I feel robbed. Where’s my poll?

made it ma, top of the world!

I’m saying yes but, like you, only as long as we don’t break the bank for him. As far as a back up goes, Greiss may be serviceable and cheap. As much as I’d like to keep Bouch around, he’s earned himself a nice fat contract. I just don’t think the Sharks are the team that can afford to give it to him.

Since I’ll be in Moscow in a week, chillin’ with Boucher and the Russkies.

I’m in Estonia right now – I’m taking a midnight bus to St. Petersburg.

Drunk K has been spotted in the streets of Tallinn over the last two nights – he couldn’t track down an internet portal, otherwise he’d say hello.

I just realized – it’s 9:30am PST. It’s 7:30pm in Estonia – 8:30pm in western Russia.

Last night I met a Latvian guy, and asked him in Russian if he knew who Sandis Ozolinsh and Arturs Irbe were = I think I learned the Russian for “duh.”

Take care all, 12 days down, 43 to go!

When I got NHL 09, I immediately traded Nabby and used Boucher as my starter. I mean, its bad. However, I do not think we should resign him. Boucher is definately not our future in goal. He’s a good, quality backup, which is nice. But, with Nabby’s contract almost up, and other younger potential backups out there (Griess, Gustavsson, etc.), its time to use the backup goalie spot to get a look at Nabby’s potential successor. If we don’t end up signing The Monster, put Griess back there and see what he’s got (or trade for Halak, but we’ve talked about that scenario already). Griess seemed to be coming into his own a little bit in the AHL playoffs this past offseason, so maybe he’s turned that corner and is ready for a shot. Either way, its time to see what some of our kids have got, and start planning for our future in goal at the NHL level.

anyone see the news about the revived, ten-movie best picture format? Thoughts?

however, it’s obvious that the organization and coaches think of him strictly as a backup, and not as someone who can be rewarded for his good play with a chance to play more. I don’t really know if that’s a good or bad thing, but it seems to me like whoever the backup is, they should be given a chance to compete and a chance to gain the full trust of the team and coaches. Sure, if Nabby stays he will be number 1, but it doesn’t seem productive to play a backup who , besides currently not being the starter, will definitely NEVER get a chance to be the starter. At least if we’ve got Greiss, Gustavsson, whoever in there, we know there’s some kind of a plan moving forward and that the games the backup plays are meaningful in terms of development as well.

Bring up the kids.

Having Boucher back would be nice but I think some other team will go out and get him.

I think we should keep him.
In a semi-related topic. With a lot of Sharks fans seemingly wanting to trade Nabokov and get another starter, I have to throw in my two haypennies (That’s right, I have not one, but two haypennies) I think some people are overlooking the fact that Nabby is usually excellent in the playoffs. With the exception of the last two years, but I think Nabby was tired last year, and its hard to blame Nabby when the whole team is sucking in front of him. Sure his numbers aren’t great and he might be a little over paid. But one stat that gets ignored is how many one goal games he wins. I don’t know specific numbers, but I know its very good. Plus, from what I’ve read, he’s very loyal to the organization. He was very upset with himself when he held out a long time to get a better deal earlier in his career. I don’t know if he would take a pay cut, but its something to keep in mind.

Also, people are overlooking Boucher. If we were to get rid of Nabby (I cry just thinking about it) I would just rather go with Boucher. People forget that at one point the Flyers viewed him as the future of their organization. He’s suffered a lot of bad luck in the NHL, but I think he is NHL starter caliber.

I love Boucher – he’s hilarious and has this odd tendency to get shutouts. The fact that Randy often accidentally calls him “Bobby Boucher” is priceless. However, from the day that he was signed to the Sharks from the Philly Phantoms, it was pretty obvious that he was merely going to be a backup, no more. There wasn’t going to be a competition for the number one spot like there was when Toskala was here, or Kipprusoff, or Shields; Nabby was #1, and Boucher was #2. We all accepted that, outside of our wish that he got a few more starts.

The thing is, the Sharks have a TON of goalies in their system – I think they’ve drafted 9 goalies in the past 5 years, or something ridiculous like that. And thus far, the only goalies from said system that have gotten chances to play the last few years are Nabokov, Patzold, and Greiss. True, most of the goalies that have been drafted need a few years to get used to the professional level and develop their games, which is why Boucher was brought in – so the Sharks would have an NHL-caliber goaltender backing up Nabokov while Greiss, Dakers, Stalock, Sexsmith, and Sateri develop more. I want to keep Boucher, because he’s awesome, but if one of the goalies in the AHL is ready to take the reigns as a back-up to Nabby (or if Gustavsson chooses to sign here), I just can’t see him being re-signed in San Jose.

Oh, and Boucher’s numbers have warranted him to get a raise, which is hard with the cap-strapped situation that the Sharks are in. If another NHL team sees fit to give him a raise and/or a starting position (like the aforementioned Washington), I’d let him do it, as he’s earned it after toiling away in the AHL and taking a position as back-up to one of the most notorious workhorse goalies in the NHL.

Anyways, since Boucher is awesome, here are a few highlights:
Puck stuck in his mask
Some robbery
Advocates stalking
Wants softest shot in the ASG, among other things
Russian Jingle Bells
Oh, and a heads-up – if you don’t want to be reminded of a very unfortunate moment from this past year, don’t look up “Brian Boucher” on YouTube. Trust me.

However, I do think it is time to give the younger guys in goal a shot.

I like Brian as a player and a lockeroom presence, but it’s time to let one of our three goalie prospects in Worcester (Dakers, Greiss or Stalock) have a shot or go after Gustavvson and trade away one of them.

I Love Boosh, and I never expected him to be anything more than a backup. I don’t think he expected much more either. He’s solid and reliable (assuming the team is playing well in front of him) and his goofing around totally wins awesome points with me.

Despite my personal misgivings on Greiss, I realize that if we don’t start to give some of our net minders in the system a chance it will only be worse when Nabby poofs.

I think I’ll go with YES at 1mil. Any more and he should be allowed to find a better offer. I’d be sad to see him go, but I wouldn’t blame him for looking for more playing time and moola, given his performance over the past two seasons.

i wrote something here earlier that disappeared!