What's So Free About Free Agency?: There are some very interesting players in this year's free-agent crop. New York Ranger Sean Avery is expected to hit the open market, with Avery supposedly asking for between $3 and $4 million per year. Now I don't know what...... , posted on June 24, 2008 more

Malone: 'Thanks, But I Kind of Wanted to Sign with a Good Team...': Unrestricted free agent Ryan Malone is a smart guy. Yesterday, there were reports the Penguins were going to trade his negotiating rights to the Blue Jackets. All I could think was 'Why would anyone want to play for Columbus?' Especially...... , posted on June 18, 2008 more

The Four Stages of the Coaching Life: Yesterday we saw the cycle of coaching lives in the NHL. There was birth, in Detroit assistant Todd McLellan getting his first NHL coaching gig, for the Sharks. I have no idea what kind of coach he is, but coming...... , posted on June 12, 2008 more

Game Seven Tonight — Game Eight Friday?: I'm thinking of calling Monday/Tuesday's game five 'game five/six', since it pretty much went six periods. I'm not sure if it will confuse people, though. Chuck Finder had a great piece looking at what the Penguins did between all of...... , posted on June 04, 2008 more

Sharks: 'We Believe We Can Fly': OK. This is as good a time as any to catch up on things. Over in San Jose, the Sharks held their annual State of the Sharks talk for fans. The talk is a bit infamous for not revealing anything...... , posted on May 21, 2008 more

Wilson Leaves the Bay Area: What does it tell you about the lack of drama so far in the Western Conference playoffs, that San Jose coach Ron Wilson getting fired is way more interesting than Detroit defeating Dallas. Again. It seems Wilson was fired mainly...... , posted on May 13, 2008 more

Don't Forget the Losers: I love the time between playoff rounds because it lets me catch up a little bit. Not so much on the playoff teams, but on the teams that were bounced out of the playoffs. Or in the case of the...... , posted on May 06, 2008 more

Bob Barker: 'The Halak Is Not Right, Either': I don't quite understand the Canadiens goalie situation. Last night, they started backup Jaroslav Halak over rookie Carey Price, presumably their future franchise goalie. Price has struggled in the playoffs, but he's also had some great moments. In other words,...... , posted on May 01, 2008 more

Manager: 'Puck! Where Are Those TPS Reports?': Mike Babcock was the first coach I ever heard use the term puck management. I heard it when he was coaching the Ducks. The idea behind Babcock's idea of puck management was controlling the puck. That can be puck possession,...... , posted on April 30, 2008 more

Roenick Rises: When aging NHL superstars sign with teams in nice climates, I tend to think they're career is pretty much over. Look at Brett Hull in Phoenix. Look at Jeremy Roenick in Phoenix. Of course, Roenick decided his career wasn't over...... , posted on April 23, 2008 more

Thornton Steps Up: The book on Joe Thornton, to a certain extent, has always been that he's not a leader. That he's not a big game guy. There was never any denying his talent, but there were always rumblings about his impact in...... , posted on April 16, 2008 more

Everybody Loves Thornton: David Pollak has a great item on his Sharks blog: Before the Bruins donated Joe Thornton to San Jose, they felt out the Panthers to see if they were interested. Then-Florida GM Mike Keenan was interested but ownership wasn't. You...... , posted on April 11, 2008 more

When I Say Freeze, You Just Freeze One Time...: So after last night's games, it looks like the Western Conference playoff picture is all set. I'm most excited about the Calgary-San Jose match-up, which pits two great, uptempo, puckmoving teams against one another. I'm thinking that series is really...... , posted on April 04, 2008 more

PuckUpdate Exclusive: NHL Teams Exist West of the Mississippi: How good and how intriguing are the San Jose Sharks? Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer actually dedicated his Sunday column to them (login info.). And as most people on the West Coast know, the East Coast papers rarely mention...... , posted on March 24, 2008 more

Spin-o-rama: David Pollak has a nice history/overview of the Spin-o-rama. Relatively new San Jose Shark defenseman Brian Campbell is a big fan of the move. He's even scored with it. Pollak credits Blackhawk Denis Savard with popularizing the move, but I...... , posted on March 20, 2008 more

Penguins More Powerful Without Crosby?: Well this is a little bit interesting: The Penguins struggling power play was actually more efficient with Sidney Crosby out of the lineup. Dave Molinari chalks some of this up to Crosby and Evgeni Malkin often deferring to each other...... , posted on March 12, 2008 more

There's Something About Avery: Sean Avery's weird deal in New York is one of the stranger things going on in the league right now. Avery is an unrestricted free agent after this season and he and the Rangers are far apart on a deal,...... , posted on March 11, 2008 more

Hossa Sharkbait?: Are the Sharks really interested in Marian Hossa? Interested enough to give up Patrick Marleau or Jonathan Cheechoo, plus prospects and/or picks? What with the Sharks out on the East coast, I've been watching more of them than I usually...... , posted on February 21, 2008 more

Does Marleau Know the Way Out of San Jose?: San Jose Shark Patrick Marleau is supposedly on the block? He's been rumored to be out of San Jose since the Sharks got Joe Thornton. I always kind of assumed the Sharks forgot they wanted to trade him. Also, Neil...... , posted on January 23, 2008 more

Signs of Hockey: First, old business: The Dallas Stars are pretty funny (login info.). A lot of teams wouldn't make fun of the NBA ref-gambling scandal. The Stars have no such qualms. And you know a sign is funny if Mark Cuban doesn't...... , posted on September 05, 2007 more

Guerin Doesn't Know the Way In San Jose: I haven't had much time to watch any Western Conference games but apparently Bill Guerin is pointless in San Jose (login info.). He's been playing with Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski, so it's not like he's stuck on a fourth...... , posted on March 13, 2007 more

Monday Madness!: Here are the quick hits: Road Hockey Rumble is a TV show! See what I mean here. Mike Grier is a patient, forgiving guy. SportsMemorabilia.com interviewed me. Is anyone out there going to the Eastern Sociological Society meeting this weekend?...... , posted on March 12, 2007 more

Why I Like Honey Nut Cheerios: You know, say what you will about Joe Thornton, he's a very nice guy. I didn't see the Hal Gill hit that got him kicked out of the game, but the fact that he apologized and didn't make a big...... , posted on January 12, 2006 more

Leave Lou Alone!: I've never been the biggest Lou Lamoriello fan. The Devils GM is a smart guy, but he can be downright cruel to his players, and he's often placed winning ahead of the greater good of hockey. But he doesn't seem...... , posted on January 09, 2006 more

New Year, New News, Good Times: There are a lot of great hockey tidbits floating around out there, this weekend. Larry Brooks reports that the CBA has a provision that allows incentives to come off of the cap, once they can no longer be met (login...... , posted on January 02, 2006 more

Joe Fallout: Yesterday's papers had some interesting Joe Thornton fallout/insights. Larry Brooks says any players screwed by the Bruins deserve whatever they get since owner Jeremy Jacobs made no secret of his contempt for players during the lockout (login info.). I don't...... , posted on December 05, 2005 more

Boston: 'We Get to Buy the Whole Bridge? That's Wicked Awesome!': OK. It's official. I really don't understand the new NHL. The Bruins trading Joe Thornton to San Jose for Wayne Primeau, Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart? That's just shocking. Is Boston worried about being too successful? Did they not want...... , posted on December 01, 2005 more

Carnival of the NHL #3: Welcome Carnival of the NHL #3. I'm Steve Ovadia. You might remember me from blogs like PuckUpdate and PopUpdate Daily. Today, I'll be your host as I take you around the hockey blogosphere, from its beautiful hair, to its seamy...... , posted on July 29, 2005 more

Golf Shark: I think the lockout agrees with some people. Like San Jose Shark coach Ron Wilson. He's playing a lot of golf in his downtime. How much golf? He almost qualified for the US Open. He didn't, but he almost did....... , posted on June 17, 2005 more

Avs Get Damphousse and Get Tough: It's pretty interesting how the Avalanche have slowly evolved their off-season strategy. They used to spend their time going after elite defensemen. Last season they started stockpiling forwards, picking up Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. This year, they picked up...... , posted on August 19, 2004 more

Flames Clinch with Class: The best part of Calgary's 3-1 win over the Flames last night? Calgary coach Darryl Sutter, the former Shark coach, waiting to shake hands with every San Jose player before they left the ice (l:pain@registeringsucks.com; p:painful). This wasn't a great...... , posted on May 20, 2004 more

Flames Fine Far From Home: Sharks coach Ron Wilson says he saw last night's 3-0 loss to Calgary coming. I'm not sure what that says about him as a coach. It might have helped his team if he had warned them they were going to...... , posted on May 18, 2004 more

Turek is Never a Good Sign: You know it's pretty bad when you're a goalie and you're pulled for Roman Turek. That's what happened to Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff Sunday in the Flames' 4-2 loss to the Sharks. Kiprusoff looked positively sick in goal. But in a...... , posted on May 17, 2004 more

Red Beard Rides Again: Am I imagining things, or does everyone on a successful Calgary team look the same? Behold. Exhibit A is Lanny McDonald, the captain of the 1989 Cup-winning Calgary team. He looks something like this. Now let's fast-forward to now. This...... , posted on May 14, 2004 more

Rock and Roll Rests For Nothing...Not Even the Playoffs: So the Flames go up 2 games to none on the Sharks, right? All of Calgary must be stopped dead in its tracks, right? Fullblown Flame Fever? Yeah. Except at the Saddledome, where the Flames won't be playing Saturday. The...... , posted on May 12, 2004 more

Hockey in the Sky and in Harlem: Oh man! Honeymoons are nice, but sometimes they don't have TV where you're staying. Trust me on this one. Actually, there was a TV and a Flyer fan on the island we stayed so I was able to keep tabs...... , posted on May 11, 2004 more

Pizza Avalanche!: ESPN.com has an interesting piece on how San Jose GM Doug Wilson is really good to the reporters that cover his team. How good? The two Shark beat writers are invited to a pizza party in Wilson's office before every...... , posted on April 27, 2004 more

Sharks Watch TV In-Game!: Wow. The San Jose Sharks, soon to meet the Colorado Avs in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, are really high tech. They use TiVo-esque digital recorders on the bench to crunch video on the fly. They even...... , posted on April 21, 2004 more

Sutter: 'We're Just Like San Jose...Without the Money': The San Jose Mercury News has kind of a funny story about how Calgary coach/GM Darryl Sutter is trying to build the Flames the same way former Shark GM Dean Lombardi built San Jose. Basically, that involved cultivating a lot...... , posted on December 04, 2003 more

Sharks Plotting?: Are the San Jose Sharks actually trying to rebuild? Was last season's awful purging of all of their name players the proverbial one step back needed to go two steps forward? Probably not. But who knows? Anyway, the Sharks are...... , posted on November 14, 2003 more

Checking In On McLaren: Poor Kyle McLaren. He held out in Boston and ended up in San Jose, almost to the second the team imploded and shed all of its talent. Now he's a defenseman and a teacher for San Jose's young defensive corps....... , posted on November 07, 2003 more

Sharks Sign Everyone: What a difference a year makes. Last season San Jose was starting the season with key players like goalie Evgeni Nabokov and defenseman Brad Stuart unsigned. It cost the team a strong start and eventually cost coach Darryl Sutter his...... , posted on August 29, 2003 more

Skating Down to Cali...: I know the NHL is really trying to sell hockey in the American south. I can respect and appreciate that. But does the NHL realize most people there don't care about hockey? I guess not. And still, the NHL is...... , posted on August 07, 2003 more

So Long Selanne: San Jose's Teemu Selanne made what I consider to be a big deal about staying with the Sharks right at the trade deadline. He wouldn't waive his no-trade clause, presumably because he liked playing with the Sharks. Cue the JAWS...... , posted on April 22, 2003 more

Not Just About the Playoffs: So just because the season is over for a lot of teams doesn't mean they're boring, right? Well let's just pretend they're still interesting. Over at Sharks HQ, everyone wants to know if Teemu Selanne still knows the way to...... , posted on April 09, 2003 more

Good News-Bad News: Good News: Marty Turco is ready to go back in goal for Dallas. He could be back as soon as Tuesday. Nothing helps a Stanley Cup run more than a genuine starting goalie. Bad News: The streaky Islanders have found...... , posted on March 21, 2003 more

Lombardi Fired: Wow. The Sharks fired GM Dean Lombardi. When this season started, everyone was saying the Sharks were going to be the team to beat. Instead they just spiraled into nothingness. You have to wonder if Lombardi was fired for the...... , posted on March 19, 2003 more

Maple Thugs Add Firepower: It's not really shocking that Toronto got Owen Nolan from San Jose. The rumor was kicking around for weeks. What is shocking is that Toronto was able to successfully execute a trade. Although, to be honest, I think it really...... , posted on March 07, 2003 more

Shark Trades: I love this time of year. Right before the trade deadline. All the wheeling and dealing. It makes me feel like Michael Douglas in WALL STREET. Word on the street is that the San Jose Sharks might, might, might, be...... , posted on February 20, 2003 more

McLaren Moves; Hackett Promoted: Our national nightmare is over. The Bruins finally unloaded holdout Kyle McLaren. McLaren is going to the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks sent forward Nik Sundstrom to the Canadiens. And the Canadiens sent goalie Jeff Hackett to Boston. The Sharks...... , posted on January 24, 2003 more

Shark Bait: What's going on in San Jose you ask? They're having trouble winning more two games in a row. It's really shocking how bad they are this season. The coach switcheroo didn't really help, either....... , posted on January 16, 2003 more

It's Gotta Be The Jerseys: Just what is exactly is the San Jose Sharks' problem? It could be their uniforms. They've lost every game they've played in their black home jerseys.It could be their uniforms. They've lost every game they've played in their black home...... , posted on January 06, 2003 more

Sharks Hire Ron Wilson: Ron Wilson is the new coach of the Sharks. I wonder if the Sharks are too talented for Wilson. He seems to thrive with bare-bone teams, but give him some stars, and he's useless....... , posted on December 05, 2002 more

Sutter Fired: When a team that looks good on paper isn't playing well, what do you do? Fire the coach. Or the whole coaching staff. That's what the underperforming San Jose Sharks did. And don't forget that this is the same San...... , posted on December 02, 2002 more

San Jose: 'We Sign in Spurts': So first San Jose couldn't sign their goalie until a bunch of games into the season. Well they still haven't signed defenseman Brad Stuart. Apparently they have something against signing the whole team at once out in California....... , posted on November 12, 2002 more

San Jose: "We Got a Goalie!": San Jose finally signed Evgeni Nabokov, giving him two years for $7.15 million. The Sharks had Nabokov on the ice doing drills before the ink on the contract was dry. San Jose didn't want to sign Nabokov for a short-term...... , posted on October 23, 2002 more

Where's Evgeni?: Maybe the NHL should think about LoJack for its players. First Theo Fleury disappears. Now no one is sure where unsigned San Jose Shark goalie Evgeni Nabokov is. He said he'd play in Russia if San Jose didn't sign him....... , posted on October 18, 2002 more

Shark Attack: Actually, not really. In fact, it's quite the opposite (would that be a swimmer attack?). The Sharks are 0-2. Didn't everyone pick them to win the Cup this year? Not at this rate. And it's not helping things that they...... , posted on October 14, 2002 more