{"id":470543,"date":"2026-09-21T03:30:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T03:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470543\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T03:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T03:30:22","slug":"sharks-pick-alexander-karmanov-left-big-impression-in-san-jose-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470543\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks pick Alexander Karmanov left big impression in San Jose"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 Alexander Karmanov<\/a> was crossing a downtown street with some of his Sharks training camp teammates<\/a> this weekend when a stranger abruptly stopped him.<\/p>\n

A Sharks fan wanted a photo \u2014 right then and there \u2014 with the towering 7-foot-1, 275-pound defenseman.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI was with the boys and the boys told me we needed to get off the street,\u201d Karmanov said Sunday. \u201cIt\u2019s great. Everyone, the fans were great, and it\u2019s really nice to have met them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karmanov\u2019s time in San Jose is ending as the 18-year-old confirmed to Bay Area News Group on Sunday that he is heading back to Southern Ontario on Monday to rejoin the OHL\u2019s North Bay Battalion.<\/a> The Sharks will likely also make more trims to their training camp roster before they return on Tuesday, when they host a preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

While he was here, Karmanov left quite an impression and became a bit of a celebrity among Sharks fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really fun, and all the guys were great,\u201d Karmanov said. \u201cIt\u2019s just meeting new people and making new friends, and on the ice, they\u2019re great professionals. Just looking at them and wanting to get better, getting feedback from the coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karmanov, who became the tallest player ever drafted into the NHL when the Sharks selected him in the seventh round, 201st overall, in June, played in both Rookie Faceoff games at Tech CU Arena earlier this month. His one-sided fight<\/a> against Los Angeles Kings forward Liam Lefebvre, who is 6-foot-3, went viral on social media and got the loudest cheer of the night.<\/p>\n

Karmanov made his share of mistakes but also made friends, gained respect and, at times, showed off his rare skill set.<\/p>\n

During Sunday\u2019s practice, Karmanov, with his one-of-a-kind reach and wingspan, poked the puck off Will Smith\u2019s stick on a couple of rushes up the ice. There was also a time, though, when center Michael Misa got a clean shot on net after he danced around Karmanov on another rush.<\/p>\n

Karmanov\u2019s hardly a finished product, but he soaked up everything he could while with the Sharks.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust keep working,\u201d he said, describing the message the Sharks\u2019 coaching staff gave him. \u201cI have, like, some details from the coaches, from the development coaches, and just keep doing what they tell me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExtremely likable,\u201d Sharks assistant coach Brian Wiseman said of Karmanov. \u201cSpeaking to him and when (fellow assistant Doug Houda) is coaching him, or when he was at the rookie camp, that\u2019s all we\u2019ve heard about is how attentive he is, how likable he is, how coachable he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are great attributes to have, and coming into first NHL camp, always smiling. He\u2019s got a smile on his face, up and down the hallways, in the locker room, on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Sharks defenseman Darnell Nurse formed a friendship with Karmanov after the two, along with several NHLers, trained at Gary Roberts\u2019s facility in Toronto during the offseason. He noticed Karmanov\u2019s growth \u2014 in a hockey sense \u2014 from summer to training camp, as the past two-plus months since the draft have been invaluable for the teenager\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can just see the growth from the beginning of the summer to the end,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cYou see the size, but he\u2019s got skill. He\u2019s got a little nastiness to him, too. He\u2019s going to be fun to watch as he continues to grow, and that\u2019s just pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karmanov said he learned quite a bit from Nurse.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery big guy, too,\u201d Karmanov said. \u201cI like how he plays defensively, very aggressively, and has a very good stick and first pass. I think it\u2019s what I have to have. Just a great player.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he returns to the OHL for one more year, Karmanov will at times work with Todd Marchant, the Sharks\u2019 director of player development, and San Jose development coach Luca Sbisa, a 13-year NHL defenseman.<\/p>\n

As of now, Karmanov is committed to Penn State for the 2027-28 season. Whether he goes to Happy Valley or ends up somewhere else in a year is still to be decided.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be a good year for me, for the team,\u201d Karmanov said. \u201cI\u2019ll have more opportunity, we\u2019ll keep working, and we\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 Alexander Karmanov was crossing a downtown street with some of his Sharks training camp teammates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[401,402,181,404,88,90,89,98,403,94685,127],"class_list":["post-470543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-hockey","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-alert","tag-social-alert","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470543","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=470543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}