Preview/Lines #64: Cooley To Make NHL Debut Soon? Blackwood, Rutta, Hoffman Injury Updates

PHILADELPHIA — San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn is hoping to get Devin Cooley into a game on this road trip.

But for now, it appears to be Magnus Chrona’s net.

Cooley, 26, has never appeared in an NHL game. The San Jose Sharks acquired him on Friday from the Buffalo Sabres, sending over a 2025 seventh-round pick.

The Los Gatos native is also just the third Jr. Shark to join the San Jose Sharks organization, following Matt Tennyson and Reese Laubach.

How it started: How it's going: pic.twitter.com/jgrZk78khp

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 10, 2024

Also impressive? That Cooley had a Sharks-colored mask the day after coming from Sabres’ AHL affiliate Rochester Americans.

But no, the mask wasn’t from his Jr. Sharks days. Cooley told San Jose Hockey Now that it was a wrap made for him before he left the Americans.

He says that he has both a Sharks-centric mask and pads ordered, ETA unknown.

Could the local hero start one of the back-to-back games on this road trip, either Mar. 16 in Columbus or Mar. 17 in Chicago?

“Soon,” Quinn said coyly.

Mackenzie Blackwood, out since Feb. 27 with a minor groin injury, also participated in morning skate, but he’s not ready to come off IR yet. Quinn called him on schedule, but not ahead of it. Will he play on this road trip?

“There’s a chance,” Quinn said.

Chrona will make his third straight start tonight.

San Jose Sharks (16-40-7)

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Chrona will start tonight and Cooley will back up.

Mike Hoffman, officially upper-body, who got cut in the mouth badly at the end of the last game, and Jan Rutta, lower-body, did not participate in morning skate.

Eklund vs. Bordeleau on the draw pic.twitter.com/q6XDmeC7xj

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 12, 2024

Both are day-to-day, will not play tonight, and are possible to return on this road trip.

Quinn says he hasn’t decided his line-up, but the only decision appears to be between Kevin Labanc and Givani Smith for Hoffman.

My guess is that Labanc sits:

Barabanov-Granlund-Zetterlund
Zadina-Eklund-Kunin
Bordeleau-Sturm-Kostin
Smith-Carpenter-Bailey

Ferraro-Burroughs
Thrun-Vlasic
MacDonald-Addison

Philadelphia Flyers (33-24-8)

This is how Adam Kimelman of NHL.com projects the lines, he thinks they’re going 11-7:

Tyson Foerster — Sean Couturier — Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Owen Tippett
Noah Cates — Ryan Poehling — Garnet Hathaway
Denis Gurianov — Morgan Frost

Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Marc Staal — Ronnie Attard
Egor Zamula — Erik Johnson
Adam Ginning

Samuel Ersson
Felix Sandstrom

Bailey’s Daily: Johansen Wants Flyers, Rempe Called Out By Devils

Where to Watch

Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Philadelphia Flyers is 4 PM at Wells Fargo Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.