{"id":662839,"date":"2026-09-15T09:27:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/662839\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T09:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:27:21","slug":"sharks-2026-rookie-faceoff-three-takeaways-from-3-1-win-over-mammoth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/662839\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks 2026 Rookie Faceoff: Three Takeaways From 3-1 Win Over Mammoth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday night was memorable at Tech CU Arena during the San Jose Sharks\u2019 3-1 win over the Utah Mammoth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jake Gustafson<\/a>, the son of Senior Vice President, SAP Center & Sharks Ice Jon Gustafson, scored twice, including the game-winning goal.<\/p>\n

Here are three takeaways from the final Sharks game of the 2026 Rookie Faceoff<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1 . \u2018Cuda depth projects to be really good with new prospects joining<\/p>\n

Although some other headlines can be talked about right away from this game, one thing is clear: the San Jose Barracuda will be a very deep team. The additions of Carson Wetsch<\/a>, Andre Gasseau<\/a>, Phillip Sinn, and more will prove to be valuable assets for head coach John McCarthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those are just some of the new young players turning pro for the first time. The Sharks have not been shy about adding to their goaltending depth as well. On July 1, the San Jose Sharks added Eric Comrie<\/a> via free agency, and then last week signed Ilya Samsonov<\/a> as well. These players, along with the young players who might not make the NHL right away, like Quentin Musty<\/a> or Eric Pohlkamp<\/a>, will make the \u2018Cuda a top AHL team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, anytime you come into training camp, there\u2019s jobs to be won, impressions to be made,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cIt\u2019s a fun time of year. I think, as competitive people, they embrace that.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Musty wants an NHL spot badly<\/p>\n

Who wouldn\u2019t want an NHL spot? Quentin Musty is doing everything he can to make an impression. Although the San Jose Sharks prospect isn\u2019t doing anything out of character, he\u2019s showing his play is rounding out how the organization wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think yesterday was a big step for me. It\u2019s a rookie tournament, but I loved my game,\u201d Musty said Sunday morning. \u201cI thought, early on, especially playing with [Cam Lund<\/a>] and [Filip Bystedt<\/a>], the chemistry was good. Obviously, Lundy got hurt. It was a lot of lines moving around. I think I played with about everyone except for that one line that stayed together, which they should. <\/p>\n

I was doing the right things, just finishing my hits, blocking shots, and yeah, the fight. Obviously, I didn\u2019t do it to stand out. I did it to protect my teammates and let LA know that that\u2019s not going to fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musty continued his strong play with another grinding type of game on Sunday. The winger had multiple blocks and finished just about every check he could. He took a puck or stick<\/a> to the face in the first period, and quickly returned with a full face shield. He was rewarded for his effort offensively with an empty-net goal. This was also a good test, as Musty showed he can be trusted in late-game situations.<\/p>\n

3. Jake Gustafson can play; he\u2019s not just a nice story<\/p>\n

Jake Gustafson isn\u2019t turning into another nice story where a San Jose native was drafted by his hometown organization. With two goals, nice ones at that too, Gustafson proved that he\u2019s got the tools to make it far.<\/p>\n

Gustafson\u2019s second goal was arguably one of the prettiest goals of the entire tourney for the Sharks. Although Ivar Stenberg\u2019s<\/a> pretty finish on his second goal will have the highlights, Gustafson\u2019s buzzer-beater with 1.5 seconds left in Sunday\u2019s first period should get some attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been so cool. I\u2019ve dreamed of this since I was a little kid, and getting the opportunity to do it was nothing short of a dream come true,\u201d Gustafson said. \u201cIt showed I have a lot to grow. I really got to get a bit stronger, a bit faster. But I mean, I felt pretty good. I felt like I thought the game pretty well and kept up with the pace pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gustafson also played strong defense and got some penalty-killing opportunities. The forward was a 6th-round pick by the San Jose Sharks in the 2026 NHL Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Sharks have one seven-straight Rookie Faceoff game, which is pointless. But that also proves the Sharks\u2019 prospect pool remains one of the best in the NHL year over year. GM Mike Grier<\/a> has appeared to hit on many mid-to-late-round selections during the draft, and the dominance those players showed over the last few years is the first bit of evidence supporting that. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday night was memorable at Tech CU Arena during the San Jose Sharks\u2019 3-1 win over the Utah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[7704,71567,5,67419,165,4,166,519,168,5306,5305,1780,17080,24660,3154],"class_list":["post-662839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose-sharks","tag-2026-nhl-draft","tag-2026-rookie-face-off","tag-hockey","tag-jake-gustafson","tag-john-mccarthy","tag-nhl","tag-quentin-musty","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sanjose","tag-sanjosesharks","tag-sharks","tag-sharks-prospects","tag-sj-sharks","tag-utah-mammoth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117274348312488227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662839","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=662839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}