San Jose will be without Alex Wennberg for at least the rest of its road trip.
Head coach Ryan Warsofsky said Thursday that the Sharks center is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, and the club will be down one of its veteran forwards for the final two games in Ottawa and Boston. Warsofsky said Wennberg will be re-evaluated once the team gets back home.
Wennberg, 32, already missed Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens after posting a season-low 16:29 of ice time in Monday’s 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ty Dellandrea stepped into the lineup in his place against Montreal.
Through nine games this season, the alternate captain has three assists and a minus-three rating.
The injury interrupts the latest chapter of Wennberg’s Sharks tenure, which began when San Jose signed him as an unrestricted free agent from the New York Rangers in 2024. He then delivered a strong 2025-26 season, piling up 55 points with a career-high 18 goals in 80 games, production that helped earn him a contract extension through 2029 at a $6 million cap hit.
Originally selected in the first round, No. 14 overall, by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2013 NHL Draft, Wennberg has played 878 career games across 13 seasons with Columbus, Florida, Seattle, New York and San Jose. His career line stands at 119 goals and 428 points, and he has also logged 58 playoff appearances with eight goals and 19 points.
The Sharks are 5-4-1 through their first 10 games and currently sit in the second wild card spot early in the 2026-27 regular season. Newly minted captain Macklin Celebrini has twice as many points as Tyler Toffoli, Will Smith and Ivar Stenberg, who are next on the club’s scoring list.
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Macklin Celebrinis latest takeover kept the Sharks rolling in a 4-3 comeback win over Montreal, but the game also offered a small lift from Michael Misa at a time when San Jose could use more of it. Misa scored his first goal of the season and, beyond the box score, looked better in the areas that matter most for a young forward trying to find his footing in the NHL.
The timing matters because Alex Wennberg is out day to day with an upper-body injury, leaving the Sharks thinner down the middle and leaning harder on Misa to help absorb some of that responsibility. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky has already acknowledged the adjustment period, saying Misa is dealing with the challenge of adapting to the leagues speed, and San Jose needs that process to keep moving in the right direction sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]
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Sharks Suddenly Face A Bigger Wennberg Problem Than Expected
Alexander Wennbergs absence is becoming a bigger issue than the Sharks initially hoped for. The veteran center was hurt in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the club has had to move on without him as it heads through its road trip, keeping the same forward lines for the next game with Collin Graf sliding in at center in Wennbergs spot.
The immediate concern is less about one missed game than about how long San Jose may have to keep adjusting around him. Wennberg has already sat out the next stretch, and the Sharks wont get a clearer update until they are back in San Jose and he is re-evaluated, leaving the middle of the lineup in a holding pattern for now. [Read more 🡒]