The San Jose Sharks received some good news last time out with the return of Paul Martin on defense for their victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. It appears even more reinforcements could be on the way for Wednesday’s matchup against the Nashville Predators as the Sharks are finally getting healthier as a team.
Earlier today, general manager Doug Wilson announced that the Sharks had reassigned three players to the San Jose Barracuda: forwards Bryan Lerg and John McCarthy, along with defenseman Mirco Mueller. This news doesn’t come as a surprise as Curtis Pashelka of the San Jose Mercury News indicated that Joonas Donskoi and Ben Smith were both at practice for the Sharks today, which would seem to imply that both players could be expected to return to action this week.
#SJSharks start to filter on the ice for practice. Donskoi back in white jersey, Smith in yellow (4th line).
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) October 26, 2015
Lerg has been up-and-down on multiple occasions already this season, as he’s appeared in three games with the Sharks and four games with the Barracuda. Lerg, who was named as the captain of the Barracuda, has three goals with San Jose’s AHL affiliate, but has yet to record a point with the Sharks this season.
McCarthy appeared in San Jose’s victory over Carolina on Saturday night, but has never really made any noticeable impact at the NHL level.
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Meanwhile, Sharks fans were able to catch a glimpse of how Mueller’s game has progressed to date in his limited time with San Jose. It’s obvious that Peter DeBoer wants to see more development from Mueller, as he only garnered 11:51 of ice time in his lone game with the Sharks this year, a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
In order for Mueller to continue his progression, he needs to see regular minutes which he has been getting with the Barracuda. DeBoer likes to roll with his top defensive pairings, and it’s obvious to see how much better that unit is with the return of Martin.
Up front, it appears Donskoi will be reunited on San Jose’s top line, which will return Matt Nieto to the Sharks’ third line. Tomas Hertl has performed well as the second-line center, and Smith should be able to fill in as the fourth-line center.
It’s been a tale of two seasons thus far for San Jose, as they’ve looked formidable when most of their lineup has been in play, but there’s been definite drop offs when the Sharks have been hit by injuries. Hopefully with the return of Donskoi and Smith, San Jose can put some of their injuries woes behind them.
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