SAN JOSE – Michael Misa will headline a group of five first-round draft picks on the San Jose Sharks team that will take part in next week’s three-team Golden State Rookie Faceoff event in Anaheim.
Misa, who was selected overall by the Sharks at the NHL Draft in June, joins first-round picks Filip Bystedt (2022) and Quentin Musty (2023), both forwards, defenseman Sam Dickinson (2024), and goalie Josh Ravensbergen (2025) on the 24-player team, which was announced Tuesday.
Forward Collin Graf, who turned pro in April 2024, is the most experienced player on the team, having played 40 games in the NHL and 40 in the AHL with the Barracuda. Other players on the team who spent time with the Sharks or Barracuda last season include forwards Igor Chernyshov, Kasper Halttunen, and Cam Lund, as well as defensemen Luca Cagnoni, Jake Furlong, Braden Hache, and Noah Beck.
The other two goalies on the team, besides Ravensbergen, are free agent signee Matt Davis, a University of Denver alumnus, and 2024 draft pick Christian Kirsch.
Sixteen of the team’s players are Sharks draft picks, and four others are on tryouts, including forward Luke Torrance, who had 53 points in 64 games last season with the Oshawa Generals. Notably, all but three players on the team are at least 6-foot-1.
Still, only a small number of the 24 players on the Sharks’ Rookie Faceoff team have a realistic chance of cracking the NHL roster for the start of the regular season. Graf, given his experience, is in that group, with fellow forwards Misa, Bystedt, Musty, and Chernyshov still needing to prove that they can handle the rigors of the NHL. The 18-year-old Misa, the CHL’s scoring champion last season with 134 points in 65 games, has yet to sign an entry-level contract.
The Sharks made several additions to the back end, but from all indications, Dickinson, 19, will be given every opportunity to make the NHL roster. Cagnoni, 20, had two points in six NHL games and 52 points in 64 games with the Barracuda on the back end last season.
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The Sharks open the Rookie Faceoff on Sept. 12 against the Anaheim Ducks at 6 p.m. and face the Los Angeles Kings on Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. Both games are at FivePoint Arena in Irvine and will be streamed on the Sharks’ website.
The Sharks’ main training camp will begin the following week, with the first of the team’s six preseason games taking place on Sept. 21 at home against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Sharks open the regular season at home against the Golden Knights on Oct. 9.
