The San Jose Sharks have made a surprise forward swap this morning, sending Rourke Chartier down to the San Jose Barracuda and recalling Dylan Gambrell from the ‘Cuda to take his place.
The choice to flip their young centers before tonight’s tilt against the St. Louis Blues seems to be an effort to give each of them a much needed spark. Chartier has been scratched with regularity this season, and when he does play he’s struggled to earn a lot of ice time. Take Thursday’s game against the Maple Leafs, where he played a team low 5:39 minutes and took an elbowing penalty in the second period.
As for Gambrell, after starting his AHL career with three goals and two assists in his first two games, points have been much harder to come by since. In his last six games with the Barracuda, Gambrell has just one assist, and another go with the mother club could be just the tonic for that.
In terms of what this means for tonight’s game, Gambrell will likely make his second appearance of the season, as Tomas Hertl is not expected to return from his lower body injury. According to Fear the Fin insider Sheng Peng, he took the line rushes this morning centering the fourth-line between Barclay Goodrow and Melker Karlsson.
#SJSharks morning skate line rushes suggest Hertl will not play:
Pavelski-Couture-Meier
Sorensen-Thornton-Labanc
Kane-Suomela-Donskoi
Goodrow-Gambrell-KarlssonRyan-Burns
Dillon-Karlsson
Vlasic-Braun— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 17, 2018
Chartier will likely make his grand return to the Barracuda tomorrow night, when they take on the Colorado Eagles at the SAP Center. In his previous two seasons with the ‘Cuda, the Saskatoon native had 56 points over 95 games.