San Jose Sharks
Preview/Lines #4: Eklund Game-Time Decision, But It’s Not a Serious Injury
CHICAGO — William Eklund has an upper-body injury, but he did participate in Thursday’s morning skate.
That said, it was an optional morning skate, less than a dozen San Jose Sharks players participated.
According to both head coach Ryan Warsofsky and Eklund, he’s a game-time decision against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
It sounds like it will be a true game-time decision.
“I feel pretty good,” Eklund said after morning skate. “But you never know. It will be game-time.”
Warsofsky noted yesterday that the star San Jose Sharks winger has been nursing this injury for a while.
“He’s been dealing with this probably since training camp, another nagging little thing right now,” Warsofsky said.
The San Jose Sharks bench boss says he doesn’t know when Eklund got hurt: “Honestly, I don’t know. I think it just kind of a wear-and-tear thing.”
Eklund declined to shed more light into it either.
Both Warsofsky and Eklund believe it’s a not a serious injury, that it would be considered a day-to-day injury, if Eklund happened to miss Thursday’s game.
San Jose Sharks (0-1-2)
While Warsofsky didn’t commit to lines, it sounds like Will Smith and Alex Wennberg are flip-flopping lines.
Vitek Vanecek will start.
These were lines at yesterday’s practice:
Gushchin-Granlund-Toffoli
Kostin-Wennberg-Zetterlund
Goodrow-W. Smith-Kunin
Grundstrom-Sturm-Dellandrea
Walman-Ceci
Ferraro-Rutta
Thrun-Benning
Vanecek
Chicago Blackhawks (1-2-1)
Petr Mrazek will start.
#Blackhawks morning skate lines ahead of home opener:
Foligno-Bedard-Teravainen
Hall-Kurashev-Bertuzzi
Mikheyev-Dickinson-Anderson
Maroon-Reichel-SmithDefensemen pairings were rotating because Martinez is not on the ice.
Forward extras: Athanasiou, Donato
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 17, 2024
Alec Martinez has a lower-body injury and will miss tonight. Nolan Allan will replace him.
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) October 17, 2024
Where To Watch
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks is 5:30 PM PT at United Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.
