmith to grab the ball and run with it as the back-up to Niittymaki next season.

Plus, how does it feel to be Niittymaki right now?? You go from being the top guy and being able to not have to challenge for any starts to fighting game-by-game, practice-by-practice to get some playing time. Granted, it seems that when in a battle, Niittymaki really shines-- much like he did when dueling with Mike Smith for time in the Tampa net and during his tenure in Philadelphia, when he was healthy.

As for Niemi, I'm sure he's happy he doesn't have to go back to Finland or elsewhere to pick up his playing career and he gets to stay in the Western Conference, where he'll face his old team more than once in the season. Of course, we'll see what he's made out of during the season, just to see whether or not he was a fluke who played behind a great team or if he can hold his own should the team in front of him comes up short.

If nothing else, for the Sharks; this could give them a nice little two-headed monster in net should everything pan out as they hope. Also, it renews the hope that the Sharks have in Finnish goaltenders, as we've seen in the past with Vesa Toskala, Miikka Kiprusoff, and who could forget Jarmo Myllys. I mean, yes, only Kiprusoff has taken off to great heights, but still. The Sharks love the obscure Germans and Finns in net. Hopefully, this will get them to the next level and not make them wish they had re-signed Evgeni Nabokov.

Price Tag Makes Hawks Anti-Niemi; Pro-Turco

The dismantling of the Stanley Cup champions continue, as the Chicago Blackhawks walked away from their Cup winning goalie Antti Niemi's arbitration reward (one year, $2.75M). Instead, they take a more affordable option of Marty Turco, who was out there on the market forever, who's contract is reported to be over one million dollars less; as Turco signed for one year at $1.3M.

The one thing about Niemi that I don't get is the awe surrounding him. Sure, he did win a Cup; but he does remind me of a modern-day Johan Hedberg as a guy who came out of nowhere and took over the league by storm because no one knew much about him. While Niemi had a longer regular season stint and played well, as well as winning the Cup; but had the same scheme where they may have just been good because people didn't know how to read them like the goalies who had been in the league prior. That's not to take anything away from Niemi-- just calling it how I see it.

That said, I don't know how I would feel about taking Marty Turco over Niemi. Turco has all the goods, but does him being shell-shocked in Dallas the past two seasons make him a better option than a guy who's coming off a Stanley Cup victory from out of nowhere?? Niemi had better regular season numbers than Turco, sans save percentage; but the defense around Niemi was probably leaps and bounds over what Turco had in front of him. If you put Turco with the quality of what the Hawks have, it could turn his career around.

The age thing is another factor, with Turco turning 35 in the middle of this month and Niemi is going to be 27 at the end of this month. Turco hasn't been injured as often as some older workhorses, but there's always that worry he could go down at any time, which would make the move that much worse if Niemi goes on and has a stellar year wherever he lands. All eyes will be on Turco to succeed, especially in the Chicagoland area, who have a reason to be pro-Antti Niemi.

Speaking of which, where does Niemi go now?? A Cup winning goalie, under 30 years old, and able to steal games if need be and actually be effective. Sure, you'll have the obvious teams with shaky goaltending dispositions (Washington, San Jose, Philadelphia); but at the same time-- could he be hung out there without a suitor for a while and have to wait until another guy goes down in order to get a gig as a starter in the NHL??

In the end, this adds to the dismantling of the Stanley Cup Champs and the oddities of the NHL off-season; along with Ilya Kovalchuk's situation-- it's been a bizarre summer. Turco has a lot to prove, but doesn't need to do much to prove it. He's a solid goalie and behind that Chicago's defense; he'll regain what he lost in Dallas. Niemi may have a lot of people after him, but can't afford to take him on because they don't have the money to bring him in. It could be a situation where Niemi is sitting on the side, losing his allure and prowess because teams have to wait for someone to get injured.