Sharks Asked Stenlund To Fight After Celebrini Board…Will They Try Again?

Will the San Jose Sharks have an extra response for Kevin Stenlund on Friday?

On Dec. 14, Stenlund boarded Macklin Celebrini in a 4-3 Utah Hockey Club victory.

The board went uncalled, and Stenlund appeared to go unpunished for his hit on the future of the franchise, though both Cody Ceci and Ty Dellandrea tried to engage Stenlund.

“Do we want probably a better response? We can argue that,” San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said two days later.

For what it’s worth, Celebrini came out from that second period blow no worse for the wear.

Also, Dellandrea confirmed that the Sharks tried to get Stenlund to drop the gloves and answer for the hit.

Dellandrea went after Stenlund in third period.

“It just like, Mack’s hurt. I didn’t see the play. Looks dirty. Watch a video [between periods],” Dellandrea told San Jose Hockey Now recently. “You’re just, want to stick up for your teammate, so ask him to go. It’s about what you can do within the game, in order to be smart for your team as well as try to protect your young player.”

For what it’s worth, it was a 1-1 game at the time of the initial board, and a close contest when Dellandrea tried to get Stenlund to answer the bell. So Ceci and Dellandrea were certainly risking an instigator penalty at the wrong time if they dropped the gloves first.

We’ll see if Stenlund will dance to the hockey code on Friday.

Dellandrea, scratched for the last three games, tracks to be in the line-up on Friday at Salt Lake City, for the San Jose Sharks’ last game versus Utah Hockey Club this season.

Regular fourth-line center Nico Sturm has a day-to-day lower-body injury, while Nikolai Kovalenko is nursing a day-to-day upper-body injury. Neither will travel.

Fabian Zetterlund will travel and is a game-time decision.

That's Goodrow on the 4th line with Kostin & Dellandrea

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 9, 2025

Defenseman Jake Walman, who’s practiced the last two days, also will not travel but could be an option for Saturday against the Minnesota Wild.

UPDATE: Zetterlund will suit up for the San Jose Sharks tonight.

Anyway, since the Stenlund board, the San Jose Sharks have appeared to have a quick trigger when standing up for each other, though Warsofsky, Barclay Goodrow, and Klim Kostin pooh-poohed the idea of their recent responses having anything to do with the Utah response.

Warsofsky didn’t have much to say, when asked if Friday’s rematch against Utah held any special significance for the San Jose Sharks: “Every game you play in the National Hockey League is really important.”