Ducks at Sharks Preseason: Rosters, gamethread, where to watch

Preseason hockey: smells like teen spirit.

Hockey is (almost) back.

Tonight is the first of six games where we’ll start to get an idea of what the San Jose Sharks’ roster, as well as their competition, could look like on opening night. This preseason is particularly important for the Sharks, who — after signing Erik Karlsson to a hefty contract, off-season trades and allowing players to leave in free agency — will have several holes up front.

It’s not just the forwards who can make an impact: there’s also opportunity for a young defenseman or two, as Radim Simek is still skating in a no-contact jersey and the team traded veteran Justin Braun to the Philadelphia Flyers over the summer. Even goaltending could be up in the air, after the Sharks had one of the worst tandems in the league last season. Though the organization still seems committed to Martin Jones, a stand out performance from Josef Korenar or Antoine Bibeau has the potential to shake things up in net.

That all said, it’s just the preseason, where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.

Rosters

Sharks

Ducks

Where to watch

Puck drop is at 7 p.m. Pacific/10 p.m. Eastern at SAP Center in San Jose. This game will be streamed to those in-market on NBCSports California online here, or through the NBCS Authentic My Teams App. You can listen to an audio stream through the Sharks + SAP Center app.