{"id":442151,"date":"2026-02-02T22:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T22:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/442151\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T22:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T22:31:12","slug":"sharks-kurashev-returns-to-chicago-with-renewed-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/442151\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks&#8217; Kurashev Returns To Chicago With Renewed Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO \u2014 Philipp Kurashev returns to face his former team with the San Jose Sharks for the first time on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Kurashev will play his second game back from an <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/san-jose-sharks-kurashev-mukhamadullin-liljegren-regenda-injury-return\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">upper-body injury<\/a> against the Calgary Flames and will play the Chicago Blackhawks for the first time in his career. Kurashev played 349 career games for the Blackhawks after he was drafted in the 4th-round of the 2018 Draft.<\/p>\n<p>The Sharks forward took a day off in his former hometown and told reporters that walking around the city brought back many memories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of things, especially yesterday. Being back in the city and walking around and talking to some people, it brings back a lot of memories and great times, and, of course, also some hard times,\u201d Kurashev said. \u201c[I\u2019m] just really happy that I can play here tonight and see everyone. I\u2019m just going to try to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kurashev will play on the San Jose Sharks\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/san-jose-sharks-line-combinaitons\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">third line<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/tag\/michael-misa\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"730\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Misa<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/tag\/pavol-regenda\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"2419\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pavol Regenda<\/a>. He will also play on the Sharks\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Real_Max_Miller\/status\/2018381029543710998?s=20\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">second power play unit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"da\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SJSharks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#SJSharks<\/a> lines at morning skate v. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Blackhawks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Blackhawks<\/a>:<br \/>Smith-Celebrini-Toffoli<br \/>Eklund-Wennberg-Graf<br \/>Regenda-Misa-Kurashev<br \/>Goodrow-Gaudette-Reaves<\/p>\n<p>Orlov-Liljegren<br \/>Ferraro-Mukhamadullin<br \/>Dickinson-Desharnais<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Real_Max_Miller\/status\/2018379172448448800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p>Kurashev got the fresh start he was hoping for this summer with the San Jose Sharks. Although the forward didn\u2019t want to get into how last season\u2019s vibe with the Blackhawks compared to this season with the Sharks, he admitted things are better now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI definitely needed that to start the year,\u201d Kurashev said. \u201cBefore my injury, I was feeling really good and playing well. It\u2019s something I needed, and something I\u2019m glad I was able to get the opportunity to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Olympics are right around the corner for Kurashev. The Swiss National team member was thrilled to be able to come back and play before he leaves for Milan. But he also thinks the Olympics are another chance for him to get back to \u201cgame shape\u201d for the Sharks upon returning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I got injured, it was definitely on my mind. [I\u2019m] just glad that I get to get a couple of games in before I go there,\u201d Kurashev said. \u201cIt\u2019s also good that I can get those games at the Olympics, for when I come back, I\u2019ll also be in game shape. That\u2019s huge for me. I think the timing worked out at the end. It was a lot of hard moments and tough days, but I\u2019m glad it all worked out. Excited to be back playing with the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SHD asked Kurashev if he had a favorite restaurant in Chicago. The San Jose Sharks forward says he loves Gibsons Italia. He was able to get the lunch meal yesterday. He also told reporters he had never had deep-dish pizza before, despite playing in Chicago for so long.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Philipp Kurashev returns to face his former team with the San Jose Sharks for the first&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[3189,96,5,4,4525,519,168,5306,5305,1780,24660],"class_list":{"0":"post-442151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","9":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-philipp-kurashev","13":"tag-san-jose","14":"tag-san-jose-sharks","15":"tag-sanjose","16":"tag-sanjosesharks","17":"tag-sharks","18":"tag-sj-sharks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116003411710218003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}