San Jose Sharks
Smith Spotted Out of Sling
This is a positive Will Smith injury update?
San Jose Hockey Now spotted Smith without a sling in the San Jose Sharks locker room this afternoon.
Smith had been seen with a sling for his right arm on Monday in Los Gatos and on Tuesday after the Sharks’ 6-3 win over the Calgary Flames.
Will Smith and Philipp Kurashev were injured during San Jose’s 6-5 OT victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Both were placed on IR, meaning they’ll miss a minimum of one week, the entirety of the Sharks’ current homestand. They’re next eligible to play on Dec. 23 at the Vegas Golden Knights.
San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky, when asked to rule out surgery for Smith on back-to-back days earlier this week, has repeated, “We’re gonna re-assess it on Monday.”
Hopefully, Smith spending some time out of his sling is a good sign that he’s avoided worst-case scenarios for his upper-body injury. Kurashev has already been labeled week-to-week, whereas Smith is still awaiting another evaluation.
Also worth noting, Smith’s stall was moved in the San Jose Sharks locker room. Winger Igor Chernyshov, who was called up in part to take Smith’s place, is occupying what was Smith’s stall next to William Eklund and Tyler Toffoli. Meanwhile, Smith is now next to Yaroslav Askarov, where Chernyshov was originally.
Also, Kurashev doesn’t have a stall in the room right now.
Reading the tea leaves?
Also, Smith's stall was moved next to Askarov's. Chernyshov was there previously.
Maybe more noteworthy to me, Smith still has a stall in Sharks locker room, while Kurashev does not. That COULD be a signal of a longer-term injury vs. a shorter-term one. The locker room has…
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 18, 2025
Broke my clav in February and I only wore a sling in the handful of hours between urgent care and the surgeon telling me I didn’t need it and she didn’t want me getting reliant on it. Still took me three months before I was cleared to play again. My teammate who separated his shoulder, same timeframe. Obviously we don’t have deets but if it’s a shoulder injury, even without surgery it could be a lengthy absence.
I’ve had both shoulders operated on and I continued to play for about 4 months with each injury before finally submitting to surgery. Rotator cuff and labrum. Hurts like hell initially but then lessens. Arms wouldn’t work right though and certain movements was like a knife going in. Full check though would have been impossible. Incidental contact was unbearable. I only wore a sling for a week after injury then again, longer, after surgery.
Had the same experience, injured my shoulder but was told not to wear a sling because it would reduce movement and lock up the area that needed to heal. I didn’t even have a break or separation, took four weeks to get back into games and six to get back to normal. I’m sure these guys are getting better care, but they also have a much harder job to do.
They’re younger so they heal faster, but on the flipside I think folks are extra cautious with high draft picks because there’s a longer career at stake – see Schaefer this past year, even though he had surgery I was still surprised at how long he was out.
Well hopefully this shows he didn’t break a collarbone or have a bad dislocation. But this amount of time in a sling is typical for a subluxation.
“Check out the big brains on Brad! You a smart motherfucka, that’s right.” -Samuel L Jackson
I had to look up subluxation. You nailed it. Is that like a vocabulary word you’ve been sitting on that you finally got a chance to bust out?