Let’s not read too much into a late in the pre-season offensive explosion in Las Vegas.

A young San Jose Sharks squad upset a veteran Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

Ethan Cardwell dropped a hat trick, Egor Afanasyev added another goal, and Pavol Regenda had four primary assists.

For sure, waiver-exempt prospect Cardwell, along with Afanasyev and Regenda, neither waiver-exempt, are making things interesting for the San Jose Sharks’ opening night roster.

But shades of Danil Gushchin’s 2022 pre-season hat trick at T-Mobile Arena, and Gushchin’s five-assist pre-season performance in Vegas last year, let’s not pencil Cardwell, Afanasyev, or Regenda into the Oct. 9 line-up just yet.

While Cardwell, Afanasyev, and Regenda have all had strong training camps, it’s still hard to see them among the Sharks’ 13 or 14 opening night forwards.

It’s not just about one outlier game or one solid camp though.

Putting an emphasis on high-end talent and/or being trusted by the coaching staff, I still believe Adam Gaudette, Alex Wennberg, Barclay Goodrow, Collin Graf, Jeff Skinner, Macklin Celebrini, Philipp Kurashev, Ryan Reaves, Ty Dellandrea, Tyler Toffoli, Will Smith, and William Eklund are still ahead of Cardwell, Afanasyev, and Regenda on the depth chart.

That’s 12 forwards.

There’s still every reason to believe that 2025 No. 2 pick Michael Misa, who had an up-and-down performance against the Golden Knights, will get at least a nine-game audition with the big club. Like Will Smith last year, the Sharks hope that Misa’s immense talent and smarts will help him adapt quickly to the best league in the world, despite the 18-year-old’s underdeveloped physical attributes.

“Steady improvement, similar to Will and Mack,” Warsofsky said, of what he hopes from Misa this season. “He’ll go through his bumps in the road, and he’ll have to learn from it.”

That’s 13 forwards.

My projection, the Sharks opt for eight defensemen, Vincent Desharnais, Sam Dickinson, Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg, Nick Leddy, Timothy Liljegren, Shakir Mukhamadullin, and Dmitry Orlov for their opening night roster.

Along with goalies Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic, that’s a 23-man opening night roster.

Cardwell, 23, can seize a starring role on a young San Jose Barracuda. He’ll get other opportunities this season to prove that he’s an everyday NHL’er. Best guess, Afanasyev and Regenda (and defenseman Jack Thompson) will pass through waivers.

There is a path for Cardwell, a la Collin Graf, to prove to the coaching staff that he belongs in the best league in the world.

But, best guess once again, not on opening night.

The Sharks have one more pre-season contest before the regular season, at Utah on Saturday.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on how the youngest San Jose Sharks like Sam Dickinson, Michael Misa, Quentin Musty, and Cam Lund fared in a tough Vegas environment:

They had their moments. I liked Dicky’s game. He looks really comfortable out there. I thought the other three had their moments where you see the potential of what they’re going to be someday. Obviously, they’re not there yet, but they’re getting comfortable, playing with this pace.

They worked really hard. There’s obviously things to work on, things that we’ll look at the film. But all of them did some things that you like, and there’s some things we got to work on.

Warsofsky, obviously, had praise for Cardwell, Regenda & Afanasyev tonight.

Dickinson stood out for him among the very young #SJSharks (also Misa/Musty/Lund).

Liljegren, Cagnoni & Nedeljkovic were top of mind for him too.

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 4, 2025

Warsofsky, on what will help keep Michael Misa in the NHL this season:

I think steady improvement, similar to Will and Mack. He’ll go through his bumps in the road, and he’ll have to learn from it.

It’s going to probably come down to the pace of the game. Do we feel comfortable playing him in an NHL environment, where the pace is extremely high, and you have to think and react in a split second? It’s a really big jump from the OHL.

Listen, he’s gonna be a really special player.

We’ll see how it takes over these next couple days and see where we fall with it.

It’s gonna come down to pace. He’s picked some things up, and there’s still some improvement that needs to continue to develop in some areas.

Egor Afanasyev

Afanasyev, on how San Jose Sharks players stood up for each other today:

It’s part of the game. Every team that has success, I think all the guys are close and they stand up for each other. One guy gets hit or something bad, another guy [has] gotta come in the scrum. Give it back, because we can’t be having the guys running around because that brings a lot of momentum [to the other team]. By shutting it down, you shut down momentum right away.

Ethan Cardwell

Cardwell, on Regenda’s game:

He’s a workhorse. He’s a big body. He likes to work. He goes to the dirty areas, gets to the front of the net, and that’s where he gets most of his offense. He’s got offensive touch too. So all those attributes play well into his game.

Pavol Regenda

Regenda, on the San Jose Sharks’ impending roster decision on him:

Not in my hands anymore, I’m trying to just do the best on the ice…Whatever decision will come, I’ll accept it, and I’ll just keep on working.

Regenda, on retrieving his own dump-in, which led to Cardwell’s second goal:

I knew that I cannot outskate the guy, because he had good speed…I just tried to put it deep, like bounce it for myself, and tried to go get it. I just [got] it, turned it up, and I saw Ethan coming full speed. He was lined up for a one-timer, so I just gave it to him. He had absolute bombs today.