SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks placed Nick Leddy on injured reserve, but will get another veteran defenseman back in the lineup Tuesday as John Klingberg returns after a six-game absence to face the Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center.

Leddy sustained an upper-body injury in the Sharks’ Oct. 23 game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden and was unable to play against the New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild to finish the team’s four-game trip.

Leddy was on the ice toward the end of the Sharks’ morning skate on Tuesday, and coach Ryan Warsofsky said the veteran is not expected to miss much more time. The Sharks finish their homestand with games against the Devils on Thursday, the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, and the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

“We don’t think it’s going to be very long,” Warsofsky said of Leddy. “So I would say I put him in that day-to-day category.”

With Leddy going on IR, the Sharks recalled center Patrick Giles from the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. The Sharks needed a center after Adam Gaudette was injured in Sunday’s game, a 6-5 win over the Wild on an overtime goal by Macklin Celebrini.

Warsofsky said Gaudette, who had three goals and an assist in his first nine games and is coming off a 19-goal season wth the Ottawa Senators, is still being evaluated but figures to be out longer than Leddy after he took a hit in Sunday’s game. The Sharks will know more about Gaudette’s status on Wednesday.

“He was playing well, especially after moving to the wing,” Warsofsky said of Gaudette’s recent move from center to the wing.

“He was good below the top of the circles, holding onto pucks, putting pucks to the net. A good guy in our dressing room who really helps these younger guys. What he’s done in his career, resurrecting his career here a little bit lately in this last year, and now he’s come here and given us some good minutes. We don’t think (he’ll be out) too long, but we’ll have a better feel (Wednesday).”

Klingberg has missed the last six games after he was injured in the Sharks’ Oct. 14 game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Before his injury, Klingberg had a goal and an assist in three games. He’ll be paired with Mario Ferraro on Tuesday as the Sharks look for back-to-back wins.

Klingberg was aiming to return for Friday’s game in New Jersey but had what he called a “hiccup” and was unable to play. The Sharks had a team day off Saturday, when Klingberg said the team was unable to find an available sheet of ice, effectively ruling him out of Sunday’s game with no morning skate.

Klingberg reiterated that his absence was not related to his surgically resurfaced hips, a procedure he had done in Dec. 2023.

“It’s been frustrating, for sure, because it’s not the hips. It’s just other stuff that’s been going on,” Klingberg said. “It’s obviously encouraging that it’s not the hips, but we’ll work every day to get better. Build day by day.”

Defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin, now on IR, was on the ice for Tuesday’s morning skate. Warsofsky said Mukhamadullin, who the Sharks said was injured during a practice in San Jose before the team left for the East Coast, is now considered day-to-day.

The Sharks will have to make some decisions about their defense corps if everyone can get healthy at the same time. On the active roster right now are Klingberg, Ferraro, Dmitry Orlov, Timothy Liljegren, Vincent Desharnais, Sam Dickinson, and Vincent Iorio.

If Leddy and Mukhamadullin are activated around the same time, and if the Sharks want to keep eight defensemen, they could place Iorio on waivers and try to assign him to the Barracuda.

A Sharks decision also looms regarding Dickinson, who will be playing in his eighth NHL game on Tuesday. If he plays in more than nine NHL games this season, the first year of his entry-level contract will begin. The Sharks could also trade a defenseman if everyone is healthy to alleviate the logjam.

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