San Jose Sharks
Mukhamadullin Impresses, Robins Has First Fight in Sharks’ 5-3 Loss
The San Jose Sharks couldn’t sweep the Rookie Faceoff.
After a 4-3 shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday and steamrolling the Vegas Golden Knights 5-1 on Saturday, the Sharks dropped a 5-3 decision to the Arizona Coyotes in the Rookie Faceoff finale today.
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Felix Gagnon, Quentin Musty, and Brandon Coe scored, and Mason Beaupit stopped 29 of 34 shots.
There were bright spots, however, and head coach John McCarthy spotlighted them. Tristen Robins also spoke too.
Top Shark?
If there’s one San Jose Sharks prospect who impressed game after game at the Rookie Faceoff, it was Shakir Mukhamadullin.
The 6-foot-4 defenseman is still raw, but his tantalizing blend of skating and length and puck-moving was on full display.
Based on our peek of Mukhamadullin with the San Jose Barracuda last year, and his 10 points in 12 games, he’s very comfortable with the puck. The biggest question about his future might be his defending.
According to McCarthy, he’s seen growth there from last year.
“Yeah, I have,” he said. “I think he defended hard. I think his stick is improved. He’s defending hard around our net. I do see some improvement.”
The 2020 New Jersey Devils first-round pick made an impact both offensively and defensively.
“I thought he did well,” McCarthy said. “He’s been working on his gaps. He’s skating well, defending well. Moving the puck around on the power play. He handled the puck well.”
First Fight
Up to this point in his career, Tristen Robins has been using his hands to score. In his last three seasons with the Saskatoon Blades, the 5-foot-10 center piled up 174 points in 140 games. In his full-season pro debut last year, he had 17 goals and 21 assists.
Robins used his hands in a much different way this afternoon, getting into his first-ever fight. According to Hockey Fights, the San Jose Sharks’ 2020 second-round pick has never had a tussle in the WHL or AHL.
Robins, crashing the net before Quentin Musty’s goal, drew the attention of Ben Boyd.
Quentin Musty scores & all hell breaks loose. Good for Tristen Robins for holding his own in a lopsided tilt. #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/27QXUvWWh0
— SnipeCity420 (@SnipeCity420) September 18, 2023
“I was kind of caught off guard there. We scored a goal, I was trying to kind of get to the huddle,” Robins reported. “It’s a part of the game. If someone wants to call you out, you got to answer the bell.”
The 6-foot-4 Boyd didn’t intimidate Robins, who caught up in the fight after a slow start.
“I’m not really too concerned about the size of the guy,” Robins said. “It’s not really the size of the dog in the fight.”
McCarthy, who’s gotten into share of scraps, liked what he saw.
“He got to the net. I guess that started it for the other guy. But I like seeing him go to those areas. That’s where the goals are scored,” he said. “And to see him stand up for himself, that was great. He did fine.”
Training Camp Is Next
The entire Rookie Faceoff roster, including invites Ben Allison, Felix Gagnon, and Joseph Henneberry, is headed to San Jose Sharks training camp. Camp opens on Sept. 21:
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Didn’t like Coyotes 86 going after a much smaller Robbins. What I’d like to see happened when other teams take liberties with any Shark player is for someone to do something over the top dirty in response. That’s how the 80S dynasties of the Islanders & Oilers handed, it’s how those 90s Detroit teams handled it. And no one want to take a small liberty when it may cost their star player a trip to the hospital. My biggest complaint overall complaint with the team culture is that the want to make a team pay on the powerplay. That isn’t… Read more »
Sad but true, and it doesn’t help when the crooked league has it in for your franchise, or is up the ass of the other, which is why that trash works for Vegas and none of their opponents
I hate Vegas as much as the next person but this is ludicrous. They won the Cup because GMs handed them steals in the Expansion Draft, and they’ve traded away all their assets since. Heck, if you want to name a dirty tactic of theirs, LTIR cap circumvention straight out of the TBL playbook is right there. Not to mention the early years allegations of little red pills in the locker room. But headhunting? That hasn’t got a thing to do with them or anyone else in the modern era winning a Cup. It’s not the 80s or 90s any… Read more »
If you think that Vegas wasn’t the most physical team in this year’s playoffs I would question if you watched them. Vegas won by playing extremely tight defensively, and literally breaking bones of their opponents with hard hits. 4 Panthers suffered broken bones it wasn’t just the highly reported, highly predatory hit that snapped Tchuck’s collarbone in half. Vegas broke more bones than that getting there. The Panthers played just as dirty though they just were obviously too injured to compete after game 2.
“better to cripple one of there players”
What the hell is wrong with you?
That’s a long list my friend; but if you don’t think the constant head shots and and hard hits that leave many of these players with severe mobility issues by their 30’s &40’s is crippling, well that’s just semantics. Listen to some hockey podcasts and you’ll hear story after story of players that were literally crippled by chronic big boy hockey injuries. Did I phrase this inappropriately intentionally yes, are players getting crippled by “clean hockey hits” yes. Point is less of these “big boy” hockey hits happen when both teams are looking to bring the pain, because the Refs… Read more »
Nimrod is a very appropriate moniker. Good job, Nimrod.
I hope Mukhamadullin gets a lot of games in preseason. It’s still a bit nebulous to me where his defensive deficiencies lie – his footwork is supposedly great for his size, so I’m guessing it’s more positioning and stick work, but I would love to see how it goes against NHL players. I get the sense he spends almost all of this season with the barracuda, and then is our best offensive defender next year (low bar).
Hey there’s that geekie guy. Funny none of the picks mike grier acquired for him even played. Or if they did play I haven’t heard a shred about them. I think the hype for bydstedt needs to be tempered, idk where will smith is or why he’s not at a tournament for rookies either. Other than that glad musty is still rolling, obviously bords robbins and gushkin don’t suck. Weird it’s like we didn’t have to rebuild the team, we already had reinforcements coming up the pipeline. Whoopsies. I guess grier knows better! Also Why are they pushing their terrible… Read more »
“ idk where will smith is or why he’s not at a tournament for rookies either” It’s because his college year has already started, so he’s not allowed to play in these games. “ I think the hype for bydstedt needs to be tempered” What do you think the hype is on him? Most people I’ve read seem to believe he’s projected to be a 2c or 3c, and that he’s one of the most improved players from his draft year. No one expects him to be the next Malkin, but he’s shown a well-rounded game in a good pro… Read more »
All of what you said, plus most of the Arizona top prospects had already left for their International games in Australia, so… if anything, Geekie still being here could be seen as a knock on him.
Where’s will smith, read much? GMMG hating as usual. Now Bystedt and a your normal rebuild wasn’t needed crap. All I can say to that is your still “smoking” the wrong stuff.
Hey Sheng, go watch old footage of how Pronger looks when he’s skating and navigating the ice. Looks very similar to Shakir.The way they use their edges and their stance.