As Sharks’ Dickinson makes NHL debut, fellow top prospect waits his turn

SAN JOSE Rookie defenseman Sam Dickinson already knew he was going to make his NHL debut in the San Jose Sharks contest against the Anaheim Ducks But it still felt good to arrive at the crew s practice facility on Saturday morning and see his name listed in the lineup It kind of only kicked in when I looked over at the board and saw that my name was there for the roster playing the -year-old Dickinson who was taken th overall by the Sharks at last year s NHL Draft revealed Saturday morning It s pretty cool to see that and then obviously everybody around the rink in the modern day has been extremely happy for me As Dickinson makes his Sharks debut another one of the organization s top prospects Michael Misa may not need to wait much longer to play his first NHL competition Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky declared this week that Misa will be in the lineup soon San Jose hosts the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday travels to play the Mammoth in Utah on Friday and hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins the next night Whatever they think is best for the crew is what I want to follow Misa communicated Bay Area News Group on Wednesday after it appeared he would be scratched for Thursday s season-opener against the Vegas Golden Knights For me it s motivation to keep practicing and working hard I think my chance will come and when it does I ve got to be ready to pounce on it When Misa drafted second overall by the Sharks in June does enter the lineup it s a question of who comes out For the second straight competition Saturday the Sharks four centers were Macklin Celebrini Alexander Wennberg Ty Dellandrea and Adam Gaudette Assuming everyone stays healthy a doable option for Warsofsky in the future would be for Misa to play as the Sharks third line center move Dellandrea to the fourth line and scratch Ryan Reaves Dellandrea though has earned rave reviews from Warsofsky for his play to this point and his line with wingers Jeff Skinner and Collin Graf generated a goal and six shots on net in the Sharks - overtime loss to the Golden Knights He utterly understands and we re on the same page Warsofsky commented Saturday of Misa who played center throughout training camp and the preseason We ve talked quite a bit and he s going to get in there trust me Dickinson was paired with veteran Dmitry Orlov at the start of Saturday s battle as he became the th competitor from his draft class to play in the NHL Forward Beckett Sennecke who was drafted third overall by the Ducks in and is a childhood friend of Dickinson debuted for Anaheim on Thursday and scored his first NHL goal in a - loss to the Seattle Kraken Just play simple get into the challenge right away Dickinson stated of his mindset going into his debut Not going end-to-end the first shift that s for sure But just get out there get settled make particular hard passes make contact get my feet moving and then kind of just build from there MUKHAMADULLIN SITS Defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin had two assists in Thursday s loss making him the Sharks leading scorer before Saturday s event Still he took two penalties including one in the second period that led to a Pavel Dorofeyev power play goal and had less than minutes of ice time with only five shifts in the third period as the Sharks were trying to protect a one-goal lead Related Articles San Jose Sharks heartbreaking season-opening loss not dampening expectations Sharks top defense prospect to make NHL debut vs Anaheim Ducks Photos Sharks home opener Sharks owner Hasso Plattner talks Burns Hertl wanting out whether leaving San Jose was accomplishable Late miscues cost Sharks in shocking season-opening loss to Golden Knights Warsofsky announced Mukhamadullin necessities to work on his puck battles going back for pucks getting first touch on pucks When he s skating he s very effective So start the tournament on time He s going to be a good participant Early in the season we want to get specific guys in there I thought the other pairs were pretty good fast organization so like our top four there The Sharks kept their other defense pairs intact Saturday as John Klingberg remained with Nick Leddy and Mario Ferraro played with Timothy Liljegren INJURY UPDATES Defensemen Jack Thompson and Lucas Carlsson who began the season on the injured non-roster list both skated Saturday morning and are nearing full physical condition Warsofsky stated When they are healthy again they could be placed on waivers with NHL teams getting hours to claim them If they are placed on waivers and they do clear they would be assigned to the Barracuda Forward Egor Afanasyev also on the injured non-roster list has been ill in modern days but skated early Saturday morning He too would need to go on waivers if the Sharks demanded to send him to the AHL