SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks are hopeful that forwards Jeff Skinner and Michael Misa – both out with lower-body injuries – can rejoin practice at the end of next week.
Skinner, 33, was injured in the first period of the Sharks’ game against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 13 as his right leg crashed hard into the boards while he was competing for a loose puck. Misa was injured during the Sharks’ morning skate on Nov. 5 before a road game against the Seattle Kraken.
Both Misa and Skinner skated for a second straight day Saturday, with Skinner slightly ahead of Misa in terms of a return, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
Next week, the Sharks travel to play the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, return home to play the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, and are back on the road to play the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 29.
Skinner, who signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Sharks in July as a free agent, has seven points in 17 games this season, mainly as a middle-six forward. Misa was the Sharks’ third-line center whenever he got into the lineup and had a goal and two assists in seven games before his injury.
“Hopefully by the end of next week, they’re joining practice,” Warsofsky said of Skinner and Misa.
Misa’s return to the ice certainly brightens his outlook to play for Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship, which begins Dec. 26 in Minnesota. The Canadian team, which will likely be loaded with top NHL prospects and draft-eligible players, is set to start a training camp on Dec. 12 in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Misa, the Canadian Hockey League’s top scorer last season with 134 points in 65 regular-season games for the Saginaw Spirit, would undoubtedly be an asset to a Canadian team that has finished a disappointing sixth in the event each of the last two years.
If Misa plays three more games with the Sharks this season, the first year of his entry-level contract would begin.
Sharks defenseman Sam Dickinson, 19, is also eligible to play for Canada in the World Juniors for a second straight year. Dickinson, who will be a healthy scratch for Saturday’s home game against the Ottawa Senators, has two points in 16 games with the Sharks this season.
IORIO NOT WITH SHARKS YET
Vincent Iorio’s two-week AHL conditioning loan with the Barracuda is nearing an end, but Warsofsky said, as of Saturday, the defenseman was not yet back with the Sharks.
Iorio was assigned to the Barracuda on a conditioning loan on Nov. 9, and per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, can be kept there for up to 14 days. Warsofsky wasn’t sure if Iorio would be back with the Sharks for Sunday’s home game against the Boston Bruins.
Iorio had five assists in five games with the Barracuda, who, before their game against the Abbotsford Canucks on Saturday, had moved into second place in the AHL’s Pacific Division with a 9-5-1-1 record.
Warsofsky watched the Barracuda’s game against Abbotsford on Friday, as San Jose took a two-goal lead in the first period and allowed three straight goals in the second before coming back with three of their own for a 5-3 win. Iorio assisted on third-period goals by center Filip Bystedt and winger Igor Chernyshov.
“Iorio was good,” Warsofsky said. “I thought it was an interesting game. (The Barracuda) had a really good first, the second was probably just OK, and then they had a good third period, which is going to happen with a young team.
“But Iorio looked good, was moving pucks. I liked (Luca Cagnoni) and the young kids, Chernyshov and Musty, you can tell, are starting to get more comfortable. (Colin White) was good again. It’s a good team down there.”