The Sharks are back in action today against the Toronto Maple Leafs as they gear up for their 4th game of a 5-game road trip. They are 1-2 so far. The Sharks have cooled off in December after a hot November, when they salvaged their season following a disastrous October. Still, they are very much still in the mix in the West.
Today's game will have multiple storylines to follow. Ryan Reaves is returning to Toronto, where he spent last season. Reaves said this to the media regarding his time with the Leafs. “They basically said that I couldn’t play in this league anymore. And I'm back.” Reaves is far from a perfect player on the ice, but he has been great for the Sharks in what they have asked him to do. Acquiring Reaves last offseason was a very shrewd move from Grier that has had solid early returns. Reaves has brought physicality and helped shift a culture that needed change.
The Sharks gave up defender Henry Thrun in the deal for Reaves. He will be making his NHL season debut for the Leafs tonight against his former team. Thrun was once viewed as a promising defense prospect, but never really took advantage of his opportunities to play on a bad Sharks defense core in his time in San Jose.
Sam Dickinson will have tons of family and friends in the stands as he returns home against the Leafs. The 19-year-old has struggled to get on the score sheet, with just 2 points in 24 games, but he has been solid in recent weeks in the eye test, and his minutes have been increasing, playing 17 minutes a night the last three games, the most he has seen all season in that span.
The Sharks' lines are as follows.
Graf - Celebrini - Smith
Eklund - Wennberg - Toffoli
Skinner - Dellandrea - Kurashev
Goodrow - Gaudette - Reaves
Ferraro - Mukhamadullin
Orlov - Klingberg
Dickinson - Liljegren
Nedeljkovic
Askarov
Scratches: Ostapchuk, Leddy, Iorio
Up front, Skinner jumps in for Ostapchuk, pushing Gaudette down to the 4th line center. Other than that, there are no other changes.
On defense, the pairs could look a lot different. Mukhamadullin returns to the lineup on a pair with Ferraro, while Orlov is with Klingberg and Dickinson, with Liljegren. All three pairs are different from what the Sharks have usually gone with this season. It will be interesting to see how these pairs shake out tonight.
In net, Nedeljkovic is starting for the 3rd straight game, and Askarov will be backing up tonight after missing the game in Philadelphia with an illness.