San Jose Sharks: The Arrival Of Antti Niemi

Over this past off-season, the San Jose Sharks stole away defending Stanley Cup goalie Antti Niemi from the Chicago Blackhawks. During the off-season, Niemi took the Blackhawks to arbitration and won a $2.75 million settlement. Since the Chicago Blackhawks rejected the arbitration award, Niemi became a free agent and signed straightaway with the Sharks. Let’s take a look and see how he is doing with his new team.

It is always tough for a brand new player to enter into the dressing room of another. It usually takes the average hockey player about 10-15 games to get used to their new teammates and surroundings. This trend especially holds true for goalies because they each have their own unique playing style. For example, Antti Niemi plays a butterfly style game while former Sharks goalie, Evgeni Nabokov, played more of a hybrid style game. Nabokov was part of the Sharks team for over a decade, so it is going to take players awhile to get used to Niemi. To this point of the season, Niemi has a 5-6 record with a 3.93 GAA, and a .890 SV%.

These are decent, but not great, numbers that have been put up by Antti Niemi. Stick with him! I believe that I see steady signs of improvement in Niemi’s play. This is still a strong signing by general manager Doug Wilson! It will pay dividends in the end.

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