Veteran Sharks defenseman nears return to energetic roster

SAN JOSE – Injured because the begin of coaching camp, veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic might be activated on the San Jose Sharks’ upcoming prolonged highway journey, coach Ryan Warsofsky stated Monday.

Vlasic has been skating with the Sharks not too long ago and was on the workforce’s highway journey final week by way of Dallas and St. Louis. Monday morning, Vlasic participated within the Sharks’ non-obligatory skate earlier than the workforce’s sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Kings.

After a house sport in opposition to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, the Sharks begin a home-and-home collection with the Seattle Kraken on Friday and Saturday, with the primary sport in San Jose. The Sharks’ highway journey, which lasts till Dec. 12, additionally options video games in opposition to Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina and St. Louis.

“He’s inching closer. Probably sometime on that road trip, he’ll be ready to go,” Warsofsky stated. “He’s just got to practice. Obviously missing training camp, he’s had two practices with us, and he needs more practice time.”

Vlasic, 37, missed all of camp with an damage he stated final month was “a lot of the upper back, actually.” As soon as Vlasic had an MRI on the affected space, he “realized it was pretty bad.” In early October, he was thought-about a non-roster participant when the Sharks needed to submit their salary-cap-compliant 23-man roster to the NHL.

Vlasic was initially hoping to be obtainable to play once more by the top of October, however the Sharks have by no means had a timeline for his return.

Vlasic, now in his nineteenth NHL season, must play simply 4 extra video games to succeed in 1,300 for his NHL profession. His 1,296 video games in a Sharks uniform is the second-most in workforce historical past, behind solely Patrick Marleau’s 1,607. Solely 71 gamers in NHL historical past have performed no less than 1,300 video games.

What the Sharks would possibly do to make room for Vlasic on the energetic roster as soon as he’s obtainable to play once more is unclear.  If there aren’t any accidents between every now and then, the Sharks may assign defenseman Jack Thompson to the Barracuda of the AHL. Thompson, 22, has performed in 16 profession NHL video games, together with 13 for the Sharks this 12 months, and stays waivers-exempt.

It wasn’t instantly identified which Sharks defensemen will gown Monday in opposition to the Kings within the second sport of a four-game homestand.

Defenseman Henry Thrun will return to the Sharks lineup Monday after being scratched for the final two video games in opposition to St. Louis and Buffalo. Nonetheless, Warsofsky didn’t say who Thrun would exchange, including that a number of gamers had been “nicked up” and questionable to play.

Please examine again for updates to this story.