SAN JOSEGoaltender Antero Niittymaki is nearing a return to practice, he said on Tuesday.
Niittymaki has been out since the start of training camp after undergoing hip surgery in early September.
Im getting close to practicing with the guys, said Niittymaki. One of these days. We have some games coming up, so obviously not one of those days, but maybe one of the off days Ill go out there with the boys and see how it feels. Well go from there.
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The Sharks goalie has been skating on his own, or with fellow IR casualty James Sheppard, virtually every day for the past two weeks. There is no timetable for him to return to game action, he said.
Weve been doing a little bit more and more basically every day the last week or so, he said. We dont have a return date. We have some kind of timeline, but playing-wise, we dont have anything.
When Niittymaki is healthy, general manager Doug Wilson will have a decision to make. Backup goaltender Thomas Greiss is 4-3, including a win on Sunday in Colorado, and has a sterling 1.99 goals-against average and .929 save percentage.