What was but a report yesterday has come full circle today as the San Jose Sharks have officially signed former Chicago Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi to a one-year contract. Sharks GM Doug Wilson had this to say about Antti Niemi:
“Antti’s play last season speaks for itself,” said Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson. “Our goal this summer was to create the best goaltending unit we could and we feel we have successfully done that.”
What the Sharks are doing here with Niemi and Niittymaki is making sure that they won’t have a goalie that will run out of gas in the playoffs, an issue you could argue occurred with Evgeni Nabokov in past seasons. Nabokov was the only goalie they’d run with for a complete season and playoffs and by the time April rolled around, at some point, Nabokov would seemingly hit the wall and with it went the Sharks’ hopes to win the Stanley Cup.
The upside to this set up in San Jose now allows us to unveil the Finnish nightmare hybrid name to use when referring to the Sharks goaltending: Antniitty Niemimaki.
Embrace it, try to wrap your vocal cords around it and let the Finnish goodness wash over you.