From the moment the Sharks signed Antti Niemi right before training camp opened, the days of holdover goaltender Thomas Greiss appeared to be numbered.

Well, his number has been called.

Greiss was placed on waivers Sunday after the team returned from the season-opening trip to Sweden. It will be learned this morning if he was claimed by another team. His modest, $550,000 salary could make him enticing for other teams in the market for a young goalie with potential.

But if he clears waivers, Greiss will be assigned to the Sharks’ American Hockey League affiliate in Worcester.

“We’d love to have him stay in our organization,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “But we’d also wish that he’d the get the opportunity to play somewhere. We’re a little torn there.”

With the signings of Finnish goaltenders Antero Niittymaki and Niemi, there simply was no room in San Jose for Greiss, 24.

Last season he went 7-4 with a 2.69 goals-against average and .912 save percentage as the little-used backup for the departed Evgeni Nabokov.

The Sharks have a long reputation of developing their own goaltenders. But the cutting of ties with Nabokov and now the waiving of Greiss represents a new willingness to look outside the organization for help between the pipes.

Meanwhile, the regular-season Worcester Shuttle already has opened for business. Tommy Wingels has been sent down by the Sharks. Wingels, 22, made his NHL debut in the opener Friday in Stockholm. But with the Sharks hopefully getting injured forward Jamal Mayers back soon, the decision was made that Wingels would be best served getting more experience in the minors. “What we don’t want is good, young prospects just sitting there and watching games,” McLellan said. “He needs some ice time that we can’t give him right now.”

The Sharks returned to the practice ice Monday afternoon for a short workout. And, no, the world travelers were not sleep-skating. But several players said they were still adjusting after the long trip to Europe. “It was tough out there,” Sharks captain Joe Thornton said. “When you travel back and forth from Europe, it always takes one or two days to get back to normal. It doesn’t really matter what you do. A 12-hour plane ride and a 9-hour time difference isn’t easy.” The Sharks, who went 1-0-1 against Columbus in the two games, arrived in Oakland at 4:30 a.m. Sunday. They took that day off, went light Monday and plan a hard practice today. They have an off day scheduled Wednesday — with the hope being they’ll have completely recovered from jet lag in time for Saturday’s home opener against Atlanta. “By Thursday, we’re done talking about the trip,” McLellan added. “We’ll be back to normal and ready to go.” The only player who didn’t skate Monday was Mayers, who is continuing to recuperate from an undisclosed upper-body injury suffered during a Sept. 28 exhibition game in Vancouver when he fell awkwardly into the boards.

Veteran defenseman Andreas Lilja, who failed to stick with the Sharks in training camp, has signed a one-year, $600,000 deal with Anaheim.