Sheng Peng
Shakir Mukhamadullin will have a full recovery.
Mukhamadullin suffered a season-ending upper-body injury after Frank Vatrano took him down on Apr. 1 at the Anaheim Ducks.
The young San Jose Sharks defenseman has been in a sling since then.
He expects to be out of it in about a month. He’ll then head back to his native Russia, before returning to San Jose in advance of next season.
“I know for sure, when I come here, when I come back, I’m ready 100 percent,” he told local media last Thursday during his exit interview.
So what’s in store for Mukhamadullin next year?
This upper-body injury was the second major ailment that Mukhamadullin suffered this season.
Right before camp, Mukhamadullin had a groin injury that sidelined him for all of training camp and most of October. And when he came back, he wasn’t the same.
In 21 games with the San Jose Barracuda, from late October to early February, the 6-foot-4 blueliner netted zero goals and nine assists in 21 games, playing 19:13 a night, according to SportContract. That was a far cry from his AHL All-Star campaign last year, seven goals and 34 points in 55 contests in a team-leading 21:22 a night.
Meanwhile, Mukhamadullin didn’t have much more success with the San Jose Sharks in that same period of time, with one goal in 10 games, playing 15:24 a night, bottom-six minutes.
But something clicked for the 2020 New Jersey Devils’ first-round pick from February on.
“In the middle of the season, I [was overthinking] about my mistakes, but I stopped doing that. Because mistakes happen every game, nobody plays perfect,” Mukhamadullin said. “Don’t think about that for [too long]. Just continue playing.”
From February on, Mukhamadullin had one goal and eight points in 20 games, averaging 19:24 a night, highlighted by 21:54 a game in just March. He essentially became the Sharks’ No. 2 defenseman, after Mario Ferraro.
“I feel more confident,” Mukhamadullin said. “I’m so happy for this season. I think I did [take a] small step forward, but I know I need to play better. I can play better.”
That’s what the San Jose Sharks are hoping for. Mukhamadullin has all the talent to be an all-situations top-four defenseman in the NHL, and he was finally putting it together before his unfortunate injury.
The young blueliner sounds like he’s ready to take that next step: “I need to do better in everything. Talking about on the ice, skating, stickhandling, physical game, conditioning. Skating. More strength every season. I need to do big steps in the summertime, it’s a huge time for me.”