Sheng’s Daily: My Guess at Sharks’ Opening Night Roster

Evander Kane is playing this season:

Kane Ready to Do His Talking on the Ice?

The San Jose Sharks claimed Rudolfs Balcers on waivers — what’s his ceiling?

What’s Rudolf Balcers’s Ceiling?

Don’t miss the Locked On Sharks’ season preview mailbag!

Sharks’ Season Preview Mailbag!

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In other San Jose Sharks news…

The San Jose Sharks’ roster is shaping up, though they haven’t announced their final 23-man roster yet.

At yesterday’s practice, San Jose Hockey Now started to put the pieces together:

#SJSharks lines today are the same:

Meier-Couture-Labanc
Leonard-Hertl-Kane
Donato-Gregor-Nieto
Marleau-Kellman-Sorensen

Noesen & Gambrell are extra forwards

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 12, 2021

Sorry! That's Karlsson with Vlasic — didn't mean to give fans a heart attack https://t.co/XDU7NjU4Iu

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 12, 2021

Boughner confirms that #SJSharks taxi squad will be extras skating now: That includes Melnichuk, Pasichnuk, Handemark, Chmelevski, Viel — one more spot available, I'm guessing Meloche

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 12, 2021

Now keep in mind that the taxi squad can be very fluid, so waiver-exempt players like Alexei Melnichuk, Sasha Chmelevski, Fredrik Handemark, and Brinson Pasichnuk can potentially bounce around the Sharks, the taxi squad, and the Barracuda all year without a hitch.

But for this Thursday night against the Coyotes? The only question appears to be if Radim Simek will be healthy enough to play.

Boughner says Simek looked good today, his status is pending for Thursday. "If he's ready to go, he's going to play."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 12, 2021

In that case, the final roster should be:

Forwards (14): Logan Couture, Ryan Donato, Dylan Gambrell, Noah Gregor, Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane, Joel Kellman, Kevin Labanc, John Leonard, Patrick Marleau, Timo Meier, Matt Nieto, Stefan Noesen, Marcus Sorensen

Defensemen (7): Brent Burns, Mario Ferraro, Erik Karlsson, Nikolai Knyzhov, Jake Middleton, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic

Goalies (2): Devan Dubnyk, Martin Jones

Taxi squad (6): Alexei Melnichuk, Sasha Chmelevski, Fredrik Handemark, Jeffrey Viel, Nicolas Meloche, Brinson Pasichnuk

We’ll see today if the final roster is released. It was due into the league yesterday at 2 PM PT.

Logan Couture on why this training camp has been so positive for the San Jose Sharks. (The Athletic)

Martin Jones is ranked the NHL’s second-worst starting goalie. (NBC Sports Bay Area)

Data scientist Patrick Bacon isn’t bullish about the Sharks this year in his extensive season preview. (Towards Data Science)

A good run-down of the particulars of the Kane bankruptcy. (Washington Post)

Around the NHL…

From here on out, players who test positive for COVID-19 will be public announced:

Statement from the @NHL on COVID-19 Testing Results. https://t.co/mlq0XeD6LR pic.twitter.com/2qHy3Rtb1E

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 12, 2021

Former San Jose Sharks prospect Josh Norris will begin the season as Ottawa’s No. 1 center. (TSN)

Thanks Elliotte for the shout-out in 31 Thoughts! (Sportsnet)

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Smith Turning Heads With ‘Second & Third Effort’ At Bruins Camp