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SJHN Daily: Sheng’s Thoughts on Wennberg Extension, Misa Won’t Play for Gold
Canada won’t play for gold again.
San Jose Sharks’ 2025 No. 2 pick Michael Misa and Team Canada were upset by Czechia 6-4 in the World Junior Championships semi-finals.
The Canadians have officially failed to reach the Gold Medal Game at the #WorldJuniors for the third consecutive year — The longest since 1981. 😬
This is also the third straight year where Czechia has bounced Canada in the tournament. pic.twitter.com/dOeRmX1q4g
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 5, 2026
For the third consecutive year, Canada will not play for a gold medal. Misa scored two goals and seven points in six games. He had an assist during the loss yesterday, and centered Team Canada’s top line throughout the tournament, but was on the ice for Czechia’s game-winning goal.
Terrible break late for Team Canada and Michael Misa as the puck deflects off his skate, off his man and in. #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/6y5cxpFyCf
— SnipeCity420 (@SnipeCity420) January 5, 2026
He also took a late penalty for putting his hand on the puck off a faceoff.
3P 05.13: 🇨🇦 3-4 🇨🇿
Michael Misa, with the stick of Max Curran tying him up on the faceoff, touches the puck with his hand after the draw. The officials say 2 minutes for delay of game, which leads to a wave of boos from the crowd.#hockey #worldjuniors #wjc pic.twitter.com/jt9tkn3H7N
— Simo Frigolé (@kettusport) January 5, 2026
Misa and company will play for the bronze medal against Finland on Monday.
After that, Misa’s future is still uncertain. The 18-year-old can still play in two NHL games before the San Jose Sharks burn the first year of his three-year entry-level contract. He could also be loaned back to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit.
AT SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW…
Craig Button predicted Macklin Celebrini to Team Canada last July. Keegan, Sheng, and Zubair ask Button about that prediction, and his thoughts on the Sharks’ playoff chances. Plus, Dan Boyle shares his experience playing in the Olympics and what it could mean for the young Sharks star.
Alex Wennberg signs a three-year extension.
Pavol Regenda scores hat trick in Sharks loss.
Collin Graf leaves Sharks practice.
Why has Wennberg enjoyed his time with the San Jose Sharks so much?
OTHER SHARKS NEWS…
This team loves each other. 👊@BrodieBz and Drew break down today's game: https://t.co/ZX3hyq6i4b pic.twitter.com/ZolblpD6Kx
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 4, 2026
Leo Sahlin Wallenius led Sweden in ice time in their semifinal victory. Sweden and Czechia will play for WJC gold on Monday.
Fans celebrated Regenda’s hat trick by throwing their giveaway soccer balls onto the ice.
Eric Pohlkamp puts up two points for Denver after returning from the Spengler Cup.
AROUND THE NHL…
Gabriel Landeskog suffers upper-body injury.
Czechia celebrates a huge win as they advance to the Gold Medal game #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/zNxX2L7tsX
— BarDown (@BarDown) January 5, 2026
Florida Panthers host first Miami Winter Classic.
New Jersey Devils fans boo Luke Hughes in loss.
Sidney Crosby caps off electric Pittsburgh Penguins comeback.
Fraser Minten scores twice in front of family and friends.
Logan Stanley suspended one game.
Tyler Bertuzzi‘s hat trick helps Chicago Blackhawks defeat Vegas Golden Knights.
John Beecher suspended one game.
Sweden's top three players of the tournament, as selected by their federation:
– Ivar Stenberg (2026)
– Anton Frondell (CHI)
– Viggo Bjorck (2026)— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) January 5, 2026
Sheng, couldn’t agree more about this nonsense about blocking prospects. If they prove they’re ready, the coach and management will make room on the roster. I suspect it’s younger fans who think like that. You get what you earn in life. Pro sports is no different.
Yeah, you see what happens with guys like Graf and Chernyshov who earn their ice time. Dickinson has been quietly starting to show out over the last couple weeks as well, although a little of that has been blue line injuries, but he’s holding his own. It takes time, and having the vets around to provide leadership and a consistent baseline is a really good thing.
Really happy to see Iorio/Dickinson pairing game after game. And not just for 13 minutes a game. The game is still too fast for Dickinson’s processing and Iorio is still pretty raw. But there’s a lot to work with and there’s real improvement coming from both guys. Dickinson was among my under-the-radar disappointments until recently. I expected questionable decisions under pressure and on defense so that wasn’t it. But what was disappointing was his offense — it was just MIA. But seeing both Iorio and Dickinson playing with some offensive confidence is encouraging. Also, happy to see Dickinson get a… Read more »
I think Sheng or someone reported that Dickinson was told to basically focus on defense and solidify that part of his game before trying to do too much on the offensive side of things. This probably contributed to processing issues for him since it’s not his natural game, but he learned to simplify things and now he’s likely building things back up with a much stronger foundation. I’ve quite liked his defensive work recently, and like you, I’ve seen a few times where he’s created some danger in the offensive zone with a shot from the point or a well-timed… Read more »
LSW is a second-rounder, so expect his SHL twam will hold onto him until either he’s 22 or breaks camp with the Sharks – the SHL agreement is why Bystedt was able to come over to the Cuda so quickly whereas Havelid (same ’22 draft) just arrived this year.
Couldn’t agree more. He just needs more development and should be fine for us down the road. Mukh is another big question mark for me.
Agreed.
Rough WJC for Misa. He did some good things, but very uneven. On the GWG, he’s battling his guy pretty well, but its too close to the net. The pass hits Misa’s skate as he battling, then the Czechia player’s skate and then in. Double deflection off skates. The Czechia player can’t even look at the puck when it hits his skate, as Misa’s spinning him around. Hard work created the chance to get lucky for Czechia. If Misa is a half step closer, he can push the guy out just a bit further and the goal doesn’t happen. Misa… Read more »
You can’t blame Misa even a little on that goal. Pure bad luck. That’s what you get in single elimination though. Bad bounce and you’re done. I agree with the rest though. Misa was the #1 center facing the toughest defensive matchups. When a team game plans to eliminate you it’s tougher sledding. He did fine coming off an injury playing with his 3rd set of new teammates in the last month. Hockey it still a team sport and if your linemates are hard to find chemistry with you will struggle. He still had a bunch of points and he’s… Read more »
There was a lot of speculation that Canada would send out Misa with Martone and McKenna and that didn’t happen. I think Hage probably looked a lot better with McKenna on his wing. Yeah, Martone and Iginla are legit, but quite frankly, I’m not the biggest Iginla fan. I agree that you can’t get too up in arms about a double deflection goal like that. Misa had control of the player and the stick, but then that happened. You can definitely argue that if he doesn’t have a physical advantage over junior players, he’s not well suited for the NHL… Read more »
Agree with all that 100%.
Hage looked really good. He played well and made others around him better. At times, a man amongst boys Misa helped on the Martone goal, as he was also net front on that play. The puck bounced to Martone’s stick, but both players were in a good spot. Not sure what to say about McKenna. Had moments where you see how amazing he could be, but that cross-check to the face (wound up being a minor on review, seemed like it could have been a major) was just ugly. Poise is an issue for him, both in the game and… Read more »
Let’s agree that he would face exactly ZERO adversity in Saginaw. That team is crap this year, and maybe he lifts them to the middle of the pack, but it’s really not going to further his development much. It’s just a placeholder so the team can kick the can down the road. Yeah, he could still have the same offseason either way, but he would lose 4+ months of experience living the NHL life doing real training. Even if he plays zero games, I’d rather have him with the Sharks.
There’s speculation if he got sent to Saginaw, that he’d get traded to another team.
And fwiw, I’m a believer in the phrase, “bloom where you are planted.” If he winds up in Saginaw, he needs to make it the best of that situation.
Yeah, if he goes to Saginaw, he should put out maximum effort and make the best of it. I’m not arguing that he should just pout.
If he gets sent back to Saginaw there will immediately be a bidding war among teams that believe that with him they will win the Memorial Cup, and Saginaw will get a boatload of picks in return.
Misa has already been part of a Mem Cup winning team though, even that wouldn’t be that new to him. Sure, he could be “The Guy” going for that prize, but I’d still just rather have him practicing and training like an NHLer. Whatever Grier does is going to be ok with me, I just have an opinion
Agree with what you said here.
I would add that Misa is not a top-6 NHL center at this stage in his development. I don’t think he’s responsible enough to be 3C and it makes no sense to be a 4C and he’s, frankly, not good enough yet to even sniff a 2C.
I hope part of the plan is to shift him to 2W and let the lines be what they are.
When you put it like that, it has me thinking part of the logic of re-signing the current 2C is so that they can put Misa on his wing until he’s ready to be the 2C and then push that guy down to 3C. It’s almost like Grier is planning ahead for this stuff. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Grier places a large value on the development of his #2 overall pick, perhaps even higher than getting another late 1st in a couple of years. That feels defensible to me. Misa hitting a superstar ceiling is… Read more »
Brilliant observation. I think this is the most likely path.
Misa was too slow to react on #18, and that was a start, the goal itself was a bad bounce, but he is responsible.
No. He did everything you’re supposed to do. He was not late because he had the stick tied up. It was simply a bad bounce.
Agree 100% not Misa’s fault. He had a great tournament and set up a lot of great goals. Do you wanna see who not good on team Canada? Take a close look at McKenna. I like misa being in San Jose because I’m concerned about his development. This is a player of potentially Celebrini type skills, or at least better than Smith, and he needs to be handled that way
Agreed 100%.
I did not get to see much of Chechia, loss, there was one point when they were down maybe 3-4 and Misa was all over and hitting people, forechecking and was all over in the offensive zone (which is what i saw most of the tournament). Not sure why everyone is saying he was bad unless they just saw the lowlights above or there was an expectation he would out score everyone by far. Martone struggled to score and that group seemed to be the shut down line. But, I thought he was one of few players not playing a… Read more »
I’m not that optimistic about him returning to the Sharks this season. I can see both points of view. He would have to center a 3rd line and I’m not so sure that would be the best opportunity for him to develop. He would need two strong wingers next to him and who would that be? Our best offensive players are on the top two lines. When Smith returns, will he center a line or play next to Mack? Seems Smith and Misa are weak centers in the sense of body strength and in your face toughness. Wennberg, too. But… Read more »
Until they say otherwise I expect smith at wing. Misa didn’t look horrible at 3c earlier in the season. I’m not optimistic either way. More just speculating or saying what I think might be best from what they’ve done previously. So far they seem to prefer having their own pro development guys working with players whether that’s at the NHL or AHL level. The 2 guys that couldn’t play in the AHL both stuck with the NHL team despite probably not being ready.
Will Smith looked shaky in the first half of his first season too. Misa is a step behind that even probably, but I think there’s a lot of good precedent for keeping him with the big club the rest of the year.
Will Smith had 15 pts in his first 40 games, and then 30 pts in the next 34 (and 59 in the next 67). Misa has 3 pts in 7 games. If he’s behind where Smith was, it’s not by a ton
No. Misa so far has looked light years better than Smith did in his first 7.
Agree that he definitely looked better, unfortunately I think the way things are shaking out this year just probably aren’t conducive to a continued NHL audition. At this point in the year he’s now played relatively little hockey, he needs to get his legs under him and play some games. The team is playing well, things are a bit crowded without him, Chernyshov has earned the opportunity to stay, etc.
I’d also guess Wennberg’s three year extension lining up perfectly with Misa’s ELC wouldn’t upset anyone in the front office, either.
I don’t think it’s that easy to predict what they’ll do. They could easily move a couple UFAs and create the space for his contract and for him to be the 13th forward. I think the contract spot is likely the easiest.
I agree. I don’t think that their respective contracts are mutually exclusive. With so many teams still in the mix, even if they’re not really in the mix, he may go back to juniors because they can’t move anyone out. I think because of the above, it would be hard to move someone out for value right now. They could dump Lilly or Ferraro but they’d likely get pennie’s on the dollar for both of them and with them still in the playoff mix I think it wouldn’t send the best message to move MF. Will be interesting to see… Read more »
Why would they need to sell low when there are few sellers and most of the league is trying to compete?
Great minds… ;P
What my point was, which I didn’t convey well, was that someone like MF *could* be worth a 1st round pick once the market starts moving because of the whole supply side of the house. When the market is like it is now, he’s not worth that much because teams are likely waiting for “bigger” fish.
So, right now, imo it’s not a sellers market at all because it’s not a buyers market, because teams are in this flux state.
I think you might be missing the current climate. It’s a sellers market with so many teams still in it. The Sharks will have takers for a bunch of their UFAs. Plenty of teams with injury concerns including the Sharks. Moving guys early may be the best time to do it to get the best return because no one else is selling.
The present for Misa is quite uncertain. That’s fine. The front office is exploring paths for him that serve him best in the future, and that path is flexible and uncertain. There’s much we may not know regarding his development and maturity, both physically and mentally. There’s a great hockey player hiding in that 18 year brain and body. Any small and reasoned steps forward are preferable to a damaging step back. Trust the process, trust we have his best long term interests in mind, above all else. If he was my kid, I’d feel secure knowing he’s being treated… Read more »
Young, 18 year old players are fragile and most don’t have the toughness and resilience of Mack. Saying that, I’m kind of afraid that Misa may already be damaged mentally by not playing, especially that he was drafted so high. I hope I’m wrong and he’ll be tough and working out to build his body for NHL game. Wennberg’s extension indicates to me that the Sharks plan on playing Misa at the wing with him and learning from experienced mentor. The worst case scenario would be him not playing at all and I hope this will never happen for this… Read more »
So Because an 18 year old didn’t play as much as he typically does for a few months he’s irreversibly damaged mentally? FFS…
the best option would be the ahl but the rules don’t allow that, so i think right now practicing with the sharks and getting fit into 2 games over the next couple of weeks to assess where he’s at is the obvious immediate plan. there’s the 50 contract slots thing that needs to get figured out as well, though that likely can get fixed with either a leddy or 2 for 1 ahl deal. ultimately there’s isn’t much gain from sending misa back to juniors rather than being 3c and on the pp2 for the sharks, the s&c and practicing… Read more »
thought I saw Klingberg to IR and Zeke fav Patrick Giles getting the call-up.
Ostapchuk is quickly becoming what Giles is. Be interesting to see if Warsofsky puts them on a line together.
Did you just refer to yourself in the 3rd person…? Dude…
6 is a bit high, but it’s not enough to be considered an overpay. Overall deserved.happy for him and to have him on the team.
I don’t know that there were a whole lotta fans saying Wennberg was blocking the pipeline. Maybe a small minority, but I personally didn’t see it.
The more valid consensus was that Klinberg’s and Leddys’s deployment in late fall, when they were terrible, was blocking the development of Dicky and Muk. Now this is a moot point.
I don’t think it is high. Not with the cap skyrocketing. I think contender level 3Cs are going to get up to 7-8 mil depending on their offensive output.
I don’t think anybody’s blocking anyone right now. Yeah, they need a roster spot, possibly, but nobody is taking playing time that anyone else deserves. Warsofsky has earned the unquestioned benefit of the doubt about that
Dvorak just extended with the Flyers for 5/$5.15M. Feel like that already reflects pretty positively on Wennberg’s deal considering I view Wennberg as comfortably better than Dvorak.
For sure. The people who think Wennys deal is a little high are going to shit their pants these next 2 UFA periods when they watch clearly worse players sign for more.
The Athletic guys (Pronman and Wheeler) who were at the WJC talk about Misa’s play at about 11 min mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMjCIjfnBXc
They used words like: really bad, underwhelming, invisible, disastrous and “the main reason they lost” to describe Misa.
They said bad stuff about Dickinson last year too. He’s fine. Misa will be fine too.
Canada just doesn’t seem to play a very coherent style at juniors, like an all star team playing jungle ball.
The team gave up a LOT of goals, it can’t all be on Misa
I don’t have trained eyes on this – I’m sure we will hear Keegan’s pov soon. My observation was that he started quite slow and did get a lot better later on. To me, he doesn’t look limited physically or even skill-wise. He looks like he’s overthinking absolutely every play, something Warso said in the preseason too. I’m not sure what the solution is to this but I think it’s just time and experience. Either juniors or the NHL seem like viable paths. Going to Saginaw and not getting traded isn’t bad either – he could be up quick for… Read more »
Yup, playing time and experience sorts all that out.
Jesus that was a tough watch.
Not even going to act like Misa had a good tournament but talk about some insane hyperbole using words like disastrous or putting huge blame on him.
Yeah, it’s funny how measured the actual NHL scouts are compared to the guys who get paid for hot takes. I usually think Wheeler and Pronman are decent, but you can tell they got carried away in a Canadian way. Wheeler was more measured about Misa in his writeup today, and was more harsh on Iginla and Martone. McKenna would have been a better match for Misa, I think. Sometimes I question the Hunters and the coaching moves they make. The London team of the last few years was a dynamo, but they fell back to the pack this year… Read more »
Those dude are going for likes and clicks, they aren’t building a team.
Fuck em. Anyone who says he was the main reason they lost is a dumbshit. Not how it went down and definitely not how hockey works.