John Klingberg is back.

Klingberg, a healthy scratch since Mar. 24, will come in for Shakir Mukhamadullin, even though the San Jose Sharks won their last game, 3-2 over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Why Klingberg?

“Helps having a righty, right? So we get Mario off his off-side. That’s one thing,” Warsofsky said of the right-handed Klingberg versus the left-handed Mukhamadullin. “He can get the puck through on the offensive blueline. He can move the puck.”

So Klingberg will pair with Mario Ferraro.

As for the 24-year-old Mukhamadullin, this continues an up-and-down campaign for the young defenseman.

Warsofsky, as he sometimes does, chose not to expand on his line-up decisions, especially when they might be critical of a player.

“There’s a lot of factors into switching the line-up after a win and who and what [the match-ups are]. I’m not going to go through it all, but as coaches and as an organization, we talk about and discuss it, and that was the decision that we made,” Warsofsky said. “He’s done some good things, and he’s improved in some areas. There’s some areas we got to continue to work on, but I think he’s playing better than he was, probably, coming off the injury earlier in the year.”

Reading between the lines, Warsofsky is saying that Mukhamadullin is playing at a higher level than he was early in the season, but it’s still not high enough to be an everyday blueliner for the San Jose Sharks.

San Jose Sharks (37-32-7)

Alex Nedeljkovic will start. Presume that Yaroslav Askarov will get the start on Thursday at the Anaheim Ducks.

It was notable that Nedeljkovic got the Monday start against the Hawks, is he moving ahead of Askarov on the depth chart?

Warsofsky didn’t answer that, but did speak to what Nedeljkovic has done to earn Monday’s pivotal start and tonight’s.

“He’s won. That’s a big thing. That’s not a shot at anyone. But he’s played some really good hockey here for us, as of late. He’s competitive, he seems pretty locked in right now,” Warsofsky said. “I think he’s tracking pucks really well, he’s making the saves we need, the timely ones.”

No doubt, Nedeljkovic has outperformed Askarov since November.

Since Dec. 1, Nedeljkovic is 13-8-2 with an .895 Save % and Askarov is 12-12-2 with an .870. Nedeljkovic is also a bit of the hot hand, too, since Mar. 26, the Sharks are 5-1-1, and Nedeljkovic is 3-0-1 with a .918 Save % and Askarov is 2-1-0 with an .881 Save %.

I’ll be very curious to see who gets Saturday’s start!

Along with Klingberg, Adam Gaudette also returns to the line-up:

Graf-Celebrini-Smith
Eklund-Wennberg-Sherwood
Chernyshov-Misa-Toffoli
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Gaudette

Orlov-Desharnais
Ferraro-Klingberg
Dickinson-Leddy

Nedeljkovic

Klingberg will also be reinstated onto the power play:

PP1: Orlov-Celebrini-Smith-Toffoli-Wennberg
PP2: Klingberg-Eklund-Chernyshov-Misa-Sherwood

Edmonton Oilers (39-29-10)

The Oilers played yesterday at the Utah Mammoth, running these lines in a 6-5 OT loss.

Tristan Jarry starts in net & Colton Dach returns to the #Oilers lineup vs. Utah.@PlayAlbertaCA | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/emfjbD3bxx

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 8, 2026

Connor Ingram figures to start against the Sharks.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch will share more line-up details at about 5:30 PM PT.

Where To Watch

Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers is at 7 PM PT at SAP Center. Watch it live on TNT and HBO Max. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.