{"id":462125,"date":"2026-09-13T01:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T01:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/462125\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T01:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T01:38:19","slug":"san-jose-sharks-prospect-ivar-stenberg-eager-to-start-nhl-career-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/462125\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks prospect Ivar Stenberg eager to start NHL career"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks prospect Ivar Stenberg<\/a> spent a lot of time training and skating this summer with his older brother Otto, a forward in the St. Louis Blues organization, to help prepare for his first season as a professional in North America.<\/p>\n

The family dream, of course, would be to see the two Stenberg brothers competing against each other on Oct. 8 when the Sharks visit St. Louis<\/a> to cap a quick two-game road trip.<\/p>\n

But while older brother Otto, 21, likely has some work to do to crack the Blues\u2019 improved roster<\/a> this month, it seems safe to assume Ivar will be with the Sharks,<\/a> taking his place as the team\u2019s next promising young forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe beats people one-on-one. He can create time and space with deception, and he can finish,\u201d Barracuda coach John McCarthy said of Stenberg after watching him practice at Sharks Ice. \u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of upside.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks certainly believe so.<\/p>\n

Stenberg, drafted second overall by the Sharks<\/a> in June, was in a Sharks uniform Saturday when several of the team\u2019s top young players faced the Los Angeles Kings\u2019 prospects in the first game of the Rookie Faceoff at Tech CU Arena.<\/p>\n

Stenberg, who turns 19 on Sept. 30, skated with fellow winger Igor Chernyshov and center Michael Misa against the Kings, giving Sharks fans a tantalizing look at what could be a dangerous combination for years to come, perhaps as soon as Oct. 1 when San Jose hosts the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them to make plays when there\u2019s plays to be made,\u201d McCarthy said of the line. \u201cThey\u2019re a talented group, and we\u2019re looking for them to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust play hockey and have fun,\u201d Stenberg said of his expectations for the game. \u201cJust learning the system and stuff like that. Just play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are a few reasons why Stenberg looks ready for the NHL.<\/p>\n

Obviously, there is the skill set, with his passing, stickhandling, shot, compete, and hockey sense already considered to be at an NHL level. Although he\u2019s not a big player at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, he spent last season in the Swedish Hockey League and didn\u2019t look out of place against much older players, showing his compete and determination to get on the inside and win puck battles.<\/p>\n

He had 33 points in 43 regular season games<\/a> for Frolunda, the fifth-highest total by a player 18 years old or younger in SHL history. The last 18-year-old players to put up such numbers were Hockey Hall of Famers Daniel and Henrik Sedin in 1998-99. He also helped Sweden win a gold medal at the World Junior Championships in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cBesides his technical skills, Ivar\u2019s (hockey sense) is extremely good,\u201d Frolunda coach Robert Ohlsson wrote about Stenberg in an email to Bay Area News Group. \u201cHe sees the ice well, sets up plays, and makes the right decisions. His play without the puck is also good, which makes him a two-way player.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe balance he has in the physical game and his ability to change tempo and rhythm also sticks out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharks center Macklin Celebrini captained Canada at the World Championships<\/a> in May and competed against Stenberg, who had four goals and eight points in eight games for Sweden.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a heck of a player,\u201d Celebrini said recently. \u201cIt was really fun to watch him over there and play against him. I know we\u2019re all really excited to play with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there was one small critique Ohlsson had of Stenberg, it was that it sometimes took him a while to get going in games. With the advent of shorter NHL training camps, going from three weeks to roughly two, Ohlsson wants to see Stenberg perform at top speed right from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe Sharks (have) a thrilling roster. Ivar has to play his best hockey and make the most of it from the start,\u201d Ohlsson wrote. \u201cI believe he has to prove himself (during) the camps and start the early games (in a convincing fashion). Sometimes it took half a match for him to show his \u2018A\u2019 game.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Stenberg\u2019s role will be once the regular season begins, assuming he makes the Sharks\u2019 23-man roster out of camp, remains in question.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a chance he could start camp next week on the top line with Celebrini and Will Smith. Or he could take William Eklund\u2019s former spot alongside center Alexander Wennberg and winger Kiefer Sherwood.<\/p>\n

But with the signing of Mason Marchment, who has averaged 19 goals per season over the last five years, the Sharks have a deeper group of wingers<\/a> now than at any time in the last five or six seasons, leaving it a mystery as to where Stenberg, Marchment, Chernyshov, Sherwood, Collin Graf and Tyler Toffoli all fit in.<\/p>\n

Stenberg is not trying to worry about all that right now. He said Otto just told him, \u201cTo do my best. Go into camp and just have fun, work hard, and (believe) that it\u2019s going to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for playing against Otto next month, Ivar didn\u2019t want to think too far ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be pretty fun, pretty unreal,\u201d he said. \u201cIf that happens, it\u2019s going to be special. But we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

INJURY UPDATES<\/p>\n

Defenseman Mattias Havelid, who spent all of last season with the Barracuda, has an upper body injury and will not play this weekend. Fellow Swedish-born defenseman Leo Sahlin-Wallenius remains day-to-day with a lower-body issue. It was unclear if either would be available for the start of main training camp on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks prospect Ivar Stenberg spent a lot of time training and skating this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[404,88,90,89,98,127],"class_list":["post-462125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}