Now that the San Jose Sharks’ 2026-27 roster is set, the real question shifts to how the pieces fit on opening night. The forward group looks pretty straightforward, while the blue line still leaves a little room for debate.
Up front, the projected top six keeps the same look the Sharks used in their final preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Mason Marchment is slotted with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, followed by Ivar Stenberg, Alex Wennberg and Collin Graf on the second line. The third unit has Igor Chernyshov, Michael Misa and Tyler Toffoli, with Barclay Goodrow, Zack Ostapchuk and Kiefer Sherwood rounding out the group.
Brett Leason and Ty Dellandrea are projected as scratches.
There is some room to shuffle the group, especially with Sherwood and Toffoli, but Ryan Warsofsky seemed to really like the top two lines during their time together, so a major change feels unlikely. Leason is expected to stay on the roster until Adam Gaudette is ready to return, then he would likely be waived for assignment to the Barracuda. Dellandrea, meanwhile, figures to move in and out of the lineup as the season goes on.
The defense is trickier to pin down. The projection has Darnell Nurse paired with Michael Kesselring, Luca Cagnoni alongside Jacob Trouba, and Sam Dickinson with Dmitry Orlov, with Nolan Allan listed as the scratch.
That setup comes with some uncertainty. During the preseason, Trouba spent almost all of his time with Allan, which makes that pairing the most natural place to start.
But the Sharks also chose to keep Dickinson in the NHL, and that suggests they are not planning to leave him in the press box when he could be developing in the American Hockey League. If the team didn’t want Dickinson in the lineup, it could have kept Libor Hajek as the seventh defenseman and sent the 20-year-old prospect back to the AHL.
Orlov’s preseason usage added another layer of complication. He split time between Dickinson and Cagnoni, and both players are comfortable on their off-side, which gives the Sharks some flexibility. In this projection, Cagnoni is placed with Trouba so he can avoid playing his off-hand while adjusting to the NHL.
Still, the more likely outcome may be Dickinson sitting while Allan plays with Trouba and Cagnoni pairs with Orlov. Even so, the preference here is to keep Dickinson active.
If a team keeps a 20-year-old in the NHL, he needs to be on the ice. Dickinson already has a full NHL season behind him, and while time in the press box can help in some cases, the choice becomes simple if the alternative is not playing.
In goal, the projection has Yaroslav Askarov as the starter and Alex Nedeljkovic as the backup. Entering the preseason, there was a real chance Nedeljkovic could have opened the year as the No. 1 goalie with Askarov backing him up.
But Askarov put in a lot of work over the summer and looked like a much more confident goalie in preseason. Consistency is still the big question with him, and that part remains to be seen once the games count, but he did enough to keep the starting job for now.
In Other News...
Sharks No Longer Have The Luxury Of Just Being Promising
The Sharks spent last season earning a measure of respect, even if the standings never fully rewarded it. After showing real promise and still coming up short of the playoffs, San Jose now finds itself in a different kind of conversation, one that is less about patience and more about when the progress has to start turning into results. Some analysts are already looking ahead to the 2026-27 season and viewing the team as a possible playoff contender.
Macklin Celebrini gives that projection a face, and a newly formal one at that, as the center of the organizations next push. Around him, the offense has become a real talking point, with Ivar Stenberg, Michael Misa and Will Smith all mentioned as reasons the Sharks can no longer be treated like a team that is simply interesting on paper. The promise is still there, but now the larger question is whether San Jose can turn it into something more durable before the window of optimism starts to feel overdue. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Interest In Connor Hellebuyck Raises A Bigger Goalie Question
The Sharks goalie picture has become a little more complicated as NHL Network insiders and other reports say San Jose has at least shown interest in Winnipeg Jets star Connor Hellebuyck. For now, the discussions sound very preliminary, more like a club doing due diligence than anything close to a finished deal, but it is the kind of search that tells you where the organization is trying to push its rebuild.
Yaroslav Askarov is still part of the equation, which makes this more than a simple upgrade chase for San Jose. Winnipeg is not expected to part with Hellebuyck lightly, and any real conversation would likely require a major return, so the Sharks are left weighing whether a swing at an elite veteran fits their timeline or just complicates the future they are trying to build. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Fans Should Be Excited About Ivar Stenbergs Early NHL Push
The early buzz around Ivar Stenberg has only grown since the Sharks made the Swedish forward the No. 2 overall pick in the NHL draft. He has already looked the part in preseason action, giving San Jose a glimpse of why the organization was so eager to add him, and why there is so much curiosity about how quickly he can help at the next level.
San Joses recent podcast discussion only added to the optimism, with analysts weighing how Stenberg might fit into the lineup and what his arrival could mean for the clubs forward group. For a team trying to build around young talent, the intrigue is not just about whether he belongs, but how soon he can become a real factor in the Sharks plans. [Read more 🡒]