Timeline for San Jose Sharks’ goalie prospect to play again after surgery remains unclear

San Jose Sharks goalie prospect Eetu Makiniemi is making steady progress from offseason hip surgery but there remains no clear timeline for when the Finnish-born netminder might be to play again, Evgeni Nabokov, the organization’s director of goaltending, said Monday.

Makiniemi, 24, played 22 games with the Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, last season before an MRI revealed a labrum tear in his hip. After a subsequent surgery, it was hoped that Makiniemi would be ready for the start of training camp this week.

The Sharks should get more clarity on Makiniemi’s health on Wednesday when he and other players receive their physicals. The team’s main training camp starts Thursday.

Nabokov told the Sharks Audio Network that while Makiniemi is recovering nicely and has recently been increasing his workload, “we’re going week by week, and we’ll see where he’s at every week and he’s making really good strides.

“We try not to set certain dates, to be honest with you, and when he is pain-free and he’s comfortable and ready to go 100% on the ice, he will be out there.”

Makiniemi, who signed a one-year contract extension with the Sharks in June, is considered by some to be the organization’s top goalie prospect after he was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Brent Burns trade in July 2022.

Makiniemi made his Sharks and NHL debuts this past season and posted a .906 save percentage in two games. Then 23, he became the Sharks’ youngest-ever goalie to win his first career start when he stopped 23 shots while beating Anaheim on Dec. 9, 2022.

Last season with the AHL’s Barracuda, Makiniemi had a team-leading .900 save percentage and 2.96 goals against average in 22 games. An injury also prematurely ended Makiniemi’s season in 2021-2022 when he went 11-2-1 and posted a .922 save percentage in 14 games for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.

While Mackenzie Blackwood and Kaapo Kahkonen are slated to be the Sharks’ goalie tandem for at least the start of the season, Makiniemi, Magnus Chrona, and Georgi Romanov are all expected to be reassigned to one of the Sharks’ minor league affiliates. Barracuda coach John McCarthy said last week that it was not totally clear at that point whether the AHL team would carry two or three goalies.

The biggest thing Nabokov wants for Makiniemi, plus Chrona and Romanov, who are both 23, is to gain experience.

“(Makiniemi’s) very calm, he’s very patient on his feet and he just needs experience under his belt and unfortunately, little injuries keep (getting) in his way,” Nabokov said. “If he can go through this season without the injuries, that would be great because with all three boys we have. it’s all about the experience.”