Speculation over Stanley Cup-winner Antti Niemi’s new team have ended. According to a report by sports television channel ESPN, goaltender Niemi is to be transferred from Chicago Blackhawks to San Jose Sharks to challenge another Finnish goalie Antero Niittymäki for ice-time there.
According to an ESPN source, San Jose will pay Niemi USD two million for a one-year contract. This is less than the USD 2.75 million annual salary agreed earlier in arbitration proceedings.
This sum was too much for Chicago’s salary cap, and the Blackhawks were forced to let their champion goalie go just months after winning the Stanley Cup.
For several years, San Jose has been one of the top teams in the Western Conference of the NHL, but success in the play-offs has so far evaded the Sharks.
Last season it was the Blackhawks who put an end to San Jose’s championship dreams in the Conference Finals, after the Sharks had racked up their third successive victory in the Pacific Division's regular season.
Niittymäki was transferred to San Jose earlier in the summer from Tampa Bay.
At the beginning of the millennium, San Jose also had two Finnish goalies.
At that time Miikka Kiprusoff and Vesa Toskala competed for playing minutes with the Russian Jevgeni Nabokov.
The underperforming Kiprusoff was subsequently sold to Calgary, where he grew to become one of the best netminders in the entire league.
