David Pollak claims Scott Nichol to become Sharks' 4th-line center

Does anyone remember him and Joe Thornton going at last season? Something off a mismatch in sizes.

I hope there are no hard feelings between the two.

I’ll have to see the terms of the deal, but if this is anything more than a one year deal I’m going to be pissed.

Positives: He plays the PK. Third leading forward on the Preds last season in shorthanded ice time.

Negatives: He’s 36 years old. His BTN PK numbers are horrible. He’s injury prone. He doesn’t improve secondary scoring. He has a tendency to take garbage penalties. We don’t need another enforcer if Shelley is on the team. He’s not big.

It’s just a rumor right now, but man, between the Huskins deal and this I don’t really understand what DW is thinking.

All in all, Nichol provides heady, responsible defensive work and has the ability to pop in the occasional goal or assist when the opportunity presents itself. The ideal fit for him would be a team that already has decent forward depth but needs to shore up its penalty killing. That might include his hometown of Edmonton, Dallas, or perhaps New Jersey. No matter where he ends up, his never-say-die style of play and affable personality are sure to make him a fan favorite.

Reading this certainly makes me a little more enthusiastic.

if the comments on WTC have pressured Pollak into adding a little more of his own analysis instead of just PR-type stuff?

But this is a terrible signing in my mind. Why sign Nichol when you can re-sign Armstrong who’s younger and is a more dynamic player.

More from me later, but I’m not happy.

And Nichol sounds like a gritty player that plays bigger than his size, which is good for a team where the opposite tends to be true lol. The fact that he’s injured a lot does worry me, but really, how different is that from any of our former bottom six players? IIRC, Shelley was one of the healthiest of the six (or however many guys ended up playing on those lines), which isn’t exactly great. The fact that Nashville trusted him on the PK a lot also stands out to me. And, well, his $750K contract last year (hopefully with the same amount this year) is a positive thing as well.

That said, I’m getting some Debbie Downer thoughts going on (WTF? Moen didn’t even get an offer from DW? And he’s cheaper than Huskins?), so I’m currently not inclined to trust anything Wilson is doing right now. Its really quite depressing.

DW has something up his sleeve. He usually makes a move that comes completely out of left field (i.e. Grand Theft Thornton). I agree with mymclife, we need guys who play bigger than size, and Nichol is one of them.

Huskins gets big money for I guess what he looks like on film and Moen signs a nice fat deal with Montreal, very interesting..

We will have plenty of open roster spots..I hope the big trade is coming..

Maybe other teams are not offering market value to DW for two reasons, they know DW needs to change the karma on this team, and teams are leery of players with years of playoff losing scar tissue..

So he might be a little stuck here..He is also dealing with no trade clauses which eliminate trades to bad teams..

As far as I know, Guite is a fourth liner, might this mean we can expect an announcement on the Nichol signing soon?

TSN.ca

SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks have signed center Scott Nichol, adding veteran depth to their changing lineup.

Nichol spent the past four seasons with the Nashville Predators, scoring 10 points in 43 games last season while missing extensive playing time with a concussion.

The 34-year-old agitator is entering his eighth full NHL season, previously playing with Buffalo, Calgary and Chicago.

And now it’s official.

If you are a UFA, does this signing change anything about SJ for you?

If you are a GM looking to make a trade with SJ, does this signing change anything for you?

because the Sharks were in need of a new player named Scott

…as well as being injury-prone. I honestly hope I eat my words here, but we all saw what injuries did to the team this past season, particularly from a chemistry point of view. Granted, Boyle and Blake aren’t exactly young, and they’re two of the most productive and valuable players on the team.

Good deal, very little to lose- if he can stay healthy, I think this could turn out to be a very good signing.

SPINNING BARFING HEAD.

OK, so I’m not that pissed or disgusted anymore. Kinda “meh” on the whole thing. But if anyone out there thinks that Nichol is even an average player… well… yeah. I have some stuff to sell you.

He’s NHL caliber (ish), and has some physical acumen (called scrapumen, according to me), but not much else.

But, most importantly, he’s a Shark now, regardless of what I say about him, so I wish him the best and hope he has a career year and stays healthy.

I just realized that DW has been targeting guys that have fought our big guys.

I mean, Huskins fought Clowe in the pre-season last year, and Nichol punched Joe in the arm a few times fought Thornton. Both are fights in which the guy took a player much more important scoring-wise than they are out of the game for five minutes. I don’t think we had too many of those happen, unless you count Drew’s opinion that Jordin Tootoo was an important scorer for his team (I don’t).

I admit, Huskins’s was in the pre-season so probably doesn’t count as much, but the fact that we have guys that can do that sort of thing makes me happy.

I am looking at his highlights, and he has scored some nice goals, a lot of them shorthanded. Should provide good energy for us on the PK and depth scoring.