San Jose Sharks defenseman Niclas Wallin looking ahead -- to facing former team
Sharks defenseman Niclas Wallin promises that he knows his uniform color now is teal.
"But I hope I don't forget and throw a pass to one of their guys," Wallin said of tonight's game at the Shark Tank against his former team, the Carolina Hurricanes.
He was joking.
Still, you can understand why Wallin might have to think twice.
Before being traded to the Sharks on Feb. 7, Wallin played nine seasons for Carolina. He was a member of the Hurricanes' Stanley Cup winner in 2006 as well as the 2002 team that reached the finals.
Wallin, 35, also occupies a special place in franchise lore as "The Secret Weapon" -- a clutch performer whose three career playoff goals all were overtime winners.
"I hope so," Wallin said when asked if he is remembered warmly in Carolina. "I've got nothing but good memories and good things to say about the players there. I'm looking forward to this game. But we've got two points to get. We've got business to do."
In fact, he is much more interested in looking forward rather than backward. Wallin finally has recovered from a left-ankle injury that rendered him largely ineffective in the playoffs last spring and required offseason surgery. The ankle then came down with an infection that lingered into training camp.
Wallin, a native of Sweden, is getting the chance to show why the Sharks traded for him and then signed him to a one-year, $2.5 million contract this summer.
"I'm sick of talking about last year," Wallin said. "I've told everybody that I'm done talking about it."
But then he proceeded to talk unprompted, and at length, about his difficult season.
"I was skating on one leg," Wallin said. "If you can't walk on a leg, how are you going to skate on it? It sucked. I'm a guy who can take pain, but I couldn't skate."
The ankle was a problem all season for the burly 6-foot-3, 220-pound defenseman. Wallin had been reluctant to waive his no-trade clause after spending his entire NHL career with the Hurricanes.
But he relented and joined the Sharks, who coveted Wallin for his steady, stay-at-home defensive play as well as his playoff experience. But as the ankle deteriorated, so did his playing time. He only suited up for six of the Sharks' 15 postseason games.
He was re-signed this summer -- with a pay increase. But after Wallin had surgery in July, the incision became infected. The result was he didn't skate all offseason and needed a special boot made for the swollen ankle.
Now he is close to 100 percent again. (Wallin knocks on a wooden bench when he says that.)
"I'm not going to score any fancy goals or anything," added Wallin, who has only 18 career regular-season goals. "But I can move again. Every day it seems to get better and better."
Sharks coach Todd McLellan said he sees a nice chemistry developing between Wallin and new partner Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and he believes it will improve as the season continues.
Wallin returning to form would be a big boost for the Sharks, whose defensive corps lacks the elite names -- other than Dan Boyle -- that the team has in its loaded forward positions.
"When you've played in the league as long as Wally has, you have a standard that you expect to live up to," McLellan said. "It wasn't for lack of will that he couldn't give us what he had last season. He simply wasn't healthy enough. Now he's got that health back."
And now for the first time, he will play against the Hurricanes. Wallin remains tight with many of the players and attended defenseman Tim Gleason's wedding over the summer.
Monday, Wallin said Gleason might stop by his house and that he was looking forward to visiting with other guys, although most likely not before the game.
"We worked our butts off for each other for years, so obviously there are close friendships there," he said. "But when it comes to playing, the first guy I probably hit on the ice is (agitator) Tuomo Ruutu. But he's the nicest guy off the ice, and I'll talk with him afterward."
As he said, business comes first.
Contact Mark Emmons at 408-920-5745.
