Rudolfs Balcers will not join the Sharks on their road trip as he remains at least another week or two away from being able to return from a lower body injury, coach Bob Boughner said Sunday prior to his team’s game with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Boughner had suggested last month that Balcers could be activated from injured reserve some time on this Sharks’ road trip, which continues this week with games in Detroit, Buffalo and Philadelphia. But Balcers, after going through a handful of practices in the last week, still isn’t fully ready.
“He went on the ice and had three or four good days, had some battle practices and just felt that he wasn’t quite where he needed to be to play,” Balcers said.
Boughner said Balcers, whose last game was Dec. 3 at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers, originally had a timeline of four-to-six weeks for a return and that he remains on that path.
Balcers has 10 points in 24 games this season and was averaging close to 16 minutes of ice time per game prior to his injury.
The Sharks’ first scheduled game back at home after the road is Jan. 11 against the Red Wings.
“So instead of bringing him here and traveling and not being able to get him a lot of ice on the road, we thought the best thing would be one more week of hard rehab and conditioning back home and just really taking care of that,” Boughner said. “So there’s no setback or anything like that.”
With the Sharks winners of two straight, Boughner said he is not making any lineup changes for today’s game. Center Jasper Weatherby, who was recalled from the AHL on Saturday, will be a healthy scratch.
With Balcers and Kevin Labanc (shoulder surgery) still out, the Sharks today will have Tomas Hertl centering a line with Jonathan Dahlen and Noah Gregor, and Nick Bonino in the middle on a line with Matt Nieto and Andrew Cogliano.
The Sharks’ fourth line will feature Lane Pederson with wingers Jeffrey Viel and Jonah Gadjovich.
MILESTONE ALERT: Logan Couture will play in his 800th career NHL game with the Sharks on Sunday. Couture is fifth all-time in games played for the organization, and among Sharks draft picks, only Patrick Marleau (1,607), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (1,102) and Joe Pavelski (963) have dressed for more games.
Couture, who has seven points in 15 career regular-season games against the Penguins, will center a line with Timo Meier and Alexander Barabanov.
Couture was the Sharks’ first-round draft pick, ninth overall, in 2007. He is 10th in his draft class in NHL games played, and sixth in points (605).
HILL PLAYS: Goalie Adin Hill, who was added to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol on Dec. 27, is on a conditioning assignment with the Barracuda and is starting today’s game with the Stockton Heat at SAP Center, Boughner said.
Hill’s last game was Dec. 16 at home against the Vancouver Canucks. He has a 6-9-0 record, a 2.90 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage in 16 games this season.
Hill will return to the Sharks on Monday, joining the team in Detroit, Boughner said, as Zach Sawchenko will remain James Reimer’s backup for today’s game. The Sharks already have Alexei Melnichuk on their taxi squad.
