Breaking News: San Jose Sharks Will Be Without Grier, Roenick

As first relayed to me by DMZ Zalk in a comment on my last Sharks article from the San Jose Mercury News blog, the Sharks may be without the services of Mike Grier and Jeremy Roenick for the rest of the 2009 regular season. Here is the report directly from the team Web site:

“Both are going to be out an extended period,” said Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan.

In order to help shore up the front lines, Brad Staubitz and Lukas Kaspar were called up. Staubitz was in San Jose for the morning skate and skated in a line with Tomas Plihal and Jonathan Cheechoo. The top two lines remained intact, but it appeared the third line could have a mix of Alexei Semenov, Claude Lemieux, Jody Shelley, or Kaspar.

With Evgeni Nabokov still battling a bit of the flu, McLellan will put Brian Boucher in net for the evening’s matchup against the Dallas Stars.

“Nabby won’t go tonight,” said McLellan, noting that his No. 1 will still be able to back up. “We wanted to play Boucher more and with Nabby not 100 percent, now is the time.”

This simply makes my suggested trades all the more necessary. The Sharks will have to replace Grier's defence and penalty-killing, as well as Roenick's fire. Ian Laperriere provides both.