Sharks Team Report

INSIDE SHOTS

The Sharks figure to get a welcome boost on their post-Thanksgiving road trip as injured players return. No one is more eager to get back in the lineup than Torrey Mitchell(notes), who missed all of last season and the first quarter of this one while rehabilitating from a broken leg.

Mitchell returned from a two-week conditioning assignment earlier in the week, and continued to practice with teammates in anticipation of appearing for the first time in a regular-season game since 2007-08.

“He’s still got some work to do,” coach Todd McLellan told the San Jose Mercury News, “but he’s creeping closer and closer.”

Mitchell played five games for the Sharks’ development team as he continues to work his way back into shape from another problem—tendinitis in his left knee—that has sidelined him the entire season.

Mitchell, 24, missed the entire 2008-09 regular season when he broke his leg in two places during a training camp scrimmage, then hurt himself again while on the conditioning assignment last February. He returned for four playoff games but developed the tendinitis over the summer.

“The thing I don’t want to have to do with Torrey is put him in a situation where he’s not ready to succeed,” McLellan told the paper. “If we do that, he’s susceptible to a real big hit on his confidence as well as physically. We have to know 100 percent that he’s ready mentally and physically to compete.”

Blackhawks 7, Sharks 3:   San Jose surrendered a franchise-record three short-handed goals, and the Sharks lost at home for the first time in 10. Dan Boyle(notes) and Joe Pavelski(notes) scored third-period goals after the hosts were already behind by seven goals. Chicago chased starting goalie Evgeni Nabokov(notes), who lost in regulation for the first time in 12 games.

NOTES, QUOTES

• Art Savage, the first president of the Sharks and a man who played a crucial role in convincing the city of San Jose to upgrade its plans for a sports arena so it could attract an NHL team, died Nov. 21 in Sacramento. He was 58. Savage had been battling lung cancer, but the exact cause of death is unknown. Savage collapsed at his home and died on the way to the hospital.

“It was Art’s progressive thinking that helped bring the Sharks and major league sports to San Jose,” Sharks president and CEO Greg Jamison told the San Jose Mercury News. “His innovative approach as the Sharks’ first president is what allowed the club to thrive from the moment it was conceived. We will miss him greatly and send our best wishes to his family.”

• The Sharks set a franchise record Wednesday night by allowing three short-handed goals. They were the first three goals scored in the game, too, by visiting Chicago.

• The Sharks recalled forwards Benn Ferriero(notes) and Steven Zalewski, and defenseman Joe Callahan(notes) from Worcester of the AHL. Ferriero has played in 20 games with San Jose this season, posting two goals and three assists. He has also played in five games for Worcester, tallying one goal and two assists. Zalewski ranked second in scoring for Worcester. He has played in two games for San Jose, making his NHL debut on Oct. 12 vs. Phoenix. Callahan ranked second in scoring among Worcester defensemen with seven points, along with 12 penalty minutes. Callahan made his NHL debut in 2008-09 appearing in 18 games with the New York Islanders.

Quote To Note:   “When you’re not prepared to play and you’re not alert, not sharp, those things can happen, especially when you’re playing against perhaps the top team in the National Hockey League. You give up three shorties in one night, you’re not winning.”—Coach Todd McLellan.

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltenders:   Evgeni Nabokov, Thomas Greiss(notes).

Defensemen:   Dan Boyle, Marc-Edouard Vlasic(notes), Douglas Murray(notes), Kent Huskins(notes), Jason Demers(notes), Derek Joslin(notes).

First Line:   Patrick Marleau(notes), Joe Thornton(notes), Dany Heatley(notes).

Second Line:   Ryane Clowe(notes), Joe Pavelski, Manny Malhotra(notes).

Third Line:   Jed Ortmeyer(notes), Scott Nichol(notes), Jamie McGinn(notes).

Fourth Line:   Frazer McLaren(notes), Steve Zalewski(notes), Benn Ferriero.

Player Notes:  

• LW Ryane Clowe contributed an assist to extend his current points streak to four games. And he has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in his last 13 outings.

• G Evgeni Nabokov, who was relieved after two periods of play Wednesday while trailing 4-0, lost in regulation for the first time in 13 games, dating to Oct. 22. He was 9-0-3 during that stretch.

• D Dan Boyle scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal after Chicago scored the first seven goals in Wednesday’s lopsided contest. Boyle, who has five goals for the season, logged a team-high 28:08 after missing the last two days of practice to nurse a bruise incurred from blocking a shot

Medical Watch:  

• RW Devin Setoguchi(notes) (lower-body injury) was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 15 when he re-injured himself. While it’s unknown when Setoguchi will return, he practiced with teammates on Tuesday for the first time since the injury.

• F Brad Staubitz(notes) (facial injury) returned to the practice ice wearing a full face shield on Tuesday. His return is undetermined.

• D Rob Blake(notes), out with a shoulder injury, has resumed skating and is shooting to return to the lineup after Thanksgiving when the Sharks head out on the road.

• C Torrey Mitchell (tendinitis left knee) returned Monday from a two-week conditioning assignment at Worcester of the AHL is practicing with the team. He is expected to make his season debut on the upcoming road trip to Edmonton and Vancouver, Nov. 27-29.

• LW Jody Shelley(notes) (general soreness) has resumed skating with his teammates and hopes to return to action when the team travels to Canada after Thanksgiving.