Thursday Sharks Links: Torres still has ‘a long way to go’ before returning to lineup

Raffi Torres was seen skating on his own before his teammates took the ice for Wednesday’s practice but Todd McLellan doesn’t expect the injured Sharks forward to be back in the lineup anytime soon. [Mercury News]
Speaking of that practice, Joe Thornton, coming off a shoulder injury, and Mirco Mueller, currently on injured reserve with a wrist injury, did not participate. Andrew Desjardins, who didn’t play against the Coyotes due to the birth of his son, was present. [CSN Bay Area]
After a brutally road-heavy schedule to the start the season, the Sharks are about to embark on their longest homestand of the year as they’ll play their next seven games at the Tank. McLellan unsurprisingly sees this stretch as key. [Mercury News]
Three of the Sharks’ most important young players have been embroiled in sophomore slumps of varying degrees this season and the team will need more out of Tomas Hertl, Matt Nieto and Alex Stalock going forward. [CSN Bay Area]
Tuesday’s game in Arizona was a good start as Hertl centered what was easily the Sharks’ best line featuring Tye McGinn and Tyler Kennedy. With Desjardins returning to the lineup tonight, McLellan has a difficult decision to make regarding whether or not to keep that line together. [CSN Bay Area]
Less than 24 hours after losing to the Sharks, goaltender Devan Dubnyk was shipped from Arizona to Minnesota for a 3rd round pick. [Pro Hockey Talk]
Toronto gave up two goals to Anaheim on the same sequence (luckily for them, only one counted) last night. [Eye On Hockey]
Got an extra $17 lying around? Apparently you can spend it on the very shirt featuring a celebratory John Scott than John Scott himself was photographed wearing. [Big Cartel]/

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