Ryan Warsofsky was not thrilled with his fourth line in Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

“They were in their defensive zone a lot,” he said. “Starts with some details off of faceoffs, come into the defensive zone, closing, killing plays. They’re big guys; they can do that. We’ve seen that. We’re gonna have to clean some things up there.”

Cleaning up things for the San Jose Sharks, at least for one night, means scratching fourth-line center Zack Ostapchuk for the first time this season, and installing Ty Dellandrea in that role, against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. Barclay Goodrow and Adam Gaudette remain on the wings.

Sharks tools

Ostapchuk concedes that he wasn’t at his best against the Sabres (and also at the Boston Bruins last Saturday): “I just felt like I was in the wrong spots all night. It’s just one of those games.”

What was the message from the coaching staff to Ostapchuk?

“There’s more things he can do to impact the game in different levels,” Warsofsky said. “And we’ve talked to him about that. We’re on the same page.”

“Just being a little harder to play against, being a little more physical, bringing that back into my game,” Ostapchuk said.

The San Jose Sharks signed the 23-year-old center to a four-year, $9.4 million contract over the summer, so consider this just a little speed bump in his development.

“This is a guy that’s an important piece of our team. We need him,” Warsofsky said. “He’ll get a little bit of a reboot.”

So why Dellandrea at 4C?

For one thing, the Sharks are trying to shore up their defensive zone coverage, and 6-foot-2 Dellandrea, who was San Jose’s third-line center for a lot of last season, is perfectly capable of killing plays down low.

“We want to play more on our toes,” Warsofsky said. “That’s ultimately, we want to take away time and space quicker in the defensive zone. We’re just a second hesitant to maybe jump in there with numbers.”

Dellandrea is also, since the Nico Sturm trade, the Sharks’ best faceoff man, and whatever he lacks offensively, is a proven defensive forward.

“He understands what the job is. He played some really good hockey for us there down the stretch before he got injured last year. Helped us win some hockey games,” Warsofsky said. “He’s a right shot, a center that can help us win faceoffs. So there’s a little bit of that as well.”

San Jose Sharks (6-6-1)

Yaroslav Askarov draws the start.

The San Jose Sharks held an optional skate today, so they didn’t reveal lines.

But lines should be similar to what they ran in practice on Wednesday:

Stenberg-Celebrini-Graf
Marchment-Misa-Smith
Sherwood-Bystedt-Toffoli
Goodrow-Dellandrea-Gaudette

Dickinson-Trouba
Nurse-Allan
Orlov-Kesselring

Askarov

Warsofsky did confirm that Filip Bystedt will indeed make his NHL debut.

Bystedt says his family from Sweden should make it in time to Tank for his NHL debut. In the air now, should land in SFO soon

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 29, 2026

Vancouver Canucks (3-10-1)

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