Mukhamadullin Among Sharks’ Roster Cuts, Who’s Left?

The San Jose Sharks are much closer to their opening night roster.

Today, they waived forwards Scott Sabourin and Nathan Todd. If Sabourin and Todd pass, they’ll join the San Jose Barracuda.

Then, they assigned forwards Ethan Cardwell, Brandon Coe, Danil Gushchin, Adam Raska, Tristen Robins, and Ozzy Wiesblatt; defensemen Nick Cicek, Gannon Laroque, and Shakir Mukhamadullin; and goalies Magnus Chrona, Eetu Makiniemi, and Georgi Romanov to the Barracuda.

The major surprise is Mukhamadullin, who’s opened eyes this pre-season with his size-speed combo. It’s not so much that the centerpiece of the Timo Meier trade has been sent down, just that the Sharks did so soon.

“He’s been one of our better defensemen in camp,” head coach David Quinn admitted last night. “You just love his poise. His size and his range. There’s a lot to like.”

But Quinn has also been insistent that the 6-foot-4 but still lean blueliner and his development were better served in the AHL as opposed to the NHL.

Quinn Says Mukhamadullin Should Start in AHL

The San Jose Sharks roster is essentially down to 34, or 31 if you assume injured prospects Valtteri Pulli and Mitchell Russell and Artem Guryev are headed to the Barracuda or juniors.

UPDATE: PTO tryout Justin Bailey, and Barracuda signees Cole Cassels and Tanner Kaspick, have all officially been re-assigned to the Barracuda.

2023 first-round pick Quentin Musty has not been re-assigned to the Sudbury Wolves yet, but it’s only a matter of time, so I’m not including him on this list either.

So it’s really 31 competing for 23.

Forwards (17)

Alexander Barabanov, Thomas Bordeleau, Ryan Carpenter, Logan Couture, Anthony Duclair, William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Tomas Hertl, Mike Hoffman, Luke Kunin, Kevin Labanc, Oskar Lindblom, Jacob Peterson, Givani Smith, Nico Sturm, Filip Zadina, Fabian Zetterlund

Defensemen (12)

Matt Benning, Kyle Burroughs, Ty Emberson, Mario Ferraro, Leon Gawanke, Nikolai Knyzhov, Jacob MacDonald, Nikita Okhotiuk, Jan Rutta, Radim Simek, Henry Thrun, Marc-Edouard Vlasic

Goalies (2)

Mackenzie Blackwood, Kaapo Kahkonen

That’s at least eight forwards and defensemen that the San Jose Sharks will have to waive or assign directly to the Barracuda by opening night – Bordeleau, Eklund, and Thrun are waiver-exempt – to form a final 23-man roster. The Sharks have two more pre-season games on Oct. 3 against the Vegas Golden Knights and Oct. 5 against the Los Angeles Kings, and they open the regular season on Oct. 12 versus Vegas.

Meanwhile, the Barracuda have a two-game pre-season set against the Bakersfield Condors on Oct. 6 and 7. Then, they’ll start the regular season against the Rockford Ice Hogs on Oct. 13.