Sharks hope to be allowed to return home by February
The Sharks will talk once again with Santa Clara County officials Tuesday to discuss where things stand as far as the team being able to return to San Jose at the end of the month.
The Sharks play their first eight games this season on the road and are scheduled to play their first home game on Feb. 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights. However, the Bay Area continues to be under a regional stay-at-home order, with ICU bed availability Monday falling to a record-low 0.7%.
That number would have to rise above 15% for the region’s stay-at-home order to be lifted. Professional or collegiate contact sports in Santa Clara County are not allowed while the shelter order is in place.
“We have been keeping in contact with representatives of the county of Santa Clara for the past several months, and we continue to do so,” the Sharks said in a statement.
“It’s a difficult situation for the club, it’s a difficult situation for the players, having to conduct training camp away from their families and not really having any certainty with respect to when they’ll be able to return to
San Jose with some sense of normalcy,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Monday.
Daly said the Sharks would be prepared to play its designated home games at an alternative site, “should it come to that.”
The county’s contact spor ts ban forced the Sharks to relocate training camp to Scottsdale, Ariz. Many Sharks players and coaches have been in the Phoenix area since just before or right after Christmas.
The last game of the Sharks’ season- opening road trip is Jan. 28 against the Colorado Avalanche. The Sharks are scheduled to play the Golden Knights on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3, but if they are unable to play in San Jose by that time, it might make the most sense to return to Arizona since the Coyotes are on the road in early February.
“It’s been a real good camp. Saying that, I think the guys are very anxious to get back to Santa Clara County when we can,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Sunday. “I think that everybody’s holding their breath a little bit.
“It’s important for us to start on the road and have a great training camp on the road, but it comes time for some home games here. We need to get back and guys need to be with their families and get back to living in their own places.” CAMP CUTS >> The Sharks opening night roster came into clearer focus Monday as they placed six players on waivers and assigned seven others to the Barracuda of the AHL.
The Sharks placed forwards Antti Suomela and Kurtis Gabriel and defensemen Trevor Carrick, Fredrik Claesson, Nick DeSimone and Nicholas Meloche on waivers. If any of those players are not claimed by another team today, they can be assigned to the Barracuda or placed on the Sharks’ taxi squad.
Ry a n Merk le y, t he Sharks’ 2018 first round draft pick, was assigned to the Barracuda, along with fellow defenseman Jaycob Megna, goalie Josef Korenar and forwards Lean Bergmann, Alexander True, Joachim Blichfeld and Jayden Halbgewachs.
The Sharks did not announce Monday who would be on their taxi squad, although goalie Alexei Melnichuk will be on that list. NHL teams are required to keep a goalie on their taxi squad if they are carrying less than three goalies on their active roster.
Other possible candidates for the Sharks’ taxi squad include forwards Sasha Chmelevski, Fredrik Handemark and Jeffrey Viel and defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov, Brinson Pasichnuk, Jacob Middleton and Brinson Pasichnuk.
The Sharks are allowed to keep between four and six players on the taxi squad, and up to 23 players on their active roster. Rookie forward John Leonard is expected to be in the Sharks’ lineup in their season opener Thursday against the Coyotes.