Sharks’ Balcers just returned from a six-week absence. Now he’s out again
Notes: Bob Boughner provides an update on Jake Middleton; Sharks eager to see Climate Pledge Arena, but need the two points against the Seattle Kraken
SAN JOSE – Rudolfs Balcers’ frustrating season continued Wednesday as just days after he returned from a lower-body injury that kept him out of the lineup for six weeks, he entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Balcers had scored in two of the Sharks’ three games since his return last Thursday as he played on the top line with Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier. Balcers had missed 13 games from Dec. 5 to Jan. 11 and now has 12 points in 27 games this season.
The Sharks, though, were able to replace Balcers on their top line in Wednesday’s practice with Alexander Barabanov, who exited protocol after he tested positive for COVID last week. Barabanov had spent time on a line with Hertl and Meier before he contracted the virus.
The Sharks play at Seattle on Thursday in their first game at Climate Pledge Arena and host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Assuming he is feeling good, Balcers could return to the lineup Jan. 26 — after his five-day isolation — when the Sharks open a four-game road trip against the Washington Capitals.
“He missed six weeks with his knee and then came back, scored a couple of goals, that top line’s going and now he’s dealing with this,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said of Balcers. “The good thing is he should only be out for five or six days and we get him back for the trip next week.
“But it’s tough when you get a player going, he’s gone that long, and you get a line going with chemistry and now you’re back to back to plugging holes.”
Boughner said he didn’t believe Balcers had any symptoms, as he had worked out at the Sharks’ practice facility on Tuesday. If revised NHL testing protocols that will go into effect next month were already in place, it’s doubtful that Balcers or any other Sharks player that was also asymptomatic would have needed to miss any games.
The NHL announced Tuesday that it will stop testing asymptomatic players, coaches and staff who are fully vaccinated following the All-Star break in early February. The league’s current policy of testing all players every day, except those who have tested positive for the virus in the last 90 days, will continue until Feb. 3.
“I wish it started immediately with Rudy because he’s probably one of those guys that wouldn’t have been tested in the first place,” Boughner said. “So I applaud the league for going in that direction. We’ve been saying that for a long time.
“I don’t know what the testing is doing for us other than if someone has symptoms obviously, you stay away from the rink and you treat it like anybody else would treat it. But to be asymptomatic, guys are laying around their house for five days and they feel completely fine. As long as we’re doing the right things at the rink, masking up and taking the precautions that we’re supposed to, I think it’s a safe environment.”
Barabanov has 20 points in 32 games this season. The Sharks are also without forwards Jonah Gadjovich (upper body) and Kevin Labanc (shoulder), who are both on injured reserve.
MIDDLETON UPDATE: Boughner said defenseman Jake Middleton is slowly improving from a concussion he suffered in a Jan.4 game against Detroit when he was hit from behind by Red Wings forward Givani Smith.
Boughner said Middleton won’t be able to play the rest of this week but said if he progresses, there’s an outside chance he could play before the all-star break early next month.
“Today was his first day where he started rounding the corner, and I say that cautiously,” Boughner said. “He tried to get back on the ice a couple of times. Got through the skate but didn’t feel right after, so he’s dealing with those issues.
“He’s trying to get better and slowly get back into his workouts, his heart rate is going up. But he’s not ready this week.”
REVENGE PLOT: The Sharks were excited to see Climate Pledge Arena in person for the first time Thursday, but were just as eager to try and avenge their 3-1 loss to the expansion Kraken on Dec. 14.
Seattle (11-23-4) is in eighth and last place in the Pacific Division and is 1-8-1 since its win last month at SAP Center. The Sharks have a daunting five-game schedule after Thursday, with two games against Tampa Bay, and one each against Washington, Carolina and Florida.
“Seattle worked hard,” Boughner said of the first meeting. “They’ve only won one in their last 10, but they’re a hard-working team, so we’ve got to be ready for that.”