San Jose Sharks' Jan Rutta (84) waits for a face-off against the Vegas Golden Knights in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Forward Alexander Barabanov and defenseman Jan Rutta will both come off injured reserve and be available to play today when the San Jose Sharks face the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Barabanov, who hasn’t played since Oct. 24 when he was hit by a shot and suffered a broken finger in a game against the Florida Panthers, skated on a line Sunday morning with Tomas Hertl and William Eklund and per The Hockey News, took part in the team’s power play drills.
With Barabanov returning, winger Givani Smith will be a scratch, Sharks coach David Quinn said.
Rutta, injured in the Sharks’ Nov. 22 game with the Seattle Kraken, was paired with Nikita Okhotiuk. Quinn said defenseman Kyle Burroughs is slated to play against the Rangers, but that could change with the Sharks dealing with some other injury situations.
To make room for Barabanov and Rutta on the 23-man roster, the Sharks on Saturday placed forward Luke Kunin on IR with an upper-body ailment and waived defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov.
Kunin did not play Friday in the Sharks’ 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils, San Jose’s first road victory of the season. He will be re-evaluated in a week, per Quinn, who didn’t think Kunin’s injury would keep him out long-term.
With Knyzhov on waivers, NHL teams have until 11 a.m. (PST) to claim the 25-year-old defenseman and add him to their active roster. If Knyzhov goes unclaimed, he will be assigned to the Barracuda of the AHL.
Knyzhov, listed at 6-foot-3 and 222 pounds, signed a two-year, $2.5 million contract extension with the Sharks in March. He was originally signed by San Jose as a free agent on July 2, 2019, following his participation in the team’s prospect development camp.
The Sharks are 3-1-1 since they were blasted 7-1 by the Kraken last month at Climate Pledge Arena and enter Sunday with a 6-16-2 record and 14 points. A victory over the Rangers (17-4-1) or an overtime or shootout loss could move San Jose out of 32nd place in the NHL’s overall standings. The Chicago Blackhawks, who also have 14 points, play at Minnesota today.
The Sharks started the season with a record of 0-10-1.
“Nobody knows the amount of work that we put in and the journey that we’ve taken up to this point,” Quinn said. “I would probably say that no team has faced more adversity and gone through as much as we have up to this point in the season, and we’ve done a hell of a job climbing out of it to a certain degree.
“You never want to start the season the way we did, and I think our guys have done a nice job kind of keeping it together and building some camaraderie and playing more like a team. We’re certainly trending in the right direction.”
Mackenzie Blackwood, who is 3-4-1 with a .923 save percentage in his last nine games, will start against the Rangers, Quinn said.
Barabanov, 29, did not have a point in the Sharks’ first six games of the season but has mostly been a top-six forward for the team since he was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in April 2021.
As a pending unrestricted free agent, Barabanov, who had 94 points in 166 career NHL games, could be a sought-after player by playoff-bound teams before the trade deadline in March.
“We’ve missed him for sure,” Quinn said of Barabanov. “He’s an NHL player, a 50-point guy, protects pucks and has the puck, so we need more of that.”
Rutta, 33, had played in every Sharks game before his injury, averaging 18:37 in ice time.
Originally published at Curtis Pashelka