Perhaps surprisingly, the San Jose Sharks appear to have built genuine forward depth, especially at the wing.
At the beginning of the season, how many Sharks wingers did you trust to offer consistently winning minutes?
These were opening night lines:
Kurashev-Celebrini-Smith
Eklund-Wennberg-Toffoli
Skinner-Dellandrea-Graf
Goodrow-Gaudette-Reaves
Tyler Toffoli was the top winger here, coming off a 30-goal campaign.
William Eklund and Will Smith had excellent sophomore and rookie campaigns, respectively.
Besides that?
Collin Graf had a promising rookie year, but he wasn’t a middle-six staple yet.
Philipp Kurashev, Jeff Skinner, Barclay Goodrow, and Ryan Reaves were all coming off down seasons.
The Sharks’ forward depth looks significantly improved now, and that’s not just because Pavol Regenda, mostly with the San Jose Barracuda this season, popped in a hat trick in a 7-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Graf has provided both secondary scoring and is the team’s best penalty killer.
Kurashev, Goodrow, and Reaves, in different roles, have enjoyed bounceback campaigns.
And the Cuda haven’t skipped a beat with the Sharks: Regenda, acquired in a minor league trade last year, has five goals in just four games. Ethan Cardwell, who’s been incubating with the Barracuda for three seasons, has provided speed and energy in victories. Igor Chernyshov, a 2024 second-round pick, looks like a budding star.
This doesn’t include center Zack Ostapchuk, acquired for Fabian Zetterlund last Trade Deadline, who’s solidified the San Jose Sharks at 4C. This frees up another solid secondary scorer in Adam Gaudette to line up at wing.
No doubt, center Macklin Celebrini’s ascension from Calder Trophy finalist to bona fide superstar is the No. 1 reason for San Jose’s 20-18-3 record, but this wing at depth is a big reason why the Sharks have gone 4-4-0 since losing their second-leading scorer Smith and Kurashev to injury on Dec. 13. Gaudette has also been in-and-out of the line-up with a couple lower-body injuries.
Chernyshov has been the biggest beneficiary from the Smith absence: Recalled to take Smith’s place next to Celebrini on the top line, the power winger has three goals and eight points in eight games.
This is a good problem to have, especially when Smith gets healthy.
At full strength, that’s about a dozen wingers who have helped you to the fringes of a wild card playoff berth, so far. They may not all be everyday NHL’ers, but they don’t need to be.
It does appear that the San Jose Sharks’ depth at center and defense, top to bottom, isn’t quite this impactful right now. The Sharks could really use a Chernyshov-like comet, especially on the blueline.
But credit GM Mike Grier and his professional and amateur hockey ops personnel who, seemingly overnight — but really, through a lot of planning — have rebuilt the Sharks’ organizational depth at wing back to respectability.
Ryan Reaves
Reaves, on importance of standing up for Macklin Celebrini:
Anytime any player gets hit like that on our team, there’s going to be a response. Especially one of the best players in the world. I think you got to make sure you send a message that you don’t do that to them. That’s just how it goes.
William Eklund
Pavol Regenda
Regenda, on message during first intermission:
We got to wake up. They jumped on us. First goal, I didn’t backcheck enough, I kind of take a breath, didn’t backtrack all the way down. That cost us a goal.
Ryan Warsofsky
Warsofsky, on San Jose Sharks’ slow start:
There’s times where, we do start on time, we have good energy, we play the right way, and there’s times where we don’t. We got to figure that reason, the reasons out why that happens. A lot of it is self-inflicted with our puck play.
Warsofsky, on pulling Yaroslav Askarov:
There’s some goals there he probably wants back. I think the second one would be one of them. So Asky’s been playing some pretty good hockey. Again, we forget that he’s still developing as a goalie in this league and to be a No. 1. This is probably a learning moment for him.
Walked past Mukhamadullin postgame, he’s in a suit. Nothing obvious.
Also saw Kurashev, who has a cast of some sort (unsure if hard or soft) on his left hand/arm #SJSharks
— Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) January 3, 2026
Warsofsky offered no update about Shakir Mukhamadullin’s injury post-game.
