San Jose Sharks
Preview/Lines #43: If Dellandrea Out Tonight, Why Not Play Misa?
LOS ANGELES — Ty Dellandrea looks like he will not be available for the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.
San Jose Hockey Now has learned that Dellandrea did not travel with the Sharks to Los Angeles, where they’ll match up against the Los Angeles Kings tonight.
Dellandrea left Tuesday’s 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets after a Denton Mateychuk trip caused the centerman to crash into goaltender Jet Greaves.
Ty Dellandrea left the ice after being tripped and then colliding with the goalie pic.twitter.com/wuLFIfE3He
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) January 7, 2026
Dellandrea, the Sharks’ third-line center and a go-to penalty killer, was already battling through multiple injuries this season, and has two goals and 11 points in 42 games. He also leads San Jose with a 52.3 Faceoff Winning %, which Sharks faceoff consultant Zenon Konopka spoke to recently on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast.
There’s no word yet on the extent of Dellandrea’s injury.
UPDATE: Warsofsky says that Ty Dellandrea‘s injury is a week-to-week lower-body injury.
Immediately, San Jose did recall center Patrick Giles on Monday. Giles can potentially take over 4C duties, and Zack Ostapchuk could get promoted to Dellandrea’s spot.
Center-winger Adam Gaudette (lower-body), who’s been practicing for a few days now, could also make his return to the line-up?
Long-term, top prospect Michael Misa, just back from the World Junior Championships, could also take on a more regular role in the line-up.
Wisely, the Sharks left Misa at home today though. The 19-year-old returned to San Jose on Tuesday after an emotionally-charged seven games in 11 days for Canada, from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
“We’ll give him a few days there to catch his breath,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky said on Tuesday morning, “and we’ll go from there.”
San Jose Sharks (21-18-3)
Yaroslav Askarov will start and Gaudette with slide in for Dellandrea. There will be no other line-up changes.
Warsofsky, on Mike Aldrich's 2,500th pro hockey game: "He's everything. The equipment manager, that job does go unnoticed. These guys work crazy hours. They do it all. And Mikey is the best in the business." https://t.co/gHEXSVjOFS
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 8, 2026
Los Angeles Kings (18-14-9)
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Kings vs. SharksMajor Changes Expected Across the Boardhttps://t.co/O0UDR5SoaU pic.twitter.com/tB1cHD2k2X
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) January 7, 2026
Where To Watch
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings is at 7:30 PM PT at Crypto.com Arena. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.
Anyone wanna throw out game predictions for bragging rights?
I’m saying it’ll be 4-2 Sharks, Askarov makes 30+saves, and Toffoli gets a goal
3-2 sharks in OT or shootout. I think they lag and just barely hang on for the win. No clue really though. They’ve been a little jeckel and Hyde.
I’m with Snark on the final score. Regulation if SJ is lucky, but likely OT.
Not only does Toff get a goal, but he starts the game at 3C. Since there’s no sarcasm font, italics will have to suffice.
Ooh I like that! Let’s see! I really don’t think Toffoli will be 3c, so if that happens, you get full credit for the prediction
Giles being called up pretty much killed the Toff to 3C in a pinch possibility. Hence, the sarcasm italics.
Ooooo wish we could bet.😜
I won’t take that bet since they brought Giles up. Now I think the question becomes this: Does Warso take a chance at disrupting his 4th line comfort blanket by moving Zach to 3C, or does he take a chance at starting Giles at 3C?
Hmmm… good question!
I think you reward UpChuck and if it isn’t working you go back to him at 4c since it’s a reliable known quantity.
If we’re not talking money, then I bet we could! Something like loser has to add a tagline to their comments of the winners choosing, and keep it for a week. Just trying to have some fun!
Too many bittermen. I’m not doing that. 🙂
My prediction is that Eky starts heating up…..tonight!
He’s due…..overdue.
Ok, ok, got you down for an Eklund goal! Let’s go!
I’m saying SJS gets the dub but have no clue about the score!?
Shit well I’m sure we all say the Sharks win! What about something like who gets the game winner? I’m calling Toffoli
I’ll go Graf.
Warso running out of excuses for Misa. Next it will be “we wanted him to find a Valentine, before he finds his game…” Giles over Misa is hilarious if that is how it plays out.
He’s only 2 days out from the bronze medal game, so it’s not crazy to just give the kid a little extra rest and also let him ease his way back in until the weekend slate. My guess is he gets into one of those games and plays about 10 minutes.
He’s super talented, but he’s only 18. We need to be patient, and if the team consistently puts him in positions where he’s likely to fail, that could have a long term effect
It’s a bit of an awkward spot for him. He’s the guy forced to answer the Misa questions when at this point it’s probably the FO dictating Misa’s usage considering he’s 3 games away from putting the Sharks at 51 contracts.
I’m not super impressed with their handling of him so far but I think getting some time coming out of the tournament is pretty sound thinking.
They kinda have to slow roll him right now when they have to get rid of a contract before he plays 2 or 3 more games.
With the benefit of hindsight, claiming Leddy is something they’d probably not do.
We’ve been hearing the naysayers questioning the Sharks’ decision-making for awhile now, and oftentimes I’ve been among them (though a lot less lately). While you’re thinking of things, though, just play a little game with yourself. Name one player who isn’t hitting somewhere close to his dream ceiling right now. You might say, “Mukhamudullin, duh!” and that is a valid answer, but health has been a real issue for him, and probably not fair to blame Warsofsky or Grier for that. But after Mukh, I’m having a hard time thinking of anyone. Celebrini, Smith, Graf, Chernyshov, and Ostapchuk are all… Read more »
Yeah that’s on point
I think you are underestimating the Mack effect on this team. A superstar will make others play better. Mack has almost double the points of anyone else on the team. It could be argued we don’t have enough talent to be a serious playoff team let alone make the playoffs. If Wennberg continues to play like he did last game, I would say he has shown more than anyone besides Mack and Smith before he got hurt.
Ok… gotta ask. How would you have handled him differently. And what experience are you drawing on to challenge the development staff of the Sharks? I’m trying to be real soft here with the question but you have to see why that type of comment brings out this side of me right?
I would have had him as a regular from opening night instead of continuing the Dellandrea farce. He’s been better in the games he’s played than Will Smith was in his first seven. Who knows how far along he’d be by now if he’d been allowed to play. Things are complicated by his getting hurt, but I don’t think they were about to unleash him if not for that. And, butterfly effect, if he had been playing regularly he probably isn’t in that exact position he was in at that practice where his ankle tweaked or whatever, maybe he wouldn’t… Read more »
Misa played well enough to not get sent back to the OHL, and was participating in team practices up until his injury. That absolutely threw a wrench in any initial developmental plans the org had, but I don’t believe it was being stunted up to that point, and I don’t think I’d be blaming Dellandrea for Misa not playing in every game. While he had a better first 7 games than Smith, I think there was still going to be a ramp-up approach to moving Misa into the line up. I’m not sure one can point to not being in… Read more »
Al, can I point out three things Dellandrea does well, and ask you to look for it tonight? (Shit, just remembered he’s hurt! Look at previous games then, look up the numbers, or just wait till next time he plays!) 1. He wins faceoffs. 2. He wins puck battles. 3. He forechecks with determination and competitiveness. The number back it up too, but it’s more immersive to just watch the game and try to look for things like that. Don’t even watch the puck sometimes, just look at if the F3 is hustling, or if the net front is being… Read more »
Yup. He’s a valuable player and frankly, at this moment he’s a better NHL center than Misa.
Yeah sorry but no. He’s not Celly or Schaefer. He’s not an 18 year old that can handle just being dumped into the NHL grind day in day out. Likely gets injured or you tank his confidence. That’s literally the Mirco Mueller development plan. Reality also is that they have to manage the contract slot problem. Lots of players they want to try and rehabilitate their value for the TDL. All things have to be taken into consideration.
You often speak as if coaches don’t get wrongtracked during a season. Many poorly coached and run teams in all sports, don’t you think? Sharks are geniuses, right?
Wario doesn’t though. And he also has said on many times that they discuss player development as an organization, it’s not just up to him how much a young guy like Misa plays. Yeah, right now this organization appears to be run by geniuses. How many guys have to improve dramatically before you’ll understand that they know what they’re doing? Let me put it to you in a similar way that I asked boomer… What experience are you drawing on that make you think you know better than this massive development staff with a crap ton of ex NHLers and… Read more »
I don’t think it’s a bad move to leave Misa in SJ. He hasn’t practiced with the team for quite a while, and my take, while maybe a bad one, is the staff might prefer that he gets some practice time with them before putting him on a game day roster. Plus…I think they might be wanting to drag their feet with him playing games 9 and 10.
I see it the same way
Yup.
I dunno seems reasonable to me. That’s a lot of hockey under a lot of pressure after not having played very many games in the last few months. Seems like they have enough skaters they don’t need to force it.
One other piece of info that I can’t remember being brought up is that the OHL trade deadline appears to be Friday. I brought up a point the other day that I’ve brought up many times in that Misa would be wasting his time in Saginaw. But some here thought he would be traded to a contender. But if that’s going to happen, it’s going to have to happen before Friday. Seems like the timing on that isn’t going to work. The Sharks know all this, I have to think this would factor into their decision, right? If Misa is… Read more »
Makes sense! Thanks for the OHL info
I came across it in a rabbit hole on the Kings injury issues and lineup juggling going into tonight. I was thinking to myself, “Self! How can Misa get traded by a team he’s not even on?”
😆
Totally agree on wasting his time in Saginaw. If he’s sent back to juniors, I really hope we get an explanation on why that is best for his development, because I just don’t see it. You are spot-on with the trade deadline on Friday. And I’d add the contract situation shouldn’t can’t be an excuse to send him back – the 50 contact problem has played out more than long enough, and it’s on GMMG to address. And burning a year of his contract shouldn’t matter – GMMG is likely to be looking to give him a seven year deal… Read more »
I would bet my house Grier has an easy out for the contract problem. Probably trading an AHLer or something who’s on a 2 way contract.
Oh shit look at that… Guadette playing center. I thought I read somewhere he wasn’t a center…?