Sharks Don’t Have Same Bite

A not-so-funny thing has happened to the San Jose Sharks on their way to the success widely predicted for them this season.

Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov and defenseman Brad Stuart, cornerstones of a team that has increased its point total each of the last six seasons, haven’t signed new contracts. Nor has Alexander Korolyuk, a lesser but still useful forward.

All three are restricted free agents, giving the Sharks the right to match offers they receive. And there being few things more restrictive than NHL restricted free agency, they received no offer sheets.

General Manager Dean Lombardi made new offers to Nabokov and Stuart last week but there’s no imminent end to this stalemate, leaving the Sharks to scramble for reliable goaltending and to avoid overburdening defensemen Mike Rathje, Marcus Ragnarsson, Bryan Marchment and Scott Hannan.

They resorted last week to starting rookie goalie Vesa Toskala, who won his first start but soon came back down to earth. Miikka Kiprusoff is their other option, but he gave up 11 goals in his first two games and he’s not the caliber of Nabokov, a Kazakhstan native who was the NHL’s rookie of the year in 2000-01 and won a team-record 37 games last season.

Nabokov, 27, threatened last week to play in Russia, which would complicate matters. If he did so and later wanted to return to San Jose, he would have to clear waivers, and he would be grabbed off long before the Sharks could claim him. However, he hadn’t left the San Jose area as of last weekend.

“Others have done that before,” Lombardi said on the team’s Web site about Nabokov’s threat, “but is that the basis to start allocating more dollars?”

The Sharks had wanted to sign him beyond the next two seasons and the end of the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union. They’re apparently anticipating that the age for unrestricted free agency will be reduced from 31 during the next labor talks. Lombardi said on the Web site he later had offered a two-year deal but Nabokov rejected it.

Stuart wants more than the minimum 10% raise the Sharks were obligated to give him in a qualifying offer, which would have put his salary at about $1.1 million. Lombardi said that would throw off the team’s economic structure.

“Sure, he is a solid contributor to our team but the qualifying offer was the highest we’ve ever had,” Lombardi said. “The way we go about allocating our dollars has worked well and has been fair.”

Lombardi is in an unenviable position. Teemu Selanne, believing the Sharks were on the brink of Stanley Cup contention, took less money to stay in San Jose than he might have gotten on the open market last summer. But the Sharks won’t get far without Nabokov and Stuart, and if the disputes linger, locker room morale could deteriorate. It’s easy to spend someone else’s money, but Lombardi will probably have to give in, and fairly soon.

Guerin a Guaranteed Help

Memo to King President Tim Leiweke: Being fiscally responsible is fine, but responsibility to your fans is vital. The Dallas Stars get it. They missed the playoffs last season and promptly began rebuilding by signing free-agent winger Bill Guerin to a five-year deal worth a reported $45 million.

“My expectations are to win the Stanley Cup,” said Guerin, who has made an immediate impact with four goals and seven points in seven games. “I think they should be everybody’s expectations. I think everybody on our team is thinking that way.”

Guerin said the Stars, who had previously emphasized defense, haven’t asked him to change his style. That’s smart: it makes no sense to ask him to change one of the NHL’s most aggressive and prolific games.

“You have to do the things you’ve been doing for the last number of years that made you successful, and I’m going to do those things,” said Guerin, who has been playing on a line with Mike Modano and Ulf Dahlen.

He also said the Stars aren’t concerned that owner Tom Hicks recently hired an investment bank to look into selling the franchise.

“I was a little surprised when I found out,” Guerin said. “I’m confident that he’s going to find an owner that’s going to uphold the same high standards he has.”

What’s in a name?

When the Red Wings raised their Stanley Cup banner last week, they also got to see their names on the Stanley Cup -- and goaltender Manny Legace was dismayed to see that his name had been misspelled on the plate affixed to the trophy.

It was engraved as “Lagace,” which will be corrected. He needn’t feel bad, though. Adam Deadmarsh, when he was with the 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche, became “Deadmarch,” on the trophy. That too was later fixed.

Naked Truth

It’s easy to joke about the intrusion onto the ice of a streaker, who was wearing nothing but red socks, last Thursday at Calgary’s Saddledome. And Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun took humorous note.

“A drunk, naked, sweaty buffoon with red socks,” Francis wrote. “I mean, who wears red socks? Besides, any red-blooded Canadian knows socks are a no-no if you’re going streaking. It clashes with the watch.”

But game security is a serious issue, especially after a father and son at Chicago’s Comiskey Park attacked Kansas City Royals’ first base coach Tom Gamboa last month. The NHL was lucky this time: This jerk hurt only himself when he slipped and hit his head on the ice. Next time, it could be a player or coach who is attacked and injured.

Slap Shots

Colorado’s Patrick Roy tonight can tie Terry Sawchuk’s record of 971 games played by a goaltender. The Avalanche will face the Edmonton Oilers at Denver. Roy is 518-301-119 in a career that began in the 1984-85 season. Sawchuk was 447-330-172 from 1949-50 through 1969-70. Roy is about eight games from tying Sawchuk’s record for regular-season minutes, 57,194.... Pittsburgh center Mario Lemieux, benefiting from the crackdown on obstruction, was chosen the NHL’s player of the week for collecting two goals and six assists in three games last week. Overall, he leads the NHL with four goals and 11 points in five games, mostly skating with Aleksey Morozov and Vladimir Kovalev. Lemieux, who turned 37 Oct. 5, returns to his hometown of Montreal today to face the Canadiens.... Florida winger Valeri Bure is the newest resident of Coach Mike Keenan’s doghouse. He was benched last week and singled out for criticism, a classic Keenan pattern that inevitably leads to the culprit’s being traded.... Also feeling splinters is Calgary center Rob Niedermayer, whose stock has plummeted. Flame Coach Greg Gilbert kept Niedermayer out of the lineup twice last week, saying he needed to show more consistency and production. It was the first time Niedermayer was a healthy scratch since his rookie season, 1993-94.... The Boston Bruins have been hit hard by injuries, and they don’t have the depth to compensate. Winger Martin Lapointe (broken foot), goalie John Grahame (separated shoulder) and winger Sergei Samsonov (injured wrist) were victims last week, just as Grahame appeared to be hitting stride after a suspect start. Samsonov had been playing well with Joe Thornton and Glen Murray.... Rumors out of Montreal say the Canadiens are showcasing goalie Jeff Hackett because they don’t want to pay him $3.5 million a year to back up Jose Theodore. Hackett has played well while Theodore has struggled to regain his MVP form.... Defenseman Jordan Leopold, winner of the Hobey Baker Award last year as the top player in college hockey, made his season debut with Calgary on Saturday after recovering from a concussion. He was drafted by the Mighty Ducks in 1999 but was dealt to the Flames for the long-departed Andrei Nazarov. The Flames liked Leopold so much they sent Derek Morris, considered one of the NHL’s top young defensemen, to Colorado in the Chris Drury trade. Leopold’s debut was uneventful, but he has immense promise.