{"id":469431,"date":"2026-09-19T22:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T22:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469431\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T22:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T22:16:10","slug":"healthy-cardwell-is-aiming-for-sharks-spot-talks-living-with-smith-celebrini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469431\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Cardwell is Aiming For Sharks Spot; Talks Living With Smith, Celebrini"},"content":{"rendered":"

There isn\u2019t much opportunity deeper in the San Jose Sharks lineup this season, but Ethan Cardwell<\/a> is getting a chance to show what he can do.<\/p>\n

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky<\/a> holds the Sharks prospect in high regard, and Cardwell knows he can\u2019t take that for granted. Throughout three days of training camp, Cardwell has been skating on the wing of what could be the Sharks\u2019 fourth line with Zack Ostapchuk<\/a> and Barclay Goodrow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good opportunity for me. That\u2019s kind of the role I gotta get in as. I gotta work my way onto that fourth line and be a key contributor on this team, and I think I can help this team win,\u201d Cardwell said on Saturday. \u201cTo be given that opportunity to showcase what I can do in the scrimmages and in the drills, it\u2019s a good opportunity. But it\u2019s just the start, so I\u2019ve got to keep building throughout this whole camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardwell\u2019s position at the start of San Jose Sharks training camp may come as a bit of a surprise. Kiefer Sherwood<\/a> has been skating with two players likely headed to the San Jose Barracuda<\/a>. Sherwood signed a five-year extension<\/a> after the Sharks acquired him from the Vancouver Canucks<\/a>. Although it is nearly impossible that Sherwood won\u2019t be on the opening night roster, the team likely moved him there to give Cardwell a full opportunity.<\/p>\n

Teal group on the ice first for the #SJSharks<\/a>. Here are the lines:<\/p>\n

Marchment-Celebrini-Smith
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Cardwell
Felhaber-Gasseau-Sherwood
Houle-Giles-Wetsch
Huo<\/p>\n

Nurse-Kesselring
Orlov-Cagnoni
LSW-Hajek
Karmanov<\/p>\n

\u2014 Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) September 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The order of lines doesn\u2019t matter too much at the start of camp, as the players are split into two groups. Who each person is playing with is more telling. <\/p>\n

A big difference for Cardwell this season is his waiver eligibility. Unlike previous seasons, if he doesn\u2019t make the San Jose Sharks roster, he\u2019ll have to pass through waivers before going to the \u2018Cuda. If that happens, all 31 other NHL teams could try to claim the winger.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you\u2019re out there, whether you\u2019re on your entry level or you\u2019ve signed ten contracts, you\u2019re always just doing your best every day. Everybody\u2019s looking because there are obviously 31 other teams in the league,\u201d Cardwell said. \u201d I want to be a Shark, and I want to be a Shark for as long as I can, and I want to make this team. I don\u2019t want [waivers] to be the case, but obviously there is a possibility that that happens. So I just put my best foot forward every day and let the chips fall where they may.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what does the 24-year-old have to do to make the NHL right away?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust showing up every day and doing what I do best. Getting in there and playing in the hard areas. Being consistent with that. Going to the net, getting in on the forecheck, tracking. It\u2019s the little details,\u201d Cardwell explained. \u201cIt\u2019s not toe-dragging a guy at the blue line and going in and scoring on a breakaway. That\u2019s going to do it for me. It\u2019s the finer details of the game that I can help contribute. That\u2019s going to be beneficial to the team rather than just worrying about offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardwell is healthy and living with Celebrini & Smith, for now<\/p>\n

Cardwell\u2019s 25-26 season was cut short after a torn labrum in his shoulder ended it in February. At the time, he had appeared in seven NHL games and 24 games for the Barracuda. He had scored his first NHL goal and had 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in the AHL.<\/p>\n

The winger told reporters the surgery was timed well so it wouldn\u2019t affect his offseason training too much. He wasn\u2019t severely limited once the summer got going, and during the initial rehab, he was able to keep working on his lower body.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to kill the lower body for the majority of the start of the summer. I was able to do a ton of lower body stuff. Like obviously, I was doing rehab four or five times a week back home, so lots of that,\u201d Cardwell said. \u201cIt was getting a little tedious toward the end, but yeah, really happy to be back to full strength. There was time to train when June came around, and it was full steam from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now back in San Jose, Cardwell\u2019s living arrangements have been well publicized. At least for now, the San Jose Sharks forward has a room in a house with Macklin Celebrini<\/a> and Will Smith<\/a>. Cardwell told reporters that he and Smith became close friends quickly and that this extended to Celebrini as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how I felt when I came in. Like I was saying, you don\u2019t know a ton of people, and obviously he\u2019s the fourth overall pick. Everybody wants to be his buddy, but you know we have similar interests and stuff like that,\u201d Cardwell said. \u201cWe gelled right away, and then when Mack came in, it was kind of more the same there. [They are] two of my really good friends on this team, and I\u2019m super grateful that they\u2019re letting me stay right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardwell praised Smith\u2019s ability to cook and bake<\/a>, specifically shouting out Smith\u2019s healthy Snickers bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmitty made these healthy Snickers. They\u2019re dialed. We crushed a lot of those last night. Might have been a little heavy coming in today,\u201d Cardwell joked. \u201cYou can\u2019t miss with steaks on the barbecue. Smitty likes to grill, so we let him have it. Mack and I take care of the potatoes, salad, broccoli, stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardwell was asked if he was in the lineup for the Sharks\u2019 first preseason game on Sunday, but he told reporters he didn\u2019t know yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There isn\u2019t much opportunity deeper in the San Jose Sharks lineup this season, but Ethan Cardwell is getting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[3857,1035,754,88,90,89,98,8683,42180,755,3578],"class_list":["post-469431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-ethan-cardwell","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-nhl-waivers","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-injuries","tag-sharks-training-camp","tag-sj-sharks","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469431","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=469431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}