by Joe Lami

SAN JOSE–Its really not surprising with the release of unrestricted free agent Scott Hannan he’s an older player and he was brought back to San Jose to play the seventh defenseman and he was seeing a lot more playing time than the Sharks were comfortable with. It’s clear that he’s towards the end of his career. It was nice that he was able to come back to San Jose and end it.

Hannan still could get signed by another NHL club for a team that’s looking for a seventh defenseman where he won’t get as much playing time but this could mark the end of Hannan’s career. In terms of John Scott it was more shocking that the Sharks didn’t sign him and it’s understandable why they wouldn’t sign him in wanting to bring in more rookies.

Scott had a great year last season for the Sharks he had his best offensive year in getting the three goals that he got and it’s a bit shocking that he won’t be back. Having Scott coming back would have been a good thing he had good minutes and he played in important games and he was a force against tough teams like Anaheim, LA, or against some of the really physical teams in the NHL.

So not brining Scott back is a bit of a shock but again it’s not a complete surprise that they didn’t do it. As far as goaltender Antti Niemi is by far gone the Sharks just haven’t announced it yet. They would have resigned Niemi and get him a contract during the season if that’s what their intentions were to keep him on in San Jose.

Right now the Sharks defense is absolutely atrocious it’s really one of the worst defenses in the NHL and the fact that Hannan was on it who played 58 games last season that acquaints plus-minus zero you don’t want to see a plus minus. The Sharks really need to work on their defense and that’s their biggest problem now.

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