San Jose Sharks
Preview/Lines #61: Sharks’ Best (and Worst) Curler? Thrun Injury Update
OTTAWA — The San Jose Sharks went curling on Friday.
“It’s important to do those types of things this time of year,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky said, of the Sharks’ visit to Huntley Curling Club. “With the Trade Deadline coming up, the adversity that we’ve gone through with losing players, we’ve got to continue to build this thing, continue to build this team atmosphere, and those things really help with that.”
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 28, 2025
Marc-Edouard Vlasic threw his team under the bus.
Vlasic was with Warsofsky, assistant coach Brian Wiseman, and performance director Mike Potenza in a lane against assistant coach Jeff Ulmer, goaltending coach Thomas Speer, and video coaches Nick Gialdini and Cody Ward.
Vlasic recapped team’s loss: “Our team was supposed to curl it one way. They curled it the other way. They turned it the wrong way.”
Warsofsky defended himself: “First-time curler!”
He noted that Canadians Vlasic and Tyler Toffoli had curled before.
“Our group really struggled,” Warsofsky admitted. “Brian Wiseman, he’s gotta go back to the drawing board.”
Both Vlasic and Warsofsky agreed that Speer was the best of their lane. Warsofsky also shouted out the performances of Gialdini and Ward.
“It was fun,” Will Smith said, of his first time curling.
Smith was with Jack Thompson, Ty Dellandrea, and Collin Graf, who lost to Toffoli, Barclay Goodrow, Luke Kunin, and Mario Ferraro.
Perhaps surprisingly, American Kunin might have been the best of the bunch, according to Smith and Thompson.
“He’s pretty good,” Thompson said.
Smith said his curling All-Star team, based on his lane, and this first-time experience, would be him, Dellandrea, Kunin, and Toffoli.
“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” Warsofsky laughed.
🗣️ SWEEP! 🗣️ SWEEP! pic.twitter.com/gmRWxeWLc4
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 28, 2025
San Jose Sharks (15-36-9)
Vitek Vanecek will start.
Jack Thompson will come in for the injured Henry Thrun.
Here’s how lines looked at morning skate:
Eklund-Celebrini-Toffoli
Zetterlund-Wennberg-Smith
Goodrow-Dellandrea-Kunin
Graf-Sturm-Kostin
Walman-Liljegren
Ferraro-Mukhamadullin
Vlasic-Thompson
Vanecek
Thrun did not participate in morning skate after suffering an upper-body injury in Thursday’s 4-3 loss at the Montreal Canadiens.
That leaves the Sharks with just six healthy defensemen, a precarious position to be in on a long road trip.
Warsofsky says Thrun is day-to-day…so will San Jose recall another blueliner?
“Too early to say,” Warsofsky said. “We’ll see how these next 24 hours go [for Thrun].”
Recently-retired defenseman Jason Demers, who’s on this road trip teaming up with play-by-play announcer Dan Rusanowsky, joked that he could give Warsofsky 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, Klim Kostin earned himself a promotion, replacing Kunin on the second power play unit.
“A big guy. He’s got skill. He can make plays,” Warsofsky said.
Here’s how the power play looked this morning:
Walman-Celebrini-Smith-Eklund-Toffoli
Liljegren-Graf-Zetterlund-Wennberg-Kostin
Kovalenko, out of an orange no-contact jersey, practiced again, so he’s trending toward a return to the line-up soon.
Ottawa Senators (29-25-4)
Travis Green says Tkachuk, Norris and Pinto are all in tonight. Linus Ullmark starts. Tyler Kleven sits.
— Julian McKenzie (@jkamckenzie) March 1, 2025
Check out Ottawa Hockey Now for all your Ottawa Senators lines and updates!
Where To Watch
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Ottawa Senators is 4 PM PT at Canadian Tire Centre. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.
