Sharks’ Warsofsky makes adjustment as workload increases for Celebrini, Smith
SAN JOSE—The San Jose Sharks held an optional skate Wednesday morning, and in a rarity, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith were not among those taking part.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky told both rookie forwards to stay off the ice Wednesday after they logged significant minutes in the team’s 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at SAP Center.
Celebrini, now the Sharks’ top-line center after Mikael Granlund was traded to the Dallas Stars on Saturday, had a goal and an assist and took a team-leading 20 faceoffs against the Canadiens.
Smith had 18:15 in ice time, the fourth-most he’s had in any of his 47 games this season. He has eight points in his last 10 games, averaging close to 16 minutes per night. That’s up from an average of 14:13 in his first 37 games when he had 14 points.
Warsofsky preferred not to use the term ‘load management’ for Celebrini and Smith, who will play more games this season than before. But he added, “They’ve played a lot of hockey. We’re asking Mack to be a first-line center right now; he’s penalty-killing a little bit. So, if I didn’t say anything, he’d probably be out there until (2 p.m.).”
The Sharks, who were 2-for-4 on the penalty kill against Montreal, will need to fill the void left by Granlund, the team’s top-line center who led all Sharks forwards in average shorthanded time on ice (1:57). Celebrini spent 46 seconds on the penalty kill Tuesday, with Barclay Goodrow leading all Sharks forwards (2:48) and Collin Graf right behind (2:45).
The Sharks came close to killing off a double minor to Carl Grundstrom before Brendan Gallagher scored at the 2:40 mark of the third period to give Montreal a 3-2 lead. Celebrini, Colin White, Jake Walman, and Mario Ferraro were on the penalty kill at that time.
“I thought (Celebrini) did some good things,” on the penalty kill, Warsofsky said. “There’s some things that he needs to work on with it. Just on that last goal, he gets too caught over on the strong side of the ice. He needs to play a little bit middle ice more, but he’ll get better at it. He knows it, so continue to work on it.”
Warsofsky looks for skilled, smart players on his penalty kill, and it appears Celebrini will be a part of that mix going forward while getting tips from Goodrow and Sharks captain Logan Couture.
“Reading the penalty kill is the biggest thing,” Warsofsky said. “One of the best guys to ever do is Logan. He was really good at reading plays and getting sticks on pucks. So that’s something that (Celebrini) will have to improve on.”
VANECEK READY: With goalie Alexandar Georgiev starting Tuesday’s game, stopping 16 of 20 shots, Vitek Vanecek could start Thursday. Vanecek has not started for the Sharks since Dec. 14, when he stopped 36 of 40 shots in a 4-3 Sharks loss to the Utah Hockey Club. Three days later, he sustained a fractured cheekbone as he was struck in the face by an errant puck that sailed into the Sharks bench in a game against the Winnipeg Jets.
It’s the second straight year Vanecek has had to miss significant time with an injury, as he sat out the final two-plus months of last season with a groin injury that later required surgery.
“I don’t know who is playing (Thursday), but I will be happy to get back for sure,” Vanecek said. “It’s been a long time.”
Vanecek went on a conditioning assignment with the Barracuda last Friday and stopped 22 of 24 shots in San Jose’s 6-2 win over Henderson. Warsofsky had previously said that Vanecek would play at least one game before the NHL breaks for the 4 Nations Face-Off on Sunday. The Sharks host Dallas on Saturday.
While the cheekbone was entirely healed when Vanecek got back onto the ice again for practice last month, there was still the mental hurdle of what it would be like to be struck again in the face by a puck, even while wearing a mask.
“For sure, you think about it a little bit,” Vanecek said. “But if you want to play goal, you have to stop thinking about it and then just play. And then if they hit you in the head, you’re going to see what’s going to happen, and let that happen.
“It was a little bit rough, for sure, for the first three practices, but after that, it was pretty good.”
INJURY UPDATES: Center Alexander Wennberg (upper body) will likely miss his third straight game on Thursday. Warsofsky said Wennberg had been dealing with the nagging injury for some time and reaggravated it in the Sharks’ win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 27. … Forward Ty Dellandrea, who has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury, skated again Wednesday and could be an option to play Thursday, Warsofsky said.