Sharks News & Notes (9/26/22)

 The NHL preseason is officially underway, and the Sharks have played their first preseason game last night. In addition, there is a rather interesting development ahead of the Sharks' season-opening series against the Predators in Prague in a few weeks that's worth discussing. Let's begin: 

The Sharks defeated the Kings 3-2 in OT in their first preseason game of the 2022-23 campaign. Luke Kunin and Timo Meier scored in regulation, while Logan Couture netted the game-winner in overtime. Quick reminder: I don't plan to write full recaps on preseason games because these games have little to no meaning. 

Reports are suggesting that the Czech Foreign Ministry doesn't want Russian players participating in the Sharks vs. Predators Global Series games in a few weeks due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. If the Czech government went ahead with a ban on Russian players, this would mean that Alexander Barabanov, Evgeny Svechnikov, and Nikolai Knyzhov wouldn't be able to travel to and play in the Sharks' first two games of the season (Knyzhov is out for the first few months of the season due to injury, so this wouldn't really affect him). In response to this report, Sharks GM Mike Grier said that "we will all be going or no one will be going." I like Mike Grier's stance on the this year's Global Series games. It doesn't make much sense to ban Russian NHL players from playing in NHL Global Series games because those players aren't directly representing Russia and they had nothing to do with the Russian government's decision to invade Ukraine. In addition, the Sharks' offense would suffer without Barabanov on one of the top two forward lines. 

Lastly, the Sharks made some roster cuts, sending some players to the Barracuda in the AHL and others to their respective junior clubs. Most notably, they assigned Ozzy Wiesblatt, Dillon Hamaliuk, Brandon Coe, and Mitchell Russell to the Barracuda. 

Stay tuned to CPF Hockey for more Sharks news and updates. 

Sources: NHL App, Bay Area News Group 

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