The San Jose Sharks are done with training camp scrimmages.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll still be in two groups on Saturday, but Teal and Black won\u2019t be playing each other.<\/p>\n
How did 2026 No. 2 pick Ivar Stenberg look against higher competition? Has Michael Misa taken a leap? Which young defensemen stood out?<\/p>\n
Here are some of my scrimmage observations, along with thoughts from head coach Ryan Warsofsky and more.<\/p>\n
But before we get to all that, these were the lines for both scrimmages. They looked the same on both days, and though they do provide some window into the coaching staff\u2019s planning, keep in mind that opening night is still two weeks away.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s Team Teal:<\/p>\n
Marchment-Celebrini-Smith
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Cardwell
Felhaber-Gasseau-Sherwood
Houle-Giles-Wetsch-Huo<\/p>\n
Nurse-Kesselring
Orlov-Cagnoni
Sahlin Wallenius-Hajek
Karmanov<\/p>\n
Askarov
Comrie<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s Team Black:<\/p>\n
Stenberg-Wennberg-Graf
Chernyshov-Misa-Toffoli
Gaudette-Dellandrea-Barre Boulet
Leason-Huntington-Vincent
Gustafson<\/p>\n
Dickinson-Trouba
Allan-Pohlkamp
Sinn-McKeown
Oliphant<\/p>\n
Nedeljkovic
Davis
Knowling<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not too hard to project a 23-man roster from these lines:<\/p>\n
Marchment-Celebrini-Smith
Chernyshov-Misa-Toffoli
Stenberg-Wennberg-Graf
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Sherwood
Gaudette-Dellandrea<\/p>\n
Nurse-Kesselring
Dickinson-Trouba
Orlov-Cagnoni
Allan<\/p>\n
Askarov
Nedeljkovic<\/p>\n
Stenberg Showing Out<\/p>\n
I expected Ivar Stenberg to pick up the pace from his Rookie Faceoff performance, and I think he did, against superior competition.<\/p>\n
During Friday\u2019s scrimmage, he scored off a catch-and-release blast and crossed Michael Kesselring over in a one-on-one at the left dot, setting up a slot pass to Alex Wennberg. He also protected the puck with confidence and was dangerous with the puck in tight quarters.<\/p>\n
Of course, the scrimmages have NHL-level pace but not with high-end physicality.<\/p>\n
That said, Collin Graf illuminated why I thought Stenberg would elevate his game with better players and against stiffer competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis decision-making, the way that he thinks it, he just thinks at NHL-level,\u201d Graf said. \u201cHe keeps up with the pace, mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n
That, combined with Stenberg\u2019s physical gifts, puts him in good shape to crack the opening night roster. Let\u2019s see how the Swedish winger passes the next test, pre-season game action.<\/p>\n
Can\u2019t Miss Misa<\/p>\n
Ex-Saginaw Spirit linemates Michael Misa and Igor Chernyshov were flying together on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had his pace going,\u201d Warsofsky said of Misa. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see a player that\u2019s going to drive offense this year, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
But being a playoff-caliber second-line center, the long-term vision for Misa, isn\u2019t just about offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to come down to Misa\u2019s play away from the puck,\u201d the San Jose Sharks bench boss said. \u201cWe got to see the play away from the puck, the way he defends, the way he\u2019s seeing the game in front of him to always be in good spots.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, the 19-year-old wasn\u2019t driving offense like this last training camp, his first NHL exposure.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s good to see obvious growth from the 2025 No. 2 pick, whether he seizes the second-line center job from Alex Wennberg this season or not.<\/p>\n
Love for Luca<\/p>\n
Luca Cagnoni is off to a good start, in his quest to break camp with the San Jose Sharks.<\/p>\n
\u201cStacked two really good days,\u201d Warsofsky said.<\/p>\n
The 5-foot-9 defenseman was moving the puck with authority in the 5-on-5 scrimmages.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother guy who looks a little bit bigger and stronger and quicker conditioning-wise,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cHe did a lot of work this summer training and looks confident with the puck, so he\u2019s going to get a good opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cagnoni has more than a good opportunity: Right now, he\u2019s the organization\u2019s best candidate to run the top power play unit. That\u2019s a chance to run a PP which features superstar Macklin Celebrini, an opportunity of a lifetime.<\/p>\n
The Sharks need badly for Cagnoni to succeed.<\/p>\n
There other likely options for power play quarterback, Dmitry Orlov, Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba, Sam Dickinson, and Michael Kesselring, are better suited for PP2.<\/p>\n
That said, it\u2019s honestly a big ask of 21-year-old rookie Cagnoni.<\/p>\n
But he has run top AHL power plays over the last two years.<\/p>\n
The Sharks do have two available spots on the blueline, and Cagnoni is the best-suited for a key role, which should help him claim one vacancy. It feels like it\u2019s his job to lose.<\/p>\n
What about the other open spot, for No. 7 defenseman?<\/p>\n
Nolan Allan is a mostly no-frills defender and isn\u2019t waiver-exempt anymore. Since the 23-year-old is a little older, frankly, if he sits from time to time, you can live with that.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-2 blueliner has also been solid in the scrimmages, outplaying Eric Pohlkamp.<\/p>\n
Unlike Allan, Pohlkamp, who just left the University of Denver, doesn\u2019t have 190 NHL\/AHL games under his belt.<\/p>\n
So that explains Pohlkamp\u2019s hiccups with the elevated pace, so far.<\/p>\n
Some seasoning in the AHL won\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n
Of course, we\u2019re just two days into camp. No available roster spots have really been decided. So Pohlkamp can still move the needle. GM Mike Grier also lumped 2024 second-round pick Leo Sahlin Wallenius with this group of young defensemen.<\/p>\n
But Cagnoni, because the Sharks really need the power play help, and Allan, because he\u2019s not waiver-exempt, look like favorites to round out the team\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks are done with training camp scrimmages. They\u2019ll still be in two groups on Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4216,3524,90987,5400,3523,3517,75543,10370,58286,4180,3521,1035,66125,3259,4401,65313,9082,16713,1036,1037,88,97,90,89,98,9083,4254,9084],"class_list":["post-469087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-alex-wennberg","tag-collin-graf","tag-darnell-nurse","tag-dmitry-orlov","tag-eric-pohlkamp","tag-igor-chernyshov","tag-ivar-stenberg","tag-jacob-trouba","tag-leo-sahlin-wallenius","tag-lines","tag-luca-cagnoni","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-michael-kesselring","tag-michael-misa","tag-mike-grier","tag-nolan-allan","tag-rookie-faceoff","tag-roster","tag-ryan-warsofsky","tag-sam-dickinson","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-barracuda","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-scrimmage","tag-sjhn","tag-training-camp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469087","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=469087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}