Sharks send Mukhamadullin, Raska, 12 others to AHL

The San Jose Sharks have made a new round of cuts following Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. According to CapFriendly, San Jose reassigned a dozen players to the AHL and added two others to the waiver wire for the purpose of sending them to the Barracuda.

The players sent to the minors include:

• Ozzy Wiesblatt, F
• Georgi Romanov, G
• Tristen Robins, F
• Adam Raska, F
• Shakir Mukhamadullin, D
• Eetu Makiniemi, G
• Gannon Laroque, D
• Danil Gushchin, F
• Brandon Coe, F
• Nick Cicek, D
• Magnus Chrona, G
• Ethan Cardwell, F

The Sharks also placed Scott Sabourin and Nathan Todd on waivers. If both players clear, they will be assigned to the Barracuda.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the group is Mukhamadullin, who has done plenty to impress the Sharks’ coaching staff and fans in this preseason. Head Coach David Quinn said last week he’s liked what he’s seen from Mukhamadullin, but the young defenseman needs some time to grow in the AHL.

“When you’re his size and still haven’t fully grown, you’re probably less apt to be as physical as you want to be because you don’t have a lot of confidence you’re going to win these battles,” said Quinn before the Sept. 26 game against the Anaheim Ducks. “So, as we talked about as a group, picture this guy in three years, what he’s gonna look like and how much more aggressive he’s gonna be able to be to win his battles.”

On the goaltending side of things, Chrona and Romanov showed skill in their preseason starts. However, they both have things they will need to work on before they get a shot at the NHL. Makiniemi was the only goaltender who did not get time in a preseason game, but it’s possible the team is taking things slow with his injury recovery and hoping to see what he can do when the San Jose Barracuda play its two preseason games on Oct. 6 & 7 against the Bakersfield Condors.

Players left at Sharks training camp

The Sharks needed to make cuts to comply with NHL training camp rules. However, with several potentially key players injured, there’s a little more room for flexibility.

I have not seen anything about Justin Bailey or Tanner Kaspick, both of whom were on professional tryouts with the team. I’m guessing that they were released, but I won’t say that they were until I see it somewhere else or hear it at training camp.

Also, there is no official word on what’s happened with Quentin Musty and Mitchell Russell. Both have been injured for most of the training camp. It’s possible the team hopes they will still be ready to play in at least one game to get experience, but neither is expected to factor into the Sharks’ lineup this season so no harm, no foul either way.

Other than the ones mentioned above, the following players are left at camp:

Forwards (17) – Alexander Barabanov, Thomas Bordeleau, Ryan Carpenter, Logan Couture, Anthony Duclair, William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Tomas Hertl, Mike Hoffman, Luke Kunin, Kevin Labanc, Oskar Lindblom, Jacob Peterson, Givani Smith, Nico Sturm, Filip Zadina and Fabian Zetterlund

Defensemen (13) – Matt Benning, Kyle Burroughs, Ty Emberson, Mario Ferraro, Leon Gawanke, Nikolai Knyzhov, Jacob MacDonald, Nikita Okhotiuk, Valtteri Pulli, Jan Rutta, Radim Simek, Henry Thrun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic

Goaltenders (2) – Mackenzie Blackwood and Kaapo Kahkonen

Among the players left, several are dealing with injury.

• Logan Couture still has not skated since he talked to the media about a lower-body injury a few weeks ago. According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, the hope is that he’ll get back on the ice sometime this week.
• Mikael Granlund still has not played since he was scratched ahead of the Sept. 26 game against the Anaheim Ducks.
• Filip Zadina was injured during the Sept. 27 game against the Ducks when he was hit in the waning minutes of the game. He has not played since, though Peng reports that he was back on the ice practicing on Sept. 30.
• Fabian Zetterlund was also on the ice practicing that day, according to Peng. Zetterlund was injured during the third period of the Sept. 26 game against the Ducks.
• Valtteri Pulli has not played for most of training camp. So far, there is no update from the team on his condition.
• Jan Rutta left the Sept. 30 game after taking a hit that knocked his head into the glass. So far, there’s no update on his condition.
• Radim Simek was injured in the first period of the Sept. 27 game and had to be helped off the ice.

With four forwards and three defensemen injured, some players may be getting a longer look at training camp than they normally would have if the entire lineup were healthy.

Of the players left, four are waivers exempt – Thomas Bordeleau, William Eklund, Valtteri Pulli and Henry Thrun.

The rest would have to clear waivers if the team wanted to send them down to the Barracuda.