Alexander Wennberg’s return is starting to feel close, and for the San Jose Sharks, that timing could not be better.
The center has missed the last two-plus weeks with an upper-body injury, but signs point to him getting back into the lineup soon. Wennberg was still on injured reserve Saturday when the Sharks wrapped up their three-game road trip against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center, yet he has been skating with the team all week and recently moved from week-to-week to day-to-day.
That puts him in position to potentially be activated during San Jose’s short homestand. The Sharks host Matthew Schaefer and the New York Islanders on Monday, then Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said in Dallas that more would be known about Wennberg’s status on Monday and made it clear the veteran center was not an option against the Stars.
Wennberg exited the Sharks’ Oct. 19 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs before the third period ended with an upper-body injury. San Jose lost that game 3-1 and had gone 3-6-0 without him entering Saturday, slipping into a tie for fifth in the Pacific Division.
The injury pileup got worse on Oct. 22 when winger Igor Chernyshov, who had been skating on the top line with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, also went down with an upper-body injury. Since then, the Sharks had managed just one win in their previous seven games before Saturday - a 29 October victory over the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL’s last-place team - while being outscored 28-12.
That’s why Wennberg’s absence has been so noticeable. San Jose signed him to a three-year, $18 million extension in January, well before last season’s trade deadline and the start of free agency, and he had become a fixture in every situation.
Before getting hurt, Wennberg was parked at the net on the top power play, one of the Sharks’ main penalty-killing forwards, and the matchup center against opposing top lines. He also led the team in faceoffs, taking the most draws of any Sharks player in the offensive and neutral zones.
The production line on the stat sheet wasn’t flashy - he had three assists in his first nine games - but his workload was. He ranked third among Sharks forwards in average ice time at 20:00.
Without Wennberg and Chernyshov, the Sharks have been forced to keep reshuffling their lineup. That continued Friday in a 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild, when San Jose tried another set of combinations after a 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.
“Just kind of the way it’s going right now,” Warsofsky said after Friday’s loss. “I understand the frustration with our fans, I get it.
We’re trying extremely hard to win hockey games; it’s just not been very easy right now. We’ve got to stick to the process.”
There is at least some relief on the schedule ahead. Beginning Monday, seven of the Sharks’ next nine games are at home, and they play back-to-back only once in that stretch. That should give them more practice time as they move into the second quarter of the season with what they hope will be a healthier roster.
San Jose also made one change to its forward group for Saturday’s game, putting rookie center Filip Bystedt in for Zack Ostapchuk on the fourth line.
Bystedt had appeared in four straight games since his recall on Oct. 28 before sitting out Friday. Ostapchuk, the Sharks’ fourth-line center, has one goal in 17 games this season, and his line with Barclay Goodrow and Adam Gaudette has been outchanced 24-2 during 5-on-5 play in four games together, according to Natural Stat Trick.
In goal, Alex Nedeljkovic started against the Stars, his first start since San Jose’s 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 31.
Yaroslav Askarov had handled the crease in five of the previous six games and stopped 24 of 28 shots in Friday’s loss. Over those five starts, he went 1-4-0 with an .887 save percentage and is 4-8-0 on the season with an .885 save percentage.
Even so, Askarov has given the Sharks a chance more often than the results suggest. Among the 23 NHL goalies who have played at least 10 games, he ranks eighth in goals saved above expected at 2.8, according to Money Puck.
In Other News...
Sharks Young Scorers Offered Hope Before Another Brutal Late Collapse
The Sharks got exactly the kind of jolt they have been waiting for in Dallas, where Michael Misa, Ivar Stenberg and Will Smith all found the net in a game that briefly looked like it might tilt San Joses way. For a team searching for offense and confidence, the sight of three young scorers contributing in the same night was a welcome change, especially against a Stars club that has usually made life difficult at American Airlines Arena.
But the encouraging start did not survive the finish, and the latest loss fit too neatly into a frustrating pattern for San Jose. The Sharks have now dropped seven of their last eight, and while the goals from Misa, Stenberg and Smith showed there is some promise in the groups emerging talent, the late collapse left the bigger question hanging: how long can those flashes matter if the points keep slipping away? [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Let Another Winnable Game Slip As Familiar Problem Returns
Macklin Celebrini did his part in a game the Sharks badly needed, piling up three points and helping San Jose build an early lead before the night turned into another frustrating chase. Michael Misa got the opening goal with Celebrini on the assist, and for a while it looked like the Sharks might finally turn a strong start into something more lasting against Dallas.
Instead, the Stars leaned on the power play to swing the game back their way, and San Jose spent the rest of the night trying to dig out of the hole. Will Smiths late power-play goal gave the Sharks a chance to steal a point at the end, but the equalizer never came and the 4-3 loss became their fifth straight defeat, another reminder that the margin for error keeps shrinking. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Young Core Finally Sparked The Offense But One Problem Won Again
The Sharks finally got a little life from their young core in Dallas, scoring three goals for the first time since Oct. 29 and getting contributions from rookies Michael Misa, Ivar Stenberg and Macklin Celebrini. Even in a 4-3 loss to the Stars, there were signs of the offense starting to find some rhythm again after a rough stretch, and Alex Nedeljkovics return in goal gave San Jose a chance to hang around with 26 saves in his first start since Oct. 31.
Still, the same issue that has haunted this team kept dragging it back under. San Joses penalty kill was beaten repeatedly, and a night that could have been a reset instead became the Sharks fifth straight loss and a frustrating finish to a three-game road trip. The young talent is starting to show up on the scoresheet, but until the special teams clean up, those flashes are going to keep getting buried. [Read more 🡒]