The San Jose Sharks might have more than opening night roster decisions.

Has Alex Nedeljkovic played his way to be opening night starter?

Nedeljkovic has let in just one goal in two pre-season starts, to the tune of a .981 Save %.

Presumed starter and top prospect Yaroslav Askarov, after giving up six goals in a 6-4 loss to the Utah Mammoth in the Sharks’ pre-season finale, surrendered 11 goals with an .864 Save % in three starts.

Small sample size, Askarov isn’t entirely to blame, but it’s an interesting decision for San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky.

“We’ll make that decision late Wednesday night,” Warsofsky said.

The Sharks open the season against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.

I don’t think there’s really a right answer here.

Nedeljkovic has been better in camp, for sure, but also you shouldn’t judge Askarov too harshly because of basically one really bad period.

Anyway, opening night is largely more symbolic than anything. It’s a marathon this season for Askarov, not a sprint.

If he’s not the San Jose Sharks’ starter by the end of the season, that will be more of a concern.

Adam Gaudette, Tyler Toffoli, Goodrow, and Will Smith scored for the Sharks.

Post-game, Warsofsky spoke about his fourth line’s consistency, and how Ethan Cardwell and Sam Dickinson fared in their last roster audition. Macklin Celebrini talked about his pre-season debut and Gaudette shared the Sharks’ plans over these next two off-days.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on Yaroslav Askarov’s performance:

I thought he battled. I got to give him credit. He battled. Probably not the start he wanted. I think he hung in there and he battled.

Warsofsky, on if there’s a question as to who his opening night starter is:

We will wait. We’ll make that decision late Wednesday night.

Warsofsky, on the Ryan Reaves-Gaudette-Goodrow line, which has spent all of camp together:

Heavy, hard, win pucks, physicality. They’ve been our most consistent line, and it’s not even close.

Warsofsky, on Ethan Cardwell and Sam Dickinson’s games:

I thought Cards played well. Tough situation, back-to-back with the flights.

I thought Dickie was just OK. He struggled a little bit moving pucks. To be expected, the kid’s been through the wringer here. Three weeks here with rookie tournament, the travel.

He’ll be fine. We’ll continue to work with him. Just was a little off tonight. We’ll continue to work with him. We’re excited for his future.

Macklin Celebrini

Celebrini, on what the San Jose Sharks have to do to create more consistent offense:

Just taking care of the puck. We just need to play a consistent game where we’re playing simple, we’re getting behind them, we’re causing turnovers. That’s when we had all of our momentum.

Celebrini says he feels good after his pre-season tune-up, he sounds ready to go this season.

Was pleased to end his pre-season with a shootout goal: “Something I worked on that I was not very good at last year, so it was nice to get one.”

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 5, 2025

Adam Gaudette

Gaudette, on what’s working for his line:

I love playing with those guys so far. They both work really hard, and they win battles.

Reavo is one of, if not the toughest guy in the league, so he creates a lot of space out there. Goody’s out there, winning battles.

They’re both great on draws, helping out.

I think as a line, we just keep it really simple, keep the puck moving ahead. If we have to put it in space, at least we know we’re going to create a battle and win the battle. I think our game is just feeding off each other, and we’re just trying to get it to the net and play hard.

#SJSharks have next two days off, Gaudette says team will get together, go golf, get to know each other better.

Back to practice on 10/7 with the opening night roster

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 5, 2025