NOLLY'S NOTES - BLOG #40
Sep 26, 2023
Greetings, Cuda Country! Hockey has made its official return, and the Sharks kicked off their exhibition season with a 5-2 victory on Sunday against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Vegas Golden Knights. Promising young defensive prospect, Henry Thrun, notched two goals within the first 20 minutes as the Sharks never looked back. Despite his solid eight-game stint with the big club last year, Thrun may spend a significant portion of this season in the AHL due to his waiver-exempt contract.
Several other players, who might find themselves on the Barracuda roster, also contributed to the win. Nathan Todd, who spent the previous season with the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds (affiliated with the Florida Panthers), netted a goal at 9:49 of the first period, with an assist from Cole Cassels, recently signed by the Barracuda to a one-year AHL contract. Additionally, Danil Gushchin, who had an impressive rookie season in 2022-23 with 22 goals for the Barracuda, provided an assist on Thrun's second goal of the game.
On Tuesday, the Sharks were dealt a 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks at SAP Center, dropping to 1-1 in the preseason. William Eklund, who led all forwards with 19:26 of ice time, and Marc-Édouard Vlasic scored in the defeat as Shakir Mukhamadullin picked up the primary helper on Eklund's goal. The California rivals will run it back at the Honda Center on Wednesday.
While the Barracuda's official training camp doesn't commence until October 3, the Sharks reassigned six AHL-contracted players to the American Hockey League on Tuesday: Beck Warm (goaltender), Ethan Frisch and Roman Kinal (defensemen), and Connor MacEachern, Bradley Marek, and Anthony Vincent (forwards). In the coming days, more players will join this group as the Sharks continue to narrow down their roster to the final 23 players for opening night.
Cuda Camp Watch
For me, one of the most intriguing positions going into the upcoming year will be goaltending. While the Sharks are set with their two backstops, Kähkönen and Mackenzie Blackwood, the Barracuda have more of a logjam at the position and more question marks. Eetu Mäkiniemi, in my mind, will be the clear number one, but he’s coming off back-to-back years that were cut short due to injury. At 24, he’s still relatively young for the position and is considered a valuable prospect for the organization. So there’s a lot of excitement about what he could accomplish this season. 2023-24 will be a massive year for the Fin to play tons of games and get through as unscathed as possible. I do expect the Barracuda to share the goalie duties early and allow for Mäkiniemi to come back at his pace. While Warm, who was Mäkiniemi’s roommate with the Chicago Wolves, has played more games at the professional level in North America than Mäkiniemi, Chrona, and Georgi Romanov combined, he’ll likely be in the ECHL with Wichita based on his AHL contract. So that is where the question lies. 1. Who will win the second goalie job? 2. Will the Barracuda keep three goalies to start the year to allow for Mak to ease his way back into action? Based on age and experience, I see Chrona and then Romanov on the depth chart. Romanov has tons of potential and physical tools that made him an intriguing signing but he’s still pretty inexperienced and raw. If he does go to the ECHL it could be very beneficial for his development. The Coast has been an invaluable platform for countless NHL goaltenders including Jordan Binnington, Braden Holtby, Philipp Grubauer, Jonathan Quick, Martin Jones, and so on.
Chrona is a towering six-foot-six netminder who went 50-17-1 over his final two seasons at Denver University. He was acquired from Tampa Bay by the prior regime but was signed by the new front office this summer. There’s no question the Sharks are hoping one of these goalies can blossom into an NHL starter and this year will tell a lot about where the organization really is at the position.
Promo Schedule Release
The Barracuda officially released its entire 2023-24 promotional schedule. Tickets are on sale now and start at just $13. The team slowly revealed its marque nights and giveaways over the last month, but the full calendar is out now. The Barracuda will have 20 different promo nights throughout the year, including 16 giveaways. For the full list click HERE.
Rookie Faceoff Notes
First off, I want to start by thanking all those who listened to or watched the 2023 NHL Rookie Faceoff in Las Vegas last weekend. It was great to get back into the broadcast saddle. Overall, the four-day, three-game event was a total success. Everyone played well but there were a couple of different standouts for me in the three games.
Kasper Halttunen, the Sharks’ 2023 second-rounder, showed off his impressive shot and power-forward frame, appearing in all three games in Vegas. The London Knights-bound forward has the size at six-foot-three and 215 pounds, to play in the NHL today, but he’ll make his North American debut this year in the OHL playing for former NHLer Dale Hunter. I thought he skated well, was hard on pucks, won most of his battles, and showed off a multitude of offensive tools. The size and mobility is the first thing you notice with Halttunen.
Shakir Mukhamadullin, the former Devils first-rounder who was aquired in the Timo Meier trade, stood out for me. His size, his skating ability and patience with the puck is the first things you notice. He’s cool as a cucumber, even when the pressure is mounting. He doesn’t panic and his vision and hockey smarts allow him to make the right play. Because he’s on his entry-level contract, like Thrun, he’s going to play a lot in the AHL this season if I had to guess, but he's more than capable to step into the NHL and be effective when his name is called.
Gannon Laroque, who twice needed hip surgery last season while in the WHL with Victoria, is fully healthy and trying to avoid going back to junior this year. Before his injuries, it was pretty clear the organization was extremely high on his potential. Having not played in eight months, I thought he looked solid in Vegas. He chipped in with a goal in the Sharks 4-3 SOW against the Los Angeles Kings on Friday. He’s got lots of different tools that get you excited. For one, he's a right-shot, which is always valuable. Plus, he’s been a captain in junior and he’s got good size at six-two, 200-pounds. I think if he does stick around with the Barracuda, he'll be a solid contributor for John McCarthy's team from the backend.
That will do it for this edition of Nolly’s Notes. Thanks so much for reading and I’ll talk to you next time.