Sharks acquire “The Secret Weapon”

It’s now completed, the San Jose Sharks have acquired Niclas Wallin and a fifth round pick in the 2010 draft from the Carolina Hurricanes for a second round pick in the 2010 draft. The second rounder is Buffalo’s, received by the Sharks in the trade that sent Craig Rivet to Sabres.

Wallin waived his no-trade clause to come to San Jose, giving some added depth and experience to the blue-line. He has a Stanley Cup ring from the Hurricanes 2006 run, as well as some deep runs into the playoffs in 2002 and 2009. The nickname “The Secret Weapon,” emerged from his timely goals (the only three he’s scored in the playoffs were all game-winners).

There isn’t much familiarity with the Sharks team, but Wallin did play alongside Douglas Murray for Sweden in the World Championships.

GM Doug Wilson’s major goal in acquiring a defense-man was to add without subtracting from the current roster of regulars. There’s no doubt that Wilson wasn’t comfortable with the rotating rookie in the sixth d-man slot going into the playoffs. He may not be done dealing, but there isn’t a lot of room for major moves so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Sharks stick with it’s current team come playoff time.

It will be interesting to see how Wallin is integrated into the Sharks defense. When healthy, the defense pairings will most likely look like this:

Dan Boyle- Douglas Murray

Rob Blake- Marc-Edouard Vlasic

Kent Huskins- Niclas Wallin

7th: Jay Leach, Jason Demers, Derek Joslin

The main advantage to this lineup is experience. This lineup has four Stanley Cup winners on the blue-line and the third pairing as a whole won’t be out of their element in the playoffs. Huskins won a cup with Anaheim during their run in 2007. Blake won one with Colorado and Boyle with Tampa Bay.

As far as depth goes it gives the Sharks another player who can handle his defensive role well in clutch time and won’t be asked to do much more than that.

However, a disadvantage to this lineup is some serious lack of both speed and offensive ability. The faster paced teams in the playoff’s may give that lineup fits unless they’re playing back the whole time.

One alternative might be to dress seven defense-man in the playoffs. This way the minutes are distributed a little more evenly so players don’t get burned out and allows someone like Demers to impact the game without taking on major minutes.

Demers’ knock is his lack of playoff experience and his major defensive lapses that happen from time to time. He’s also the best puck mover outside of Boyle, so playing him limited 5-on-5 minutes and some power play time would be a great way to utilize his skills without hurting the team somewhere else.

The lack of another forward doesn’t seem like it would hinder the team too much because the fourth line in the playoffs would most likely be Torrey Mitchell centering Brad Staubitz and Jody Shelley. The latter two are virtually the same player, though Staubitz brings better board work and more offensive ability as strange as that sounds. The point is that one can be expended if it means helping the defense out.

Next Game

Wallin should see his first action tomorrow night when the Sharks visit the Toronto Maple Leafs. Vlasic’s status is unknown for this game. Last game out against the Nashville Predators the Sharks dressed seven defense-man to ease Boyle back into the fold.