The Sharks placed winger Carl Grundström on injured reserve Thursday retroactive to Dec. 28 with an undisclosed injury, Curtis Pashelka of the San Jose Mercury News reports. His roster spot will likely go to defenseman Marc-Édouard Vlasic, who told reporters (including Max Miller of The Hockey News) that he’s ready to make his season debut after sitting on IR for the first 40 games with a back injury.
Grundström, 27, already missed Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to the Flyers with the injury he sustained early in last weekend’s loss to the Flames. He left the game in the first period and didn’t return after he was on the receiving end of a massive hit from Calgary defenseman Brayden Pachal.
It doesn’t appear his absence should stretch out much longer. He skated today in a non-contact jersey, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, so he’s at least been cleared to skate. The IR placement rules him out of the Sharks’ next two games, but the Swede could return next Tuesday against the Golden Knights if he’s ready.
The Sharks acquired Grundström’s signing rights from the cross-state rival Kings in late June before signing the restricted free agent to a two-year, $3.6MM the following week. He hasn’t been as much of a factor as San Jose hoped, averaging a career-low 9:00 per game and contributing just one goal and four assists through 30 appearances. He’d been a healthy scratch in four out of nine games before being injured.
In his more limited ice time, the 2016 second-rounder has still been the physical presence the Sharks acquired him to be. He leads the team with 18.87 hits per 60 minutes, translating into some good defensive metrics. Grundström boasts a relative shot attempt share of 3.2% at 5-on-5, his highest since his 15-game rookie trial with Los Angeles in the 2018-19 campaign.
The Sharks are also without budding star winger William Eklund for the time being due to an upper-body issue in addition to the lingering absence of captain Logan Couture due to osteitis pubis. That’s led to increased opportunities for guys like bang-and-crash winger Klim Kostin, who will skate in a first-line role alongside Mikael Granlund and Luke Kunin tonight against the Lightning.
For the 37-year-old Vlasic, it’s a long-awaited return after returning to the ice for practice over a month ago. The Sharks’ all-time leader in games played by a defenseman (1,296) has been plagued by injuries since the beginning of last season on top of his already sharp age-related decline, which contributed to him posting 12 points with a career-worst -27 rating in 57 games in 2023-24 while averaging only 16:17 per game.
Vlasic will skate in a third-pairing role alongside Jan Rutta while rookie Shakir Mukhamadullin serves as a healthy scratch, Peng reports. He still has another season to go on the massive eight-year, $56MM extension he signed in 2017.