Sharks Game Day Gut Check and Lineups: Dickinson, Askarov, and More

The San Jose Sharks are 2-0-0 to start the season and now they're on the road for the first time in the 2026-27 campaign. 

There will be a lineup change for the Sharks this time around, as per San Jose Hockey Now's Sheng Peng, Sam Dickinson will make his season debut. One quote stood out to me most from Dickinson, as he told Peng: “I’m not going to try to do too much to prove a point or anything like that.” While that's a safe thing to do, Dickinson's success in junior hockey was often the result of him not being a safe player.

If Dickinson was projected to be a fringe player who simply needed to be a stable presence on the blue line, that would be a fine approach. The Sharks have high expectations for the former 11th overall pick though, and to put it simply, they need Sam Dickinson to be Sam Dickinson. A big part of the reason he hasn't been able to do so is because he hasn't been used in an offensive role by Ryan Warsofsky, but that's something that needs to change moving forward as well if they're going to get the most out of him. Personally, I'd much rather see him make mistakes and learn from them than see him play it safe and never reach his true potential. 

Peng also reported that Yaroslav Askarov is expected to get the start in net for the Sharks tonight, the third-straight game he's done so to start the season. In my homestand takeaways, I spoke about Askarov's improvement and how the coaching staff is giving him every chance to prove he's capable of being a true number one goaltender. Every game that Warsofsky gives him the nod without giving Alex Nedeljkovic a start makes that even clearer. At the end of the season, if Askarov hasn't grabbed the brass ring and seperated himself from the crowd, it won't be because of a lack of opportunities to do so. 

In order for Askarov to do so, he'll need some help though, specifically when the Sharks are down a man. While the penalty kill was respectable against the Florida Panthers on opening night, a disappointing performance caused the Sharks to drop to an efficiency of 66.7% on the penalty kill, tied for the sixth-worst in the league. While it is a small sample size and a single failed penalty kill can change things drastically at the moment, with the amount of penalties the Sharks have been taking, they'll need to be better when down a man if they want continued success.

Sharks Projected Lines (Per Sheng Peng):

Marchment - Celebrini - Smith

Chernyshov - Misa - Toffoli

Stenberg - Wennberg - Graf

Goodrow - Ostapchuk - Sherwood

Nurse - Kesselring

Dickinson - Trouba

Orlov - Cagnoni

Askarov

Nedeljkovic

Stars Projected Lines (Per Owen Newkirk):

Robertson - Hintz - Benn

Steel - Johnston - Rantanen

Hryckowian - Hyry - Seguin

Bäck - Faksa - Kiviranta

Lindell - Heiskanen

Harley - Lundkvist

Bichsel - Myers

Oettinger

DeSmith

The San Jose Sharks have the chance to get their third win of the season tonight, which took them until the end of October last season. If they can keep this momentum rolling, the sky is the limit for this season.