The San Jose Sharks will sit forward Will Smith on Sunday when they play the New Jersey Devils to begin a four-game road trip.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky confirmed to reporters that Smith will not play.
This marks the fourth time Smith will be a healthy scratch this season, as he did not dress for road games last month against the Winnipeg Jets, Los Angeles Kings, and the Utah Hockey Club. The Sharks are 1-2-0 in games without Smith, who has two goals and an assist in 12 games as a rookie.
Smith has not played in games on back-to-back days yet this season, a trend that will continue as the Sharks also play the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.
The Sharks are giving Smith and fellow rookie centerman Macklin Celebrini intermittent ‘development days’ through at least the first half of the season, trying to help both players adjust to the hectic travel and playing schedules in their first NHL seasons.
Alexander Wennberg will replace Smith as the Sharks’ third-line center for Sunday’s game, with Barclay Goodrow and Luke Kunin on the wings.
Celebrini will center a line with Ty Dellandrea and Tyler Toffoli on the wings, and the Sharks are reuniting the “Lund Line” for Sunday, with center Mikael Granlund playing with William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund.
#SJSharks lines this morning Looks like a development day for Will Smith:
Dellandrea-Celebrini-Toffoli
Eklund-Granlund-Zetterlund
Goodrow-Wennberg-Kunin
G. Smith-Sturm-Grundstrom
Walman-Ceci
Ferraro-Liljegren
Thrun-Rutta
— Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) November 10, 2024
Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood will start against his former team on Sunday for the second time in his career.
Blackwood faced New Jersey once last season, on Feb. 27 at SAP Center, but an injury forced him to leave the game after just 17 minutes. Kaapo Kähkönen allowed seven goals on 31 shots to the Devils in relief as the Sharks went onto a 7-2 loss.
Blackwood, who was drafted by the Devils in 2015 and played with the team from 2018 to 2023, is a pending unrestricted free agent. He’s in the final year of his two-year contract, which he signed with San Jose in July 2023, shortly after he was acquired from New Jersey.
Eklund had a season-low 15:20 in ice time in the Sharks’ 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said after the loss that he needed more from Eklund, who has one assist in his last four games.
Eklund, Zetterlund, and Granlund became the Sharks’ top forwards toward the end of last season, combined for 58 points over the final 24 games in March and April.
It remained unclear whether Jake Walman will re-enter the Sharks’ lineup after being out for the last two games. Warsofsky did not rule out dressing 11 forwards and seven defensemen, allowing him to get Walman back into the lineup while keeping defenseman Jack Thompson in the lineup.
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Walman leads all Sharks defensemen with nine points in 13 games. Thompson is next in scoring among Sharks defensemen with four points in eight games.
After Monday, the Sharks finish their road trip with games against the New York Rangers on Thursday and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
The Sharks come into Sunday with a 1-5-1 record away from home.