January 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s a big guy, can get in there, win pucks,\u201d San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said, about the potential promotion.<\/p>\n
Regenda, 26, is just taking it one day at a time. He\u2019s played 23 NHL games over parts of three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks and Sharks, spending most of his pro North American hockey career in the AHL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to get another chance and I\u2019m gonna enjoy it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With the San Jose Barracuda, Regenda had a front row seat for another Sharks teammate who\u2019s currently seizing his NHL opportunity.<\/p>\n
In just eight games with the San Jose Sharks since his mid-December recall, Igor Chernyshov has taken the best league in the world by storm, with three goals and five assists.<\/p>\n
Regenda hasn\u2019t been surprised by Chernyshov\u2019s ascension.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was really good in every aspect, power play, penalty kill, five-on-five [in the AHL] so he deserved it and he got a chance,\u201d Regenda said. \u201cI feel like they\u2019re happy with him and he looks really good out there. What he\u2019s doing here, he was doing in Barracuda too, right? So I feel like I\u2019m not surprised at all. He deserves pretty much everything he [gets]. I\u2019m happy for him, he\u2019s a young kid playing the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Regenda looks forward, he\u2019s awaiting news on potentially representing Slovakia in the Olympic Games for the second time. He played for his country during the 2022 Olympics and posted a goal and three assists in his seven games, helping lead Slovakia to their first-ever medal at the event, as they took home bronze.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an unbelievable experience, but unfortunately, it was [during] COVID. So it [had] a quarantine. The village was closed, so we couldn\u2019t even see the city,\u201d Regenda recalled. \u201cWe came home as a heroes. That was big. We had a parade, [an] open bus. [It seemed like all of] Slovakia [came to] group up on the the main street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slovakia is expected to name their roster on January 8<\/a>, and Regenda should make it.<\/p>\n\u201cI feel like it\u2019s every year, if it\u2019s Olympics [or the] World Championships, for those two or three weeks, all of Slovakia stops. Everybody is just into hockey,\u201d Regenda said, joking, \u201cWe have many coaches off of the ice. Everybody thinks he\u2019s the coach, but it\u2019s funny. Slovakia stops and everybody loves hockey. We\u2019re a big hockey country.\u201d<\/p>\n
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