4/5 Sharks Practice Report: Jaros Or Claesson Tomorrow? Power Play Change?

Marc-Edouard Vlasic will not play tomorrow night.

Bob Boughner said this morning that Vlasic suffered an upper-body injury on Saturday in Los Angeles – it was not a concussion – and may miss the entire week.

In Vlasic’s stead, Boughner said Christian Jaros or Fredrik Claesson would draw in. Boughner said he was leaning toward Jaros because he’s right-handed.

Today’s practice suggested that it would be Jaros who would get the call. During a particular five-man unit drill, customary pairings Mario Ferraro-Brent Burns and Nikolai Knyzhov-Erik Karlsson cycled through, followed by Radim Simek-Jaros.

That looks like the only change for the San Jose Sharks tomorrow night. These were today’s lines:

Evander Kane-Logan Couture-Kevin Labanc
Rudolfs Balcers- Tomas Hertl-Timo Meier
Ryan Donato-Dylan Gambrell-John Leonard
Jeffrey Viel-Patrick Marleau-Marcus Sorensen
Kurtis Gabriel-Antti Suomela-Fredrik Handemark-Noah Gregor (extras)

Mario Ferraro-Brent Burns
Nikolai Knyzhov-Erik Karlsson
Radim Simek-Christian Jaros
Fredrik Claesson (extra)

It does look like there could be one intriguing addition to the power play. This is how the San Jose Sharks PP practiced today:

Kane-Couture-Labanc-Marleau/Leonard-Karlsson
Meier-Hertl-Donato-Balcers/Ferraro-Burns

It’s been a couple weeks since Leonard has seen regular man advantage time. Leonard and Marleau alternated, so it looks like Leonard’s deployment could be situational, depending on but not limited to score, power play time remaining, or a coach’s intuition.

Balcers and Ferraro are examples of alternating pieces on a power play unit.

The San Jose Sharks head coach explained last week: “Sometimes, you’ll see Balcers on that unit. It’s a reflection of where the game is at. Trying to protect a lead, Mario might be out there. Playing catching up, Rudy might be out there.”

What will Leonard’s usage fall under?