After a successful preseason and camp, the San Jose Sharks have announced their opening night roster for their Oct. 16 home opener.
The good news? The rookies made the cut, with William Eklund, Jasper Weatherby and Santeri Hatakka, along with other younger players like Jonathan Dahlen and Lane Pederson listed on the roster.
The bad news? There’s a big name missing from the list: Nikolai Knyzhov. The Sharks have been mum on why Knyzhov has been absent from training camp beyond an injury, but he’ll most likely be put on IR or LTIR soon. He’ll be a player we’ll be keeping an eye on as more details emerge on his absence. Jeffrey Viel is also on the injured reserve list.
As for Evander Kane, he’s exempt from the roster, by being listed as a “non-roster member,” due to the pending NHL investigation into claims of abuse and submitting a fake vaccination card. It’s unclear if his salary will count against the cap, which is a question that should be answered once the team has a better idea of how long the investigation will take and when a resolution should be reached. For now, the Sharks are able to proceed without Kane.
Here’s the opening night roster:
Forwards
Rudolfs Balcers, Alexander Barabanov, Nick Bonino, Andrew Cogliano, Logan Couture, Jonathan Dahlen, William Eklund, Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, Matt Nieto, Lane Pederson, Kevin Labanc, Jasper Weatherby
Defenders
Brent Burns, Mario Ferraro, Santeri Hatakka, Erik Karlsson, Jake Middleton, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Goaltenders
Adin Hill, James Reimer
The Sharks will play their first game of the regular season on Oct. 16 at SAP Center against the Winnipeg Jets. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET.
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