SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks made a handful of training camp roster trims on Monday, including sending 2023 first-round draft pick Quentin Musty back to Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League.
Musty, 19, shined at the Rookie Faceoff in Los Angeles in mid-September, but the Sharks felt he was too inconsistent once the main camp began. He went without a point in two preseason games and took two hooking penalties in last Thursday’s game in Anaheim, one of which resulted in a Ducks power-play goal.
The Sharks’ decision on Musty is unsurprising, given their improved forward depth.
“As a young kid, he’s just learning the pro game, the style, the speed, the pace, the details, the habits that you need to have to play at this level, and (those details are) not there yet,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Musty. “He did some good things in camp. He did some good things going back to the development camp. We just thought he probably couldn’t get over that next hurdle.
“This is the best thing for his development to go back and play in the OHL, do really well, put up some points. He’s got a list of things he needs to work on.”
As a player who does not turn 20 until next July, Musty is ineligible to play in the AHL at the start of this season. He could join the Barracuda in the spring if Sudbury’s season ends and the Sharks’ AHL affiliate is still playing.
In the meantime, the Sharks would like to see the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Musty dominate the OHL and be included on Team USA’s roster for the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championships in Ottawa. Musty was left off last year’s American team, which captured gold at the tournament in Sweden.
“You can’t go back to junior and go back to your old habits and think it’s going to be successful,” Warsofsky said. “You can probably get away with it at times. Our development staff will have to stay on him about certain things that we see in his game that will now translate to the pro level.
“And it’s going to be difficult. It’s difficult for all those guys that go back to junior that are on that cusp.”
Musty is one of six forwards no longer in Sharks camp. Filip Bystedt, Brandon Coe, Kasper Halttunen, and Tristen Robins were all assigned to the Barracuda, and, perhaps surprisingly, at this stage of camp, Justin Bailey was placed on waivers.
The well-traveled Bailey, now in his 10th professional season, was considered a candidate for the Sharks’ 13th or 14th forward spot. But the Sharks played him in just one preseason game, and he without a point in 7:55 of ice time in a 4-3 loss to Anaheim on Sept. 24 at SAP Center.
After he had 14 points in 59 games for the Sharks last season, Bailey signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Sharks in late June. If he clears waivers, Bailey will be assigned to the Barracuda.
Bailey came to Sharks camp last year on a PTO and turned that into an AHL contract. Just a few weeks after the start of the season, Bailey then earned a two-way deal with the Sharks and spent the rest of the season in the NHL.
“Just a little bit inconsistent. I thought last year came in with a lot of hunger, and he was a driven kid to make a team and be that first call up, and just didn’t see that as much this year,” Warsofsky said. “He did some good things … and we’re just a little bit deeper, right? He’s going to have to take someone’s ice time, going to take someone’s spot. Be more consistent.”
The Sharks also placed defenseman Jimmy Schuldt on waivers and assigned defenseman Ethan Frisch and Jake Furlong and goalies Gabriel Carriere and Georgi Romanov to the AHL.
The Sharks now have 23 forwards, 11 defensemen, and three goalies in camp.
Three of those forwards, Logan Couture, Thomas Bordeleau, and Igor Chernyshov, are injured, and another, Colin White, is on an AHL deal. That would appear to leave Collin Graf, Ethan Cardwell, Danil Gushchin, Andrew Poturalski, Scott Sabourin, and Givani Smith competing for one of the final roster spots.
Asked whether Cardwell or Gushchin, both 22, still have a legitimate chance of starting the year in the NHL, Warsofsky said, “They’re here, right? So, anytime you’re practicing with us, you have a chance. And those guys have been really good. You can just tell they’re getting better and more comfortable every day.”
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Among the Sharks’ defense, it’s unclear when Marc-Edouard Vlasic (upper body) and Shakir Mukhamadullin (lower body) will begin to practice with the team. Both skated on their own Monday, Warsofsky said. Lucas Carlsson is also injured and has not skated in camp.
If Vlasic and Mukhamadullin cannot be ready for the start of the season, the competition for the seventh defensemen spot would appear to be between Jack Thompson and Luca Cagnoni.
Yaroslav Askarov, Mackenzie Blackwood, and Vitek Vanecek are the last three goalies on the roster. Askarov (lower-body injury) skated Monday, but like Vlasic and Mukhamadullin, it remains unclear when he’ll be able to join a team practice.