The Sharks have finalized their opening night roster. Their 23-man roster includes:
13 Forwards: Celebrini, Deallandrea, Eklund, Gaudette, Goodrow, Graf, Kurashev, Misa, Reaves, Skinner, Smith, Toffoli, Wennberg.
8 Defenseman: Desharnais, Dickinson, Ferraro, Klingberg, Leddy, Liljegren, Muhkhamadullin, Orlov.
2 Goalies: Askarov, Nedeljkovic.
The Sharks' opening roster comes with no big surprises. It’s actually the exact same as my prediction earlier this week. Youngsters Luca Cagnoni, Ethan Cardwell, and Zack Ostpachuck were among the final cuts from camp. And while some fans may be disappointed that there were no surprise youngsters breaking camp with the Sharks, they will all get significant minutes on what will be an extremely young Cuda team this season as they continue to develop.
Teenagers Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson did crack the Sharks roster this season, though that was not unexpected. Given how they performed in the CHL last season and their inability to be assigned to the AHL, the Sharks' hands were pretty tied in terms of options. I expect they will both get their nine games spread out over the first few weeks, and if both show they belong even a little, my guess is they stay around for the whole season.
While most of the Sharks' roster spots were locked up by either veteran leaders or established young stars, two players who were battling for jobs this pre-season were Collin Graf and Ty Dellandrea. Graf showed promise in a brief cameo last season, but his waiver status did not make him a lock. Ultimately, after a very strong pre-season, he looks to have secured a top-9 job for the Sharks to start the year. In the case of Ty Dellandrea, after a bad season last year, Warsofsky made it clear he was playing for a job this pre-season. Dellandrea got the message because he was one of the Sharks' most consistent players in pre-season and has more than earned a role on the team to start the year.
The Sharks placed both Egor Afanseyev and Jack Thompson on IR with undisclosed lower-body Injuries. This will allow them to delay their decisions on these players down the road. Both would have required waivers to be sent to the Barracuda.
The Sharks will open their season on October 9th against their rival, the Vegas Golden Knights.