Preview/Lines #79: Wennberg Will Represent Sweden at World Championships, Rutta Returns

After the San Jose Sharks’ season is over, Alex Wennberg and William Eklund will keep playing together.

Per Hockey Sverige, Wennberg will join Eklund on Team Sweden’s World Championships squad.

For both, this is an especially important Worlds, because it’s going to be held in Stockholm (along with Herning, Denmark), starting on May 9.

Another Sharks forward commits to playing in the World Championships. The commute for Alexander Wennberg should be easy, anyway, since he said he has a home 20-25 minutes away from Avicii Arena. https://t.co/ezMhRWKxgY

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) April 11, 2025

Wennberg has been a glue guy for the Sharks, an all-situations center who has really stepped up since the trade of Mikael Granlund on Feb. 1. Since then, the 30-year-old center has been named an alternate captain, in Granlund and the also-dealt Luke Kunin’s places, and played almost 20 minutes a night.

He has two goals and 12 points in 21 games since the Granlund trade, and has provided much-needed stability to a young San Jose Sharks line-up.

“He’s been one of our best players since the [4 Nations] break, for sure, he erases a lot of mistakes,” Warsofsky said. “Helps with his hockey sense.”

Overall, Wennberg has 10 goals and 35 points in 73 games, and is a hot streak away from his first 40-point campaign since 2016-17.

Drew mentions that Wennberg has struggled with his puck protection the last two games, worth mentioning, a couple times in the last couple weeks, Wennberg has been requested to talk post-game, but didn't make it because he was undergoing treatment.

Everybody's playing hurt at…

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 10, 2025

San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky did concede, however, that Wennberg is playing through injury.

“He’s been dealing with something for quite a while now, and he’s playing through it,” he said. “This is a game of mistakes, and all we can ask is we continue to improve individually as a group and give everything you have every single time you’re on the ice. And Alex is that type of player, we absolutely love him here…So I don’t really look into those mistakes too much.”

San Jose Sharks (20-47-11)

Georgi Romanov will start, per Jason Gregor.

Jan Rutta will return to the line-up, his first game since Jan. 23, when he suffered a lower-body injury. He takes the place of Mario Ferraro, who is done for the season with a broken ankle. The five other blueliners will remain the same.

“Important to get a guy [like that back], has a lot of experience, more than anything. We’re a little inexperienced back there,” Warsofsky said about the return of the two-time Stanley Cup winner.

Warsofsky says his forward group will be the same as last game’s at the Minnesota Wild.

Edmonton Oilers (45-28-5)

Pickard starts, Skinner will backup.

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D was rotating in different pairs. They will monitor Ekholm’s minutes.

— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) April 11, 2025

Where To Watch

Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers is at 6:30 PM PT at Rogers Place. Watch it live on NBC Sports California+. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.