Sharks Locker Room: It’s Hard To Learn How To Play Defense in the NHL

It’s hard to learn how to play defense in the NHL.

Shakir Mukhamadullin, who played a career-high 24:15 in the San Jose Sharks’ 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins, is a prime example of that.

The 23-year-old, the 2020 New Jersey Devils’ first-round pick, is finally putting together consistently strong NHL tape after a long and non-linear development in the KHL and AHL.

Notably, he’s killing or influencing plays defensively on a fairly regular basis in the best league in the world.

But he’s still going to have his rough patches…and that’s okay.

Two sequences speak to the pressures that come with being an NHL defenseman. Defensively, you can hide a forward, but it’s hard to hide a defenseman.

Mukhamadullin (85) goes back for the puck and decides to pass up the easy option, Vincent Desharnais (5). No problem, if he can make a play.

But past Selke Trophy candidate, Elias Lindholm (28), is right on top of him, and the young rearguard, under duress, makes the worst-possible choice, a blind backhand pass to the middle of the ice.

Marat Khusnutdinov (92) picks up the loose change in a dangerous area, but luckily for the Sharks, 6-foot-7 Desharnais is backing up, and San Jose is able to recover defensively.

Regardless, that’s an unacceptable mistake by Mukhamadullin. He just didn’t pay for it.

But credit to Mukhamadullin, he dusted himself off, and a couple shifts later, put together a truly tantalizing string of plays.

Mukhamadullin barely dusts off the Mario Ferraro (38) pass and fires a perfect stretch to Barclay Goodrow (23) for an easy zone entry.

Goodrow returns the favor with a low-to-high pass, Mukhamadullin turnstiles David Pastrnak (88) and is poised for a scoring chance in the slot. His shot goes off teammate Zack Ostapchuk (63) though. Casey Mittelstadt (11) pounces on the loose puck.

But the rangy Mukhamadullin, ease of a gazelle, gets back in good defensive posture and fills the center lane, blocking the breakaway bid to the always dangerous Pastrnak.

Overall, Mukhamadullin was San Jose’s second most-used blueliner, right behind Ferraro, a big part of a defensive corps that limited Boston to just 23 shots.

My larger point?

Have patience with defensemen. It’s arguably the hardest position to learn in the game.

Don’t, for example, be so quick to pencil 20-year-old Luca Cagnoni into next year’s San Jose Sharks’ line-up. I’m not suggesting Cagnoni needs to be incubated for five seasons like Mukhamadullin, but there’s nothing wrong if the 2023 fourth-round pick is working on his craft, especially his very much a work in progress defensive game, in the AHL next season.

Macklin Celebrini

Eklund’s out here calling his shots now 😂

“We were actually talking on the bench. I think he said something about going five-hole on him and then he went five-hole on him.” – Celebrini

(h/t @Sheng_Peng) pic.twitter.com/SIhGPN97bH

— SnipeCity420  (@SnipeCity420) March 23, 2025

Celebrini, on a sold-out SAP Center:

When [Barclay Goodrow] was going down on that breakaway with the empty net, that was the loudest I’ve ever heard this rink. My ears were kind of ringing after that, it’s really cool to kind of get that support and have all of our fans get behind us like that.

Celebrini deadpanned, about Smith wearing his @TerrierHockey jersey to the game, paying off their Beanpot bet: "He told me that the BU jersey is better than the BC jersey."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 23, 2025

Celebrini, on why the Beanpot bet with Will Smith took so long to pay off:

Obviously, the [Beanpot] game happened during the break, and then we went on a 17-day road trip, and then I had no way to get the jersey until now. Now I have it and he wore it.

Alexandar Georgiev

Georgiev, on the young San Jose Sharks defense’s performance in front of him:

Defensively, kept it solid, didn’t give them rush chances in the zone. Box-outs were huge. So many blocked shots today as well, guys were sacrificing and playing, playing that winning hockey in the third.

Lucas Carlsson

Carlsson, on making an immediate impact on the San Jose Sharks, after undergoing season-ending ACL surgery last year:

Doubted myself the last year, so it was just so much fun to be playing at this level again. Try to make a difference here.

What a story Lucas Carlsson is.

Tore his ACL in Feb. 2024, didn't know if he was going to get an NHL contract.

Last NHL game was Nov. 2022.

Scored GWG AND blocked shot that led to Goodrow ENG.

"This was a special one, for sure," he said.

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 23, 2025

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on having the confidence to have Carlsson out there to close the game:

He’s a guy that we saw early on in that first period, he looked pretty comfortable. He was making plays, he was reading plays. He just looked really comfortable. He played the position extremely well, and so we felt really confident with him on the ice.

Warosofsky, on Luca Cagnoni’s second game:

I thought he was good. High-paced game. The game switches speeds very quickly, and that’s what he’s starting to figure out. You can feel the momentum shifts, I’m sure. He’s going to have to go through those sequences and get more experience and reps of when he needs to make a play, when he needs to keep it simple, and get caught up with the pace.

But again, it’s a second NHL game. We’re throwing a lot at this kid, we know he’s got a bright future, and we’re going to keep working with him.

Warsofsky, on Collin Graf’s forechecking effort:

He was good, really good stick detail. Smart, smart individual, and he had his legs tonight.

Another player that’s really come around, Patty Giles, thought he was good tonight as well.

Warsofsky, on if Celebrini and Smith force the puck to each other too much:

Yes. We tell them a lot. I think it’s just learning the league and having the experience going through it.