SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks winger Fabian Zetterlund was 10 years old when the Detroit Red Wings came to his hometown of Karlstad, about a three-hour drive away from Stockholm, and played an exhibition game against Färjestad BK, a local top-tier team.
Zetterlund attended that game and remembers the Red Wings — led at that point by Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom, and fresh off back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Final — badly outshining the hometown heroes in a preseason game.
“They just played around with them,” Zetterlund said of the 2009 Red Wings, who won 6-2.
Still, the game had an effect on a young Zetterlund, who aspired to play in the NHL one day. Eight years later, Zetterlund was drafted in the third round by the New Jersey Devils, and two years ago, on Nov. 18, 2021, at the age of 22, made his NHL debut.
“I just thought it was so cool,” Zetterlund said of the 2009 game. “At that point, I was young and I was asking for sticks and everything. But now I’m here and playing in the same league. It’s fun.”
Zetterlund never received a stick, but he does see the value of the NHL continuing to go overseas, whether it’s Sweden, Finland, or in the heart of Europe. Right now, Detroit Ottawa, Toronto, and Minnesota are playing games in Stockholm, marking the 13th time the NHL has played regular-season games in Europe.
The Athletic reported Thursday that the NHL is in discussions to hold games in Finland next season.
“It’s good they do it,” Zetterlund said. “I wish we were there as a team. It’s fun for those guys.
“It’s hard for family to travel and watch all the games live, especially for grandparents. They just wake up during the night and watch it on TV and TV is not the same as live. For sure, it’s fun for those guys.”
It might be a while before the Sharks would welcome another overseas trip.
Last season, they played an exhibition game in Berlin and two regular season games in Prague but felt that the trip, with an abbreviated training camp and jet lag upon returning home, negatively affected the early part of their season. San Jose lost the two games in Prague to the Nashville Predators and went 0-5-0 to start the season.
Zetterlund has been one of San Jose’s top players this season. Going into Thursday’s game with the St. Louis Blues, Zetterlund has a team-high four goals and is second behind Tomas Hertl with seven points.
DUCLAIR RETURNS: All indications were that Anthony Duclair would return to the lineup Thursday. Duclair missed games against the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks last week and Tuesday’s game against the Florida Panthers as he recovered from a case of strep throat. Duclair said the illness caused him to lose about 10 pounds, of which he had gained about five or six back by Wednesday. Duclair is normally around 197 pounds.
Duclair originally hoped he would just have to sit out the Vegas game but returned to San Jose last Saturday. What made it more frustrating for Duclair was that his dad was in town as part of the team father’s trip to Las Vegas and Anaheim, and only got to see him play one game.
Duclair had four points in three games before his illness. He said he and Mikael Granlund started to find some chemistry last week.
“Sometimes with a couple of guys it takes a couple of games, and sometimes you find it right away,” Duclair said. “Just knowing the system, not overthinking it and just going out there and playing was huge. It sucks that I (got sick) but I’m just trying to get back to that and go back to playing well.”
BARABANOV CHECK-IN: The Sharks said last month that winger Alexander Barabanov would miss approximately four to six weeks with a broken finger he sustained Oct. 24 in a game against the Florida Panthers. With the optimistic end of that timeline approaching, Barabanov, who has been skating regularly in recent days, is able to grip his stick but said he still cannot shoot the puck.
Although he had zero points in his first six games this season, Barabanov has been a top-six forward for the Sharks since he was acquired by San Jose in the second half of the pandemic-shortened 2020-2021 season. In a contract year, Barabanov has 28 goals and 96 points in 166 games.
In games without Barabanov, the Sharks had a 2-8-0 record and had averaged just 1.30 goals per game prior to Thursday. San Jose had also allowed 4.9 goals per game in that time as it has remained at the bottom of the NHL’s 32-team standings.
COMINGS AND GOINGS: Kyle Burroughs will re-enter the Sharks lineup Thursday and it appeared that Marc-Edouard Vlasic will be a scratch, as Vlasic stayed on the ice after the main portion of the morning skate was over. He was joined by Nikolai Knyzhov, another presumed scratch, and injured players Barabanov and Matt Benning.
It would be the third time that Vlasic has been scratched this season. The first two were on Oct. 24 and 26 when the Sharks played the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning on the road.