SAN JOSE - Ivar Stenberg is just getting started with the Sharks, but the first thing his old coach wants everyone to know is simple: the talent is real. The next step is about showing it sooner.
Barracuda coach John McCarthy, who watched Stenberg practice at Sharks Ice, said the young winger already has the kind of game that jumps out.
“He beats people one-on-one. He can create time and space with deception, and he can finish,” McCarthy said. “He’s got a lot of upside.”
That upside is exactly why the Sharks used the second overall pick on Stenberg in June. He was already in a Sharks uniform Saturday for the Rookie Faceoff at Tech CU Arena, lining up with winger Igor Chernyshov and center Michael Misa against the Los Angeles Kings’ prospects. The trio gave San Jose fans a glimpse of a group that could be dangerous for a long time, and maybe as soon as Oct. 1 when the Sharks host the Florida Panthers.
“We want them to make plays when there’s plays to be made,” McCarthy said of the line. “They’re a talented group, and we’re looking for them to do that.”
Stenberg’s own mindset is a little simpler.
“Just play hockey and have fun,” he said. “Just learning the system and stuff like that. Just play the game.”
There’s a good reason the Sharks are eager to see how that translates at the NHL level. Stenberg, who turns 19 on Sept. 30, spent last season in the Swedish Hockey League with Frolunda and held his own against older players despite measuring 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds.
He finished with 33 points in 43 regular season games, the fifth-highest total by a player 18 years old or younger in SHL history. The last 18-year-old players to post numbers like that were Daniel and Henrik Sedin in 1998-99.
He also helped Sweden win gold at the World Junior Championships in January.
Frolunda coach Robert Ohlsson praised more than just the skill package. In an email to Bay Area News Group, he pointed to Stenberg’s sense, his awareness without the puck and his ability to shift gears.
“Besides his technical skills, Ivar’s (hockey sense) is extremely good,” Ohlsson wrote. “He sees the ice well, sets up plays, and makes the right decisions. His play without the puck is also good, which makes him a two-way player.
“The balance he has in the physical game and his ability to change tempo and rhythm also sticks out.”
Sharks center Macklin Celebrini got a close look at Stenberg too. Celebrini captained Canada at the World Championships in May, where he faced Sweden and Stenberg, who finished with four goals and eight points in eight games.
“He’s a heck of a player,” Celebrini said recently. “It was really fun to watch him over there and play against him. I know we’re all really excited to play with him.”
Still, Ohlsson did offer one area where Stenberg can sharpen things up. Sometimes, he said, it took him a little while to get fully rolling in games. With NHL camps now shorter than they used to be, that’s a detail the Sharks will want addressed quickly.
”The Sharks (have) a thrilling roster. Ivar has to play his best hockey and make the most of it from the start,” Ohlsson wrote.
“I believe he has to prove himself (during) the camps and start the early games (in a convincing fashion). Sometimes it took half a match for him to show his ‘A’ game.”
Where Stenberg fits once the regular season starts is still up in the air, assuming he makes the 23-man roster out of camp. He could open camp next week on the top line with Celebrini and Will Smith. Another possibility is a spot alongside Alexander Wennberg and Kiefer Sherwood, taking over the role William Eklund once held.
The challenge for San Jose is that the winger picture is crowded now. Mason Marchment, who has averaged 19 goals per season over the last five years, gives the Sharks a deeper group at the position than they’ve had in five or six seasons, and that leaves plenty of moving parts with Marchment, Chernyshov, Sherwood, Collin Graf and Tyler Toffoli all in the mix.
Stenberg isn’t trying to sort all that out yet. His older brother Otto, a forward in the St.
Louis Blues organization, spent plenty of time training and skating with him this summer as Ivar prepared for his first season as a professional in North America. Otto’s advice was straightforward.
“To do my best. Go into camp and just have fun, work hard, and (believe) that it’s going to be good.”
And if the schedule lines up the way the Stenbergs hope, there’s even a chance the brothers could meet on Oct. 8, when the Sharks visit St. Louis to finish a two-game road trip.
“That would be pretty fun, pretty unreal,” Ivar said. “If that happens, it’s going to be special. But we’ll see what happens.”
INJURY UPDATES
Defenseman Mattias Havelid has an upper body injury and will not play this weekend. Leo Sahlin-Wallenius is day-to-day with a lower-body issue. It was unclear whether either defenseman would be available when main training camp begins on Thursday.
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