{"id":692346,"date":"2026-10-22T02:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T02:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/692346\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T02:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T02:24:13","slug":"sharks-insight-misa-shows-speed-shot-at-right-time-for-san-jose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/692346\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks Insight: Misa Shows Speed, Shot at Right Time for San Jose"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 It was the Macklin Celebrini<\/a> game. Another the Macklin Celebrini game, that is.<\/p>\n

But just as important for the San Jose Sharks, potentially, is Michael Misa<\/a> breaking out of his early-season funk.<\/p>\n

Celebrini dominated, as we\u2019ve come to expect, scoring two goals, including the OT winner, and setting up Tyler Toffoli<\/a> for the game-tying strike, in the Sharks\u2019 4-3 comeback victory over the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n

Sharks tools<\/p>\n

Misa added the other goal, his first of the season, and per Stathletes, contributed in other promising ways. The Sharks will need the 19-year-old center to step up, especially with fellow pivot Alex Wennberg<\/a> out with a day-to-day upper-body injury.<\/p>\n

Misa led the San Jose Sharks with three 5-on-5 Rush Shots, tied with Collin Graf<\/a>. He also paced San Jose with five 5-on-5 Closer Carries in the Offensive Zone, ahead of five Sharks, including Celebrini and Will Smith, tied with three. \u00a0<\/p>\n

These are stats that suggest a more confident Misa with the puck.<\/p>\n

A Closer Carry, according to Stathletes, is a \u201csuccessful carry where the puck is carried closer to the net than the original possession gain\u201d.<\/p>\n

Before Tuesday\u2019s game, Misa was in the bottom third among San Jose Sharks forwards in this category.<\/p>\n

Just to demonstrate this micro-stat\u2019s importance? Last year\u2019s Per 60 leading forwards in Closer Carry OZ were Connor McDavid, Clayton Keller, Jack Hughes, Leon Draisaitl, and Matthew Boldy. On the Sharks, naturally, Celebrini ruled the roost.<\/p>\n

This is the company that you want the 2025 No. 2 pick to keep.<\/p>\n

As for Rush Shots, it\u2019s just good to see Misa shoot. Going into Tuesday, he had only one game with multiple shots this season, four on opening night against the Florida Panthers. That eight consecutive contests with zero or one shot before Tuesday\u2019s three, which frankly, doesn\u2019t cut it for an offense-first center. This isn\u2019t just a consequence of Misa\u2019s relatively-limited ice-time: Before Tuesday, Misa was averaging 2.93 5-on-5 Shots Per 60, dead-last among Sharks forwards, even behind noted pass-first center Wennberg\u2019s 3.53.<\/p>\n

(I know, as of now, that Wennberg has similar stats to Misa, but Wennberg has lots of defensive value that Misa hasn\u2019t come close to approaching.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shots off the rush are an indication that Misa is playing his game, which at this point in his budding career, at its best, is speed speed speed.<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, last year\u2019s Rush Shots Per 60 leaders are also good crowd for Misa to be in, Dylan Guenther, Alex DeBrincat, Viktor Arvidsson, Cutter Gauthier, and Owen Tippett. And again, Celebrini led the Sharks.<\/p>\n

Going into this game, Misa was in the bottom half of San Jose forwards in this category.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just one productive game for Misa. His game is far from complete. And of course, big picture, he\u2019s just 19.<\/p>\n

But the San Jose Sharks were starting to play their best 5-on-5 hockey of the year before Wennberg\u2019s injury, behind the Igor Chernyshov-Celebrini-Smith, Mason Marchment-Wennberg-Tyler Toffoli, and Barclay Goodrow-Zack Ostapchuk-Collin Graf lines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No, I didn\u2019t forget Ivar Stenberg-Misa-Kiefer Sherwood.<\/p>\n

The Expected Goals stat \u2014 none of these stats \u2014 are be-all, end-all.<\/p>\n

But per Evolving Hockey, the disparity in xGF % for these lines versus Misa\u2019s was staggering.<\/p>\n

Celebrini\u2019s line has been 63.8 xGF%, Wennberg 70.6, Ostapchuk 56.1\u2026 and Misa 29.0.<\/p>\n

Now I stress, in no way shape or form, is this all on Misa.<\/p>\n

As good as rookie Stenberg has been on the power play, he\u2019s still a work in progress at 5-on-5. And it\u2019s tough to ask heart-and-soul winger Sherwood to carry play with two teenage forwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cMis is trying,\u201d head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. \u201cThe game is is a quick game, and he\u2019s getting put in some tough spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

But fact of the matter is, the San Jose Sharks probably aren\u2019t making the playoffs if they\u2019re a one-line (or one player) team. Tried that last year, didn\u2019t work. Celebrini needs help.<\/p>\n

Last night, Misa provided it, setting the stage for Celebrini\u2019s heroics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 It was the Macklin Celebrini game. Another the Macklin Celebrini game, that is. But just as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[21405,5631,1698,265,1518,845,155,5,629,1272,6386,370,501,375,264,21,5147,4,748,168,73150,7796,802,507],"class_list":["post-692346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal-canadiens","tag-2026-27","tag-alex-wennberg","tag-alexander-wennberg","tag-canadiens","tag-clayton-keller","tag-collin-graf","tag-connor-mcdavid","tag-hockey","tag-ivar-stenberg","tag-jack-hughes","tag-kiefer-sherwood","tag-leon-draisaitl","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-michael-misa","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-montrealcanadiens","tag-nhl","tag-ryan-warsofsky","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-insight","tag-stathletes","tag-tyler-toffoli","tag-will-smith"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117482190512935731","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692346","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=692346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}