DALLAS — Will Smith could be back at center.
That’s where the 2023 No. 4 pick, drafted as a center, practiced for the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
Here’s how the Sharks lined up today without superstar center Macklin Celebrini. Celebrini is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury:
Sharks tools
Marchment-Smith-Chernyshov
Stenberg-Wennberg-Sherwood
Graf-Misa-Toffoli
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Dellandrea
Nurse-Kesselring
Dickinson-Trouba
Orlov-Cagnoni
Smith, first and foremost, wants his best friend Celebrini in the line-up, but he is happy to play his natural position once again.
“I’m super-excited,” Smith said. “Played [there] my whole life, so I’m ready to go.”
Head coach Ryan Warsofsky cautioned that the San Jose Sharks don’t play until Thursday night at the St. Louis Blues. So we’ll see what lines look like at practice on Wednesday.
But he did like what he saw on Tuesday.
“I loved our practice,” Warsofsky said. “I love the pace of it.”
The San Jose Sharks practice in St. Louis at 12 PM CT on Wednesday.
We’ll see if Smith is still at center and get another Celebrini update. No doubt, Smith is hoping to still be up the middle, if Celebrini is out.
“As a wing, sometimes, when you’re slashing, you’re behind the D,” Smith said. “I like having the puck and coming up the ice and seeing everyone in front of me.”
“He’s got some experience with it,” Warsofsky said. “I think it’ll help his skating and getting involved in the game skating-wise, that’s something that we’ve talked about.”