Ty Dellandrea is getting back into the San Jose Sharks ' line-up on Monday.
Dellandrea, who missed over two months with a torn right PCL, an injury suffered on Jan. 6, returned to action on Apr. 1 against the Anaheim Ducks . This will be his second game back tonight.
Dellandrea projects to take Adam Gaudette 's spot on the fourth line, next to center Zack Ostapchuk and left winger Barclay Goodrow .
Gaudette has three goals in his last seven games, impressive considering his limited deployment, but that line wasn't at its best on Saturday, a Sharks' 6-3 loss to the Nashville Predators . Not to put that loss all on one player or line, of course, but it's the defensively-minded Dellandrea replacing Gaudette.
So why center-winger Dellandrea over Gaudette and Philipp Kurashev (last game on Mar. 21) and Pavol Regenda (last game on Mar. 24)?
"He can take face-offs, he's a center, he can help on the penalty kill. Obviously, gave up two the other night [on the PK]," San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky explained. "His pace is high…Those are probably the biggest factors."
Warsofsky also added about Gaudette, but probably also about Kurashev and Regenda, who have both given the Sharks lots of quality minutes this season.
"Gauds has done some really good things for us. He can score. So it wasn't an easy decision, by any means," Warsofsky said. "So unfortunately, in this business, feelings are going to get hurt a little bit, and there's some tough decisions as coaches we have to make. I'll leave it up to you guys to criticize."
Alex Nedeljkovic will start.
Macklin Celebrini had a maintenance day, but he will play.
This is all in line with how the San Jose Sharks have handled Celebrini recently, which Warsofsky spoke about two weeks ago.
This is how lines should look like tonight:
Graf-Celebrini-Smith
Eklund-Wennberg-Sherwood
Chernyshov-Misa-Toffoli
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Dellandrea
Orlov-Desharnais
Mukhamadullin-Ferraro
Dickinson-Leddy
Nedeljkovic
Get all your Chicago Blackhawks lines and updates at Chicago Hockey Now!
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks is at 7 PM PT at SAP Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.
The post Preview/Lines #76: Why Dellandrea Over Gaudette? How Are Sharks Resting Celebrini? appeared first on San Jose Hockey Now .
