San Jose Sharks
Preview/Lines #42: Evason Says Crosby Asked To Play With Celebrini, Misa Recalled
Sidney Crosby asked to play with Macklin Celebrini.
That’s what Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason, who coached Crosby and Celebrini at the 2025 World Championships, said on Tuesday at Blue Jackets’ morning skate.
“Said a lot when Crosby came over [for Worlds], we asked him who would you like to play with? He said Celebrini,” Evason said.
San Jose Sharks (20-18-3)
Alex Nedeljkovic will start.
Nick Leddy will come in for the injured Shakir Mukhamadullin (day-to-day).
#SJSharks lines at morning skate, from Zubair, who is here watching today!
Eklund-Celebrini-Chernyshov
Regenda-Wennberg-Toffoli
Skinner-Dellandrea-Graf
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-ReavesOrlov-Liljegren
Ferraro-Iorio
Dickinson-Leddy— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 6, 2026
Vincent Desharnais (upper-body) and Adam Gaudette (lower-body) are close, but still day-to-day.
Mukhamadullin (upper-body) is also considered day-to-day and has been placed on IR.
Also, Michael Misa is officially back on the San Jose Sharks’ 23-man roster, in place of Mukhamadullin. He has two games left before the Sharks have to decide whether they will burn the first year of his entry-level contract.
Columbus Blue Jackets (18-16-3)
Greaves does start for #CBJ. Marchment won’t play. Evason says he reaggravated a lower body injury during morning skate
— Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) January 6, 2026
Where To Watch
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets is at 7 PM PT at SAP Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.
I like Muk but the injury bug is going to run him out of town. Sometimes the best ability is availability.
Can we put the kibosh on “Sometimes the best ability is availability”? Way overused and losing its “narrative” value.
No. It’s simple reality. It’s one of the most important things I teach my kids. It’s why Ottawa dumped Norris despite his great ability.
Yup. Just because its been worn into the ground doesn’t make it untrue.
With Mukh, he still looks like a guy who needs to fill out. Hopefully he’s just a bit late on that front and will become solid in the next year or two. Its not uncommon for that to happen.
Shak has unusually narrow shoulders for a tall man
I’ll have to look closer I never really thought that when looking at him
Misa has very narrow shoulders as well, am I wrong? He must work on it during simmer and gain weight.
Agreed. Obviously, I’m the one always harping on guys needing a thick neck because it’s an indicator of overall upper body strength. Pretty much all hockey players have big legs and big butts. Is their upper body that needs the most work to survive the physicality of the NHL. Unfortunately Shak still looks like he needs a lot of work on his upper body. He’s got a giraffe look.
Similar build to Chara, and it took him a long time to put it all together.
Totally fine to wait with him unless he’s a big piece going out to bring in someone like Dahlin. Defensemen sometimes take forever. Middleton took a while too and he’s a big lanky dude.
The only similarity is that they are tall, but Z is 6’9″ while Muk is 6’4″. Z is far taller with much longer limbs yet, even at a young age, had far broader shoulders and a much thicker neck. Muk was only about 160lbs if that at 6’4″ when he was drafted. Chara was never that slender even as a young player. I don’t know how long it took Chara to get up to his typical 255 lb playing weight but you can still find pics of him in his Islander jersey (in his early 20s) and his neck, traps,… Read more »
Of course but as noted it’s gotten a bit shopworn. Maybe the panel can come up with a new moniker.
Be there or be square….
IMO, this stretch of games between now & the Olympic break will be the biggest challenge for the team & GMMG. It’s a 14 game stretch that includes many difficult opponents.
My gut says a 5-7-2 record would be generous. If the Sharks fall out of the playoff race, what does GMMG do? Is this a make or break part of the schedule?
If anyone can exceed expectations, it’s Celebrini & Co.
Maybe I just need some Tums for these rumbling gut feelings…
Yeah, it’s a tough schedule with some annoying back to backs and a long road trip… I was actually expecting Grier to use this stretch as the will they/won’t they in terms of whether they sell some UFAs or try to fight for the last WC spot or two. 5-7-2 sounds a little dicey on whether they would still have a chance in the last 25 games, but the west isn’t great, so maybe there will be a lot of meaningful hockey in March and April Edit: one last last thought is that I don’t think it’s worth getting “playoff… Read more »
What’s their record on back to backs? Having young guys could help. It would be nice to get Smith and Kurashev back. You could actually have a good top 6 or top 9 if those guys come back firing on all cylinders.
they need Shak and Klinger though
You’ve said that line about losing to Colorado so many times! It’s possible, but it’s also possible we face a different opponent and win. Landing in the first wild card spot is just as likely as landing in the second spot, and the division lead is also within grasp. It’s just as likely that we play Anaheim, LA, or Vegas, which would be HUGE opportunity to officially begin a new era of rivalry. I’d be very excited about the opportunity to watch that as a fan.
From what I hear from my semi-insider sources players just want to get to playoffs, period. I’m also thinking that would give Grier a better picture which areas really do need improvement without waiting another year. They have really nothing to lose, if one thinks about it. Also some veterans are saying they never play for a team that’s sticking for one another and liking each other which is rare. Let them play!.
You’re full of shit. You don’t have insider sources, you’re trying to pass off your own hopes as inside knowledge.
Dude, I don’t believe you about having an insider, but I’d really enjoy it being true. Is there a way you can prove to us that you have an semi-insider source? Or is it like a girlfriend who goes to another school?
It’s some kid lying to try and prop up his opinions to seem more weighty than the rest of us schmucks. It’s just bullshit. Just tell us what you think, you don’t gotta lie and say the players agree with you. Like, duh, of course they would like to make the playoffs. No shit Sherlock. But you don’t sacrifice the potential of being a contender for 15 years for an earlier than expected chance at the playoffs where they will be completely outmatched.
But what do you do when the players want to get to playoffs no matter what? They, the youngster want to get the taste of it, so they know first hand what it’s like. You can’t tell hem ‘No-! They just want to play one round knowing Colorado will demolish them and it’s no problem for them. Just to get the taste and prove the progress.
They’ve surprised some very good teams. I’m giving the benefit of the doubt for now. I’m going to predict they go 7-7.
As long as they can get through this stretch approaching .500, the schedule softens enough to make up for it down the stretch. Especially after the sellers start selling. But no doubt, these next dozen or so are going to create some anxiety.
Not thrilled to see Iorio with Mario (and its not just the abundance of io’s).
Iorio’s been finding a groove with Dickinson and I’d like to see Warsofsky take advantage of a rare chance for continuity in the d-group among his two youngest d-men.
Iorio will get bigger minutes though. I think it’s a good pairing as long as Mario just gives Iorio the puck for every breakout.
hopefully Leddy impresses so they can trade him soon.
More interested in their longer-term growth than short-term effectiveness. Leddy, unfortunately, has been a drain this season. Dickinson doesn’t need that, even for one game. Mario is mature enough to deal with it.
Yeah but this hopefully limits Leddy’s minutes so maybe they can have a chance to win. Watching the game, he’s actually not doing that horrible.
Agree, and for some reason I don’t get too crazy about Iorio’s game, very raw and inexperienced, taking time to distribute the puck, etc., so maybe he should stick with Dickinson to develop more chemistry and confidence since he likely will carry more load.
Wrong. Iorio is clearly the better player at the moment. Obviously the coaches think so too conceding the moved him higher in he lineup.
Ya, I-O know about that.
hopefully mukh’s being day-to-day means that the ir stint is for the roster spot and not that he’s truly too injured for a week+, would be nice if he could get a run of games without an injury or performances that merit a healthy scratching
also curious what they do with misa, presumably ostapchuk gets sent down at some point and they put misa at 3c/dellandrea at 4c?
Or…they have Misa playing wing on second line with Wennberg which wouldn’t be bad from getting experience from the mentor. Similar what Smith did last season.
Yup, we said that in the previous comments sections. Good comment though.
Alright Sid, now say the same thing to Mike Grier…
Speculation is that Sid is gonna be expensive… Would be amazing, maybe a bunch of guys sign here and fill out the squad for a title run. But it would probably take a few years off the window at the end since it would cost a lot of assets
Is the dream becoming more a possibility?? Holy shit, could Crosby be interested in joining the Celebrini show here in San Jose??
One will never know until this happens……
You know I’m in. Depends on the cost though. Eklund, Late 1st, …? Not sure how much else they need to add. Won’t be 4 1sts value wise like Hughes. If his contract is up after next season maybe you just wait and sign him for free.