With training camp officially opening tomorrow morning at Sharks Ice, the San Jose Sharks have finalized their initial camp roster by cutting eleven players including all of their 2014 draft picks save first-rounder Nikolay Goldobin and second-rounder Julius Bergman. Forwards Chris Crane, Jeremy Langlois and John McInnis along with defensemen Kyle Bigos, Brendan Ellis and Nick Jones were sent to Worcester Sharks training camp while 2014 picks Rourke Chartier, Kevin Labanc, Dylan Sadowy, Alex Schoenborn and Alexis Vanier were returned to their respective CHL clubs.
Combined with the release of rookie camp tryouts Tyson Baillie, Anthony DiFruscia, Danny Moynihan, Steven Trojanovic and Dalton Yorke earlier this week, that leaves the team with 51 total players heading to tomorrow’s camp, a number that will eventually be cut down to 23 (technically 24 including injured Raffi Torres) over the next two and a half weeks. Here’s your 2014 Sharks training camp roster broken down by position:
Forwards: Jimmy Bonneau, Gabryel Boudreau, Mike Brown, Adam Burish, Ryan Carpenter, Logan Couture, Andrew Desjardins, Petter Emanuelsson, Nikolay Goldobin, Barclay Goodrow, Michael Haley, Freddie Hamilton, Eriah Hayes, Tomas Hertl, Melker Karlsson, Tyler Kennedy, Bryan Lerg, Patrick Marleau, Tye McGinn, Matt Nieto, Travis Oleksuk, Joe Pavelski, Rylan Schwartz, John Scott, James Sheppard, Daniil Tarasov, Joe Thornton, Chris Tierney, Raffi Torres, Evan Trupp, Tommy Wingels
Defensemen: Konrad Abeltshauser, Julius Bergman, Justin Braun, Brent Burns, Dylan DeMelo, Jason Demers, Taylor Doherty, Taylor Fedun, Scott Hannan, Matt Irwin, Mirco Mueller, Matt Tennyson, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Gus Young
Goaltenders: J.P. Anderson, Aaron Dell, Troy Grosenick, Ben Meisner, Antti Niemi, Alex Stalock
Thornton, Marleau, Couture, Pavelski, Hertl, Nieto, Wingels, Sheppard, Desjardins, Kennedy, Vlasic, Burns, Braun, Demers, Irwin, Niemi and Stalock’s roster spots are assured while Brown, Burish, Scott and Hannan are (unfortunately) fairly safe to pencil into the final 23-man roster as well due to their contract statuses although it’s possible standout performances by younger players could force Doug Wilson to move some of those guys (the same probably applies to Kennedy as well).
Barring injuries or the demotion or trade of someone like Scott or Burish, that leaves room for one forward and one defenseman to make the club out of camp. McGinn, Hamilton, Tierney and Goldobin would appear to have the inside track to the spot up front while Mueller, Tennyson, Fedun, Doherty and Abeltshauser are all contenders on defense depending on which side of the blueline that opening eventually materializes. When group breakdowns are released sometime before tomorrow, we should get a better sense of the line combinations and defense pairings the coaching staff has in mind heading into camp and where exactly the openings at forward and defense ultimately lie.
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