It’s been a lost season for Shakir Mukhamadullin so far, but it’s not too late to find his game.
The new father, who missed practice on Friday for the birth of his first child, scored the game-winner in the Sharks’ 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, snapping his team’s five-game losing streak, and keeping them in the periphery of the playoff race. He also made the save of the game, stopping Jack Roslovic’s open-net bid in the first period.
But perhaps, more importantly, the 6-foot-4 blueliner was solid defensively and moved the puck assertively.
“Sees the ice well,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Good details with his stick.”
The question for Mukhamadullin, however, isn’t talent. The 2020 first-round pick is long, mobile, and better with the puck than without.
Instead, the question is consistency and health.
Mukhamadullin has been plagued by injuries, big and small, throughout his career. Just this season, Mukhamadullin has missed time because of three short-term injuries.
Consequently, Mukhamadullin has played just 27 games this season, notching four goals and eight points, while averaging 16:20 a night. He also has been healthy scratched with regularity though, not a consequence of his injuries.
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