SAN JOSE - Jacob Trouba’s availability for Saturday night’s matchup with the Los Angeles Kings remains up in the air after the Sharks defenseman missed practice Friday and also sat out the morning skate at Sharks Ice.
Trouba is dealing with an unspecified illness, and the Sharks said he’ll be a game-time decision for the 7 p.m. faceoff at SAP Center. If he can’t go, Sam Dickinson is expected to slot into the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch in Thursday’s season-opening 4-3 overtime win over the Florida Panthers.
Dickinson, 20, would likely skate alongside Nolan Allan, 23, after the pair worked together Friday and again Saturday. That setup would give San Jose three defensemen 23 or younger in the lineup, with Luca Cagnoni, 21, already paired with 35-year-old Dmitry Orlov. Cagnoni, Dickinson and Allan have combined for 126 NHL games.
“Even though (Dickinson’s) a young player, he’s got experience of playing in the (NHL) last year, and understanding the areas that we need to pick up a little bit on,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said, “so we feel really comfortable in that area.”
Trouba, who signed a four-year, $33 million deal with San Jose in July, logged 22:35 in Thursday’s win, including a team-high 6:04 on the penalty kill. The 32-year-old finished with two shots on goal, three giveaways and a first-period fight with Panthers winger Brady Tkachuk after Tkachuk and center Aleksander Barkov knocked down Macklin Celebrini near the neutral zone.
Barkov’s injury remains a major subplot from that game. The Panthers captain left in the second period with a lower-body injury and was placed on long-term injured reserve Saturday, which means he will miss at least 10 games or 24 days. ESPN reported there is optimism inside the Panthers organization that the injury is not season-ending.
On the play that led to the injury, Barkov was battling for the puck in the corner to the left of the Sharks’ net with Darnell Nurse and Zack Ostapchuk. Nurse’s left arm helped send Barkov off balance, and Barkov fell awkwardly with his lower left leg bending the wrong way.
“You never want to see a guy go down like that,” Nurse told Bay Area News Group on Friday. “It must have been a freak thing because there wasn’t much contact.”
In goal, Yaroslav Askarov will get the start after turning in a strong performance Thursday, when he stopped 23 shots against Florida. The Sharks are comfortable with Alex Nedeljkovic, who went 18-14-4 with a .896 save percentage last season, but they also want to see Askarov continue moving toward the role of No. 1 goalie.
“He’s earned it,” Warsofsky said of Askarov. “He’s earned the start. He had a really good camp, so that was kind of the plan.”
Asked whether the Sharks want someone to seize the net early in the season, Warsofsky said, “I think every team would hope that, right? So (Askarov) will go tonight, and we’ll focus on today.”
The Sharks also got encouraging news from Adam Gaudette, who practiced Saturday without a non-contact jersey and appears close to joining the team on its upcoming two-game road trip that starts Monday in Dallas. Warsofsky said the club still needs to see how Gaudette responds after the skate before deciding whether he can come off injured reserve. If he does, San Jose would need a corresponding move, which could mean putting winger Brett Leason on waivers.
Gaudette was hurt early in training camp.
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