San Jose Sharks Activate Will Smith
As expected, the San Jose Sharks announced that they’ve activated Will Smith from the injured reserve. The Sharks placed forward Ty Dellandrea on injured reserve yesterday to make room for Smith’s return.
Smith, 20, has been on the shelf for a month due to an upper-body injury. At the time, he was second on the team in scoring behind Macklin Celebrini. He has since been surpassed by Alexander Wennberg, Tyler Toffoli, and William Eklund.
Still, in terms of points-per-game, Smith is clearly San Jose’s best offensive option behind Celebrini. Before suffering the upper-body ailment, the sophomore forward had scored 12 goals and 29 points in 33 games. Had he continued that pace over the course of the entire regular season, Smith would have finished with approximately 72 points, a 27-point increase from his rookie campaign.
According to line rushes this morning, Smith will reprise his role on Celebrini’s wing, alongside rookie Igor Chernyshov. The two youngsters primarily played with Philipp Kurashev earlier in the year, with the trio combining for a 45.2% xGoals%.
Somehow, despite losing their second-best scorer, the Sharks’ offense has taken off since Smith exited the lineup. In his 33 games to begin the year, San Jose averaged 2.9 GF/G and a 18.6% success rate on the power play. Without him in the lineup, they’ve averaged 3.84 GF/G and a 25.6% powerplay. Getting Smith back into the lineup should vault the Sharks’ offense even higher moving forward.
Sharks Issue Injury Updates On Four Players
The San Jose Sharks have sorted out their injuries ahead of a four-game road-trip through the Eastern Conference. Winger Philipp Kurashev will not join the team on the trip, but could return at the tail-end, if he is able to recover from an upper-body injury sustained on December 13th. He was deemed week-to-week at the time. San Jose will have defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Vincent Desharnais on the trip after both recovered from upper-body injuries. Finally, top forward Will Smith will be questionable for Thursday’s game against the Washington Capitals pending a return to full-contact practices. All updates were captured by NHL.com’s Max Miller.
Kurashev will continue to sit out of the lineup for at least a couple more games. He has already missed San Jose’s last 12 games, on top of a brief two-game absence in October. Kurashev was among San Jose’s hottest players through the turn into November. He racked up 11 points in 13 games between October 26th and November 20th – enough to earn top-six minutes through mutliple games. He cooled off significantly in the time since, with only three points in his next 12 games before going down to injury. Returning soon would give the Swiss winger a chance to get his legs back under him before going off to join Team Switzerland at the 2026 Winter Olympics. It will be Kurashev’s first Olympic games, though he has notched 15 points in 32 World Championship games, across four appearances. Kurashev will slot into San Jose’s bottom-six when he’s healthy enough to return.
The Sharks will have two more options on defense through their next stretch. Desharnais has been out since late November but returned to practice on January 4th. He has served as one of many veteran bruisers and fighters on the Sharks lineup and should maintain a low-usage role if slotted back into the lineup. Mukhamadullin will be a more interesting watch, after missing the last four games. The 24 year old was continuing to struggle in his depth role prior to his injury. He posted no scoring and a minus-six in his last five games, bringing his year long totals to six points and a minus-four in 23 games. A return to the lineup would be a chance to continue earning minutes on an increasingly-crowded Sharks blue-line.
Smith will bring the most excitement back to the lineup. The 20 year old hasn’t played since sustaining an injury on December 13th. He has been skating on the side and didn’t rejoin San Jose’s team practices until last Friday. The Sharks will certainly want to ensure Smith is back to 100 percent before slotting him into the lineup – but his impact will be hard to wait for. Smith has 12 goals and 29 points in 33 games this season, good for fourth on the team in scoring despite missing the last 12 games. He has proven a dynamic and capable driver of the offense, able to play with or behind star center Macklin Celebrini.
The Sharks have seen the emergence of rookie Igor Chernyshov – who has nine points in his first 12 NHL games – since Smith’s injury. That will bring up some interesting questions as the Sharks juggle young players at the top of their lineup. Smith should return next to Alexander Wennberg and Tyler Toffoli, which would push Pavel Regenda back into the bottom-six. When those changes will occur will depend on how soon Smith can return to full-contact practice.
Snapshots: Hamilton, Smith, Chychrun, Miller
With the Devils believed to be searching for a new team for veteran defenseman Dougie Hamilton after scratching him today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in the latest Saturday Headlines segment (video link) that the blueliner turned down a trade over the summer. Friedman stated that the Sharks attempted to acquire the 32-year-old over the offseason but Hamilton used his trade protection to scuttle that. San Jose has since added Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, and Nick Leddy to their back end and given that they’ve been using LTIR all season, it stands to reason that they may not be interested in rekindling those discussions to see if Hamilton’s stance has changed. He has two years left on his contract after this one with a $9MM AAV, a price tag that will be difficult to move for value.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Sharks forward Will Smith will accompany the team on their upcoming four-game road trip, relays Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The sophomore has missed the last four weeks due to an upper-body injury and recently returned to practice, albeit in a non-contact jersey. The fact he’s set to travel with the team suggests that Smith should be able to return at some point on the trip. Through 33 games so far, Smith has been quite productive, collecting 12 goals and 17 assists while averaging just under 18 minutes per game of playing time.
- The Capitals announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Jakob Chychrun was scratched from tonight’s game against Nashville due to illness. The 27-year-old is in the middle of a breakout season, collecting 15 goals and 17 assists in 45 games. That puts him on pace to surpass his previous personal best in points (47) set last season. Washington has been carrying eight defensemen on their roster for most of the year so Chychrun’s absence didn’t necessitate a recall from the minors to fill his spot.
- Jets defenseman Colin Miller left today’s game against New Jersey due to a lower-body injury, notes Gordon Anderson of The Winnipeg Sun. The injury occurred in the first period, limiting him to just 4:14 of playing time. It has been a tough year for the 33-year-old who has been a frequent healthy scratch and has played in just 14 games so far, notching just one assist. That’s not a great showing in the final year of his contract, one that carries a $1.5MM cap charge.
San Jose Sharks Injury Updates
Ahead of tomorrow’s matchup against the Minnesota Wild, the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, Ryan Warsofsky, issued a multitude of injury updates. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many positive updates.
Regarding the forward core, and likely the most optimistic of all the updates, Warsofsky relayed to Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that both Philipp Kurashev (upper body) and Will Smith (undisclosed) skated this morning. Additional reporting suggests that they skated before the team’s full practice, and they’re still both considered week-to-week.
Warsofsky also shared with Pashelka that Adam Gaudette is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury, which explains Pavol Regenda‘s recall earlier today. Still, the impact of being without Kurashev and Smith for the next few weeks can’t be overstated. Despite being out since December 13th, the latter remains the second-highest scorer in San Jose with 12 goals and 29 points in 33 games. Kurashev is ninth with 15 points in 31 contests.
Furthermore, the Sharks will be playing with a banged-up defensive core, too. Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest reported that Timothy Liljegren will not suit up against the Wild tomorrow and remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The former 17th overall pick has not played since December 18th and has registered four assists in 28 games this season while averaging over 20 minutes per night.
Additionally, the team doesn’t expect Vincent Desharnais to return anytime soon. Miller added in the same report that Desharnais is still considered week-to-week, which could push his games lost past 20. Desharnais, who, like Liljegren, is scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, has only appeared in 20 games for San Jose this season.
The only injured member of the team’s defense that hasn’t been ruled out tomorrow is Shakir Mukhamadullin. Still, Pashelka noted that Mukhamadullin is questionable, meaning the Sharks could be down to six healthy blue liners. Fortunately, their only away game until January 15th is against the Los Angeles Kings on January 7th, meaning they’ll have easy access to additional bodies for the next few weeks if needed.
Sharks’ Will Smith Out Week-To-Week, Collin Graf Questionable
Luck was not on the San Jose Sharks’ side during Monday’s practice. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky designated top young forward Will Smith as out week-to-week with an upper-body injury and won’t be re-evaluated until 2026, per Max Miller of Ssan Jose Hockey Digest. Smith has been out since sustaining an injury in San Jose’s December 13th matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On top of that injury, top-line winger Collin Graf had to get stitches during Monday’s practice, after an erant puck hit him in the face. The puck avoided Graf’s eye and seemed to injure his cheek, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. The Sharks aren’t yet sure if Graf will be available for their three-game road trip that runs through a December 29th matchup against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Sharks will continue to face an uphill battle without Smith in the lineup. He has driven the offense when he’s on the ice, netting 12 goals and 29 points in 33 games this season, good for second on the Sharks in scoring behind Macklin Celebrini. San Jose has lost two of their three games since Smith’s injury, painting his importance to the lineup even amid a scoring surge for the Sharks.
In Smith’s absence, Graf has emerged as a key factor and scoring compliment to Celebrini. He has four points in three games without Smith, and six points in his last five games. That hot streak has brought Graf up to 19 points in 35 games this season, eight more than he managed in 33 games of his rookie year last season. Graf has also contributed 29 shot blocks and 34 hits, ranked third and sixth among Sharks forwards respectively.
The 23-year-old Graf has carved out a nightly role in the top-six in December. His absence would force San Jose to push either William Eklund or Jeff Skinner – who has recently served as a healthy scratch – into a top-line role. The Sharks could also push Adam Gaudette or Tyler Toffoli into elevated minutes, if they’re willing to shake up their wingers.
One piece that will make the shakeup a bit easier is the emergence of rookie Igor Chernyshov, who has been playing on the top-line next to Graf and Celebrini and recorded three assists in his first three NHL games. Chernyshov was a breakout scorer in the OHL last season and leads the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda in scoring with 23 points in 25 games this year. He could quickly be leaned on as San Jose looks to mitigate injuries to a pair of high-impact forwards.
Sharks Notes: Smith, Kurashev, Mukhamadullin, Gaudette
The San Jose Sharks have played themselves into contention for a playoff spot this season, their biggest concrete step forward in the standings since their rebuild began at the start of the decade. A key member of the team powering their ascent is 2023 No. 4 overall pick Will Smith. Unfortunately for the Sharks, Smith was injured Saturday in the team’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and is now set to miss at least a week, according to Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller. Per Miller, Smith will be re-evaluated on Monday.
The loss of Smith is not only a blow due to the fact that the Sharks are losing what Smith himself provides on the ice; it’s also a loss due to his chemistry with franchise face Macklin Celebrini, chemistry that won’t be easily replicated by another player. Smith has scored 29 points in 33 games so far in 2025-26, and is emerging as a legitimate star forward. The Sharks are set to play their first game since losing Smith tonight against the Flames. It appears Smith’s spot on the team’s first line alongside Celebrini will be taken by 2024 No. 33 overall pick Igor Chernyshov, who will make his NHL debut tonight.
Other notes from the Bay Area:
- Miller also reported that veteran forward Philipp Kurashev, who was also injured Saturday against Pittsburgh, will be out on a week-to-week basis. It’s a tough break for Kurashev, who was in the midst of a solid bounce-back season. After scoring 18 goals and 54 points playing alongside Connor Bedard with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2023-24, Kurashev only managed 14 points in 51 games in 2024-25, paving the way for his exit from the Windy City. The Sharks signed Kurashev and he has rewarded them by scoring 15 points in 31 games, a 40-point full-season scoring pace. A pending arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, Kurashev will hope to recover as quickly and completely as possible in order to resume his season in the best fashion possible.
- Sharks blueliner Shakir Mukhamadullin is back in the lineup tonight, according to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, after missing Saturday’s game due to injury. Mukhamadullin has been managing an upper-body injury, and has missed five of the last six Sharks games. He’s slated to play on San Jose’s third pairing tonight alongside former Washington Capital Vincent Iorio. In 15 games this season, Mukhamadullin is averaging 16:32 time on ice per game including a role on the club’s penalty kill.
- Veteran forward Adam Gaudette won’t play against the Flames tonight as he’s day-to-day with a lower-body injury, per Miller. Gaudette missed a few games earlier this season with an upper-body injury but has otherwise had a healthy, reasonably productive debut campaign in the Bay Area. The 29-year-old was signed by the Sharks off the back of his 19-goal season with the Ottawa Senators in 2024-25, and he’s under contract at a $2MM AAV through next season. He’s scored 11 points in 29 games this year. Gaudette played fourth-line center with some power play time on Saturday, and his role now appears likely to be filled in his absence by fellow former Senator Zack Ostapchuk.
Sharks Place Will Smith, Philipp Kurashev On IR
The Sharks will be without forwards Will Smith and Philipp Kurashev for at least their upcoming three-game homestand, if not longer. The team announced both have been placed on injured reserve with undisclosed issues and did not issue timelines for their return. Their roster spots have gone to wingers Ethan Cardwell and Igor Chernyshov, who were recalled from AHL San Jose.
Smith and Kurashev both departed Saturday’s 6-5 comeback win over the Penguins prematurely. Smith was forced out early in the third period after taking a crushing hit from Pittsburgh defender Parker Wotherspoon (video via JD Young of Locked on Sharks). Kurashev left in the second period after losing his balance on the forecheck and sliding hard into the boards.
Smith’s absence is of special concern to the Sharks, who are hanging onto the second wild-card spot in the West despite continued league-worst underlying numbers. The 2023 No. 4 overall pick has firmly emerged as a top-line piece, stapled to Macklin Celebrini‘s wing since the beginning of the campaign. Unsurprisingly, he’s second on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 29 points in 33 games, averaging 17:55 of ice time per game. That’s up by more than two minutes over his rookie outing last year, putting him on pace to easily surpass his 18-27–45 scoring line in 74 games in 2024-25.
That is, of course, assuming his absence isn’t an extended one. The Sharks have a relatively easy upcoming schedule with three out of their next five games against teams that didn’t make the playoffs last year. Getting out of that stretch with three wins, particularly if Smith doesn’t miss much more than the week required by IR, would be a major gain in their still-slim but increasingly realistic playoff hopes.
Kurashev’s absence is also of significant consequence. He’d logged time with Celebrini and Smith this season on occasion when Tyler Toffoli wasn’t with them on the top line. He would have been the first name to step in alongside Celebrini and Toffoli with Smith out, leaving San Jose without two top-six options for the time being.
The 26-year-old was non-tendered by the Blackhawks last summer. San Jose picked him up on a one-year, $1.2MM deal when free agency opened. So far, it’s been one of the better buy-low signings of the offseason. He hasn’t recaptured the heights of his 54-point campaign with Chicago two years ago, but he has been a versatile piece for the Sharks, providing valuable secondary scoring. He’s seventh on the team with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 31 outings while averaging over 16 minutes per night, routinely featuring on their second power-play unit.
San Jose, still not fully exited from its rebuild, still has a pair of fairly high-ceiling options to replace them with. Cardwell, 23, has already worked his way up into being a trusted recall option for the Sharks after being a fourth-round pick in 2021. He’s got 10 NHL appearances to his name over the past year and has scored his first two NHL goals. It’s his second recall of the campaign after being summoned for more than a week in early November.
Cardwell was an immediate scoring threat in the minors, scoring 23 goals in 71 games for the Barracuda as a rookie in 2023-24. He’s kept his point production up and has nine points (three goals, six assists) in 14 appearances this year. A high-motor winger, he doesn’t have the raw offensive skillset to truly stand out in a San Jose prospect pool ripe with first-round picks and more high-end sleepers, but he hasn’t looked out of place at all in his first few NHL chances.
The real headliner, though, is Chernyshov. The 20-year-old Russian was the first pick of the second round in 2024 at No. 33 overall, later than most thought he would go. So far in his development, he’s proven the Sharks – and the public – right. After spending his pre-draft development in his native Russia, Chernyshov immediately signed his entry-level deal with San Jose and came to North America for the 2024-25 campaign. While an injury limited him to 23 games with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit, he was the top scorer in major junior hockey on a per-game basis. With 19 goals and 36 assists for 55 points, he racked up an incredible 2.39 points per game.
What’s perhaps most intriguing is the niche he fills in San Jose’s prospect pool. At 6’3″ and 205 lbs, he could bring a needed power forward element to the Sharks’ top six forward group in short order. Now making the jump to the pros this year, he’s well on his way toward doing so. He leads the Barracuda in scoring with 11 goals and 23 points in 25 games. He entered the season as the Sharks’ No. 7 prospect (according to Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff) but has moved up at least two spots with Yaroslav Askarov and Sam Dickinson graduating to full-time roles.
If the Sharks don’t want to do major surgery on their lineup, it stands to reason Chernyshov could get dropped into the fire as a direct replacement for Smith on the top line with Celebrini and Toffoli, while Cardwell fills in a familiar depth role.
Injury Notes: Sharks, Flyers, Danault, Erne
Two San Jose Sharks forwards left yesterday’s dramatic comeback victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins with injuries: Philipp Kurashev and Will Smith. Smith left the game after a hit from Penguins defender Parker Wotherspoon, while Kurashev also left the game with his own apparent upper-body injury. Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky did not have any update to give regarding the status of either player.
Since the Sharks have a day off Sunday, it’s likely the earliest the club announces an update related to the injury suffered by either player is Monday. If either player misses time, that would be a serious blow to the Sharks’ competitive hopes. Smith, the 2023 No. 4 overall pick, has scored 12 goals and 29 points in 33 games this season. His growing chemistry with franchise face Macklin Celebrini has made Sharks hockey must-watch television.
While Kurashev isn’t quite as important to the Sharks’ present and future as Smith, he nonetheless has been having himself a quality campaign. The versatile Swiss forward scored 18 goals and 54 points in 2023-24 playing alongside Blackhawks star Connor Bedard. Playing once again on a team with one of the game’s emerging superstar talents has clearly had its benefits for Kurashev. He’s scored 15 points in 31 games this season, a 40-point full-season scoring pace. That represents a significant improvement over last season, when Kurashev only managed 14 points in 51 games, a performance that got him non-tendered by the Blackhawks over the summer. With key injury updates likely set to come Monday, the Sharks will have to hope that their two forwards have only suffered something minor.
Other injury notes from across the NHL:
- Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet told the media, including the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel, that injured Flyers blueliners Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam York will travel with the team on its upcoming road trip, and are each nearing a return to the lineup. Tocchet said specifically that he expects York to play either today against the Carolina Hurricanes or Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens, while he expects Ristolainen to return soon as well. York has been sidelined with an upper-body injury and last played Dec. 3, while Ristolainen has not yet played in 2025-26 as he’s been recovering from 2024-25’s season-ending surgery.
- Some eyebrows were raised yesterday when it was revealed that Los Angeles Kings forward Phillip Danault would not play in the Kings’ Saturday contest against the Calgary Flames, due to the player’s name popping up in trade rumors over the last week. But while Danault remains a possibility to be traded, his absence yesterday was not for trade-related reasons; the veteran forward was ill, and unable to play as a result. It was reported on Dec. 8 that the Kings were exploring their options to provide Danault with a change-of-scenery type trade, but no deal has since materialized. The 32-year-old has scored at least 40 points in each of his four full seasons as a King, but has just five points in 30 games this year. He’s under contract at a $5.5MM AAV through next season.
- Dallas Stars forward Adam Erne is continuing to progress in his recovery from his lower-body injury, and is now considered day-to-day, according to Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan. (via The Dallas Morning News’ Lia Assimakopoulos) Erne last played Nov. 11 and has missed 16 consecutive games. The 30-year-old winger signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Stars in October and scored three points in 14 games before his injury. Erne played in just 10 games last season, all coming in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He has nearly 400 career NHL games to his name, but hasn’t played a full season entirely at the NHL level since his 2021-22 campaign with the Detroit Red Wings.
Injury Notes: Sharks, Tkachuk, Raymond, Koepke
San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky told the media today that forward Will Smith is currently dealing with a lower-body issue, and while he should still be in line to play in tomorrow’s game, Warsofsky did note that this ailment is something Smith has been dealing with since even before Saturday’s game. In addition to providing detail on an injury to Smith, Warsofsky also revealed that 2025 second-overall pick Michael Misa will make his NHL debut tomorrow.
Misa, 18, will make his NHL debut in what is the Sharks’ third game of the season. Tomorrow’s contest will not just be Misa’s NHL debut, it will also be his first regular-season game of professional hockey, as he was drafted out of the OHL. According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, Misa was slotted into the Sharks’ third-line center position in today’s practice, hinting at how he’s likely to be used in his NHL debut. Given that the Sharks put Misa in between two players who have experience playing center at the NHL level (Ty Dellandrea and Philipp Kurashev) it appears Warsofsky may be trying to ease Misa, as much as possible, into the level of responsibility that comes with playing center at the NHL level.
Other injury updates from around the league:
- Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reported today that Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was forced out of the team’s loss to the Nashville Predators today, stating that he is currently being evaluated for an injury after being on the other end of a Roman Josi cross-checking minor penalty. Tkachuk only managed to skate in 13:53 in today’s game, and although there is no further information other than Tkachuk being under evaluation, any injury he could suffer would be a serious blow to the Senators. He is among the team’s most important wingers and has started off the season with three assists in three games.
- Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond was forced out of today’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs due to an upper-body injury, and head coach Todd McLellan did not issue an update on the forward’s status post-game. As Detroit’s leading scorer in each of the last two seasons, Raymond has emerged as one of the Red Wings’ most important players, and their undisputed most lethal offensive threat. While we await further information on Raymond’s injury, Red Wings fans will likely have their fingers crossed that his absence was more precautionary than anything else.
- The Winnipeg Jets announced today that forward Cole Koepke did not return to today’s victory over the New York Islanders due to a lower-body injury. Koepke was playing on the Jets’ fourth line alongside Morgan Barron and Tanner Pearson, and had registered an assist on Barron’s goal early in today’s game on Long Island. At this point, there is no further update on Koepke’s status. The Jets have 25-year-old Providence College product Parker Ford on their roster ready to enter the lineup should Koepke miss any time.
Sharks Notes: Celebrini, Mukhamadullin, Gushchin, Schuldt, Carlsson
Sharks center Macklin Celebrini will suit up for Canada at the upcoming World Championship, reports Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest. The rookie was actually originally named to the squad last year but ultimately didn’t play. The number one pick last year, Celebrini had an impressive rookie campaign, tallying 25 goals and 38 assists in 70 games to lead San Jose in scoring, five points ahead of William Eklund, who will play for the host Swedes. Meanwhile, Miller adds that it’s unclear if their other top rookie, Will Smith, will play for Team USA at the event. Smith was fourth on the Sharks in scoring with 45 points in 74 games.
More from San Jose:
- Defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin underwent successful shoulder surgery and is expected to be ready for the start of training camp, relays Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now (Twitter link). The 23-year-old suited up for 30 games with the Sharks this season, collecting nine points and 51 blocked shots while averaging a little over 18 minutes a night of playing time. Mukhamadullin also had nine assists in 21 games with the AHL’s Barracuda. He’s expected to push for a full-time lineup spot next season.
- The team announced (Twitter links) that they’ve assigned forward Daniil Gushchin and defensemen Jimmy Schuldt and Lucas Carlsson to AHL San Jose. Gushchin got into a dozen games with the Sharks this season, notching just one assist. Meanwhile, Carlsson had a goal and three assists in 13 games while Schuldt was held off the scoresheet in his eight outings, his first NHL action since late in the 2018-19 campaign. The Barracuda recently clinched a playoff spot and will certainly be happy to have one of their top scorers and two of their better blueliners back for the postseason.