Just moments prior to puck drop on opening night the San Jose Sharks received word that they would be without Erik Karlsson.
The announcement came as a shock to everyone and it caused the pregame hype formulated by San Jose Sharks to get completely shut down. Team Teal was already facing a tough task playing without Evander Kane and after the news regarding Erik Karlsson beating Vegas in their house seemed like an impossible task.
The game transpired pretty much how they thought with the Sharks falling 4 – 1 to their divisional foe. In the end stages of this sloppy game both Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc left due to injury.
At the start of the third period Meier was screening the front of the net and ended up taking a Kevin Labanc shot to the hand or chest.
Moments later Labanc came across the ice and collided with Tomas Nosek who caught him up high with a cross check.
The game was pretty much out of reach by the time these two skaters got knocked out of play. But with all the absences on San Jose’s roster it’s difficult not to worry about losing anymore forward depth. Nevertheless, the Sharks received some good news when both Meier and Labanc made their way onto the ice for morning skate.
While Sharks territory took a collective sigh of relief after seeing these two taking drills during today’s practice. However there was still one player noticeably missing from today’s activities.
Erik Karlsson was nowhere to seen and judging by the comments made by Coach Pete DeBoer recorded by Mercury News Michael Nowels there doesn’t seem to be a particular timetable about his eventual return.
#SJSharks DeBoer on Karlsson, whether he'll play tomorrow: "I can't share anything and I don't know." #mercnews
— Michael Nowels (@MikeNowels) October 3, 2019
DeBoer’s comments had a very ominous tone to them but overall it’s hard to tell how serious of an issue this might be. If their were any indication that this would turn into a longer term absence the Sharks would likely be trying to get another defenseman up from the AHL to fill out their depth.
Until then we can only speculate and wish Erik Karlsson the best. In spite of all of this San Jose doesn’t have much time to rest. They’ll be tasked with defending home turf in a rematch on Friday night against the Golden Knights.