SAN JOSE — San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is expected to miss some time with an upper-body injury that’s bothered him since training camp.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Thursday morning that Vlasic’s injury is the same one he’s been dealing with since before the start of the season. Vlasic missed the Sharks’ first 40 games before he made his season debut on Jan. 2 against the Tamps Bay Lightning.
Vlasic has been a regular presence in the Sharks’ lineup recently, having played each of the last 10 games, and practiced Wednesday morning. But Warsofsky said the injury, which was believed to involve the upper back, became too bothersome.
In October, the 37-year-old Vlasic, now in his 19th NHL season, said that his injury mainly involved his upper back.
“He’s been trying to play through it, and it got to the point, just after the practice yesterday, was probably too much,” Warsofsky said of Vlasic.
Defenseman Jimmy Schuldt, recalled from the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday afternoon, will play in Vlasic’s place Thursday night when the Sharks host Brent Burns and the Carolina Hurricanes at SAP Center.
Please check back for updates to this story.