Sheng Peng
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Eetu Makiniemi will make his first NHL start tonight.
San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn explained tapping the 23-year-old rookie, who made his NHL debut in relief on Wednesday night against the Vancouver Canucks, over struggling Kaapo Kahkonen: “We have a goalie that we like a lot [in Eetu]. And we like Kaapo a lot. But we lost the other night 6-5 and we want to give the kid a chance.”
Quinn maintained that tonight isn’t about giving Kahkonen, who has a 3-6-2 record with an .877 Save %, a physical or mental reset, it’s more about Makiniemi.
“I like his competitiveness, his quickness, his calmness. There was a lot to like about him,” Quinn said. “And obviously I heard a lot about him when we traded for him.”
It’s been a meteoric rise for Makiniemi, at least from the outside looking in.
Makiniemi was thought to be something of a throw-in prospect in the Brent Burns trade and was coming off a serious lower back injury that ended his 2021-22 season in December.
But Makiniemi has earned more starts than fellow prospect Strauss Mann and veteran Aaron Dell with the San Jose Barracuda, to the tune of a 6-4-1 record with a .918 Save %.
Quinn says #SJSharks will not carry 3 goalies, so once Reimer is healthy, they'll have to make a decision. Quinn confirms Reimer is close, as Reimer himself has told us. It'll likely be JR/KK going forward of course, but Eetu will get a chance tonight to put his hat in the ring
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 9, 2022
San Jose Sharks (8-16-5)
Steven Lorentz, who had the flu, will slide in for C.J. Suess tonight. Otherwise, the Sharks lines should look like this:
Meier-Hertl-Labanc
Bonino-Couture-Barabanov
Svechnikov-Sturm-Kunin
Gadjovich-Lorentz-Lindblom
Megna-Karlsson
Vlasic-Benning
Harrington-Simek
Makiniemi
Quinn also gave a Matt Nieto injury update:
Also, Quinn said of Nieto that it's actually a lower-body injury from the Dahlin hit. He says it's day to day
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 9, 2022
Anaheim Ducks (7-17-3)
This is how the Ducks lined up in their last game, a victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday:
Rogue Squadron, checking in. We have activated Max Comtois off IR and placed Isac Lundestrom on IR. #DucksStarWars pic.twitter.com/xbeeMLDqJ5
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) December 7, 2022
Where to Watch
The San Jose Sharks will take on the Anaheim Ducks at 7 PM PST at Honda Center. Watch it live on ESPN+ and Hulu. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.