FIREWORKS: San Jose Sharks Recall Igor Chernyshov to Replace Will Smith, What Happens NEXT?

FIREWORKS: San Jose Sharks Recall Igor Chernyshov to Replace Will Smith, What Happens NEXT?

After much anticipation, we have finally arrived at the fireworks factory. Igor Sherneshoff has been recalled. You're Locked on Sharks, your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks, part of the [music] Locked On Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome to Locked On Sharks, the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area. My name is JD Young, caretaker at the Reef, also the co-host of Locked on NHL. I want to thank you for making the Locked On Sharks your first listen, proudly part of the Lock Network, the number one sports podcast network, where we cover your team every day. And if you want to be in every day, all you have to do is just follow along wherever you get podcasts. And of course you can watch on YouTube as well. And today we're going to be talking about Will Smith and Kersev being sent to IR. Eigor Shernish and Ethan Cardwell getting recalled. Uh we're going to dive into Igor Shernes and what to expect with him and then talk about where Shernov and Cardwell fit on this team right now as the Sharks try to kind of go through some of these injuries here. So, before we get to all that, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fan.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. So, um, of course, the, you know, a plethora of news coming out today. The Sharks had another day off, two days off, which you could kind of expect, right, with, uh, one, the injuries that they dealt with, two, a very long road trip. Uh they also had a cancelled practice before this road trip uh that you have to make up because you can only have you have to have x amount of off days uh throughout uh you know a month and throughout a season. So uh the sharks uh you know moving that uh that off day basically into uh into today. So uh we still don't have the you know what it actually is with both uh Sherneshot or not with Shern with Kersev and Will Smith but both of players have been placed on IR. So they will mix miss at minimum the next three games here. So uh the Calgary game uh the Stars game and the Kraken game. These guys will be out for a minimum of those three games. So, uh, and we kind of expected this, right? And especially with Will Smith's injury, right? And again, we don't know what it is. Uh, we're just speculating at this point of what it could be with with Will Smith, but we had a feeling this one is probably going to take a little bit longer than the Kershv one. And with the Sharks being in a bit of a roster crunch right now, especially with the forwards, it would make sense to place both of these guys on IR to try to get uh some, you know, recalls here to try to kind of get players who fit their roles a little bit better, right? you you assume uh Sherneshave is going to take the the Will Smith role and uh Cardwell, you know, more likely to kind of fill in for or at least allow a guy like Godette to maybe move up into the Kersh role and let Cardwell kind of play in that bottom six role. But um with Will Smith, right, and I I think that of course is the big concern and and how long is he going to be out? And um you know, it's again, we don't know. It could be as something, you know, maybe it's an AC joint, maybe it's a, as we talked about last time, it could be a shoulder separation. And so the timeline here is still really murky on when we should expect to see Will Smith back. Um, you know, I'm not holding my breath at this point of any time soon. You know, I think if he's back before the Olympic break, uh, which is, you know, the beginning of February, I think that's, you know, again, like I'm kind of preparing myself for worst case or on the worst side, uh, scenario for this, especially with remember how quickly how he reacted where he basically just got up, skated off, uh, the ice and and basically wasn't seen again. Um, I'm just mentally preparing for that. And I do think that with bringing Shernes up, uh, a guy who is kind of projected to be a long-term top six role player, I think it shows that the Sharks also feel like it's probably going to be a little bit longer of a uh, injury with Will Smith and that you need someone who can be, you know, at least help fill in that role, right? if if Smith was out for, you know, a week or so, you know, maybe like go through this week and then you feel like, hey, you know, Smith should be back, maybe you're more inclined to bring up a guy who, you know, and like just kind of look around your roster and be like, hey, you know, I think maybe if Skinner gets a little bit extra minutes here or, you know, if Godette gets a little bit extra minutes here, you know, some of if Colin Graph gets a little bit extra minutes here, maybe we can kind of help fill in that role, you for a little bit and we'll be okay for a week or so, right? Um, but to me, the the fact that you went into the reserves and brought up a guy like Igor Sherneshave, who, you know, is projected to be a long-term top six guy and brought him up to kind of, you know, potentially play this role. I think it speaks that they they're preparing for some time without Will Smith here. Um, which again with the way he that injury went, right, and the way he reacted. That's my uh that's my assumption there. So, Kersev, we don't know, right? Remember, he kind of went face first into the boards there. Um, he kind of sat on the bench and looked like he was trying to kind of shake the cobwebs there. Um, still they're just, you know, upper body injury is probably what I assume the designation's going to be. uh you know my always saying right if it looks like a duck sounds like a duck it's probably concussion and the way again just he was sitting on the bench and uh trying to kind of figure out things I wonder if he got yanked to the back for the spotter uh especially when you go face first into the boards there um I wonder if they you know got brought him back there the spotter and maybe he failed the concussion protocol so again don't know what with Kersha but um the assumption if it is something like that it tends tends to be a little bit quicker of a a turnaround or a recovery for Kersev. So, uh and I still, you know, with with him, right, uh he's done a great job of kind of playing up and down the lineup here. Uh I think that the Sharks with Kersev, if he's going to be back on a quicker route and maybe a little bit quicker recovery. Uh that's why maybe you see a guy like I guess maybe you see a guy like um you know uh Graph or God who's played pretty well or maybe see one of these guys kind of get first crack to fill in for that middle six role or maybe even Cardwell himself kind of fill into this uh middle six role here a little bit. So, um I'm not as worried about him. Uh I think that was just kind of, you know, that was that was a, you know, just bad bad luck type of play with him just kind of crashing into the boards like that. Um, but I mean as not as great as that win was on on Saturday, especially with the comeback, losing two, you know, key forwards and two guys who are actually both playing on the top line with Cellabrini. Uh, like the Sharks are definitely, you can kind of tell, I think, a little bit in scramble mode here to try to kind of uh get some talent back here. And I've had people ask, well, why didn't you just bring up, you know, why didn't you bring back Michael Misa and stuff? Well, one, right, he's loaned out to team US, team Canada, and I think they want him to get that experience over there playing, you know, he's probably going to be the topline center. He's probably going to be playing big- time minutes over there in all situations. And two, remember like the Sharks are still juggling the Misa contract, right? And as soon as Michael Misa plays that 10th NHL game, his contract kicks in, his ELC contract kicks in and then the Sharks are over contracts, right? And he's at seven games right now. So, um, if he plays those games, you know, especially if he plays these next couple games, um, the Sharks would be forced to make a move contractwise and have to dump a contract. and you know whether and now one of those guys that you might potentially move like like a guy like Venita Deornese you know he's still injured right now uh you know you have two forwards who are hurt right now I think the Sharks just wanted to be able to kind of handle this and give themselves a little bit of time and not kind of yo continue to yo-yo Michael Misa here and let him just let him go play let him go have a good time let him go dominate where I think he's going to be one of the best players ers in the entire tournament and just let's continue to kick the contract can down the road uh for for San Jose here. So u we're going to talk about Igor Shernish here and um if you have not watched Igor Shernes, what to kind of expect with him. Uh then we're going to kind of talk about line combinations and what to kind of expect for both Shernes and Cardwell with the Sharks. um as they are, you know, both of these guys are up here and why you should be excited about one Shernaw, but also be really excited about Cardwell uh as he is a a perfect bottom six forward for San Jose. So, uh we'll get to that here in just one second. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You're not just watching the game, you're reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place live bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot, a defense tightens up, or the momentum flips after a turnover. FanDuel lets you jump into the moment. Live spreads and money lines adjust instantly and player props update as a guy heats up. Uh, I still like again Christian McCaffrey continues to score touchdowns. Uh, Christian McCaffrey anytime touchdown feels like a really good time to me as the NerSh continue to make that playoff push. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Thank you for making Locked On Sharks your first listen of the day. And thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. If you're a true Diehard Sharks fan, the Everyday All Access tier is built for you. You get one-on-one text access with me, all access episodes, an exclusive newsletter, and 15% discount to the Locked Onch store. Head over to locked onsharks.supcast supercast to join the everyday club and unlock all access. You can also find the link in the show notes. All right, so Igor Sherneshov and you know we we've talked plenty about Igor Shernov here and um you know especially through his time with with the Spirit um last year playing with Sagenov Spirit where he dominated the OHL. Uh you know we've talked about him you know a fair amount here with the Barracuda. is off to a really hot start with a barracuda and is well worth, you know, being a call up for San Jose here. So, um, if you had never watched or don't really know too much about about Chernos, you know, I thought it'd be a good time just to kind of a nice refresher of, you know, he who I shave is and how he kind of got here, right? So, uh, Shernoff of course was was picked in the 2024 draft. He was 33rd overall. Uh the first pick of the second round by the San Jose Sharks. He was projected to be kind of like a top n top 20 pick. You know, a lot of people had him uh kind of in the teens there, late teens. And I I never did a draft profile on him because I just never thought he was going to be there, right? If you remember, the Sharks had the 14th pick and they they traded up to get the 11th pick right before the draft and the Sharks had the 33rd pick. So I I just with Sherneshave where his range was, I just didn't think he was um a viable option for San Jose. Well, uh it turns out that before the draft, right, of course he had the uh infamous sunburn uh when he was in as they brought a lot of the Russian prospects to Florida. He forgot his sunscreen, got burn sunburnts, and wasn't able to to skate. And then also he needed shoulder surgery, so he missed the first half of last season. So, um, Eager Shernov though has been playing this year with the San Jose Barracuda. Uh, he's 25 games. He's got 11 goals, 12 assists for 50 with 51 shots on goal. He leads uh the Barracuda in points this season, goals and points this season. Uh, and he is among the AHL leaders uh when it comes to uh production this year. I think he's uh fourth right now. Yes, fourth uh with 23 points in 25 games. Uh only Quinn Hudson, Nick Leeras, who are both actually just recently been recalled. Uh Matt V greeting uh with Calgary are ahead of him uh so far. So he's in very good company and uh you know Shernov who just turned 20 in November uh you know I think is a little bit younger than than those other guys there. So, um, Sherneshave was, uh, you know, picked or he was expected to be kind of 19th, uh, when you go back to his, he was ranked 19th by elite prospects going back to his draft year. Uh, he's 6'2, uh, 196 pounds at the time. Uh, right-handed shot from Russia. Uh, known for his motor, hammer, and fearlessness. And if you watch Sherneshaw play, you see all of those um, traits. So, uh, his elevator pitch, a hardworking power forward who excels at creating chances off the rush, it dominates when play becomes physical. The great thing about Igor Shernes, um, watching him and kind of his path is he played in the the KHL, uh, which of course is the men's uh, Russian adult league. Um, and there he he was usually kind of playing bottom six minutes. And a lot of time when you see guys play in those bottom six minutes um they don't really do much because these guys aren't really used to playing that kind of bottom six role. With Sherneshaw though, he thrived in that bottom six role with uh over in the KHL and um they they say like he has a great mix of the soft skills, right, where he could like Shernov can de shoot and pass with with many of them, you know, with but his ability to play that hard checking grinded out style of hockey, that's where he learned that and that's those skills and those details set him apart at this age, rate. He is very advanced compared to his peers when it comes to playing that style of game. Uh where if you want if you want to get into a grinded out along the board style is defensive play, he's already like kind of ahead of most other players his age because he had to do it to survive in the KHL. Um, of course, right, he gets out of his KHL contract, comes over uh and plays over in the OHL last year, uh, where he played with with Michael Misa. He was line with Michael Misa on Sagenov and he dominated, right? Uh, 55 points in 23 games, including 19 goals and 36 assists. Uh, came over, played some time with the Barracuda after that was, you know, him and Musty were kind of in and out of the lineup. And uh you know I know some people were like we didn't do much last year. It's it's hard to kind of get thrown into that especially with the Barracud at the time where um very much like in the playoff hunt and they were trying to intergate integrate some of these guys at that time. So this year right he's been fully integrated and and has been a huge part of of what the Barracuda have done. and you're seeing that production and that talent wi with Chernoshave. Um looking at at Byron Bader his star probability for uh Shernave they have 89% uh likelihood to be an NHL player which is play over 200 uh games and a 53% star player which is basically score at.7 points per game as a forward. um you know [snorts] uh hockey advanced hockey stats I think is now hockey stats with like JF fresh in them um 97% chance to be an NHLer which is a basically playing um 200 games as a positive wins above replacement player and 39% chance to be a star player which is uh basically you're like a first line type of production wins above replacements uh type of player but you've seen especially the you know the draft plus year one year like really take off with him because of what he did even in a short amount of time with with um with Sagenol. I think though with Shernes watching him and especially with the Barracuda rights is uh his ability to kind of as weird like he's almost like a jackof alltrades type of player but he's really good at it, right? Um his ability to shoot like he has a a wicked shot. He love like you can see him getting out and getting um you know going in the transition and he has like a a a ridiculous not shot. Uh he had a a beautiful goal a couple games ago uh where he just sniped one like he's going down the left wing and just kind of curls in just a little bit and just whizzes it past the goalie like no chance there. One of like just an absolute rocket of a shot. Uh his ability though, his vision, um he loves setting up those back door plays. And if you basically watch any Misa Sherneshov highlights, you're going to see a lot of Michael Misa hanging out of the crease and Shernov finding him. Uh even with uh like Phil got a game-winning goal the other night in overtime with the Barracuda, Shernes with those cross ice back door plays to set him up. His vision is very good. uh and he's really good at finding those type of plays. So guy if you know if if we'll talk about kind of where he fits in here, but you could see if he's potentially placed with a guy like to Foley or or Alex Wenberg or Jeff Skinner who are really good in front of the net. Shernershaw could be a type of guy who feeds those players and they could potentially get some uh nice easy goals there. Um, but one of the the great things that we've seen with Shernershave as of late with his development is he's been getting PK time um on the Barracuda. And that's always a a really good sign with the Sharks if how close you're getting ready to be called up is if you're getting PK time because that's kind of that final step um is is if your defensive game is is to that point where you're able to be relied on to to help kill penalties. And over the past couple like a week or so, Sherneshave has been getting a a healthy dose of PK time. I don't expect him to play PK with the Sharks, but just to kind of help round out that defensive game as he gets ready to get called up here. So, um, Sherov is a very exciting prospect and just does something a little bit different, um, than what we see with like guys like Will Smith and Eklan and Melabrini. just a kind of a different body type and uh he is he's just he's a man among children for a guy who's only 20. He is a big boy who plays big boy hockey. So we're going to talk about where he projects to kind of slide in here. Uh what I would do uh noted idiot as I am, where I would kind of put him. Uh we'll also talk about Cardwell as the Sharks uh you know get ready to play Calgary on Tuesday. So we'll get to that here in just one second. You just realized your business need to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job posting on other sites. Indeed sponsor jobs put your post at the top of the page and help you reach the right candidates faster. If you've ever been in a spot where you need to hire like yesterday, the pressure's on and every day without the right person is a setback. That's exactly when Indeed sponsor jobs come in handy. They make sure your post is seen by the right candidates right now. They can speed up your hiring process with a $75 sponsor job credit. Just go to indeed.com/hlockedon right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Did locked on Sharks make your Spotify wrapped? Prove it on social media to secure a free month of our brand new Everyday Club. Just tag our national locked on podcast network account on any social platform. They'll drop you a code. Be sure to join uh one of the first join the Everyday Club to get your favorite show ad free and exclusive access to the membersonly discord channel. All right, so where do Shernav and Cardwell fit in? Uh so let's we know we've been on Shaw so let's continue with that and I think you play on line one with me with with Minelbrini uh I think he is a projected top six player right and you look at kind of who the Sharks have that that are healthy and top six forwards is not great Bob uh it's not great so um you know you you have me or you have sorry not me you have Celibbrini right you have Ekkan you have Wenberg who's your 2C you got to who's you know been playing up there and kind of playing more middle six right now and and like that's kind of it um so what I would try to do here is I would probably actually go like um if you want to do maybe like Ekkan Cabrini Shern Chernishov, right? Because especially with the way Ecuin can protect the puck um and the way he can pass and Shernov who again has a really good shot and also has that ability to play off star players like we saw with him playing with Michael Misa, excuse me, and his ability to get in on the rush when playing with Cellrreeni. I actually kind of think you maybe load up on line one right now. Uh especially with when you're missing a guy like Will Smith. So maybe the Sharks just go full on line one here. Second line, then maybe you look at something more like Graph Wenberg to Foley where those guys are going to take more of a shutdown role at times [snorts] and then you can have uh to Foley continue to add some, you know, hopefully continue to add some more scoring pop as he's coming off a four-point game there. So that's where I I think and like I don't expect Sherneshaw to get in on power play one right away and especially as we we saw with Will Smith playing on on power play two. I know he got jumped up to power play one at times. But uh maybe they do that, but we know the Sharks have been a little bit more like we we saw with Misa right on power play one uh kind of or on power power play two there and then with the the hope that maybe Shernov can can kind of earn his way. So, I would expect the power play one to be pretty similar uh going forward, but Shernov should definitely be uh getting some time on power play two there as as the Sharks uh look to to kind of put him in a position to succeed. Um, as for Ethan Cardwell, you know, and uh Cardwell, you know, maybe he's more or especially if if you're asking more of Godette or Skinner, I think Cardwell is going to probably slide into that most likely that fourth line there uh with San Jose. And um you know, you have God, you have Dandri who are probably going to be you know, some like your h it's going to be a little tough there, right? Do you have Godette play your jump into his center role which he's been able to do before? Uh maybe you put Godet in the third line center and you move Deandria down which is like I would like to see but of course we're probably not going to see that. You also have Zachos stopchuck there who can kind of slide in as well. But uh we know with with Cardwell right he provides some scoring pop. He's an ace penalty killer. uh he was already giving penalty like getting big-time penalty kill opportunities uh with San Jose and other times being up in the NHL and I don't expect that to change much with Cardwell. So I expect him kind of third or fourth line here but I think he pro you know as you know I've been advocating for him for a while to kind of take that Barkley goodro spot away at some point and hopefully he can you know continue to do that. I know I like don't expect him to play center or anything like that. I don't think that's Cardwell's uh like he's not there and he hasn't really he doesn't even play center in in the AHL. He's more of a winger. But um he's going to come out, he's going to work hard and uh if you potentially got a like eventually a graph, I don't know, pick your center Cardwell line. like that'd be a really fun line that could uh play really well, play responsible defensively, but then also potentially get you uh some scoring rush too as well. So, um and I would I would love to see like we have the Deandria Graph pairing. I would love to see the Wenberg Cardwell pairing because Cardwell, he could provide some uh some shorthanded opportunities for you for a team that's, you know, really needs to kind of get a short its PK back on track here. I would love to see Cardwell get an opportunity to do that, especially with with Alex Wenberg, uh who we know is a staple on the PK, but um you should be excited. Like it sucks losing both Will Smith and Kersev. And to think that Shernov can can kind of step in right now and fill the role of of Will Smith. Like that's not realistic. Like let's be realistic here, right? Uh as Smith, right, we saw Smith take some time and then all of a sudden he started playing with Celabbrini like all the time and things really jelled with him. like don't expect Sherneshaw to kind of come in and just be a point per game player like we've seen from Will Smith this season. That that's not a realistic expectation. But I do think he does provide just something different, right, with his size and his uh strength. Even as a 20-year-old, he is a grown man who's been playing grown man hockey for a while. Uh like he's not going to get bullied or anything like that. like and he plays all out all the time. Like if you have not gotten a chance to watch Shernaw play um anything like other than the preseason or anything like that, like you're in for a treat with Shernaw because uh he this kid can play like this kid can play. So uh but yes, realistic expectations here like don't expect him to just kind of step in and and just kind of took take over for Will Smith or anything like that. So, and with Cardwell, like he's everyone's favorite scrappy six, you know, uh, bottom six guy, and I think he's going to continue to do that here. So, you know, as much as it sucks, it sucks losing Smith and Kersev, I think I I really like the choices that they made to bring up uh here to try to kind of help fill those roles. So, uh, we'll be back tomorrow. We'll have a preview to get you ready for the Flames game. And, of course, we'll have a reaction to said Flames game uh here at Locked On Sharks. Make sure you're following along wherever you get podcasts. And of course, you can watch on YouTube as well. Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and on Tik Tok at Locked OnSharks. Follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky at my fryhole. Uh until tomorrow. Bye, friends.

San Jose Sharks shake up their roster as Igor Chernyshov and Ethan Cardwell earn recalls amid injuries to Will Smith and Philipp Kurashev. With Smith and Kurashev on IR and the team navigating a challenging stretch, the Sharks’ forward lines enter a critical transition—can these call-ups provide the spark San Jose needs to weather the storm?

JD Young covers what Chernyshov brings to the lineup after dominating with the Barracuda, highlighting his power-forward game, scoring touch, and potential chemistry with Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund. Plus, Cardwell’s hard-nosed bottom-six role and penalty-killing prowess could help steady the ship. Hear which lines might get reshuffled, how the Sharks are managing Michael Misa’s contract, and why these roster moves could shape the team’s trajectory heading into must-win matchups against the Flames, Stars, and Kraken.

Timestamps:
00:00 Sharks Updates and FanDuel Promo
03:36 Will Smith’s Injury Timeline Unclear
06:58 Sharks Scrambling to Fill Holes
11:21 Igor Chernyshov: Sharks Prospect Highlights
14:28 Igor Chernyshov: Versatile Power Forward
18:35 Misa and Chernyshov’s Dynamic Playmaking
23:30 Sharks Line Strategy Analysis
24:47 Ethan Cardwell’s Role in San Jose

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