- Ivar Stenberg moved to the Sharks’ top line with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith
- The 19-year-old has nine points in his first 12 NHL games
- Read below for the rest of San Jose’s new lines and defense pairs
Ivar Stenberg just got the biggest promotion of his young NHL career.
The Sharks rookie skated on the top line with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith at Monday’s practice. Sharks beat reporter Sheng Peng had it first:
Stenberg, the second overall pick in June, has three goals and six assists in 12 games. This is the first time this season San Jose has tried him next to its two best players. Celebrini has 15 points in 10 games, and Smith has eight in 12.
Head coach Ryan Warsofsky didn’t stop at one line. Curtis Pashelka posted the full set of forward combinations and defense pairs from the session:
Michael Misa stays at second-line center, now with Collin Graf and Mason Marchment on his wings. Kiefer Sherwood drops to the third line with Ty Dellandrea and Tyler Toffoli, and the fourth line is the only group that didn’t change.
The blue line got a shakeup too. Darnell Nurse now plays with Jacob Trouba, Sam Dickinson is paired with Michael Kesselring, and Nolan Allan skates with Dmitry Orlov. That splits up the Nurse-Kesselring pair that opened the season together.
Stenberg had been climbing for a while. Warsofsky talked earlier this month about why he trusted the rookie on the top power play unit.
“He’s just shown a lot of poise. He’s progressed here nicely,” Warsofsky said. “He’s got patience on the half-wall. He can play both sides.”
That fits the kid who scored twice in 25 seconds in his first game with the organization back in September.
Warsofsky hasn’t explained the changes publicly yet. Tuesday’s game against the Sabres at SAP Center is the first chance to see Stenberg, Celebrini and Smith together in a real game.
