{"id":500466,"date":"2026-10-18T21:51:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T21:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500466\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T21:51:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T21:51:48","slug":"millers-thoughts-sharks-rookie-not-getting-enough-calder-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500466\/","title":{"rendered":"Miller’s Thoughts: Sharks Rookie Not Getting Enough Calder Hype"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being on the West Coast means some NHL fans miss watching the San Jose Sharks and rookie phenom Ivar Stenberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old has quickly gotten comfortable playing on North American-sized ice, and the offense is coming quickly. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky<\/a> has already moved the winger to the top power-play unit, and it is working.<\/p>\n

In eight games this season, Stenberg has six points (2 goals, 4 assists), and five of the points have come on the man advantage. At the same time, voters value 5v5 scoring, a power-play-scoring player, so far, like Stenberg can\u2019t go unnoticed. Since moving to the left flank, the Sharks\u2019 power play looks more dangerous than it has in the past three years.<\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini\u00a0will always draw the most attention on the right flank, but with Stenberg becoming a bigger threat, teams must take notice. Will Smith<\/a> moved to the bumper, where he and Celebrini seem to connect more often. But that also proves there\u2019s a rotation possible with those three. Proof is Stenberg\u2019s second NHL goal last night from the net front.<\/p>\n

Stenberg\u2019s skill might already be underrated. There is no shortage of confidence in the San Jose Sharks rookie, and almost every time he makes a dangle, it is completed. He has the patience with the puck that an 8-year NHL vet with his skills should have. His experience playing against grown men in Sweden has helped with this transition, and that can\u2019t be a knock.<\/p>\n

According to Covers.com<\/a>, Stenberg\u2019s odds to win the Calder Memorial Trophy<\/a> for Rookie of the Year are +500. If you\u2019re reading this in a place with legal sports betting, jump on the train now. Stenberg will only get better.<\/p>\n

Over eight games, the Sharks have deployed the winger for 15+ minutes five times. His average TOI per game is 15:51, but with top power-play time, expect that number to get even higher. His six points are tied for second among NHL rookies. He\u2019s also the only rookie with more than one PPG.<\/p>\n

Only one player in San Jose Sharks history has won the Calder: goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. Celebrini finished 3rd in voting in 2025 and was named to the NHL\u2019s All-Rookie Team. <\/p>\n

If Stenberg continues this upward trend, his chances of becoming the second Calder winner in team history also rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Being on the West Coast means some NHL fans miss watching the San Jose Sharks and rookie phenom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[193970,94917,75543,1035,124745,88,90,89,98,4174,755],"class_list":["post-500466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-calder-memorial-trophy","tag-calder-trophy","tag-ivar-stenberg","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-nhl-awards","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-news","tag-sj-sharks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500466","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=500466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}