Sharks Set Opening Night Roster…for Now

The San Jose Sharks have set their opening night roster…for now.

There aren’t any surprises: The Sharks cut their Euro trip roster down to 22 yesterday, and winger Alexander Barabanov and defenseman Markus Nutivaara, both sidelined by lower-body injuries, aren’t on the 23-man roster that is set to play the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 14. In fact, both Barabanov and Nutivaara were put on IR.

The roster is set!

HOME OPENER 🔜 pic.twitter.com/x5mvqI18XN

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 10, 2022

The good news is, and as San Jose Hockey Now reported earlier today, Barabanov and Nutivaara appear close to returning. The Mercury News more or less confirmed that about Barabanov later in the day:

Alexander Barabanov skated by himself again this morning at Sharks Ice and went through a pretty vigorous workout. We'll see if he's able to join the Sharks for a full practice tomorrow or later this week. Missed almost all of camp, so there's some catching up to do.

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) October 10, 2022

On top of that, according to Puckpedia, while these cap-compliant opening night rosters must be submitted into the league by 2 PM PT today, they’re not final for the San Jose Sharks, in regards to this Friday. Teams “can make changes after the first cap day (Tuesday).”

If Barabanov and Nutivaara are ready by Friday, the Sharks could have some interesting decisions to make as to who to waive. Jonah Gadjovich or Evgeny Svechnikov up front? Jaycob Megna or Scott Harrington on the back-end?