{"id":449647,"date":"2026-02-07T00:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/449647\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T00:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:46:06","slug":"san-jose-sharks-hope-kiefer-sherwood-returns-soon-with-blackhawks-on-deck-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/449647\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks hope Kiefer Sherwood returns soon with Blackhawks on deck"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2013 San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky was complimentary<\/a> of both forward Philipp Kurashev and defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin in their first games back in the lineup after both spent multiple weeks<\/a> on injured reserve.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s at least one another injured player<\/a> who the Sharks could desperately use right now.<\/p>\n

While the Sharks activated both Kurashev and Mukhamadullin before their game against the Calgary Flames on Saturday, forward Kiefer Sherwood<\/a> remained on IR, with no specific indication of when he\u2019ll be healthy enough to play.<\/p>\n

Warsofsky said before Saturday\u2019s game, a 3-2 loss<\/a> to the non-playoff contending Flames, that Sherwood remains day-to-day<\/a> with an upper body injury, adding that the versatile winger was \u201cgetting closer, just not 100% there yet for today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of Sherwood being able to play either Monday against the Chicago Blackhawks or Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche before the start of the Olympic break, Warsofsky didn\u2019t rule it out, but could only offer that the Sharks were \u201chopeful\u201d that the 30-year-old Ohio native could be available.<\/p>\n

The Sharks, now at the 23-player maximum, would have to create a roster opening if they wanted to activate Sherwood, who has been on IR with an upper body ailment since he was acquired<\/a> from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 19.<\/p>\n

Sherwood\u2019s availability probably can\u2019t come soon enough for a Sharks team that has now gone a pedestrian 4-4-1 since a 5-4 home win over the Dallas Stars on Jan. 10. They also enter Sunday in sixth place<\/a> in the Pacific Division, one point out of a wild card spot and three points back of the third place Seattle Kraken.<\/p>\n

In losing to the Flames, the Sharks failed to muster a consistent forecheck \u2013 the bread and butter of their offense \u2013 and managed just 17 shots on net through the first two periods.<\/p>\n

They finished with 25 shots, marking the seventh time in nine games that they\u2019ve managed 28 shots or less. They\u2019ve lost five of those games.<\/p>\n

The six Flames power plays the Sharks had to kill Saturday didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat one hurts,\u201d Sharks winger Will Smith said. \u201cI think honestly, if you look at the shots, I think we just need more. Obviously, that\u2019s going to create more offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks forechecked the way they needed to in the first two periods of their game against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. But they sat back too much in the third period, couldn\u2019t hold a three-goal lead and lost 4-3 in overtime.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we hunt pucks, when we get on pucks, is when we have success,\u201d Warsofsky said Saturday of the loss to the Oilers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were times when we just came off the hunt. I think we play in a little bit of fear sometimes of (Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl). That\u2019s what happens with a young team that\u2019s trying to learn how to win those types of games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherwood would be a tremendous help to the Sharks with both his forechecking ability and physicality while giving Warsofsky another option to throw over the boards in high leverage situations.<\/p>\n

And hunting pucks? That\u2019s one of Sherwood\u2019s specialties.<\/p>\n

Shortly into his tenure with the Vancouver Canucks, Sherwood in Oct. 2024 described his forechecking approach<\/a> as someone who tries \u201cto have a hunter mentality and simply just want the hunt for the puck. It\u2019s a lot about reading the opposition\u2019s positioning and seeing where we can try to outnumber guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

As someone who leads the NHL with over 900 hits over the last two-plus seasons, Sherwood said, \u201cThe physical part is nice for me. I like to get a lot of hits and wear their defense down, but the puck is the priority. \u2026 I\u2019m trying to get to the puck first and disrupt the body with hits to start wearing teams down when they are starting a possession.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then-Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said the team went out and signed Sherwood, \u201cbecause he\u2019s a really good forechecker and he\u2019s fitting in really well being that first forechecking guy. He\u2019ll take the body and that\u2019s a good thing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks can use other elements of Sherwood\u2019s game, too, namely the offensive part as he\u2019s scored 36 goals in his last 122 games.<\/p>\n

The Sharks line of Michael Misa, Adam Gaudette and William Eklund have discovered some chemistry together, with a combined eight even strength points in the last three games, including three on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Still, Saturday\u2019s loss marked the 13th time this season that leading scorer Macklin Celebrini has been held without a point, and the Sharks have lost 12 of those games.<\/p>\n

The Sharks, of course, do not want to put Sherwood at risk if there\u2019s a chance he can make the injury worse by playing too soon. The Sharks\u2019 first game after the break will be on Feb. 26, also against Calgary, and with 27 games left, they\u2019ll still be in the playoff mix at that point, regardless of how the rest of the road trip unfolds.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s even a chance that skilled winger Artemi Panarin could be with the Sharks<\/a> for the stretch run.<\/p>\n

But, boy, Sherwood sure figures to cure at least some of the Sharks\u2019 ills once he does return.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just couldn\u2019t get it going at all. Second period we really struggled,\u201d Warsofsky said after Saturday\u2019s loss. \u201cWe just couldn\u2019t stop a puck up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2013 San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky was complimentary of both forward Philipp Kurashev and defenseman Shakir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[2617,27663,5,4,27664,519,168,5306,5305,2618,1780,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-449647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-central-coast","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-northern-california","13":"tag-san-jose","14":"tag-san-jose-sharks","15":"tag-sanjose","16":"tag-sanjosesharks","17":"tag-santa-clara-county","18":"tag-sharks","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116026591563581366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449647","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=449647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}