Sharks Training Camp Roster Released: True Hurt, More on Wiesblatt

There was some drama as to who would make the San Jose Sharks’ training camp roster — Ozzy Wiesblatt? Zach Gallant? Tristen Robins? — but in the end, except for a single surprise, it was as predicted.

Training Camp Roster Projection, How Close Were Sharks on Sheary or Granlund?

FORWARDS

Lean Bergmann, Joachim Blichfeld, Sasha Chmelevski, Logan Couture, Ryan Donato, Kurtis Gabriel, Dylan Gambrell, Noah Gregor, Jayden Halbgewachs, Fredrik Handemark, Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane, Joel Kellman, Kevin Labanc, John Leonard, Maxim Letunov, Patrick Marleau, Timo Meier, Matt Nieto, Stefan Noesen, Marcus Sorensen, Antti Suomela, Alexander True (injured), Jeffrey Viel

DEFENSEMEN

Brent Burns, Trevor Carrick, Nick DeSimone, Mario Ferraro, Erik Karlsson, Nikolai Knyzhov, Jaycob Megna, Nicolas Meloche, Ryan Merkley, Jake Middleton, Brinson Pasichnuk, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic

GOALTENDERS

Devan Dubnyk, Martin Jones, Josef Korenar, Alexei Melnichuk

That’s 24 forwards (including True), 13 blueliners, and 4 netminders. The Sharks also released new jersey numbers, subject to change:

1 Alexei Melnichuk
6 Ryan Merkley
14 Antti Suomela
16 Ryan Donato
21 Jacob Middleton
24 Jaycob Megna
29 Kurtis Gabriel
37 Fredrik Handemark
40 Devan Dubnyk
43 John Leonard
50 Brinson Pasichnuk
83 Matt Nieto

The one roster surprise? Per Pashelka, True suffered a lower-body injury when playing in Denmark, and is still dealing with it. In his place, veteran Megna is slotting in for now. You can learn more about Megna here:

What Will Gabriel & Megna Add to Sharks Organization?

So what about 2020 first-round pick Wiesblatt? San Jose Hockey Now can confirm that he is in Arizona — Dave Cowan, Wiesblatt’s agent, corroborated that.

Wiesblatt going to #SJSharks training camp? https://t.co/frYiVRSMLN

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 29, 2020

SJHN will need to confirm this, but best guess is Wiesblatt can still work out with the Sharks and might also take part in the San Jose Barracuda’s camp, whenever that begins. It’s not as if Wiesblatt is doing much on the hockey side right now. This might also explain the timing of Robins signing his entry-level contract today:

Tristen Robins SJ #Sharks
2020 56th overall selection
3 year Entry-Level Contract

$859,167 cap hit
$925,000 AAV
$80k minors

$10.5k junior salary in years 1 and 2https://t.co/HPCHdKlkaI

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) December 31, 2020

If CHL leagues are canceled this year, the possibility has been raised that their U20 prospects like Wiesblatt and Robins will be able to play in the AHL:

Listening to the McCrimmon presser back, he said something interesting about Peyton Krebs — because of the uncertainty around the CHL/WHL seasons, it’s possible that Krebs and other junior players COULD be eligible for the AHL this year. That’s still TBD

— Justin Emerson (@J15Emerson) December 23, 2020

The AHL is scheduled to begin its season on February 5th.

Per the #AHL: “The American Hockey League Board of Governors has approved the structural framework for an AHL season that will begin on February 5, 2021."

— PATRICK WILLIAMS (@pwilliamsNHL) December 30, 2020

Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks will open training camp tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about True’s status then.